The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

page 6 the stouffville sun tuesday feb 4 2003 a weekly newspaper serving whitchurchstouffville a metroland community newspaper 34 civic avenue box 154 stouffville ontario l4a 715 905 6402612 fax 6408778 lan proudfoot regional publisher steve kane advertising manager jim mason managing editor susan berry cherryl steer sales reps ram nlchols production manager subscriptions canada 32year includes gst elsewhere 8025 year induces gst reg no 05852 jocna email editdrstouhviilesuncom cna 1999 blue ribbon editorial policy opinions expressed by columnists contributors and letter writers ore not necessarily those of the stouflwfe sun letters not to exceed 400 words must include name and phone nurr phone number wifi not be published requests that a name be withheld will be honoured only if there is a compelling reason to do so errors will be corrected if brought to the editors attention we reserve the right to edit or refuse publication of any material submitted advertising policy publisher is not liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement the publisher is not liable for other errorsor omissions in any subsequent issue or the refund or any monies paid for the advertisement ad doims of error must be mode by friday prior to the next weeks publication no daim will be allowed for more than one insertion h editorial good growth there is fear in whitchurchstouffville many people are afraid of what will become of their small town after the big pipe sewage system is attached to stouffville later this year with the pipe comes the opportunity for unlimited growth something the sewage plant in stouffville memorial could not offer town officials say growth will be restricted but the addition of thousands of new residents over the next 20 years is still unprecedented here what fears residents are afraid the sense of community that still exists will be lost there are more tangible fears too traffic will increase the demand on services including schools and recreation centres will grow if smaller lot sizes are permitted the look of the town will be diminished and if new industry planned for the southwest quadrant of stouffville doesnt arrive at the same time as the homes more people will be forced to commute thats not good for the environment traffic flow the local tax roll or the economy but there is also an upside to growth new facilities will have to be built for new and old residents alike there is talk of a theatre and a curling club these projects should be hot topics during this years municipal election campaign more stores will be built to service the new population as well existing stores will suddenly have a larger market to sell to new schools including a second stouffville high school penciled in for the south side of the community will add new facilities to the town inventory and alleviate any overcrowding at existing schools traffic flow can be improved thanks to growth the weekday rush hour traffic jamming main street a minor irritation for those commuters who drive the crowded 400 series highways can be alleviated new eastwest roads north and south of main will take the load off of the main drag in the new subdivisions we see smaller homes that will hopefully be more affordable allowing more young people to live in this community rental accommodations arent popular with builders but they too would add nicely to the housing mix in whitchurchstouffville not everything about growth is good but it appears inevitable and we can gain some benefits whitchurch- stouffville b flashback give us an s z the stouffville district high school sdss old name cheerleading crew was pictured in the schools 1956- 57 yearbook from left karen lewis carol skinner mary cole pat buckland and pat white photo courtesy stouffville district secondary school no no mary first you learn by doing a pillow cover or wall hanging workshop applique quilting wwtchurch srhiffhu museum m feb 2003 1 letters to the editor dont sell out parks town councillors to the editor while walking up westlawn crescent last saturday afternoon i was delighted to see so many families enjoying the use of westlawn park there was a hockey game with real nets taking place on the new outdoor rink finally the weather has cooperated and given us some outdoor ice there was tobogganing and snowsliding down hunts hill younger kidswere enjoying the swings and slides it was wonderful to see so many youngsters exercising in the fresh air at a time when there is such concern about the impact of sedentary lifestyles on the health of young people there was even a dog in a winter coat frolicking in the snow the park had become a virtual winter playground westlawn park is an integral part of the west end of town those of us who live near the park and all residents who use and enjoy the- parks facilities whether it be the ball diamonds the playground equipment or the outdoor ice should tell whitchurchstouffville council how much this park is valued as part of our neighbourhood part of our lifestyle and part of our sense of place at the same time we should also thank the town for the construction and maintenance of these facilities tax dollars well spent with so many changes taking place in stouffville particularly in the west end its important for residents to tell our elected representatives that public parks public land and greenspace should be preserved for the continued use and enjoyment of residents now that land hungry developers have consumed all available farmland in the area they could well turn their sights on our publiclyowned parks conservation areas and green spaces all it would take is for council to designate such areas as surplus and they could be sold for other purposes we cant let that happen i remember my dad 40 years ago standing outside in subzero weather on winter nights flooding the outdoor rink at westlawn with a garden hose so kids in the neighborhood would have somewhere to skate id like to think that on winter days 40 years from now there will skating tobogganing and laughter in westlawn park because those who really owned these resources the residents cared enough to speak out and demand their preservation jill mcwhinnie stouffville email fax mail letters to stouffville sun editor join the discussion at stouffvillesuncom your opinion is important to us in both letters to the editor and discussion groups on our web site stouffvillesuncom join an online discussion on issues that affect your town come back often for others feedback and more discussion on a variety of topics at stouffvillesuncom click on the stouffville link and read current and archived stouffville news hit opinion to read your favourite local columnists jim mason and jim thomas and please feel free to email editorstouffvillesuncom with your thoughts