m stouffville dainty donuts deli wish everyone seasons greetings a happy new year from chris staff vol 108 no 52 a metroland community newspaper tuesday december 24 1996 signy lawson l money 1 concepts 6424540 1 504 7fpisdcsrj nemiffifeffltme train was tops the york durham heritage railway was welcomed to stouffville and uxbridge this year the preparations personalities work and later the derailment of a car made the hews most in 1996 gino testa bringing development to stouffville has been developer gino testas dream for him its a dream come true afew weeks ago local council gave the greenlight to a 90unit four- storey seniors apartment building slated- for the puffins creek and main street area construction will begin in the spring testas complex will house a common room a recreation room a small cafeteria a beauty salon and a chapel to show that testas especially keen on his adopt ed home the italianborn immigrant pledged 500000 to whitchurchstouffville testa its expected that testas gift will help offset the cost of a yet tobeapproved indoor swimming pool heritage railway group of 1996 by kate gilderdale correspondent from the little engine that could to the iron hprse that did 1996 was the year of the railway in uxbridge and stouffville on sept 14 10 years after it was conceived by a small group of enthusi asts the yorkdurham heritage railways tourist train took to the tracks for its inaugural run between the two commu nities by this time the little engine which had been a favorite family attraction at fairs and festivals across york and durham regions had been granted a wellearned retirement making way for the iron horse in the guise of an imposing diesel locomo tive with so many tireless volunteers involved in bringing the dream to life it would be impossible to credit them individually some however deserve special mention ydhra president and founding member rob pare was present at the first formal meeting of the association and also helped to build and oper ate the miniature trains over the last decade he has attended countless meetings given up many holiday weekends to set up and run the miniature train and spent long hours on track and equip ment restoration stouffville lawyer and former vice president eric button gave unstintingly of his time and expertise to clear the many legal hurdles involved in set ting up a tourist railway he negotiated with politicians at all levels of government as well as with gn rail and go transit and his contribu tion to ydhra has been invaluable uxbridge resident and longtime board member ken harding not only handles v the duties required of a dedicated secretary but has also been a stalwart helper at please see page 3 stouffville went to the dogs in 1996 see story on page 10 wayne erntnemon it was indeed a busy year for whitchurch- stouffville mayor wayne emmerson in true political style emmerson started 1996 off with a promise it was a promise kept in early spring after emmerson said it would happen council struck a budget with a zero tax increase for the third consecutive year to make sure emmerson continued to be regarded as a mayor that keeps an eye on the public purse he was part of the team that gave 3200 residents a 100rebate on their electric bill also emmerson was at the table when the local com mission agreed to reduce hydro rates by 11 per cent in 1997 emmerson is keen on business growth he was involved in an economic development committee emmerson being set to hire whitchurchstouffvilles first economic development officer emmerson felt a sense of accomplishment when the the 8 million communal water sys tem for ballantrae and musselmans lake was finally approved please see page 2 auto tnnpdinn tire centre hours monday friday 800 am 800 pm saturday 800 am 500 pm sunday closed service manager bruce mackenzie 6405050 retail hours monday friday saturday sunday mnromn tire store 830 am 900 pm 830 am 600 pm 1030 am 400 pm store manager robert van bemmel 5945 main street stouffville 6405800