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stouffville 2ju2l saturday march serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 32pages1 including gst fj diversions is the stuff dreams are made of garbage or reality letters 6 total home 11 sports 14 classified 19 ems looks to memphis to speed up responses booming us city had similar problems by lisa queen staff writer joe holley medical director for tennessee emergency medical services sympathizes with overburdened york region paramedics until two years ago mr holley was dealing with similar com plaints in memphis and the fast- growing counties surrounding the city no quick fix but memphis turned its problem around arid now york ems officials are looking to americas 18th largest city to determine if strategies used there can be adapted to relieve the regions overburdened ambulance service there isnt going to be a quick fix but we have to change the way were doing things said brad meekin yorks ems gener al manager it is a complicated issue but it is encouraging to hear people have successes i plan on giving memphis ems a call because t would like to know more about it ambulances shop around after responding to emergen cies mr holley said ambulance attendants were forced to shop around among crowded emer gency rooms to see if any were willing to accept patients see redirect page 10 ontario police chiefs want minimum twoyear sentence rower by martin derbyshire staff writer with the number of marijuana grow operations reaching epidem ic proportions york regions top cop wants mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of cultivating the cash crop there are automatic sentences for crimes involving firearms we need minimum sentences for mar ijuana grow labs and they have got to be substantive york regional police chief armand la barge told the rotary club of markham sunrise at a meeting wednesday morning we have to let these people know theyre not just going to walk away with house arrest chief la barges push is being backed by chiefs across the province urging the federal govern ment to bring in minimum sen tences of two years as a deterrent for marijuana growers the judicial system must implement tougher sentences and assurance that judges will impose these stiffer penalties said a january 2004 ontario association of chiefs of police report on grow operations grow ops are a serious threat to the public and police offi cers the association claims there are now more than 15000 operations in ontario up 250 per cent over the past three to five years in york region alone 173 pot labs were raided in 2003 up from 170 the year before police made 136 arrests laid 342 charges and see growing page 7 planetary play staff photomike barrett mary kate spencer 9 checks the alignment of planets in her solar system model at were going to mars a march break program hosted by the latcham gallery in stouffville tuesday school is back in monday hot tubs 27her1taoerd markham 8030 8220 kennedy rd markham 9054 7 7 2451 wwwmarkhamhondacom includes s in no charge features ac with micron filter cd player power locks 115 hp 17 litre engine driver and front passenger dualstae front alrbags m see dealer or derails town and country really lid 6400888 i