whitdiiirchstotfffvllle pumic libran saturday april 82006 serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 32 pages1 including gst 19 eating exercising at work makes for healthy employees opinion 6 growth 3 sports 10 classified 21 publication mail agreement 40007673 york central nurses union cards union represents 51000 workers by michael pqwer staff writer the roughly 600 nurses at york central hospital have voted to unionize a move ontario nurses association vicepresident vicki mckenna said will help put more nursesat patients bedsides the bottom line for nurses is that they want whats best for their patients the nurses there were having trouble providing the level of care they wanted to she said were very happy to have them on board salary wasnt the main issue driving the nurses to start seeking ona membership last year she noted the nurses felt the hospital wasnt addressing employee shortages on each shift caused by sickleave vacation or retirement the ontario nurses association represents about 51000 employees when bargain ing with queens parle the ona negotiates con tracts addresses patient care concerns arid provides its mem bers with continuing education communications services and malpractice insurance the union represents i27 hos pitals as well as some nurses in longterm care homes and other facilities there wasnt a huge wage disparity ms mckenna said of see contract page 17 two police shootings in three months an anomoly chief says by chris traber staff writer two police shootings in three months the latest last wednesday doesnt point to york officers using force more often the chief says in fact incidents where police use force to subdue suspects is actually declining york regional police chief armand la barge said citing a study he tabled at the police services board last month chief la barge said officers filed 258 use of force reports in 2005 corn- pared to 274 in 2004 thafs a 58 per cent decrease in incidents where officers had to exercise force either physical or with a weapon such as a baton pepper spray gun or rifle but the vast majority of those incidents never make the news the spotlight is only turned on when suspects are shot in january officers were forced to shoot and kill a 40yearold markham man who was holding a knife to his father the special investigations unit said the fatal shooting was justified in wednesdays shooting a struggle between drug and vice plainclothes officers arid a suspect in a markham subdivision ended with a 21yearold man being shot in the leg the siu is still investigat ing last year york police fired shots in three separate incidents killing a 21 yearold toronto man who was fleeing the scene of an industrial breakin compared to other regions york v see guns page 12 photoandrew mason another spirited win stoufrville spirit celebrate winning the northwest championship of the provincial jr a hockey league wednesday in front of 1100 fans at the stbuffville arena holtvbs 27 heritage rd markham for peak performance this vvinterctontopenvcirhobdto strangers bring it home to honda fora comprehensive multi point inspection plus a genuine honda oil and filter change available for most honda models taxes not incuded i i i t t t honda vvvvwmarkhamhondacom bring it home to honda 664301512 6 444 honda vv y y- yv v v a