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6 stoufiville suntribune thursday may 15 20c3 publisher ian proudfoot teifph0ne9052612fax90568778 email jmasbnyrngcom website wwwyorkregionicom editorial nurses need more than pat on back this year more than ever we have good reason to celebrate national nursing week this week which coincides with florence nightingales birthday com munities in canada the united states and other nations celebrate the many contributions made by nurses for the past month or so we have seen nurses standing oh the frbritlines of the sars battie putting in long hours offering patients kindness compassion and support despite their own well- founded fears about becoming infected after hearing their harrowing accounts of watching colleagues come down with a mysterious disease of work ing 12 shifts in uncomfortable masks and gloves arid of facing quaran tines that kept them locked in their homes outsidework hours its amazing only five gtaarea nurses were reported as resigning as a result of the situation we heard the stories firsthand from the rnahy nurses in wwtchurchstquffville hospiteils were caught shortstaffed when in an j attempt to contain the spread of sabs they stopped staff from working at multiple hospitals according to a survey by the registered nurses association of ontario 43 per cent of the provinces nurses are either parttime or casual workers in many cases that isnt by choice about 11 per cent would gladly take a fulltime r job if one were available many of these nurses are working three or four jobs to make ends meet without receiving benefits its no wonder we have a shortage of nurses m ontario our nursing gradu- ates are going south of the border to find fulltime work flexible scheduling and a fair wageithis stems from the hospital reunicturing imposed by the tories in the mid 90s when many nurses were forced out of fulltime jobs while premier ernie eves is promis ing to create another 8000 nursing posi tions in the next three years ffllihg those positions iriight be difficult liriless hos pitals can offer competitive contracts with neighbouring jurisdictions r while ifs fine to celebrate nurses weekwim gifts events and warm fuzzy sentiments what v nurses really deserve are wqrkmg coriditioris befitting the skill dedication and courage they have already demonstrated i think i better stay homeland stadytdnighti letters to the editor cquncnapprpved development wiudestrpy stoufiville paradise i write this on a beautiful may morning 1 arn sitting on my deck in west- end stouffville looking north thefieid is scattered with corn stalks and the riewly arrived canada geese stop for breakfast i hear a cardinal calling its riiate in the distance i see a deer i am so happy it sur vived another winter later today my husband and the dog will go to the pond at the far side of this field the dog will have her first swim of the season my hiis- barid will see the marsh marigolds hear the blackbirds and identify the tracks around the pond five years from now all of this will be gone the fieldswill be full of ugly identical monster house boxes our gouritry close to the city will be no different than the monotonous rows of big box dwellings that have invaded the fields and forests of the 7th and 8thi conces sions to the south in markham birds will go further north the deer will be dead arid the pond a sewer this is the proud legacy of mayor wayne emmerson arid his whitchurchstouffyille council this is what i will remember of their tenure fresh water trees and fields are what made elm road arid the rest of stouffville so attrac tive to my husband and i when we moved here 34 years ago development sanctioned and encouraged by mayor emmerson and his the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words arid must include a daytime telephone number name and addressthe stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space 1 write letters to the editor34 civic ave po box 154 stouffville 1 l4a7z5 email jmasonyrngcom councillors and executed by madori development and their counterparts are the agents of death that have killed our paradise daphne goldman c stouffville sense of community reinforced last weekend my family went to the park on thicketwopd boulevard in stouffville and forgot our video camera we returned to the park only to discover that it was not there triinking the worse had happened to our fam iiymeinories we made a second trip to see if any one had left a note saying he had found it when we met ken ferguson this gentleman was kind enough to take it home overnight and then turn it l in at the york regional police station in markham certainly he didnt have to run it out to markham but he took time from his sunday morning and in turn absolutely made our day there is such a sense of community in stouffville and i encounter it every day this is just another example of how neighbours look out for neigh bours thank you mr ferguson the logan family stouffville stouffville sunlribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville ontario l4a7z5 phone 905-640-2612- fax 90s6408778 aassified18007433353distnbutivn905294 website wwwyorkrejiontom email jrnasonyrngcom member ontario community newspapers association canadian community newspapers association ontario press council editor in chief debora kelly editor jim mason reporters joan ransberryhannelorevoipe retail sales manager steve kane sales representative susan berry production manager fern nichols office manager vnianolfea business manager robert lazurko director of marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail sales flyers nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci managing director real estate mikerogerson sales manager new business development distribution dawnaandrews electronic communications manager john futhey classified manager ann campbell distribution manager barry black general manager york region printing bob dean managing director york region events management debraweller shows manager staceyallen m few- skih s fjs x hll v ibs tt wr v rl w0 bbb w off the top with jim mason end of victoria day era at ballpark the ball parks of stouffville memorial park wont know what to do with themselves this long weekend no big men in short pants dinging softballs with aluminum bats then hoisting- aluminum cans no high hops through the pebbled infield no beer garden for 20 victoria day weekends the stouffville raiders hosted an adult sqftball tournament on the diamonds of the downtown stouffville park not anymore the raiders are your neighbours young to now rniddle stouffville guys playing competitive slopitch in a weekly league and at weekend tour naments the last edition of the raiders tourney was played last may 24 weekend it died with competitive mens slopitch iri this town for almost two decades the york- durham mens slopitch league flourished here no more when the league died last year so did our team said raider murray pattenden plus interest in slopitch in gen eral was dropping the younger guys in stduffyille arent picking it up mr pattenden and the raiders alumni wonder about the lost revenue from this weekend the town wont receive its diamond rental fees local taverns motels and restau rants will miss the 20 to 30 teams of adults from across ontario their entourages and their disposable income not to mention the community work the raiders did with some of the money they made at their tourney they built the scorers booths at the memorial park diamonds sponsored a youth softball team and donated cash to other worthy local causes some of the raiders joined teams in uxbridges league others play in the more laidback monday night mens league in stouffville others hung it up for good still old habits die hard some of us will still get together this weekend said mr pattenden just to celebrate it wouldnt be victoria bay without them jim mason is editor of the stouffville suntribune