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6VW Main Street, at the western entrance to Stouffville, resembles a roadway through a Third World country. It’s bumpy and unmarked and sure to rattle your vehicle. Residents complain about noise, mud, dirt and construction traffic in their community. Trees are cut, some illegally, ran- kling residents. It's understandable. Welcome to a boom town. Hundreds of homes have been built here during the last three years. A new high 'school opened last year. TWO new public elementary schools are under construction. A shopping centre on Hwy. 48 is partially built. Another is soon to be constructed on Main Street next to Tim Hortons. An auto mall with up to eight deal- erships will be built during the next two years on Hwy. 48 north of Mair}. The physical side of growth can be accounted for. We know there will be hiccups, just as there were in other growing communities right here in York Region. Miniinizing the effect on residents new and old, is key. The social side of growth is anoth er issue. Are we doing enough to inte grate newcomers into Whitchurch Stouffville, many of whom are rela tively new to Canada? Do they know enough about this community? Maybe not. A rough poll of residents who moved here approximately two years ago found they didn't know about established Stouffville entities such as the Music Mania variety show and the Stouffville Spirit. Jr. A Hockey Club. ‘ Are they made to feel welcome? We have a Welcome Wagon and a Newcomers Club. The municipality has hosted information fairs aimed at educating new residents about the organizations and facilities of their new home town. More is planned, and needed. The smart organizations are holdâ€" ing their own sessions for new resi- dents. They are open to new residents and new ideas. Because, the surest way to shrink an organization is to remain stag- nant, especially in a growing and changing town. Welcome, newcomers. Please embrace this community, hopefully with the assistance of your neigh- bouts. lETTERS POLICY The Sun-Mbune welcomes your letters. All submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime tel hone number. name and a mess. The Sunâ€"“Mbune ms the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space. ammonium. mam-M WMSL mum-.0" mm Rolling out a welcome mat [mggo_n9yrmkcom Editorial [NmRAcnvn MEDIA Marketing 8: Advertising Dawna Andrews dandmmfiyrmgmm Enmmuu. Editor Jim Mason jmasonQynng.com Council has chance to create legacy with park, arena, bowling centre Re: Medical centre to oust bowling alley and Bowling centre closure ends Stoufli/ille tradition, let- ter in the editor by Kelly Lehman, Marth 22. After reading the article and the letter, I see a need to have both facilities in the town. As a possible solution to the problem, could the town not look to the unpopular Park Drive exten- sion? The project has now been divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 is to complete the connection from Reeves Way to the parking lot of the Lebovic Lei- sure Centre, which will allow residents to the south access to facility. Is Phase 2 of the extension necessary now that Hoover Park Drive (and soon Millard Street) has been extended to Hwy. 48? Phase 2 will be subject to budget allocation to rip out the softball diamonds, Burkholder Street and re-construct the park beginning in 2009. If Phase 2 was not to happen could the money that is going to be allocated in the budget towards the unpopular Park Drive extension be reallocated to a new location for a bowling alley. The 19 on the Park Theatre and'a hockey amna that will meet the needs of tomorrow? Most politicians want to leave a legacy. Mayor Wayne Emmerson and councillors, why not leave your legacy as the council that preserved one of our oldest parks and helped residents achieve better access to health care, theatre and sporting faciliâ€" It is just an idea that brings together the requests already presented by the residents of this town for a long time. Classified Manager TeamLader Ann Campbell ammpbellOyrmg.com Retail Manager Stacey Allen sallenfifyrmg.mm Anvmmsmc SWâ€"‘li‘ibune PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot 6290Maln8t StoulMIe. ON. I.“ 167 WWW-00m Letters to the Editor Assistant Classified bmndaauOyrmg.com Bonnie Rondeau Pnonucnon ties, including a bowling alley, that help make our town unique. Old Canadian Tire building a cinema? I am writing to express my idea for the building which housed our Canadian Time on Main Street. I know the southwest comer of Ninth Line and Main Street is scheduled for redevelopment into retail and commercial business and I don’t have any issues with that area at all. I have expressed my opinions in the past or at how we choose to develop and the need to adopt a “live, work and play" mentality when it comes to growth in this modern age of sustainable develop- ment. One item the town is missing is a movie theatre. We have to commute to Markham or Aurora if we want to go out to a movie. 1 think the old Canadian Tire is an ideal location for this entertainment venue as it is close to restau- rants and within walking distance to old and new residential developments. People could go out for dinner and then take in a movie as a night out. I don't know if plans are already in place for this facility, but a movie theatre would be a nice addi- tion complementing the live-work-play sustainâ€" able lifestyle. uvu uu Viv 6U, VVIIllvll nvll \ It would help the economy of the town as well, game? Not bowliag keeping our recreational dollars here in Stouffville. DEREK SAWYER Iim Mason is editor of The Sun smurrvnuz Tl‘ibune. Au rldul Artufi! Baum MANAGE: Robert 142ka Emm- m Cum Debora Kelly ADVERTISING 905-640-2612 (:Imificd: 1-800-7433353 Fax: 905'M0-8778 DISTRIBUTION 905-640-2612 905-640-2612 x: 905â€"640-8778 EDITORIAL MELANIE BURNETT STOUFFVILLE Dnncmn a Tncmlowcv lohn Futhey A York Region Media Group community newspaper The Sun-Tnbune, puinshed every Thursday and Saturday. is a dMsTon of the Meboiand Media Group Ltd, a whoIIy-owned subsldfiary ofTorstar Corporation. Metroland is comprised of 100 community publications acmss Ontano. The York Region Newspaper Gmup Includes The Liberal, seMng Richmond Hm and Thomhlll. Vaughan Citizen, The Era-Banner (Newmarkev Aurora). Markham Economist Sun, Geovgina Advocateflork Region Business Times, North of the City, yorkregionoom and York Region Ponting. Dmcmn, Cmcuumou Svsmus Lynn Pashko Dim-.msmc You Ramon hummus a Din-lumen Cans-AL MANAGER Ban-y Black Bob Dean And isn't it ironic. Don't you think? In the very month many are celebrat- ing plans to build one recreation cen- tre in Mlitchurch-Stouffville, another is preparing to be closed. The néw kid on the block would be a curling club that is still very much in the planning stages. The 61d dbg prepping to get the boot off Main Street is the Stouffville Bowling Centre. So, we'll provide a new form of rec- reation for some and take it away from others? Let’s be clear on the bowling alley. It’s a privately-owned facility and the own- ers are free to do with it what they please, within the rules of the municipality. And you can't argue with the new use, a medical centre housing two to five doctors. If we aren’t short on physicians yet, our day will likely come. Just as curlers took their brooms to clubs in Uxbridge and Markham after rinks closed in Stouflville over the years, the same will likely happen with our bowlers. Three hundred of them frequented the alleys of the Stouffville centre week- ly, for league play, birthday parties and fundraising events. It’s anoiher piece of old Stoufl‘ville disappearing, all six lanes. Bowling alleys are going the way of movie theatres and shopping zones with new mega complexes now serving legions not villages. And I don't like chances of a new set of lanes being put down in Stoufl‘ville, at least in the short run. After all, a movie theatre has been talked about in pretty much every municipal election here since 1982 and nary a proposal has been made. So, we widen our environmental foot â€" print and drive our SUVs to the cinema, the mall and, now, the bowling alley, in neighboring communities, dropping our dollars as we go, Whitchurch-Stouffirille. Got game? Not bowling. (Sm-Tribune Got game? Not bowling, Stoufiuille with Iim Mason Off The Top