sa4 wednesday april 20 1983 editors mail agreement dear mr thomas whatever letters of praise or criticism are received by your pap- er concerning the remarks by rev creen re hockey on easter sunday i want to say i agree with him 100 percent several churches and church- going families in stouffville have been adversely affected by this amateur league there has been controversy in a number of homes due to the conflict i feel mr creen spoke for a lot of us and i commend the other minis ters for adding their support sincerely alberta franks stouffer street stouffville conflict dear mr thomas recreation vs religion its the oldest ongoing controversy in the world i can recall as a child how my parents frowned on me even skat- ing on an outdoor pond on a sunday a deck of cards never saw the light of day in our house on the sabbath although my dad and mother were enthusiastic euchre players such was not the case in every household mind you however a sunday back then wasnt as sports oriented as today now just about everything goes in fact on the golf courses ball diamonds and public parks its the busiest day in the week how far should this activity go non churchgoers might suggest there be no restrictions at all ev erything wide open sunday like saturday that to me is going too far it obviously takes someone of rev creens strength and dedication to bring us up short and make us think of others rather than only of ourselves sincerely philip ingram rr 3 stouffville wht wttbunt aw james thomas editor established 1833 bruce annan publisher editorial deft jim holt jim irving display advertising dept bryan armstrong classired adverttslngaculaton joan marahmagnsjn- office manager doreen deacon national sales representative metioland corporaio sales 331300 ptyts j s su u i published every wednesday at54 mam st stouhsnllo ont id 6402100 single eotj 35e subscrip ts tions 15 00 per year in canada 4500 elsewhere member of canadian community newspapers assoaa- ton ontario weetrynewpyrersa5soaation ontario presi councifand suburban newspaper of america second class mail registration number 0896 the stouffville tnbureisoneoflhemetrolandpnntirtg publishing ltd groupof suburban newspapers which includes acton free press ala whitby pickering news advertiser aurora banner the bolton enterprise brampton guardian the burlington post the burlington weekend post the etobcoke advertiser guardian the georgetown independent the hamilton wcfnfworth poscthe markhamthornhill economist and sun the milton champion the missasauga news the newmaktt era the north york minor oakvillo beaver oakviiie friday beaver oshewa this week oshawa this weekend the richmond hillthorrhill liberal the scarborough mirror the woodbridge vaughan news 6402100 editorials female politicians deal with people problems women in politics for most its a tough row to hoe if this were not so wed have more women solidy implanted in positions of importance at all levels of government even a female premier of this province and prime minister of this country and why not personally we believe they can do anything a man can do in some instances better englands mar garet thatcher is proof of this for some strange reason we cana dians are slow to accept this fact sure well elect women as school trustees but thats about as far as were prepared to go in the history of whitchurch and stouffville its possible to count on six fingers the number of women whove been successful at the polls neighboring municipalities of uxbridge pickering and markham have displayed a similar bias while hesitancy to accept a nomina tion has been a main stumbling block most women admit theyve a strike against them before they start and theyre right hopefully this attitude will change and the sooner the better what we like about women in politics is their concern for problems that in volve people this is particularly evi dent at the municipal level a woman will fight tooth and nail for the preservation of a park while at the same time her male counterpart is en visioning a hirise on the site which do you suppose is preferred by the resi dents i we introduce these two main differ- ences as a leadin to our support for the work being done by regional councillor ward 3 norah stoner of pickering an avid environmentalist who can sometimes go overboard on this score councillor stoner has proved herself a people person in many other areas her current concern istite curve east of the pickeringmsrkhani townline on what is commonly called the claremont road there have been many accidents at this location some serious councillor stoner is wondering if something other than human driving error is to blame shes seeking ratepayers advice we like this for it proves that with some politicians other than at pre- election times people are important we dont feel residents expect to be consulted on such matters however we do feel its appreciated when thoy are along about this time of the year be fore the ice breaks up in the beaver ponds we like to go around and clean out the wood duck nestboxes and although there are only a dozen and a half to look into it takes the best part of a day