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p 4 weekender saturday december 6 1997 st the tribune saturday december 6 1997 vol 13 no 49 comment send your letters to the editor to the address below tdjtokial all youths arent bad when teenagers and young adults are in the news these days its all too often in connection with high school brawls or property vandalism theres a dearth of good news stories about young people it seems yet in uxbridge earlier this week four teenage girls stopped a runaway van which had two very young children inside one jumped into the moving van applied the brake and turned off the engine two others assisted in stopping the vehicle while the fourth alerted the parents in markham a youth group connected to a baptist church boasts about 50 youths eager to help out in their communi ty by volunteering at food banks through church programs and donating their labour to aid seniors or local causes another group of evenyounger markham children are decorating and painting wooden toys this sunday to give to kids living in a york region shelter for women and children students in many area high schools participated in the 30- hour famine earlier this week to raise awareness and funds for those around the world who go without food and at stouffville district secondary school one grade 9 student recently earned the schools top award for making both the school and community a better place this one girl is active on her student council and with the school band tutors other students in homework and at exam time and is involved in her church as well these are just a few local examples during this one week alone of how young people are making a difference in their communities theyre living proof young people arent all bad high tech product is enough to give you gas sometimes i worry about the readers of this column take alex murdoch of fredericton new brunswick last week alex mailed me a brochure i guess well have to call it with the brochure alex included the following covering letter dear arthur i was reading through my wifes chatelaine magazine this month when i came across this lovely product i called the 1800 number asking for more information and loandhehold got this brochure in the mail yester day i couldn t help thinking it was just the sort of thing you might be interest ed in let me know what you think sincerely alex the brochure alex sent me came from ultra tech products incorporat ed of houston texas what ultra tech is flogging is i mean what ultra tech is putting on the market is a f this is very difficult it involves one of the last taboos of free speech i could write a column about axe murderers or about bingo in the vatican i could write about cheating swear ing stealing or coveting ones neigh bours burro and it wouldnt raise a sin gle eyebrow but let me mention one word about gas and kaboom strong editors lunge for their blue pencils and little old ladies from the queen charlotte islands to joe batts arm recoil as if hit by an eric lindros cross check gas thats what the brochure alex murdoch sent me is all about hydro gen sulphide human produced hydrogen sulphide intestinal gas flat ulence actually the brochure is tout ing the praises of something called the flatulence filter seat cushion formerly known as the toot trap- basic black arthur black per which the copy assures me uses space shuttle technology to clean and recycle stale and potentially deadly air is all this firepower necessary to combat a relatively minor social prob lem according to the folks at ultra tech it is their brochure includes news stories concerning a woman in north dakota who divorced her husband a 900pound man in england who died in his sleep a woman in california who shot her husband what do these stories have in com- please look out for your neighbours dear editor when i arrived home tuesday after a physiotherapy appointment at the hos pital i immediately noticed my fur nace was running but the house was cold i went to the kitchen and saw the door open the window smashed i cannot put into words the sudden terror that i felt as i realized that some one had broken into my home i ran through the house looking in every room before i called 91 1 in that minute or so i could have been injured or killed if the robbers were still here although i live on a quiet country road i have recorded over a dozen times during the day when neighbours looked in as they drove by and saw nothing i will find someone who letter saw something the insurance company is arranging to replace the stolen electronics the heirloom jewellery will probably be replaced in monetary value but my huge sense of violation remains they were in my bedroom touching my personal items they were in every other room of my home looking at my things looking at my life im still dazed a victim in shock fielding phone calls from friends and neighbours i am afraid to leave my home i am trapped three weeks until christmas the happiest season of my year and i have been turned into a recluse please look out for your neighbours approach your home with caution and try to be emotionally available when you hear from someone who has just been violated i am fortunate the majority of my friends are being supportive but a few just tell me about another robbery something that i really dont want to hear about right now my nerves arc raw and i dont know how long it will be before i feel better maybe never the world that we live in tries to turn us into victims in so many ways dur ing this season let us all wish for a world of peace that wc so justly deserve merry christmas to all name withheld mon the ultra tech brochure pulls no punchesthey are all what the brochure calls the terrible results of smelly flatulence and say the folks at ultra tech the flatulence filter is the solution to the problem what it is is a fairly simplelooking foam seatcushion that uses space age technology to filter out and render odorless that which we all wish we didnt produce does it work the folks at ultra tech claim theyve sold thousands of flatulence filters to grateful emitters usually male all over the globe besides says ultra tech wc men owe it to our loved ones well maybe but i resent the impli cation that its just men who need the flatulence filter im reminded of the story about the spinster who went to her doctor and said i dont know what the problem is but i have gas just about all the time its not a problem socially because i dont make any noise and theres no odour but just cant seem to stop in fact just since ive been in your office i believe ive passed gas at least 20 times the doctor nods and hands her some pills telling her to take them three times a day and to come back in two weeks two weeks later the spinster is back in the doctors office and she is ticked off what kind of medicine is this she demands im still passing gas as much as i was before they still dont make any noise but now they stink terribly the doctor nods again okay now that wc have your sinuses cleared up well get you fitted for a hearing aid stouffville tribune weekender a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 056402100 retail sales 905 6402100 classifieds 905 6402874 distribution 9056402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville tribune pub lished every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distribution group of commu nity newspapers which includes ajaxpickcring news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barric advance brampton guardian burlington post cilyparenl collingwoodwasaga beach con nection east york mirror etobi- coke guardian georgetown inde pendentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week markham 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