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wmlmmm false alarm calls must be deterred costs are mounting at the town offices these days as false emergency alarms in whitchurchstouffville continue to tie up rescue personnel equip ment and expertise whitchurchstouffville fire chief bill brown and the fire marshalls office were right on the money quite literally when they suggested last week that repeat perpetrators of false alarms be fined for the un necessary use of resources its a familiar cry being heard by emergency service agencies in york region police have tallied the cost of false alarms they answered last year and the numbers starkly illustrate the waste these calls generate aside from the resources used unnecessarily for false alarms there is always a threat that other emergencies legitimate ones could be affected a system of fines for false alarm perpetrators is the best remedy to reduce the numbers with that local emergency crews can turn their attention to more important tasks saving lives and property elusive numbers a cause for concern in the brave new world of com puters you really need a head for numbers if youre cursed with a memory like mine its become almost impossible to rent a movie convince a police officer its your car youre driving or use your bank card at those wonder fully convenientscash points were ruled by numbers there are pin numbers for your cash card sin numbers for your in come tax return video member ship numbers and fax numbers which i dial mistaking them for the phone numbers and which cause my hearing to be per manently damaged by that nasty highpitched tone and then there are those sweet oldfashionedjiumbers like house numbers phone numbers and car kates corner kate gilderdale licence plate numbers of course if youve got 100 to chuck around you can have your own personalized plate some of which are actually quite humorous the first 50 times you read them when j was young i knew elvis presleys army number by heart i could tell you the licence numbers of all our friends cars and i was a walking talking telephone directory it doesnt seem fair that when stouf tville u bridge tribune publisher editorinchief editor director of advertising retail advertising mgr administration mgr promotionsdistribution mgr patricia pappas don bernard stephen houston debra weller susan berry chris bertram jennifer hutt published every wednesday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage fid markham ontario l3p1m3 tel 2942200 second class registration number 1247 the stoufmeuxbridge trbune published every wfednesday at 54 mail st w stouffvije is one of the metroland printing pubsshing and distributing group of surxirban newspapers wr ixdes the acton free press ajaxpickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burcngton post etobicoke advertiserguardian georgetown independent milton champion mississauga news newmarket ba oakwte beaver oshawawhitby this week richmond hbthornhbvaughan liberal scarborough mirror markham economist sun fepic newsmagazine wtowdate mirror metroland prin ting publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd national sales representative metroland corporate sates 4931300 6402100 6492292 i possessed this ability it was an impressive but useless attribute but now that its a vital necessity its disappeared i was to mis quote the song born too soon ive read all the advice about not writing your pin number on any item within the vicinity of your card which in my case is in my wallet which goes into my purse while id love to carry two purses or put the number into the pockets of all the outerwear i possess real life isnt like that it takes me half an hour to find the one purse i currently use when im going out anywhere and i always drop my jackets in to the washing machine with tissues bits of paper and assorted memorabilia still in the pockets thus ensuring the destruction of any vital informa tion therein to overcome these obstacles i wrote down my pin number and put it in a safe place which ive been trying to locate since last april if the staff at the credit union have ever paused to wonder why i dont use their nice new machine anymore its because ive lost my pin number and i know they dont know it because its meant to be a deep dark secret between me and myself ive tried two possible numbers which seemed familiar but that merely resulted in the machine eating my card and refusing to give it back until opening time the following monday morning so i went to the counter to get some cash but discovered id forgotten my little green savings account book and guess what they wanted to know my account number at least when i go on holiday i thought i wont need to keep track of all these numbers another fearless prediction bit the dust as i went to pick up my travellers cheques and they gave me a little form in which i had to fill out all the numbers from the cheques and put it in a safe place nowhere near the che ques in case i lost them i used to have a foolproof scheme for buying lottery editors mail tickets using the same six- number combination every time in the mistaken belief that it would come up sometime ive long since forgotten what the magic combination was although it was based on everyones age and birthdate at the time it went into effect i know i wrote it down somewhere and im sure ill find it one day just after those six numbers hit the jackpot ive just notice the time on one of the three digital watches in the kitchen and if i dont hurry ill be late picking up my son from school for his doctors appoint ment the only trouble is i cant remember his room number lake group awaits tally dear editor lake musselman club fill our mailbox the tribune welcomes let ters from readers on current topics letters should be 500 words or less and typed or neatly printed they may be subject to editing for length at the discretion of the editor they must be submitted by 5 pm friday to appear in the wednesday tribune letters may be submitted to the office at 54 main st w stouffville po box 40 l4a 7z4 because of a no plebiscite on the ballantrae and lake musselman communal proposal placed a ballot in town newspapers allow ing all homeowners a vote a ballot was also delivered to the same homeowners of both communities if you have misplaced your ballot form another is available at gordons variety store on lakeshore rd across from con nor dr at lake musselman votes will be tallied on oct 27 the postmaster sealed box 162 stouffville on sept 26 it will be opened only with the presence of a governmentaccepted scrutineer at which time all votes will be tallied they will then be presented to the mayor and council member lake musselman club betty ellen palmer