to complete this ritual actually the time spent at each nesting unit is relatively short but the location and distance be tween sites often requires a little extra effort and equipment for starters we take along a 16foot aluminum ladder to reach the high boxes fastened to trees overlooking the stream then too whether theyre high or at reachable heights they still need a pair of pliers a hammer and a bag of fresh nesting material to complete the task you see while wrens nuthatches and bluebirds carryin their own choice of cradle fibres wood ducks and screech owls do not they rely on the original carpenters the woodpeckers to leave- enough wood chips in the bottom of the cavity for nesting purposes unlike the scarcity of holes that is so apparent formany of our cavitynesting species theres no shortage of bottom bedding for the boxes that are erected and while we wonder what- effect the woodheat trend will have on some kinds of birds in a few years today the effi cient chainsaw provides a bountiful source of nestchips so we shovel some of this course sawdust into a grain sack and take it along on our duck house ex pedition one of the little extra kicks that you getout of putting up nestboxes for birds is the satisfaction of seeing them accepted and used but wood duck nest- boxes are different from most other types of bird houses not only are these nestsites a lot less accessible as already mentioned but the occupant birds them selves act in a different manner in the first place cavitynesting ducks are more secretive in their housekeeping activities than the hole dwelling song birds for example they usually approach the nestsite only after making several lowlevel flypasts to ascertain if any possible danger lurksnearby then when they do decide to enter they do so seemingly at full speed this sudden crash approach still has witnesses wondering how they dont injure them- selves going through a hole no larger than the top of your favorite teapot last spring i watched a pair of hooded mergansers as they made several long sweeps over the pond with the male leading and the female not far behind i was able to keep them in the lense of my binoculars about halfway over the wa ter the female suddenly disappeared from my view quickly i swung my glas ses back in the direction the birds had come but only picked up the outlineof a nestbox in a tree on the far shore unbe- lieveably the little crestedduck had flown right out of focus and into that cav ity at- full speed but there are other differences too that these fastflying ducks practice around their lofty nursery whereas the owls hawks and song birds remain in and are fed in the nest for at least several weeks the holenesting ducks are out byartbriggsjudeil and away within a day or so of hatching little chance then for you to be present at the exact time these little puffs of fluf fy down launch themselves on this initial jump consequently we often have to rely on our clean out exercises to know what actually used the duck nestboxes last season sometimes on these trips we find owl pellets and even roosting owls in them while at other locations we might discover a pair of wouldbe parents in the form of flying squirrels this spring though we hada few additional sur prises two boxes along the creek for instance each contained seven chunky meadow voles or field mice so we knew at once the weasels were using them for their winter food lockers arid along with the usual remains of duck eggshells in a seperate nestbox we found foursmaller blotched eggs the importance of this latest find however never really materialized until- we tried matching theseeggs with the color plates in duregg guide book and while we noticed they closely resemble the eggs of the rusty blackbird this spe- cies is not known to nest in cavities however bur unknown eggs are some what like those of the brewers black bird that has been known to nest in holes on occasion if they are indeed the eggs of a brewers blackbird it may well be the most easterly breeding record of this species in ontario and if its a rusty blackbirds eggs it may be the first known to nest in a cavity and to think all this excitement was generated just be- cause we happened to put out a few nest ing boxes for wood ducks r- graduating class at orchard park public school 195960 this year marks the 25th anniversary of the openingof orchard park public school in stouffville to celebrate the occa- sion a reunion of former teachers and students is planned pictured here is the graduating class of 1959- 60 they are front row left to right brent weldon bill harper richard yakeiey frances dauphi- nols larry fobte debbie garrett david boyd bonnie oneill sharon lintner raymond rioux blair waggbill lennox middle rowdeft to righojanice smith bill farth ing robert slack randy mole tom brilllnger carol adams joanne hendricks sandra mills susan bar- key betty brown bui mercer bill parsons rear row left to right- nancy stover w k sutherland prin cipal karen bartholomew susan abraham brenda otter pam giles judy stapley charles taylor paul lintner rick spang bob smith paul mlddleton and mrs j hether- ington m