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xmme3gv3 6 stouffville suntribune thursday march 29 2007 stouffville suntnbune 6290 main st stouflvilleonl4a7z5 wwwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot eorror in chjef debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising distribution barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko york region printing general manager bob dean editorial keep residents in loop on incineration york councillors were to shortlist five properties for the new yorkdurham waste treatment facility today four in clarington the other in east gwillimbury its usually at this point in the process when public consultation begins that opposition starts to breed asking people to support an environ mental initiative be it a wind turbine or in this case an incineration facility is easy tell them its within a kilometre or two of their home and it becomes a dif ferent story the key as in anything is effective communication openness and easy-to- understand language should be the order of the day yet so far were not seeing this even the way in which the york- durham committee is referring to the plant calling it a thermal treatment facil ity seems vague it has also been referred to simply as the preferred option government needs to get away from using industry jargon and tell people in a way they can understand true this isnt an incinerator by old- school standards the goal is to harness energy from the process that can be put to use in the community but at the heart of it the place will be used to burn garbage that cant be collected through the regions blue box and organic programs the term used is residual waste from the start the east gwillimbury site was the only york property in the run ning to house the facility the 11 hectare site northeast of the corner of woodbine avenue and davis drive is next door to the regions new recycling facility and waste transfer sta tion it is bordered by industrial and agri cultural land and close to hwy 404 while the site is within the provincial greenbelt zone it is still in the running because of zoning changes made before the greenbelt plan took effect the need for such a site was prompt ed by michigans decision to close its bor ders to ontarios trash by 2010 with both regions in the same boat york and durham began working together on a joint solution to maximize efficiencies trucking our trash south was a short- term solution at best and ifwe are to be true stewards of the planet we need a homegrown solution for our waste theres no question we need this treatment facility yet wherever it is to be built it is clear the committee needs to do a better job keeping residents abreast of the progress not doing so will only allow misinfor mation to breed and smolder likely lead ing to fervent opposition and possibly delaying the project letters to the editor lots to be proud of in stouffville hockey successes re sorry theatre fans but its hockey season in stouffville column by jim mason march 1 yes indeed hockey season is in full bloom across whitchurchstouffville as mr mason wrote we are not the official hockeyville from the tv contest still we have plenty to be proud of in our hockey world stouffville district secondary school deserves the praise it is receiving for icing two ontario championship teams the spartan boys and girls squads won the aaa titles in a span of three days last week well done as impressive as the wins were a look down the rosters reveals a large number of young play ers boding well for the future of the programs too to see the senior players share the moment of winning a championship with the rookies some only in grade 9 was a truly great moment in sport the stouffville girls returned to stouffville to celebrate their win they were welcomed with true smalltown hospitality by the crew at east side marios at last weekends stouffville minor hockey tournament stouffville teams won four of the six division championships a fifth team was runner- up well done clippers the juvenile clippers made it to the ontario minor hockey association a finals before losing windsor our stouffville spirit had another fine year advancing to the elite eight in the 35- team provincial junior a league 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 emailjmasonyrmgcom or fax 9056408778 its been my pleasure to work with the spirit over the years and still be affiliated through minor hockey young minor hockey players accompanied the spirit on two road trips this year thanks to ken burrows and dan west of the junior team the youngsters were welcomed with open arms by team officials and players they were included in the pregame speeches postgame meals and the usual fun of a twohour bus ride to collingwood or orangeville the spirit should be very proud of its players they are excellent ambassadors for our community our family has billeted spirit players over the last six years including trevor smith and rob groom most recently many of these boys are like family they share in special occasions they visit they write we get to know their families they are always welcome back in our home we became part of the spirit family because of them mike humphreys president whitchurchstouffville minor hockey association dave teetzel class size extension good election move with the provincial election cam paign being unofficially launched with last weeks budget it might be worth looking at an incident that highlights the difference between our current govern ment and the one we had 10 years ago oak ridges conservative mpp frank klees fired shots at education minister kathleen wynne in the legislature for backing down on primary class caps mr speaker i rise to recognize the minister of education as she takes her rightful place in the renowned mcguinty liberal promisebreakers club during the last election campaign dalton mcguinty said the hard cap on class sizes was the single most impor tant plank in his policy platform mr klees said tuesday yesterday in the face of growing class sizes across the province with many classrooms with up to three grades per room the education minister simply abandoned the plank altogether ok what she actually did was grant a oneyear extension the remainder can have a maximum of 23 students she did this at the request of several large boards that were having trouble implementing the cap i have no doubt that had the school boards facing parental backlash taken their concerns to former premier mike harris the answer would have been something like tough noogies i made a promise and i am keeping it its your job to make it happen is the liberal governments approach better in this case probably not an extension is helpful to school boards needing more rooms and have construction programs in the works otherwise all the same factors will exist and solutions will remain the same busing split classes or creating some classes with even fewer than 20 students but at a cost that cant be fully recouped from the province the york region district school board was ready to implement the cap this fall even though it required split classes and busing so the extension may be just a good election move it allows liberals to pro nounce themselves on the brink of a cap without dealing with angry fallout letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribunercscrves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space utters to the editor the suntribune stouffville on l4a7z5 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrews9yrmgcom distribution manager megan pike mpikeyrmgcom advertising retail manager stacey allen sauenymigcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom ontario press council ape fdsfl onmun 3rcuu6on ccab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified i80o7433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhill vaughan citizen the erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing