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mkssssshiktsfmi stux o send your letters to the editor to 59 albert st uxbridge l9p 1e5 or tax them to 8524355 help spread christmas around town amid the hustle of giftbuy ing food preparation and all the festive activities that fill our calendars at this time of year it is important to remember that there are many people who will not be rushing through a shopping mall or stocking up on ham and plum pudding for the simple reason that they cant canada is blessed in its level of poverty compared to other countries however the number of people who will not be having any sort of celebra tion this christmas is still astounding and many of these people live in our own community there are many children who will riot receive a viewpoint andrew mair christmas gift and many more who will likely go hun gry while the rest of us are sitting down to our enormous repasts and while we all may be thankful and count our bless ings around the christmas feast there will likely be more food wasted and scraped off our plates than many families see in the course of a day the thanksgiving drives have stocked the food bank shelves but the need never ends there are families in our town who meet with hard ships all the time that are beyond the scope of the food banks capabilities charity and selflessness are a measure of the true spirit of christmas if we are able to help bring one smile to the face of one child christmas morning or give a family a single thing to be thankful for then we will have received a gift far more valuable than anything that comes in a box fancy ribbon and wrapping paper gifts and a bountiful meal should only serve to remind us that christmas is much more than all the trap- adam by brian basset viheh i gsdrt up vlkgoim pings christmas is the spirit of giving of making the jour ney through life easier for those less fortunate if you or your group has done something to help those in need let this newspaper know we feel it is important that this spirit is fostered if you need assistance with a project to help the needy let us know that as well wed be more than happy to publicize your efforts markham economist and sun stouffville tribune uxbridge tribune weekender edition a metroland community newspaper patriciapappas publisher jo ann stevenson bhtoruvchief paula cr0well editor andrew mair editor debraweller director of advertising barry goodyear director of distribution vivian onett business manager pamela nichols operations manager markham 2942200 sales 7987624 classi fied 2944331 stouffville 6402100 uxbridge 8529741 2948244 distribution and administration 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m2 fax markham 2941538 stoufivule 640- 5477 uxbridge 8524355 the markham economist and sun stouftvute tri bune and uxbridge tribune published every wednesday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group otsubur- ban newspapers which includes ajax pickering news advertiser barrie advance brampton guardian burlington post collingwocd connection btobscofc guardian the liberal georgetown inde pendentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week milton canadian champion mississauga news north york mirror oakvillc beaver onllia today oshawawhilby this week peterborough this week scarborough mirror the era banner contents not to be reproduced without written permission from the publisher we are living in weird times svjbsbss ffftiw america has the longest prison sentences in the west yet the only condition they demonstrably cure is heterosexuality new york times we live in weird times my friends consider the latest prison statistics from our neigh bors south of the border the sta tistics show that for the first time in history there are more than one million inmates behind bars in the usa one million jailbirds but then as our own cd howe once scoffed whats a million ill tell you what a million is its the entire population of saskatchewan its two winnipegs eight thunder bays a million people is 28 sold out blue jay games at the skydome a million is a lot of people to have in jail especially for a country that likes to bill itself as the land of the free just by way of contrast lets pay a visit to a place eonald reagon once billed as the evil empire lets check out whats left of the union of soviet socialist republics schisselburg fortress might be a good place to begin our tour its a castle that squats on a windlashed island in the baltic sea just offshore from st petersburg its a far cry from the magic castle at disneyworld and well it might be schisselburg has been a prison for most of the past 300 years it was the kingston pen of czarist russia well truth to tell daily life at schisselburg made a stretch in kingston pen look like an after noon at a presbyterian strawberry social a lot of russian personae non grata went through the gates of schisselburg not a one of them ever came out schisselburg had high walls mean guards a very efficient firing squad and a most commodious graveyard all of which would lead you to believe that modern day liberat ed russians can hardly wait for the day when schisselburg prison is transformed into a taco bell drivethru right wrong a moscow entrepre neur by the name of alexander nefyodov has taken over schisseiburg and turned it into a prison otel r a basic black arthur black you read right russians can now sign up to spend a week at schisselburg as a prisoner mind you they must be wealthy russians the price tag for a week in a cell is 550 for that clients receive an iron bed which folds out from the wall plus a wooden table and bench also a lightbulb that never goes out and yes you are locked in your cell its not all grim the 550 also covers visits from a prison psy chologist who will help the inmates evaluate and assess their mental conditions its too early to say whether comrade nefyodovs speculative gamble will pay off or not but if it does we shouldnt be sur prised we live as i said in weird times we live in a time when hollywood is busy shooting a movie about the trial of oj simpson while the trial of oj simpson is still going on we live in a time when a man who would be king of the british empire reveals hed rather be a tampon we live in a time im not mak ing this up either when a yuppie clothier by the name of j crewe can advertise without a hint of a smirk preripped jeans the j crewe fall catalogue advises all wouldbe jeans buy ers that we have now allowed for more impatient sorts with our new slashed jean that looks 10 year sold on day one and hey they only charge an extra six bucks for ripping those jeans for you 10 bucks if you want both knees out my course is clear im going to sell off all my crummy old jeans on the black market and use the money for a down payment on a cell in schisselburg i could use a week to get away frpmivall t