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6 stouffville suntribune thursday dec 21 2006 sunlribune a metroland community newspaper 6290 main st stoufmle0nl4alg7 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director advertising distribution barry black director interactive media technology john futhey bob dean director circulation york region printing systems general manager lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debraweller editorial opening up to diversity we are days if not hours away from christmas for many in whitchurchstouffville that means the traditional holiday fare many will go to christian churches this week if for the only time this year to celebrate the birth of jesus most will gather with family dec 25 for giftgiving and feasting that propensity to celebrate christmas will weaken stouffville will not be the wasp bastion it has always been forever meet the newcomers to our commu nity who are buying the homes in the subdivisions popping up in stouffvilles four corners not all are christian certainly not all are white and thats a very good thing we only have to look one town to our south think back 25 years in markham when our much larger neighbour was going through its first growing pains homes were popping up on horse farms on the north side of steeles avenue and farmlands north of unionville and markham sound familiar stouffville we can learn from markhams experi ences with growth and diversity in the mid 1990s hurtful comments about the chinese community related to business signage in their native language in markham drew national headlines then there was lingering post911 backlash felt by theyork regions muslim community whitchurchstouffville councillor susan hilton got it right more than two years ago when she said stouffville basi cally a white community will soon expe rience rapid growth that will change its makeup im not sure were prepared for it she said some prep work has been the late kamil sadiq ushered in an official proclamation in whitchurch- stouffville last spring that states the town embraces diversity now the town must back up those words with actions diversity wasnt an issue during last months election campaign it should have been lets not wait until a chinese sign debacle or god forbid another 911 to occur let us learn from the errors made in other communities and the success sto ries that came later its one of the benefits of not being the first town to open the gates to near unlimited growth lets welcome our newcomers and celebrate all of our cultures lets include not exclude not everyone celebrates christmas the wings dohft work sdntribons letters to the editor kudos to ferdinands temelkovski for winning rural mail fight re rural mail delivery delay slammed dec 1 6 in february 2006 canada post halted rural mail delivery to our area of wtotchurchstoufiville due to safety concerns community mail boxes would be used instead wthin days of the announcement councillor ken ferdinands was in touch with canada post and also the residents ofward 1 he informed us this cancellation of service would not go unchallenged ken spent the next several weeks coordinating between residents canada post and lui temelkovski the liberal mp for our area a meeting was arranged for all interested parties at that meeting which at times became quite heat ed it was plain to everyone that cancellation of rural mail delivery was not an option the result was mr temelkovski tabled a private members bill in the house of commons instructing canada post to look into the resumption of rural mail delivery this bill was unanimously passed by all members of the house last week transport minister lawrence cannon announced he had directed the post office to imple ment a plan to restore and maintain mail delivery to rural roadside mailboxes within 18 months to ken ferdinands and lui temelkovski i say thank you for a job well done i have known ken for a fewyears and i believe the residents ofward 1 are very fortunate to have such an excellent representative keep up the good work my friend you are the reason we go to the polls to vote hopefully you will be our representative for a long time to come merry christmas to all frank j van veen vhitchurchstouffville editorial editor jim mason jmasonymgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandmvs0yrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbeu9yrngcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau bmndcau9ymgcom retail manager staceyallen sauenqymgcom new business development manager mikerogerson mrogerson9ymgcom production team leader sherry day sdayqymgcom editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fax 9058531765 distribution 9052942200 mmhm ontario anabowjmtmtx suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune 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 thomhill vaughan crtantne economist sun markham the eraffenner newmarketaurora georgoia advocate york region business times korth of the city yoriiregioncom and york region printing 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 editor 6290 main st stouffville l4a 1g7 email jmasonyrngcom or fax 9056408778 comments insulting to candidate re only golf club elected councillor bannon let ter to the editor by mark harper nov 23 this letter certainly aroused the concerns of the residents of the ballantrae golf and country club my interpretation of the letter was that other than the polls at the golf club mr bannon did not have a majority of votes in the other polls in ward 2 i agree with the letters of pat woods and brian birkness mr bannon has done a lot for wwtchurchstouftville during his term in office and that his focus will have to remain on the town and ward 2 and not just exclusively his cbmmunity however mr birkness comment regarding the inexperience in life or office is insulting to ward 2 candidate justin altmann it was good to see a young man run a good campaign and show his interest in politics and the community many young people have many new and innov ative ideas on changes required and politics and they should not be ignored i hope he runs again it is good to see that politics can still cause con troversy peter winnett whitchurchstouffville off the top with jim mason hats off to police but thats no clipper lid kids the significant others of stouffville minor hockey coaches dads and male fans were going through their closets all weekend needlessly they were looking for a fake beard and stouffville clippers ball cap all part of the makeup of the man who robbed the pace savings and credit union branch on main street last thursday they were wondering where their man was on the afternoon in question and if he had borrowed a dark green dodge caravan the getaway vehicle of choice in this heist it could all be for naught not the robbery it was all too real for the people work ing the front line of the credit union as it went down no gun was seen but the mere mention of weaponry sends shivers down even the most hardened of bank tellers even the beard looks genuine in an image taken from security video and released by york regional police late friday its the headgear thats in question first off i should establish my polic ing credentials were obtained by watch ing dragnet reruns and reading my grandmothers mickey spillane novels but thats not a blue and white and gold stouffville clippers baseball hat as the police media release described it clipper colours are red and black and before that they were maroon and white and as grainy as the image is the logo isnt even close to any of the versions- stouffville minor hockey has used over the years what it does look like is one of the urban retrolook lids the kidswear side ways or slightly askew for some reason thats according to my 16yearold son ryan who i brought in on the case because he knows much more about downtown streethigh school fashion than i ever will we forwarded our thoughts to the real police late friday not that were expect ing a citation from chief armand labarge or a guest spot on fashion television and rest easy minor hockey moms hubby wasnt out holding up the credit union to pay for your christmas presents or a new set of andrew raycroft goal pads for junior anyone with information on the robbery should con tact tfjeym regional police holdupunitatl-86876- 5423 exl 7873 crime stoppers at 1800222vps or leave an anonymous tip online at www1800222dpscom jim mason is editor of the suntribune