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jat 2 the tribune to irsday dececber 16 1971 tb shfa established 18s8 charles h nolan publisher n james thomas asuttatr publisher and editor kobekt mccalsland advertising manager published every thursday by intend publishing co limited at 5i main st stouffville ont tel 6502101 single copies 13e subscriptions 500 per year in canada 5900 elsewhere member of audit bureau of circulation canadian weekly newspapers association and ontario weekly newspapers association second class mail registration number 0s96 l editorial garbage debate ridiculous recent municipal meetings have brought to light what might have turned out to be a ridiculous situation concerning the disposal of garbage for whitchurch- stouffville council has been considering a contract with york sanitation a licensed dumping ground near wilcox lake while near at hand highway 48 is the bremner dump which is also fully licensed to accept dry garbage and is doing so from a number of outside municipalities after a heated debate on tuesday council agreed to request a contract price from the bremner firm before entering into any contract with york councillor merlyn baker has been leading the fight against contracting with the nearby dumping ground even though it has been pointed out on numerous occasions that other municipalities are using this facility quite legally the high way 48 operation is regularly inspected for proper handling procedures but mr baker is quite adamant and has failed to present tangible evidence of misuse he has been able to muster some support from councillors gordon ratcliff and betty vannostrand on the surface the debate appears ridiculous there appears to be no reason why local taxpayers should be called upon to pay for trucking garbage all the way across the municipality when properly licensed and inspected facilities may be available much closer to where they are required stouffvilles contract with the beach dumping ground in uxbridge township will cease this spring metro boundaries heaving metro is heaving with growth pains only a few miles away and the likely inclusion of a part of pickering township as a fifth borough will undoubtedly make waves which will be felt even in stouff ville markham has already been fully ur banized and the slim strip of greenery separating it from metro is less and less noticed by residents who continue to crowd into the area these growth reverberations will be felt more and more here and the line of developers who wish to come in here with their plans is a growing longer by the month the third sizeable apartment house is under construction here at the moment and this will undoubtedly be just the beginning commercial plans have also been spurred a pace and several are now being considered with more in the offing to date stouffville planning has withstood the outside pressure to a large degree but we would suggest that time is running out with metro tentacles pressing ever closer the rural town complexion is fading fast communication channels needed auroras mayor dick illingworth came up with a very good idea at the last regional council meeting mr illingworth is one of the most ac tive members of the council rare is the issue on which he does not have and state an opinion he definitely makes himself heard mayor illingworth has what might be called a carrying voice this is in pleasant contrast to some council members who cant be heard at a distance of five feet mr illingworth in full cry can probably be heard in sutton during discussion of a resolution concerning the police commission mr illingworth suggested that the police should improve their public relations we heartily agree the fact is that the police department has no public relations as such channels of communication to the press and the public are generally informal to find out something you used to drop into the station and talk to an officer you knew personally since the formation of the york regional force this system has been under severe strain the latest closing of four stations has pretty well destroyed the old method with everything centralized in newmarket it has become increasingly difficult to obtain even routine in formation to some extent the police recognize this problem a special press conference will probably be called later this month to establish some new system of com munication it is significant that we learned of this not through the com mission or the chiefs office but from fellow journalists we do not wish to hand out any wholesale criticisms over this issue chief crawford seems to be an excellent administrator an experienced police officer who is doing a fine job of running the york regional force he is han dicapped in many ways by a tight budget and a lack of manpower for this reason he appears to have given public relations a very low priority a public relations officer is we feel badly needed around police headquar ters this does not need to be a constable necessarily and would not place a fur ther strain on the supply of uniformed manpower at this stage the situation is not critical but it could easily become so we hope mr illingworths dulcet tones will penetrate to the proper quarters and inspire some action to ensure a con tinuing flow of information etli tars mail dear sir parkview home now serves the community of stouffville and surroun ding districts in the following ways as a charitable nonprofit organization