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tribune february 3 1988 a9 roasted l y v 10n i jfilj 1811 the many faces of stouffville tribune editor jim thomas during last thursdays roast at the deer park inn the event marked 40 years of service at the tribune jim scoop thomas tribune editor on the hot seat by steve houston staff reporter jim thomas couldnt hide behind his camera or notepad last thursday night he sat helplessly while friends colleagues and familymembers roasted him a crowd of about 150 made up of friends colleagues politicians and family members were invited to roast jim scoop thomas at centre stage of the deer parks dinner theatre the event organized by local businessman ged stonehouse marked 40 years of journalistic service by mr thomas in the stouffville area a night of laughs lighthearted insults and reminiscences followed while the veteran newsman dutifully sat in his roasting throne taking notes his trademark camera nearby what emerged in the course of the evening was a clear picture of mr thomas as seen by the people in his community his colorful and varied history in covering the stouffville area is filled with images of a job that was mostly well done but there are some days hed rather shelve as his roasting committee so dutifully pointed out like the time he unwittingly invited the company of two toronto working girls while waiting in his car to meet his son while downtown or the year he misspelled the word excellence on the front page of his newspaper the occasion was a story about an award presented to the paper for its outstanding typographical qualities but the editor has changed since his days as a brash young sports reporter who occasionally fell asleep at his typewriter in the wee hours of 1948 today the community is monitored by the consummate newspaper editor who occasionally falls asleep at his word processing computer terminal but say his colleagues his fire brigade journalism philosophy and his search for the elusive scoop have held his readers in good stead stouffville mayor fran sainsbury summed things up in presenting mr thomas with an antique scoop id like to present this rare antique from an antique to an antique the mayor offered tribune coworker bruce stapley after claiming mr thomas attended the same journalism school as buffalo television news anchor irv weinslein also capsulized his image of the editor what can you say about a small town newspaper editor who looks like he just walked out of a norman rockwell print he asked stouffville councillor wilf morley the only local politician never to have been misquoted by mr thomas offered a simple yet accurate account of the role of a small town newspaper editor stouffville says mr morley is a place where everyone knows what everyone else is doing but they read the paper to see who got caught at it he concluded his tribute by presenting mr thomas with a microwave cookbook and apron the quickcooking oven says mr morley will save the editor time for professional pursuits a musical intermission and song by bob davies about the editor provided roasters with a chance to regroup and prepare the second wave of humor former colleague don atanasoff forwarded tidbits about the jim thomas of yesteryear in those days when mr thomas wasnt referring to unionvilles busy new library as a bush library he was defending himself from verbal onslaughts aimed at him from inland publishing ltd president douglas bassctt but it was stouffville reverend herb gale who solved the riddle regarding the editor just how everyone wanted to know did he cover everything that happened the answers lies in an obscure 1929 birth notice where a mrs thomas gave birth to quadruplets said rev gale therefore he concluded there is not one jim thomas but four other roasters including markham historian john lunau mr thomas brother don competing stouffville sun editor jim mason and stouffville tribune publisher bruce annan recalled their memories of an untiring mr thomas recollections of the local newsman as a young hockey player with a knack for injuring his teammates or as a polite young reporter with a passion for news testified to his regard in the community his hardnose approach have made for some interesting introductions to an irate customer or two noted mr annan and the publisher has learned as general manager of two growing newspaper divisions to steer clear of mr thomas but he did tell it like it is hes really been an inspiration to many young journalists hes also inspired a numher of young journalists to leave journalism mr annan noted however any mention of the word retirement is taboo with scoop he added i asked him once what he thought about retirement and he said i could quit anytime i wanted he recalled further words of congratulations from yorkdurham mpp bill ballingcr and york regional chairman eldrcd king followed before the man of the hour rose to a standing ovation and tried feebly to defend himself and the man who once crusaded to preserve his towns name the man who once donned a pair of pants backwards in his haste to get the details of a raging fire humbly offered his thanks ive never looked upon it as being work he said in closing its an enjoyment presentations included a framed cartoon by pat wheeler and a weekend trip for two proceeds from the evening will be given to a charity of his choice family members present included wife jean sons barry and neil daughters susan and cathy as well his motherinlaw susie pascoc and soninlaw ron mcmullcn besides brother don and his wife doris others present were brother bob and wife edna and sister betty tapscott and her husband norman of epsom singermusician bob davies composed a song in jim thomas honor and sang in at the roast last week the longtime newspaper editor was honored for his service to the community and received his share of goodnatured ribbing from friends and family family members in attendance at he roast included from he left jim and jean thomas mrs susie pascoc neil thomas ron and susan mcmullcn marylynn thomas cathy thomas and barry thomas whitchurchsloufivillc councillor wilf morley also took some shots at jim then presented him with an apron and a microwave cook book don thomas entertained the audience with humorous stories about jim thomas hockey escapades sjocrd wittcvccn photos