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saturday dec 1 8 2004 serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 28 pages1 including gst 3 valuable lands left out of greenbelt environmentalists say opinion 6 sports 10 diversions 11 classified 17 united way campaign stretch york region campaign at 75 of ambitious target by roy green staff writer york regions united way campaign is swinging into high gear this week in a lastminute push to reach its 675million goalfor2004 the campaign reached a major milestone friday when it hit the 5million mark 75 per cent of the target according to chairperson garth issett were right in the zone mr issett said things start to get ramped up now as we get close to me finish keeping race this years target was a full 8 per cent above the 2003 goal but mr issett says that increase is merely keeping pace with popu lation growth and inflation with 41 agencies under the united way umbrella i here dona- tions touch the lives of more than 270000 people in four priority areas breaking the cycle of poverty and abuse nurturing children and youth in crisis sup porting families and assisting vulnerable seniors and people with special needs mr issett an executive with ibm global services says the task gets a little tougher each year as companies on payroll deduc tion reach the saturation point one company data mirror see bigmoney page 9 27 heritage ro hamoum 4030 bscxrccrrca iort11 mr smits goes to stouffville ooenin wallets staff photosteve somerville actor jimmy smits squints against the afternoon sun as he gets makeup applied between scenes on a tv shoot of the west wing on main street near the fickle pickle restaurant in stouffville last week the popular drama was also being shot in kleinburg this year retailers optimistic strong holiday sales will continue as shoppers seem set to splurge by patrick mangion staff writer leaving a busy mall following ah afternoon of christmas shopping nick picciriljo proud ly displays a new pair of shoes he bought for himself do you like them i think theyre pretty nice the king resident asks every time i go christmas shopping i end up buying some thing for myself while itmay do little to lower stress levels for shoppers such as mr piccirillo who still have several outstanding items to check off their lists retailers are welcoming news of a peak in consumer spending during the home stretch of the holiday season statistics canada indicated retail sales have been steady throughout 2004 a survey among canada top retailers also revealed an optimistic 6utlooksaid heather nairnrand director of marketing for ameri- canexpress v the demand is certainly there among the public and people seem more relaxed and willing to spend ms nairnrand said over the past couple of surveys weve seen concerns about the political and eco nomic climate as factors that have dampened spending these issues dont really seem to be on the radar screen today cash registers have been singing as 2004 see budget page 9 etoffflmg brae ffimmfflqd pff0l3cdijdil027 sadob- 3k i t iwi mvrm 5396 highway 7 markham 9052941210 s tiyn and couiitrv 6400888