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

. lost and found' Chronicle letter leads to return of missing holiday sign Heidi Vanstone was all smiles last week after her missing holiday sign was returned Regional tttttttttShe wants frtttt IIIIS pass proposal reevaluated hm haung he, Idtut m Aime bus pawn-s tor seniors and disabled people rejected at the Hill]- rrtittee lmel, regional Coun Mike Connolly IV (“Mug Waterloo Region staft In reevaluate the cost of his proposal, Connolly wants the rcgmn "tissue bus Pavseh In seniors the disabled during nun-peak hours. arguing the buses are in wnu'c anyway and it would maximize the number of passengt-rs Grand River Transit rarrlm daily Ii would also have the beneficial pifert of rerun- netting some the disabled ul0iiltttirtlttluir1ltlnt1n? Tf'"' B-K VOLVO ' - _ -', As', 885-509! By Boa Valium I 51mm. in stotf and seniors In the wider rnmmunny hy removing transportaim as a barrier. Hiss proposal has won the support of a Waterloo human. Maureen Melo, who works with the div aided She has launched a pear nun In get the free hm pass proposal reconsidered hy regional gnwrnnwnl, She said it will end the stu-ral isolation faced hy many seniors and the dis. abled so that they can Mart making a [NNliu- contrihtr Iiun trt their ctrrrtmunities again, instead of facing lilv as shut-ins But Connolly isn't opti mistir about thc [Irnspecls of the plan. Hr, thinks (hr Idea " a ? traffic stopper Irctftitly IL)! tinish . “(MIMIJII‘ J, rmmhh- - hill/aw u all inm'Ii-r'liunx From mudil. p "c ‘59 N Mum [ “my hr My "r. (991:: 3.11 pljtr‘w ,gv Hwy. rm n gnungro My» tlv. "silt .'Cu.r .. w'ricyn new Fnrhnmls-l. t'w NI WanpamIn Moore 1Jlti-Matte-tu-a) $; , )nth trnhhr 1133’. imam .umw‘tart! "apse,atrti, washings autumn campmmv.enq (he? pum VF errur r" n; Bil,tvliiBs3, - v Moore- smooth flat hm -,r, Mike Connolly Hymn"! vruunriOrrr nun _ Hatter with regional staff. "We're going In gm a writ. tu-n confirmation from them mm- In say why 'hey rart't haw free Inns passes," said tut-REA shun war March. Alter losing almost all hope that a holiday lawn decttation that was stolen trum her front yard in Mnu, ary would ever be found. lint week the Waterloo woman gm the surprise of hvrlife. "My plume rang last Wednesday. and " was a woman who said " have your sign.” Vansmne said. "II took me by surprise and an first I thought, "tho is this?” The woman. Heather MacIt1tyre, told Vamstone that she had found the sign stuffed in a snowbank on her property weeks ago. The discovery came after Macintyre's home was a vic- tim ofa childish prank. "She told me that her door bell rang one night and no one was there." Vannlune said. " [he door hell rang again. and this time sumo- une had tied her Christmas lights between a pulu and her door in she couldn't open it. And he said a! least hall the battle is won because transit already provides free service for peoplc in wheel, chairs thmugh a special pro- gram. "When she got uutsidtn shy found the sign in the Connolly. "Because that's what they're going In come back with. ._ But unu- supporu-rs of the plan have all the obiec- lions out in the open, Con- nolly thinks they'll be better ahte to tackle some of the reservations. "Hut of rnurw you have In by in a wheelchair. sn if you belong In Mohilily Plus for other roman you dorft get a free ride." "You have m lwlnug m Mobility Plus." said Cunrml- Iv. With the region faring n By Mme“ Baum l ttrottrclehttrl, 't'idi Vanstone is a big believer in Christmas ‘mirack's __ even in [Wu Mucks away,Y'un- stone couldnt imagine what had happened to the deal» ratium snuwbuuk And what sickened her more was the Incl the sign didn't awn belong to her. She had borrowed it from a Mend. And the morning the friend was ready In take the sign home was the Same morning Vanstune found it missing. "It was. a homemade sign with sentimental value." she said. "And the fact that it wasn't mine made it worse. "The strange thing was it was the only thing taken." Vansitone said. "And the stand it sits an WM left behind, " made no sense For weeks Vansume searched her Westvale neighbourhood huping she'd find the sign in good condition. three. to ttine-per-tint tax increase this year. and with Grand River Transit already contemplating a lumen! fare hike, Connolly said he knows same of the cost prmsures. the bus service is under. But wht'n he looked at the budget lwu weeks ago and looked at sum? of the transit figures. he felt rider ship wax being over-tvi- milled In the mm- of five per cent per year, when in arm- al Incl it has only gum- up four per cent per year. "(in than basis our htvii, ncss plan for expansion could be delayed a little hit." said tinnnnlly, "We turs/implement it slightly slower. "lt's a happy ending. Everything Just seemed to connect. " "We can 'ahve money on -- Heidi Vansmne ___,y l,"\[l.\ trNtyer .---- 33; king 'xtrcct North,0aicr I'hunr: (H9) 772-t t27 'a,t lulu”! m FII,.qilr,fii, L n. he m» ' .m v, "With dw size ul the sign. I thought sume kids might hare taken it lo use as a mhuggan. l checked out u few parks, hut I didn't find anything." Her last effort With writ- ing a Letter to the Editor in last week's Waterloo Chroni- cle. asking anyone who may have yietut the sign to mm tact her. The" the phone rang. "Heather said her car worker had been at his mother's that morning and read the Chronicle," she said. "Heather had talked about findinstthe sign In her ctr-workers. She'd even called schools and churches thinking it was part of a hot- iday display." The more time that wcnt by, the mom- Vanstone's hopes of rinding the (locum- tion lessened. Within hours the sign was hack in Vanstorks (are. "it just has [me little scratch on the front. hut I can touch it up." Vansmno said. "it's hettcr than finding it snapped in half. "lt's a happy ending. Everything just wemvd ttt connect, It's a real blessing." that. hut they've ruled th out." (iunnnlly wanted In apply that Siuillgs m other areas of the irudget in attempt to lower the llrhsi» trle lax hit. [he cu-worker passed along the information -- including Vanstone's phone number -- to Muclt1tyre Connolly was also \urv prised the support of Grand River Transit was rising by (‘ighl per Cent pr‘r year when thc ridership was only increasing bv. four ppr cent per year. "Tn mt' w. a businessman you dun] spend eight In sum- four." said Connolly. "I think the whole thing can be Innlwd at and I dnn'l think that the free hus pus» vs are going In hurt than in anyway "They (an only gain from it in inrtpawd ridership," l, "I tat