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

6 stouffville suntribune thursday may 22 2003 opinion publisher ian pr0udf00t telephone 9056402612 fax 9056408778 email jmasonymgcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial hollys murder reminder to all parents are justifiably on edge these days who among us has not counselled our children oh the dangers of strangers in the wake of the horrific murder of holly jones it was a loss that brings fear and grief to anyone with a child near his heart we are anxious distrustful and more protective than ever desperate to ensure the same tragic fate does not touch our children in this atmosphere demands increase for readily available information about sex offenders in our communities ontario was canadas first province to create a registry of sex offenders in april 2001 the socalled christophers law sparked by the brutal 1988 murder of 11- yearold christopher stephenson at the hands of a convicted pedophile on statu tory federal release obligates sex offend ers to report annually to police the registrys information the name age address current photograph and offences committed by the offender isnt available to the public but is strictly a database to assist police in investigating sex crimes and monitoring offenders in the community following hollys murder police revealed about 200 sex offenders live in her neighbourhood a fact that horrified many parents in york region a police source estimated there are 130 offenders parents want to know where the dan ger lies in their neighbourhood shouldnt protecting pur children should be para mount even if it means violating an offenders right to privacy and maylead to reprisals and vigilante action yet in a rational moment its ques tionable revealing that information will make our children any safer and in fact may only create a false sense of security or on the other hand paranoia unless of course we monitor offend ers 24 hours a day sex offenders can commit crimes in other communities sexual predators from other areas can enter ours in reality our children are more vulnerable to someone the family knows than to a stranger the reality is the average molester will have many many victims before being caught and convicted hollys murder is a reminder we as a community not just parents must be vigilant to protect our children and most importantly must work together to increase awareness about abuse so it can be stopped before tragedy occurs 1 guess another cottage got opened up last weekend letters to the editor newcomers have right to call stouffville home too re councilapproved development will destroy stouffville paradise letter to the editor by daphne goldman may 15 everyone is entitled to their own opinion however mine sure differs from hers why do people move here then say shut the gate dont let anyone else come i well remember when all land west of the ninth line was farmland the population of all ontario has grown tremendously in the last 40 years with immi gration and our own families growing up and reproducing where are these people to live if not for growth this town would not have all the amenities it now has such as soccer fields baseball diamonds the arena swimming pools and parks as well as sewers there are thousandsof pupils attending our seven schools all of whom will require housing in the next 20 years or less where are these people to live they have as much right to live work and play in the town they call home as the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and 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 write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 154 stouffville l4a 7z5email jmasonymgcom people already here if not for growth this town would not have all the amenities it now has such as soccer fields baseball diamonds the arena swim ming pool and parks as well as sewers when it comes to wildlife this area is not a wildlife preserve the crop damage done by deer and wild geese is horrendous last fall i planted 13 acres of wheat it was completely eaten off by hundreds of wild geese the expected yield will be reduced to 40 per cent my son has lost acres of cabbages by deer taking a bite out of each one then moving on to the next making them unsaleable in farming country deer and geese are just oversized rodents if society wants them then they should be willing to pay for the damage they do may stouffville continue to grow in an order ly fashion so that our children and grandchil dren may live here in my opinion wayne emmersori and coun cil are doing just fine tedbarry stouffville rm stouffville mmmm mm suntnbune stouffville t a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville ontario l4a 7z5 phone 9056402612 fax9056408778 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 website wwwy6rkregioncom email jmasonymgcom member ontario community newspapers association canadian community newspapers association ontario press council editor in chief debora kelly editor jim mason reporters joan ransberry hannelore volpe retail sales manager steve kane sales representative susan berry production manager pamnichois office manager vlvianoneil 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 gordpablucd managing director real estate mikerogerson sales manager new business development distribution dawnaandrews director of production 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 off the top with fim mason so many candidates sp many days to campaign im in the wrong business should have gone into sign-paint- ing speech writing or button manu facturing i could make my fortune this year and retire to belize or somewhere else permanently hot judging by the number of candi dates coming out of the whitchurch- stouffville woodwork this spring we could be in for a recordsized ballot come nov 10 municipal election day across ontario x f large slates of wannabe councillors in other elec- tions but most of them waited until late summer or early fall to declare their candidacy not this time a week hasnt gone by this spring without someone from some corner of this town saying hes running and many have actually signedup at the town offices we all know talk is cheap how many loudmouths have told their table at the legion or a beery barbecue that theyre going to not only run for council theyre going to win and eventually become mayor it usually starts with a neighbour hood issue candidatexs street hasnt been repaired since pearson was prime minister they dont like the price of public skating at the stouffville arena or the schedule for garbage pickup so theyre going to change the world problem is many of these candi dates couldnt find the council cham bers if their life depended on it have never read through a council agenda and dont know the difference between a municipal bylaw and a coronary bypaiss luckily perhaps few of these folks ever officially take the challenge its like george costanza getting engaged but never married talk is so cheap there will be at least four new faces on the sevenmember whitchurch- stouffville council after nov 10 some will have done more home work than others some will have already embraced municipal politics by attending meetings talking to neighbours and reading up all will need lawn signs speeches and voteforme buttons jim mason is editor of the stouffville suntribune