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6 stouffville suntribune thursday july 24 2003 publisher ian proudfoot teleph0ne9056402612 fax 9056408778 email jmasonyrngcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial no common sense on liability issue municipal governments dont make a move these days without taking poten tial liability into account yet it seems decisions are increasingly being made oh the wrong side of the coin richmond hill councillors voted this week not to reinstate lifeguards at sunset beach a popular spot for resi dents and visitors on lake wilcox during this years budget discus sions lifeguard services were cancelled in response to a recommendation from the towns risk management staff who i said the presence of lifeguards actually increased the towns liability exposure if a drowning occurred it seems the town would have a better chance in court if there was no one there to save me victim the towns decision not to supervise- the beach would be a defensible posi tion in terms of liability parks commis sioner lynton friedbergsaid in areport the reality however is the town could find itself liable regardless of how it chooses to staff the beach if someone drowned a court may find other safety devices at beach including a buoyline andlifesaving stations sirnply arent enough to protect bathers the fact the beach is a busy spot used i by swimmers of all abilities should have been the prime consideration during discussions not liability yet for municipalities it is increasing ly becoming the sole motivator in many decisions not long ago school and municipal playgrounds throughout the region were dismantled over liability concerns earlier this month richmond hill councillors voted to dismantle the towns 26 outdoor drinking fountains while the exorbitant cost to bring the fountains up to code was the prime motivator once again fears of potential liability played a role in the discussions its time for municipalities to exercise a little more common sense r in citing liability exposure council lors may be protecting town coffers but at what cost in this case it would be better to downplay concerns over a potential lawsuit m favour of staffing a busy local park with properly trained lifesaving personnel the estimated cost of doing so for the rest of the summer would be 17400 a small price to pay its important for governments at all levels to reduce their liability but the guiding principle of a liability strategy must be to make municipal parks and facilities as safe as possible ysg8 jm wu- y c 7 l y v letters to the editor stouffville man unsuspecting victim of debit card thieves re skimming victims sought by police july 12 y last saturday night my 25yearold son stopped at thfe drivethrough of the td canada trust to remove money from his account- v then he drove to the petro canada gas sta tion at hwy 48 and stouffville road before heading downtown to a club he also used a td canada trust machine sunday night at a movie theatre on monday morning i received a call from td loss prevention wanting to speak with my son i said he was at work and asked if there was aproblem the caller gave no explanation but asked me to pass on his phone number and for my son to have his account number ready having read the suntribune article about the debit card skimming victim i phoned my son at work and told him to check out the phone number first i thought loss prevention might be a scam but we discovered thieves somehow man aged to obtain my sons card and pin num bers they made a fake deposit of 2400 into his 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 gvtc ave po box 1 54 stoufrville l4a7z5emaif jmasonyrrigcom account v as we later found out everyones daily withdrawl limit is 1200 which the thieves knew v on sunday just before midnight they with drew 1200 the rest was taken 7 am monday it was only when the bank opened the deposit envelope and found it empty that the investigation started on monday afternoon my son had to leave workearly to help in the investigation and receive a new card and pin his account was frozen for five days during the inquiry there are two victims here my son and the bank the bank is the main victim as my sondid- nt have to pay the loss- but this incident makes it clear we need to be alert at all times when using bank cards cheryl fedrigo stouffville editor in chief business manager distribution manager y s lip deborakehy robert lazurko barryblack fm stouffville mm- editor director of marketing sales manager new business f suntribune jimmason new product development development distribution brenda larson dawna andrews pmmm m mm mmmrmmm reporters a metroland community newspaper joan ransbeny hannelore volpe advertising director retail sales fryers general manager york region printing retail sales manager nicole fletcher bob dean 34crvicflve v stevekane advertising director classified managing director phone 90s6402612 fax9056408778 aassified18007433353 distribution9052948244 sales representative susan berry j real estate events management gordpaolucd york region events management debraweller websitewwwyorkregioncom emaiijmasonymgcom production manager managing director real estate showsmanager pam nichols mikerogerson stacey allen membentoterfomunf office manager director of production classified manager cariadnmmunitynevvspapers association vivian weil johnfuthey anncampbell ontario press cmtncil off the top with hannelore volpe testosterone tales just how much testosterone is in whitchurchstouffville apparently plenty if this summer and fall are any indication first there were elvises all over main street then the lumberjack show at the strawberry festival and now lawnmower races theres nothing wrong with men of many ages insequincovered bell bot toms singing hunka hunka burnin love fortunately the elvises are all in town at the same time think of what it would be like if some of them forgot to go home and popped up randomly oh main street belting out jailhouse rock after a few weeks local mer chants would have to scramble to keep up their stocks of white scarves and sequins the lumberjack show which was a first for the strawberry festival let men show what real men are like take building a fire from a log for instance two teams of guys compet ed against each other to chop a log into kindling arrange the wood pieces and chips and then blow on the fire to make it catch ibegan wondering how long theyd been in the woods before coming here when two lumberjacks stationed themselves on opposite sides of the fire and tried to dodge the everlarger flames blowing in their faces if that isnt enough the annual whitchurchstouffville museum clas sic car show is sunday aug 10 some of the vehicles date back to the early years of the last century the men whose pride and joy they are hover to talk with visitors while wield ing rags to do battle with stray dust if we could transfer that cleaning energy into our homes wed all need to wear sunglasses whenever we entered the kitchen and in the ive heard it all catego ry lawnmower faces are coming to stouffville sept 27 i wonder how many men are hav ing sleepless nights already thinking of how theyll soup up the old john jdeere s since im making the wild assump tion most entrants will be male it makes me wonder how things will go after all we are dealing with a gender not noted for asking directions does that mean some could end up in say goodwood and pick up a few mowing jobs before finding their way back i suppose not organizers are mak ing sure people remove the mower blades before showing up for compe titions hannelore volpe is a reporter at the stouffville suntribune editor jim mason is on vacation