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fcejqn ofiqnd 3jiapoism3jnioimm thursday june 32004 b serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 32 pages1 including gst stouffville native enjoying ride with flames to stanley cup final opinion 6 calendar 22 sports 26 classified 28 staff photobill roberts pedals to the metal bettyann brown front centre and robin stewart right and other volunteers from bloomington cove long term care facility ride the big bike for heart and stroke along main street in stouffville saturday riders collected pledges for the heart and stroke foundation bear spotted near downtown stouffville by joan ransberry staff writer a large footprint complete with claw marks found about 830 am yesterday in an elm road backyard had the property owner stumped for a while debbie lawrence knew the print was too big for a dog also it didnt have the markings of a farm animal i couldnt for the life of me figure out what it was she said it was a puzzle what mrs lawrence didnt know was a few hours earlier truck driver art van esterik called his wife to report a bear sighting at the corner of the ninth line and main street near downtown stouffville my husband was on his way for work at about 230 am when he spotted the black bear terrie van esterik said art called home to tell me not to let the cat out in the morning whitchurchstpuffville bylaw officer keith saunders said its the first time in his 17year career here that a bear made its way to the downtown area warren may a district biologist with the ministry of natural resources is not as sur prised to hear a bear was in town the recent sighting isnt new to the area he said two years ago there was a report of a bear southwest of stouffville within that area theres the oak ridges moraine and duffins creek and one branch of the rouge river mr may said these streams have cedar trees theres also good fishing opportunities and wildlife use the corridors so its not inconceivable that a bear would be in the area this particular bear is likely passing through he said however he does warn residents to take some measures to discourage the bear from hanging around remove any potential attractants mr may said clean off the barbecue grill clean out the bird feeder and dont put garbage out until its pickup time with files from mike hayakawa can anyone fix system residents wonder health care biggest issue with voters by lisa queen staff writer a backlogged health care system forced norma van der geest to wait two years for an eye operation and another two years for a knee replace ment the newmarket senior citizen is upset the provincial liberals reintro duced a health premium but while health care is a priority for them in this election mrs van der geest and her husband bas believe canadas medicare system is essential ly sound weve been very lucky weve had a family doctor all the time and we do get good care mrs van der geest said the waiting times do bother me but our family doctor is fantastic and he takes care of us thats why the van der geests are leaning liberal in the june 28 election although theyd like to see home care and services for seniors improved we will row with the oars we have said mr van der geest adding he favours prime minister paul martins business approach to govern ment i cannot foresee any of them the parties improving health care i dont think they can do anything much about it realistically because the cost of it is absolutely over the top mrs van der geest opposes any further privatization of health care i think it should all be public we pay enough taxes canadians consistendy rank health care as their no 1 concern and the three major political parties are all see waiting page 19 tzopct or s ft q re loustonl houston ford ltd 5786 main st stouffville 9056404541 www billhoustonf ord com the new 05 escape is here canadas top selling compact suv over so available all models and colours to choose from 2 carat diamonds save the one carat for her ears parthau jewellers 6312 main st stouffville 9056404646