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

6 economist sunsuntribune saturday march 12 2005 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertislng director classified real estate events management gord paolucci distribution director circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra welter york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor another restaurant welcome on main street unionville re eatery doesnt fit bylaw march 5 regarding opposition by some to a restaurant in the former church at fred varley and main street unionville i suggest people expand their thinking beyond purely retail as a suitable use for the site another upscale restauraunt can only enhance main streets appeal as a dining destination and would result in additional pedestrian traffic of people with money to spend at other busi nesses the owner has already made a huge investment in building improvements and should be given a chance to pro ceed with his proposal i understand why local restaura teurs would be opposed but i would welcome another restauarant to add to the choices when i stroll over to main as i regularly do it benefits no one for such a beauti ful building at such a prime location to stay empty frank dittmann unionville tired of poor public transit open letter to the toronto transit- commission and york region transit i think its ridiculous we are paying more for less to ride public transit its bad enough people using this transportation opportunity couldnt manage 125 150 and 225 but fares were bumped even more you have some nerve asking 225 for the service you provide you deserve 50 cents and a smack in the head i dont have a car or car pool so i rely on public transportation we rely on transit to be on time and bring us to our destination safely we rely on drivers to be polite and respectful even when they are feeling crummy however i have been late for school and other events more than 20 times this year im on time and you are not so do your job drivers be on time and be polite i used to be polite and say please and thank you hello and have a nice days but now i just dont care why should i say thank you for coming not five or 10 minutes late but an hour why should i say thank you when i ding for my stop and get let off in a puddle of water mud or mountain of snow why should i say may i please have a transfer if you dont even acknowledge me with words or eye contact why should i pay your salary tiffany beaumont markham raouhttfc her nktwje sovis am i wasting my time trying to educate public am i wasting my time good ques tion i spent the first half of my life working as a scientist but as i came to recognize the vast and complicated array of social and ethical issues emerging from scientific and technological advances i decided to step back examine these issues from a broader perspective and help bring them to the publics attention my belief was these issues were set to profoundly change humanitys role in the world and our relationships with each other i believed informing people about issues such as cloning organ transplants genetic engineering and environmental pollution would not only increase peoples under standing of these issues but whet their appetites to learn more about science and how it affects their lives in the end they would have better infor mation from which to make decisions its a pretty basic assumption but one that proved difficult to test and measure because so many variables are involved however a new analysis of 200 studies david suzuki from 40 countries presented at a meeting of the american association for the advancement of science has found regard less of age nationality or education the more people know about science the more favourably they will view science in general thats a good start but we still have a long way to go bring about a broader edu cation of science issues i often find myself being interviewed by members of the media and realizing they dont have a clue what im talking about it can be frustrating but i cant really blame individual journalists reporters are asked to have some level of knowledge about everything a very difficult task indeed plus in an effort to reduce costs most newsrooms do not have reporters on staff who specialize in science issues compounding the problem is the fact scientists dont receive much training in communicating their work and what it means to the average person many scientists are also afraid to simpli fy or dumb down their messages for a lay audience for fear some of the nuances of their work may be lost or their peers may disapprove plus while there may be a shortage of scientists with good communications skills theres no shortage of wellfinanced people with vested interests in certain areas who have the time and money to ensure their message is heard regardless of its accuracy an unfortunate result of this is a general confusion about scientific issues such as climate change or stem cell research people end up receiving so many mes sages they dont know what to believe when that happens trust and respect for science in general declines of course this is not to say we should take the results of every new study as gospel quite the opposite in fact having a good understanding of science will help people realize the disci pline proceeds incrementally and measures only small bits of the world at a time there are inherent weaknesses with such a system but it can be a very powerful tool in fact science and technology are arguably die most powerful forces shaping society today thats why science education broad dis semination of scientific findings and thoughtful analyses of issues arising from science and technology are so important in order for us to make the best deci sions about our future we need to have access to the best available information its good to know i havent been wasting my time but its also a bit daunting to con sider how much work we still have to do take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissions must be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 34 cmc ave box 154 stouffville on l4a7z5 fmasonerncorn i editorial editor jim mason jmasonyntgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyntgcom production manager pam nichols pnichokyntgcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbcllyntgcom retail manager staceyallen sallcnyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales daivna andrews dandrewsymgcom new business manager steve kane slutneyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogersonyntgcom editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fax 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 outrun audi board member ontario press council suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthornhill vaughan citizenthe economist sun markham erabanner newmarket aurora stouffville suntribune georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing