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p 4 weekender saturday june 28 1997 st saturday june 28 1997 vol 13 no 26 the tribune comment send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial we are a sorry lot regarding patriotism where are all the flags there is a decided lack of community spirit in canada and there always has has been we tend not to go in for showy displays of nationalism or sentimentality but we could take a page from the americans patriotism hand book there isnt a store a public institution or home that doesnt fly some type of american flag on independence day most of the rest of the year you fairly trip over them no matter where you might travel in the united states they are not afraid to show their pride and yet when canadian ambassador ken taylor secured the release of american hostages in iran there were probably more maple leaf flags flying on that july 1 in the us than there were in canada we have the number one country in a row four years running but no one would know it instead of flying our flag which consistently rates in the top 10 of most admired designs of flags in the world we set about try ing to change the words to songs like the maple leaf forever and o canada to be more politically correct we are a sorry lot fly the flag this weekend its worth it driving in italy was a harrowing experience well its been a month now the uncontrollable tremors in my hands have vanished i dont seem to be gibbering spontaneously or throwing my arms over my face any more i havent had a savage flash back for three nights in a row i think perhaps im ready to talk about it driving in italy i mean i spent two weeks last month in the rolling hills of tuscany about an hours drive from florence well about an hours drive in sleepy conven tional canadian terms i mean in terms of italian dri ving i was probably about six and a half minutes from flo- rencealthough the trip seemed to take several life times its difficult to find words to describe driving in italy im a bit of a leadfoot myself and ive seen my share of automo tive armageddons ive been sideswiped in montreal and rearended in vancouver and basic black arthur black stouffville has a ton of civic pride dear editor this letter is in reply to k abbotts regarding civic pride the websters dictionary described pride as a sense of personal dignity a feeling of pleasure because of something achieved and this town has a ton of it we simply do not have the revenues coming with large corporations helping with the taxes to pay for those added extras this small town is practically run on volunteerism and i have seen those fine people accomplish a lot in the seven years i have been living here if you feel that the shops need a paint letters job why dont you form a committee to help them out as for the plants you have in my opin ion thoroughly insulted the local nursery who generously donated them yes i agree with you unionville and markham look beautiful however this small town has more pride than people like you will give us credit for you probably feel the guys over at schell lumber should be in tuxedos c hird stouffville residents distressed by state of downtown dear editor we applaud the letter of k abbott recent ly printed in your paper as lifelong residents of stouffville we are distressed by the deplorable state of the downtown area each morning as we walk we notice garbage strewn in front of the stores do the merchants no longer take pride in improving the appearance of their establishment is the council so obsessed with spending time and thousands of dol lars on new town offices libraries and indoor swimming pools that they cannot afford 1000 for beautifying the business area i am sure the taxpayers would approve such an expenditure for some hanging bas kets and firstgrade plants for the planters lloyd and bea jennings stouffville tailgated in new york and ive even braved the 401 outside toronto at the start of a holi day weekend but none of that prepared me for italy first of all the roads as in most of europe are much narrower than we canucks are used to and twistier with lots of hairpin turns and sudden junctions and then there are the ital ian drivers i can say quite sincerely that every italian i met on my hol iday was polite friendly help ful generous kind and thoughtful until he or she got behind the wheel of a car the act of driving an automobile trans forms the average italian signor or signora into a ravening marauder a speed freak a power monger the mission of every italian driver is to pass your car right now and they will they will pass you on turns in towns on hills in tunnels on blind curves once i was passed on a twolane bridge by a dump truck italians do not signal when they pass nor have they heard of elmer the safety elephant or the old one-car- lengthforeverytenkph adage they believe in zero car lengths between vehicles at any speed as for tailgating you couldnt call what italian dri vers do just before they pass you tailgating italian cars attempt copulation with your car the official speed limit on the autostrada italys superhighway system is 130 kilometres per hour but if you tried to observe that limit you would die very quickly most vehicles routinely main tain at least twice that speed the rest go even faster its no better off the autostrada oh the drivers ratchet it back a bit just enough so their cars dont fly off the road but they still hare along at speeds guaran teed to give a north american driver a heart attack the only thing worse than being on an italian road in a car is being on an italian road without a car you get the impression that for most ital ian drivers pedestrians are simply an exotic form of potential roadkill my guide book actually offered this road crossing advice walk out slowly and confidently it says glaring at the traffic and maintaining a determined pace the traffic should stop or at least swerve would i ever go back to italy listen italy is easily one of the most beautiful places i have ever visited and the people once you divest them of car keys are a total delight the food is wonder ful the scenery is spectacular the art treasures are priceless and the wine is grand would i go back to italy in a heart beat and a sherman tank stouffville tribune weekender a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief julie caspersen editor debra weller director of advertising phyllis ritchie retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 905 6402100 retail sales m i 9056402100 classifieds 9056402874 distribution 9056402100 fax 9056405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville tribune pub- uahed every tuesday thursday and s saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distribu tion group of community newspa- pers which includes ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston herald 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