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

6 stouffville suntribune thursday oct 23 2003 opinion publisher ian pr0udf00t telephone 9056402612 fax 9056408778 email jmasonymgcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial what is cost of preserving moraine dalton mcguinty made a promise to stop home construction on the oak kidges moraine in richmond hill and he is keeping that promise you have to applaud that he made that promise almost a year ago but developers who cut a deal with the previous tory government to build homes in what naturalists call a key wildlife corridor kept on as if nothing had happened shortly after the liberals won the election builders started clearing the land so it appeared there was nothing left to save but a battered moonscape then started selling homes knowing full well they might never be built now environmentalists are urging mr mcguinty to show them no mercy stop the construction cancel the tory deal offer not one penny of compensation and theres no question most people given the choice between pristine mead ows and woodlands or another subdivi sion will support preservation but lets not pretend that doesnt come at a cost there are lots of other places to build homes in york region but these particular developers bought this particular 600 acres of prop erty they have been working with local regional and provincial governments for years to secure approvals and last year the land was rezoned urban allowing construction of 6600 homes one can question that deal and argue its a thankyou gift for donations to the conservative party but the fact remains it was a legal rezoning they have met every requirement and nowthey are ready to build and sell hous es which is how they earn their living but because of a change in govern ment all their work comes to a grinding halt if a developer jumps through all the hoops and gets all the government per mission he needs then suddenly the rules change is it really fair not to com pensate him for years of work done in good faith if the new government wants to stop this development it must provide appropriate compensation thats an expensive proposition to purchase the land outright would cost 230 million we need to know how the liberal gov ernment plans to compensate landown ers will they be paid the going rate for agricultural land repay the costs incurred by developers prior to the elec tion without a doubt we want the moraine preserved but we are entitled to know the price mm a letters to the editor seniors all but for gotten in municipal election i attended mondays sun-tribunewhitchurch- stouffville public library meeting of candidates for the nov 10 election for mayor and councillors at stouflvilie district secondary school i was impressed by how vocal the candidates were about the many issues outstanding in whitchurchstouffville except on the issues of importance to senior citizens only one candidate brenda lobraicb touched on the concerns of seniors much was said about what a wonderful place whitchurchstouffville was to live and raise a family and who am i to questipn that statement but what about the seniors of our town asa senior who has lived in stouffville 23 years i travel many times a week to and from the beautiful seniors centre on water street in markham for the majority of my senior activi ties as do many others from stouffville i wonder how many candidates at the meet ing have been to look at the wonderful facilities markham and tjxbridge have provided for their senior citizens it seems to be forgotten that seniors are tax payers too and we deserve to be heard and not ignored are we considered to be the secondclass citizens of this town emilyfoley stouffville the stouflvilie 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 gvic ave po box 154stouffville l4a 7z5 email jmasonymgcom student did honourable thing several days ago my daughter took off her bracelet to wash her hands in her school wash room accidently the bracelet was left behind and was lost my daughter was very upset of course i took it upon myself to discuss the issue of being respon sible after school we retraced her steps and spoke to people working at the school nothing i kept a positive attitude with my daughter that someone will find it and do the right thing by returningit after the weekend my daughter was called into the office where her bracelet was waiting for her a girl in grade 4 amanda snider found the bracelet andretumedit i have already personally thanked amanda but i want others to understand and appreciate what this young girl did instead of a thankyou card my daughter decided on her own to make a special gift for amanda i hope when my daughter gets older she will act in the same manner amanda did christine ferguson stouffville ygm stouffville mmm f suntnbune i stouffville i a metroland community newspaper 34 gvic ave 3rd floor stouffville ontario l4a 7z5 phone 9056402612 fax90564m778 oassified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 website wwwyorkregioncom email jmasonymgcom atembenorrtariocom canadian community newspapers association ontario press council editor in chief debora kelly editor jim mason reporters joan ransberryhannelore volpe retail sales manager steve kane sales representative susan berry- production manager pamnkhols office manager vivian oued business manager robert lazurko advertising director retail sales flyers nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucd managing director real estate miterogerson director of production johnfuthey distribution manager barryblack sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews general manager york region printing bob dean director marketing promotions debraweller shows manager stacey allen classified manager anncampbell off the top with jim mason help wanted town cat sought before nov 10 vote help wanted gat must be willing to relocate fringe benefits see below interest in local politics and ability to sit through hours of debate helpful job ends nov 10 with possible fulltime employment in whitchurchstouffville council cham bers to follow apply to jim mason so we sit through two evening debates listening to 17 candidates in their finest garb trying to impress us with their best sales pitches its a glorified job interview this municipal election process but instead of knocking off the socks of one of two execs from widget world or wherever youre applying its a few hundred neighbours conducting the interview and the biggest star of the shows is of the fourlegged variety a country mouse as someone shouted out invaded the first wwtchurchstouffville election meeting oct 15 at the ballantrae community centre as if we were to tell him or her apart from the city variety of rodent the mouse scooted past the table of mayoral candidates and under the lifted feet of the moderator yours truly i was not afraid of the little fellow as was sug gested later by the town gossip mongers but merely offering him safe passage beneath my hush puppies he was last seen in the kitchen of the newly renovated centre headed for an exit and the country air the amateur headline writers in the crowd had a field day rat leaves sinking ship and mouse ninning for office draws most applause were popular with the apres meeting crowd not that were promoting violence but a cat would solve this problem im surprised none of the candidates had the appointment of a town mouser high on their agendas at mondays second election meeting declawed cats would be fine even the imaginary kitties that inhabit car toonist pat wheelers work on this page could do the trick the mayoral hopefuls have another chance oct 30 at the final debate in latcham hall felines welcome at the moderators table jim mason is editor of the stouffville suntribune