operating under the charitable in stitutions act supervised by the department of social and family ser vices homes for the aged branch providing three levels of care normal bed and special to approximately 109 residents these people are from many backgrounds providing equal care to persons regardless of their ability to pay for their cost of maintenance recognising the needs of its residents through varied programs and activities which seek to meet the physical social and spiritual needs of each person providing high standards of professional care in a homelike and compassionate atmosphere providing employment for between 50 and 60 local people although construction of the new 28900000 addition to parkview home has been subsidized through government grants a portion of the costs must be met by the institution at present the home has a capital indebtedness of over 10000000 qjckeai cuou yaaapsty 7wo eggoii aad heavy art the fried rice sugar and spice whoever heard of bubble pipes by bill smiley never fails had barely written a column extolling the grand mild weather wed been having when the wind came out of the north with a bone in his teeth and the snow new and the car and i both started coughing and almost before id begun rueing the writing of such a jinx column my wife yelped something like holy old whackers its almost christmas and sure enough it almost is christmas when we were all young was something there was looking for ward to school holidays associated with sleighs and toboggans and skating and coming in soaking wet rosy as a cherub hungry as a hyena there was the anticipation of decorating hanging stockings rustling paper and a vast magnificent turkey dinner a onceayear treat christmas shopping was no problem nobody had any money of course the agonizing decisions were there even then for adults should it be something practical a new sweater or long un derwear or should it be something magic and enchanting a game or a book no question of both for kids with maybe 85 hardearned pennies to spend there was no problem a bubblepipe for your brother 10 cents and supply his own soap a colouring book for your sister 15 cents and find her own crayons a beautiful cup and saucer for your mother at 35 cents and a purple and yellow tie for you dad at 25 cents if the family were bigger you cut your cloth and you did all your shopping on the day before christmas there was never a frantic thought that the stores might be sold out of bubblepipes or long un derwear then there was the symbolic significance though we didnt even know the meaning of either word then there was the church concert usually held in the sunday school hall there were games and carols and choirs there were the telegrams from santa claus read aloud periodically and with mounting excitement to say that he was getting closer and closer from the north pole though donder had come up lame then the entry of himself the wild clamour and the dispensing of those string bags with candy and an apple in each and the christmas pageant in the church the nativity scene invariably broken up by a tiny angel piping hi mommy looka me im a angel while mommy blushed deeply between em barrassment and pride i still look forward to christmas but theres a difference its about the dif ference with which a prisoner would look forward to a getting out of jail or b going to the electric chair nowadays we anticipate christmas all right but what we look forward to is a hectic expensive scramble with precious little of the mystery and delight remaining the christmas turkey is now just a dirty great bird that has to be stuffed and then stuffed into us and then cleared up after a turkey today is not a gruesome fascinating thing hanging head down in the woodshed by its clawlike feet its just something you buy and stick in the freezer anytime during the year in case you have unexpected weekend guests shopping has changed immeasurably the panic button is pushed about the end of october and we are warned shouted at and scorned by the various media until we have a tremendous guilt feeling if were not christmas shopping by mid- november the agonizing decisions are still there but most people have some money now which quadruples the decisions every year at our house we firmly decide about dec 1st that there will be no gifts or cards this year and every year at the last minute we plunge into an orgy of both and wind up christmas day feeling that we were right in the first place every year the big problem is what to buy grandad its not that he is the man who has everything the trouble is that hes the man who doesnt need anything he doesnt smoke or drink his slippers are good as new and he has at least six shirts in his bottom drawer not even unwrapped bought on previous desperate birthdays and christmases the symbolic significance is still there of course and the christmas concerts and pageants but whats a bag of candy to a kid today he probably collected eight times that amount on halloween and also has an allowance so that he can buy his own not that cheap stuff in the christmas bag and the pageants mores the pity tend to become second cousins to lashings of liquor phoney tv christmas programs and sheer greed i wanna snowmobile we are seeking help from local residents in various forms donations toward the cost of furnishing rooms in the new addition which was completed in july 1971 costs of furnishings vary from 62500 to 145000 per room depending