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page 2 the tribune thursday april 1 1971 established 1888 c h nolan publisher jim thomas editor wna published every thursday by inland publishing co limited at 54 main st stouffville onl tel 1o2101 single copies 15c subscriptions 500 per year in canada 900 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0896 editorial will earn every penny the salaries of the mayor and coun cillors town of whitchurehstouffville have come under fire from several sources in recent weeks the critics all seem to feel the established wage figures are too high 7000 for the mayor in cluding expenses and 3600 for the five councillors expenses included while the writers are quick to suggest something less none have stated how much less nor can they for they do not know the amount of work involved we do and we restate our earlier claim that the council members are earning and will earn every penny theyre paid the enthusiasm in municipal politics so suddenly generated by the salary issue is an admirable trend that we sincerely hope will last through to the elections of 1972 maybe then there will be more than 175 show up to hear the candidates on nomination night maybe then more than 41 percent of the eligible voters will exercise their franchise maybe fairer garbage payment plan the garbage collection and payment plan as introduced by the spademan firm is indeed unique in this area and in our opinion fair in effect it means that those residents who have more refuse will pay more and why not it doesnt make sense that one person with one container a week should pay a rate equal to a neighbor with five the basic figure established by spademans is 30 cents a bag this could cost a couple with no children about 120 a month the larger the family unit the greater the expense of greater benefit than actual cost is the final good riddance to the unsightly metal garbage cans that on a windy day are blown from one end of a block to another nothing in our opinion looks worse in a subdivision than these out moded containers lined up at every laneway entrance or tossed upside down on lawns or in ditches for long enough too the homeowner has played the garbage collector for a fool he will unload every unwanted article in the book fully expecting the driver to cart it away without complaint or extra charge that day is over at least it is under the spademan plan perhaps something similar should be considered in whitchurehstouffville too crippled kids need aid the 1971 slogan of the easter seal campaign sponsored by the local lions club has a thoughtprovoking ring you can walk away and they cant the annual campaign literature has now been received by everyone in whitchureh- stouffville this is a campaign that dates back to the thirties when the tryout campaign was launched in oshawa the stouffville club which was constituted in 1938 began the annual campaign shortly after during the presidency of me watts the money collected is used for such diversified things as hospital and therapy treatment braces artificial limbs wheelchairs and crutches the prime objective of the campaign is to help put a crippled child back on his feet while there are an unprecedented number of demands on the charity dollar surely none is more worthy than this this years provincewide objective is 1500000 with some 280 service clubs participating editors mail dear sir in the march 18 issue of the tribune under the heading 154 million mailed to farmers hon charles mcnaughton is reported as saying for the first time in history and perhaps for the first time in canada farmers are paying for local schools on the same basis as towns people etc etc in my opinion this statement is highly misleading i have yet to hear of any urban property owner being saddled with any restrictions as to when or to whom he may sell his property because of any arrangement concerning his 1970 local school taxes when mr mcnaughtons office sent the rebate cheque for 1970 local school taxes on this farm property it contained the following statement quote if a property ceases to be assessed as a farm before or during 1980 repayment of the assistance received in 1970 will be required with interest at a rate of 8 percent per annum the assistance received of course would be the amount of the cheque en closed now i ask you is this on the same basis as townspeople mrs waller beach stouffville rr3 dear jim one of our greatest local historians was the late mr ad bruce i typed an un published book for him as well as his section of the historical sketch of markham township 1793 1950 i quote from the latter 1 page 5 this is confirmed by the following story of a pioneers experience as the writer received it from his grand mother mrs john dickson of dicksons hill 2 page 40 the church at dicksons hill was built as a community church 3 page 50 mr simeon hoover of dicksons hill informs the writer that when the 8th line was planked 4 page 59 dicksons hill mill was erected in 1842 and was originally a much higher building than it is today it was erected by john dickson has changed ownership several times and is now operated by mr alex jones being an oldtimer myself i might add i have never heard of any spelling for dicksons hill except the above until the recent dispute janet g brodie rupert avenue stouffville dear editor i have watched with much interest the various schemes that our local ad ministration has proposed in the name of regional government the most in teresting however i read in the march 18 issue of the tribune it would appear that by establishing one head office for the york regional police and abolishing several of the smaller centres in the area stouffville included we are to receive a more ef ficient and less expensive form of police protection this i find hard to believe if each small town has its own police force it tends to discourage most types of public nuisance and disorderliness however if the nearest official is ten miles away it will only serve to en courage the committing of misdemeanors and petty crimes sugar and spice jiiiius didnt enjoy march ides either by bill smiley one last boot in the behind for march and then let us leave it and the whole perishing winter that has embattled this land this year and move on to higher thoughts therefore it would seem that the concept of law enforcement is only being further defeated by our regional government instead of improved upon in addition to this the most preposterous proposal that i have heard of yet pertains to the leasing of automobiles for our most elite officials while it is true that some persons who do a considerable amount of travelling in their line of work are reimbursed by their respective companies most persons who commute daily are certainly not reim bursed for their travels by their em ployers why then should the officials of the york region who are already receiving a very generous salary expect to be provided with an automobile at the ex pense of the taxpayer who is in effect the employer we have certainly heard of all the supposed advantages of regional government but when if ever will we see any positive results arlene yakeley stouffville dear sir the tribune issue of march 25 reported that uxbridge twp council had ap proved a 3day deer hunt in that municipality nov 1 to 3 for residents only thats perfectly alright with me ex cept i see where residents only also include residents of uxbridge town why are uxbridge town hunters so privileged any more than say folks in claremont stouffville or lincolnville are they not separated municipalities or has there been a sudden amalgamation of the two that i havent heard about all i can say is that if they arent any better shots with guns than they used to be in hockey they couldnt hit the side of a barn door anyway jos stanton mount albert rr3 dear editor on april 15 so i read in the tribune the stouffville police office will close just like that and not a single word of opposition from members of council i cant believe it here we are the main urban centre in an area that extends to the west past don mills road so where do they put the police at vandorf fifteen miles away its just one of many steps in the wrong direction under the impersonal regional scheme of things i cant help wondering where it all will end and god help stouffville should a motorcycle gang or some other group invade this place this summer theyd tear the town apart before a cruiser could reach ringwood paul cummings stouffville march is known for very little beyond giving everyone the last and worst bout of flu for the year however well give it its due one of its oldest associations is with julius caesar wealthy dictator of rome outstanding general and well on his way to becoming the first emperor of the mighty roman empire he was a victim of march big julie was taking part in a procession during the feast of lupercal which is neither here nor there as the parade wended its way to wherever it was going through the terrible traffic of rome which is still terrible a seer this is usually a chap who cant see except into the future stepped in front of caesars chariot this is a custom i understand that is faithfully followed by pedestrians in rome to this day anyway the old nut croaked in sepulchral tones beward the ides of march now in those days the ides of march meant the fifteenth of march this was just a few days away and when a seer tells you to beware youd better be wary those seers dont mean youre going to wake up on the given day with a hangover or even worse a hangnail unfortunately julius was a bit deaf in one ear and also had his annual march cold and was coughing so loudly he couldnt have heard the last trump so he missed the message you guessed it right on the nose on the ides of march he was filled full of cold steel not by student activists or black militants but by trusted nay beloved fellowmembers of the roman senate it should perhaps be pointed out that the roman senate differed in some respects from the canadian senate in those days senators were not just old politicians put out to pasture or party bagmen some of them were under forty and they all knew how to handle a shiv that sort of thing just couldnt happen in the canadian senate the worst that could occur would be tripping over a cane or being run over by a wheelchair or bludgeoned to death by a speech however that is all as the saying goes ancient history the only lesson to be learned from it is that when you hear a seer dont sneer especially in march ides of another event for which march is reasonably well known is st patricks day the 17th perhaps reasonably is not the word here since it is a celebration of one of the patron saints of ireland the other is king billy and who ever met a reasonable irishman im almost pure irish on both sides but let them keep their precious saints both patrick and billy in ireland where the bogtrotters can bash each others brains in their favourite sport must say it makes my blood run a bit cold though when some canadian with eight drops of irish wood in him decks out in a green tie and a shamrock and gets into that top o the mornin routine and it makes me want to throw up every st pats day when a jewish comedian starts tossing around begorrahs or an italian tenor all mistyeyed warbles when irish eyes are smiling its as incongruous as a canadian seventhgeneration united empire loyalist making a big fuss about st wladislas day or channukah or buddhas birthday each to his own and vive la difference see how the month of march gets me worked up other months rhyme with something pleasant june with moon and flnullnp im an addict by jim thomas i sympathize with the chainsmoker who apparently of necessity puffs through two or three packs a day i also feel sorry for the father of six who by force of habit must replenish his weekend stock at the beer store every friday and the same goes for the guy or the girl on drugs or the 200 pounder with the appetite of a pig these are the folks with a fight on their hands a fight for survival theyre addicts caught in the grip of a practice thats hard to shake believe me i know for im an addict too my problem is drink but not the intoxicating kind im a coffee bug morning noon and night i just cant leave it alone the irritating thing about it as far as my wife is concerned is that i never touch the stuff at home in fact i detest it but the mixture as brewed up by bing well thats different bing hes the local restaurant proprietor a few steps down the street knows my weakness he also recognizes me as a betterthanaverage customer hence a reduced rate ten cents a cup transient patrons pay fifteen the first round is served up sharp at ten by that time the bar stools are usually occupied by the regulars theres jack the postmaster his mind completely wrapped up in the front page 4 of the morning globe next to him is big ed an authority on the toronto maple leafs and big league hockey in general three seats down is gentleman jim not me a firsthand informant on little league action the peewee team in par ticular the setting however is not complete until in strolls cec a markham native- come stouffville whose mania for tall tales extends from motorcyclists to trains what was doing over the weekend hell say with recorded regularity what you mean you didnt hear about the train wreck at box grove ten people killed it was on the radio and everything didnt hear about it eh five minutes later with only small beads of perspiration left in the bottom of my cup he gleefully admits its all a joke round two is much like round one the time has changed from morning to afternoon but the participants are the same with one exception the coffee clan are joined by carl fresh with all the news views and road reports from the rural mail route round three is the lonliest time in the week its evening and i drink alone if my state of depression is such that i require a booster to get me through the night i sometimes make it a double one at the bar and one for the road with four regulars plus one at noon and another at midnight my coffee con sumption has reached six often more its not that i hold such an un- controllable craving for the brew at least not to the extent of six trips a day but i like the company it attracts the bar stool boys are the greatest news- gathering force i know they could also write some pretty fair straightforward j editorials well maybe not pretty or fair but certainly straightforward but all good things must eventually come to an end my sojourns to bings coffee bar must cease its costing me too much time and too much money besides ive found a surefire way to break the habit im making my own and it tastes awful a swoon july with fly to europe or somewhere september with remember but march goes with such delightful connotations as starch and arch as in fallen the only other thing for which march is noted is the vernal equinox the 21st the first day of spring ha ha vernal suggests green take a look out snow white or mud brown equinox is from the latin t equus horse nox night spells night mare march right adieux farewell auf wiedersehn and aux revoir march may you rot in july