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o stouffville suntribune april 21 2005 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director distribution director marketingpartnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean vision must turn to action the character community council of york regions second annual conference last week was themed vision into action and that in a nutshell is the challenge we face with the character development initiative in york region john wright senior vicepresident of ipsosreid unveiled the results of a poll taken on community character that con firmed what many of us know on the surface of it we live in com munities with character character in ontario is pretty good mr wright said after surveying 1000 people across the province about all aspects of community character people support it people feel its in their com munity but the pollster then drew a stark line between propensity and intensity most people in ontario have the notion character is alive and well in their communities but when you look past the top line you see the intensity of the view is halfhearted he said in other words while we can get all warm and fuzzy about character when push comes to shove the intensity dimin ishes dramatically you know that if you drive on our roads where the raised middle finger is an all too common salute you know that if your child is one of the many victims of bullying in our schools the reality is time and time again we tolerate dishonesty see gomery inquiry disrespect pessimism irre sponsibility exclusivity cowardice and lack of initiative but the good news is 90 per cent of respondents believe character can make a difference character has the potential to be much more than pie in the sky the challenge of the character community council our challenge is to motivate those receptive citizens to embrace the fledging movement that lit erally has the potential to transform our lives the vision must indeed become an action mr wright likened the momentum to the growth of the environmental con science in the late 1980s few would have imagined what is commonplace today most citizens have readily accepted their obligation to recycle for instance and will go to great lengths to divert waste from landfills the survey indicates there is hope a virtual tide of character can sweep through our communities but we must do more than simply promote it we must stop tolerating and condon ing the lack of character that regrettably is so often demonstrated ii bum bbbw 1h3il it 1 1 letters to the editor councillors didnt show character re town hall theatre rejected april 7 i would like to thank all of those in the commu nity who came to the meeting on the development of an arts and culture centre at 19 civic ave packed the council chamber to the rafters and spoke with great passion and eloquence about their desire to see this happen it fills my heart with joy and wonder to see so many people from this community young and old professionals and children new residents and old coming together to try and create something we could be proud of in a place that has great histori cal significance what a wonderful community of residents we have i thank councillor rob hargrave a true gentle man and the only councillor who seems to under stand it is the role of government to listen to what the community wants and then try to make it hap pen and to our mayor sue sherban who fought with ferociousness to try and get the rest of council to understand this basic concept thank you as for the rest of council the sadness that i feel to see this wonderful idea shot down is over whelmed by the extreme embarrassment i feel by your absolutely shameful and ignorant treatment of the two consultants who did our feasibility study while i understand there were legitimate con cerns over the information provided by the study i cannot understand why two professionals should be publicly berated in such a rude and caustic manner i shudder to think of the damage this is going to do to the reputation of this town i thought that we were a character community but i guess this must only apply to the residents pam mandich stouffville the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor34 civic ave po box 154 stouffville l4a 7z5 email jmasonyrngcom elvis festival good for stouffville re tattoo parlours elvis festival not what downtown needs letter march 31 we had never been to stouffville or even thought of coming until we heard about the elvis festival in your community we attended as did a lot of other retired adults and had a wonderful time and spent money at your restaurants and shops we also go to the largest elvis fest in ontario in collingwood and it remains a beautiful place people go to enjoy good music and see friends made over the years at the other elvis fests in new places perhaps letter writer brian claman should go and see what the festival is all about before comparing it to a tattoo parlour many of the elvis tribute artists donate many hours to charity work we hope the elvis fest remains in stouffville thank you thank you very much see you there wayne marilyn young welland editorial editor jini mason jmasonyrngcom administration office manager vivian oneil vonellyrngcom production manager pam nichols pnicholsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom retail manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom new business manager steve kane skaneyrngcom managing director real estate mikerogerson mrogersonyrngcom editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fav 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 cttudbn cutuusons hselo auh bojoj mtmtw onurio press council sii suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the sun tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhinvaughan ctoenthe economist sun markham the erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntribune georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing off the top with jim mason thanks muskrat for making our weekend it came as no surprise the muskrat was responsible for a weekend incident that forced 50 northern whitchurch- stouffville families to boil their water the muskrat is my personal public enemy no 1 he was blamed for the deposit of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into bogart creek between ballantrae and vandorf at the aurora road friday he didnt produce the excrement that fouled the water king coal ducks bird of choice took care of that but mr muskrat apparently ripped a hole in a retention pond that let the duck do pour out and do its bad thing to the water supply very nice muskrat radio and tv reporters were warning neighbours to disinfect their water while trying to pronounce our towns full name one news organization made it sound like the tainted water story that crippled this town in the early 1980s was back history lesson a health study 20 years ago disproved claims that an abandoned dump south of ballantrae was making residents sick or worse thanks for the memories muskrat it wasnt bad enough that one of your kind disrupted my sunday afternoon nap on the previous weekend turning the remainder of the day off into an adventure that could have left me in my own legal dodo my pga viewing was abruptly interrupted by a loud scratch ing at a rec room window we dont own a cat the kids are too old for such high jinx must look up tikes im not hinterland whos who but what looked down at me stuck in the window well was a cross between a beaver and a rat but the canadian wildlife service says the muskrat is basically a large field mouse that has adapted to life in and around water and my yard in suburban stouffville at least until we hoisted this tasmanian devil of a fighter onto the lawn and eventually placed him in a guinea pig cage for the drive to his new home island lake the friendly folks at the ospca later told me id contravened some law maybe the muskrathuman treaty by moving the intruder more than one kilo meter from my er his home arrest me then again if this same varmint is responsible for spewing tons of duck manure across the town i apologize and no captain and tenilles greatest hits arent playing in my car no muskrat love on me jim mason is editor of tfie sun- tyibune