on style and number of beds door plaques will be inscribed with names of persons who donate the full cost of furnishing a room any donation towards furnishings will be appreciated donations to reduce the capital indebtedness all donations are tax deductible and the residents will benefit from them through lower rates as an individual remember park view home in your will your legacy will continue to help provide care and security to senior citizens after you are gone residents staff and management of parkview do very much appreciate the many ways in which people of the community have generously given assistance j m nighswander administrator dear mr editor while i do live closer to aurora than stouffville i do take the stouffville paper because of family connections there theres a big argument going on in aurora right now about having another through road in the town north and south so that people can avoid the heavy traffic on yonge st im in stouffville fairly often and if theres an argument going on in aurora there should be a bigger one in stouff ville that single route through the town from end to end is terrible it seemed to me that your paper an nounced big plans at one time for another road across the north side of the town what happened to them is someone dragging their feet it used to be bad just in the summer but now its all year round so much talk and so little action maybe its this new type of government thats so big it cant move alvin henshaw whitchurchstouffville mm bah humbug by mark niblett i dont know which attitude you prefer at this time of year peace on earth or bah humbug but i must confess i incline towards the latter dont get me wrong now im not a scrooge there are some very enjoyable features about christmas unfortunately i find myself becoming increasingly irritated with this festival as it is celebrated in our society christmas is basically a religious occasion and religious observance of the winter sol stice goes back well beyond the dawn of recorded history as practiced by the early church christmas had much to commend it it was a time of rejoicing in a spiritual way even up to the early part of this century the character of the holiday remained basically unchanged indeed in some countries such as spain celebration of the birth of christ has changed very little in the last 500 years spain though is not north america christmas here and now has in creasingly become just another holiday such has been the decline in religious belief that today it is a rare canadian who observes christmas primarily as a religious holiday there are people who adhere to their faith and practice it who go to their particular church and offer up thanks for the birth of christ last week i went down to toronto to do some shopping i did this with great reluctance only at the point of a metaphorical gun it was just as bad as id feared the weather was bad and there was no place to park the car within 6 blocks of my destination but mostly the crowds got to me they come out every year vast masses of humanity pushing and shoving along the sidewalks you look at the dishevelled hair the hard eye the thinc lipped glare and you wonder is this christmas in the stores they snatch at items on the counters elbow their way along the aisles extra security guards are all over the place because the merchants have learned that a bit of christmas spirit doesnt prevent people from shoplifting okay thats bad enough but what about the children for them at least christmas should still be a thing of wonder and beauty but last week i saw i literally dozens of children being slapped or dragged along by their harried mothers at times the christmas carols could barely drown out the wailing of j tired puzzled upset children is this j christmas i also get pretty sick of those christmas carols to me hell is a place where i have to listen to bing crosby singing white christmas 24 hours a day i cant claim that all or even most people act like the mobs around yonge and queen its quite possible that these actions the glares the elbowing the slapping are a result of pure frustration and that these women would not normally dream of doing such a thing mind you i can see their point after a couple of hours i felt like belting a few people myself sadly i know that im part of the whole scene there is an irresistible social pressure to do what is expected and it is never stronger than at christmas ideally id like to spend christmas quietly at home with my friends and relatives dropping in for a visit id like to send cards only to people i think deserve them not to people whom i despise id like to get rid of all the hypocrisy and uproar which now surrounds christmas unfortunately i lack the courage of my convictions to the extent that i generally go along with this celebration ii im not asking that the clock be turned- back and i dont seek the big rock i candy mountain there wont be any peace on earth in pakistan this christmas there wont be much goodrj will towards men along the east bank of the jordan there wont be any grateful prayers offered up from kingston penitentiary i wouldnt ignore all these things theyre part of life as we know it and i generally enjoy life there was no angel of mons and all the myths about christmas are either dead or dying but it could be a lot more than it is it could be a time to think to reflect to act decently towards your fellow man if only for a day is that so much to ask