The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Publicationmail agreement #40051189 Follow us on EYE EXAMS AVAILABLE thursdAY, july 14, 2016 Serving the community of Whitchurch-Stouffville 40 Pages/yorkregion.com 6292 Main St., Stouffville · www.vividoptical.ca 905-640-3537 TOWN COUNCIL relief! Mayor, councillor at odds over use of official neckwear PAGE 3 COMING UP `Chain' of command DROUGHT HITS HOME ON FARMS BY LISA QUEEN Cools cars, hot food Sweet rides cruise into Stouffville legion weekly PAGE 30 SPORTS Back from NHL camp Spirit graduate Geiger signed by Sabres'organization PAGE 38 STAFF PHOTO/MIKE BARRETT Hot Tub Sale! On now! Seaway Pools & Hot Tubs 27 HERITAGE RD., MARKHAM Kaelin Martell, 8, cools off on the splash pad in the recently re-opened Greenwood Parkette. The renovated five acres of green space in northeast Stouffville also features play structures, a multi-purpose court, fitness trail stations, a shade structure and community gardens. The park is between St. Brigid and Harry Bowes schools, north of Millard Street. For more ways to chill off during the summer heat wave, turn to page 9. hen farmer Jim Hulshof isn't checking two weather apps on his phone, he is gazing up at the sky wondering when rain will come. The Stouffville farmer believes this in one of the three driest summers he's seen since he first began helping farm the crops as a child 50 years ago. "It's a trying year more than anything else, just because of lack of water. Very horrible. Dry, dry, dry, dry," he said, adding there has probably been a quarter of the normal rainfall since early May. Hulshof's distress over the dry summer comes as David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, says York Region and southern Ontario are experiencing a severe drought and as the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority asks residents and businesses to scale back their water consumption. Hulshof irrigates 40 acres of his 50-acre farm on Bloomington Road east of Hwy. 48. He grows vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, sweet corn, pumpkins and squash and operates a retail market on-site. Even so, all the crops are suffering from heat stress. For those farmers who don't use irrigation systems, Hulshof believes they will be looking at a fraction of the yield they normally get unless the drought ends soon. "For individuals who don't have irrigation, See WANTED, page 12. W lqueen@yrmg.com 905-294-8030 Audi · Porsche European & Asian Vintage Volkswagen Hybrid 138 Sandiford Dr., Unit 5 · 905-642-2886 www.410auto.ca GOING GREEN AT 410 AUTO "Your Confident Smile Is Our Goal" Dr. Karim M. Nanji & Associates H.B.Sc., M.Sc., D.D.S 905-642-5777 www.thedentalcentre.ca 15 Ringwood Drive, Stouffville