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economist suntribune thursday feb 7 2002 stoiiffville tribune a metrbland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham onl l3p 1m3 telephone 905 294i200 416 7987624 fax 905 294 email newsroomec6nsuncom publisher ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra wetter deputy editor dkbora kelly editor jim mason production manager pam nichols distribution manager barry black electronic communications manager john futhey classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager staceyallen business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil editorial community must joiri fight against pot growers if you want to know how marijuanagrow ing operations can affect you as a hydro con sumer just ask 126 residents of a gait on neighbourhood two days before christmas the residents were without power for as long as 14 hours because of a sophisticated pot lab in a home it may have been a botched bypass or an overload of the system that caused the black out which cost hydro about 10000 in repairs and another 10000 in stolen electricity grow houses use 10 times the electricity of a normal house a dead giveaway to hydro officials who monitor residential usage rates in cooperation with police it is a serious problem that costs all of us on bur hydro bills and in the cost of policing york regional police has taken another step in curbing the illegal trade with the help of hydro utilities hydro will work with police to cut power to about 30 homes in aurora markham newmarket richmond hill and vaughan where users bypass hydro meters york regionalpolice det mike klimm esti- mates there are 3000 indoor pot labs in the region most of which use huge amounts of electricity to power banks of 1000watt bulbs exhaust systems and other equipment based on police estimates of 2000 a month for- each house 72 million in hydro is stolen ina year roughly 1 per day for each york region resident this industry has been introduced to local neighbourhoods bringing with it such spin offs as guns and organized crime this alone should encourage all of us to be alert and call police about suspicious activity but hot everyone does some residents were not surprised by drug raids oh their street during the countrywide operation green sweep last week but how manyof those people simply wait ed for police to notice and take action how many didnt want to get involved the marijuana problem isnt just a police matter its a community problem and the only way to solve it is bythe community working together the police cant do it alone they rely on neighbours for information helping is as easy as calling crime stoppers the problem falls on the publics shoulders how much are we willing to tolerate letters to the editor character initiative a rightwing attempt to stifle our very selves re character initiative passed jan 26 bringing character to our community good heavens what a pretentious theme which character does york region council the sundry importers of dummy american val ues and the progeny of the moral rearmament movement propose to instill in us the economist suntribune has provid ed an inventory twenty wooden nouns stakes to which wje can tie our souls crucifix es of safe conduct traits that make tame tem plates for the ideal obedient consumer achtung walmart shoppers and more we even get to check off the top 10 which the character cops will spread through schools churches and shopping malls the notion of a checklist of safe standards is loathsome if taken seriously however it makes for an amusing parlour game i would of course use flexible adjectives rather than stolid nouns as descriptors of good character but my preferences would never make it into this cookiecutter cata logue of dismal virtues i would include mod ifiers such as artistic critical curious imagi native intelligent playful rational reflective skeptical arid maybe even erotic if only to scare the pants off mayor don gousens the left wing brought us political correct ness which put a damper on freedom of speech and thought now the right wing is bringing us a character community which threatens tostifle our very selves whats worse in the wake of the sept 11 this frenzied project could even succeed my nightmare scenario it is autumn 2112 toronto has just hosted the safest olympics in history athletic excellence under martial law at the poured concrete baseball stadium at richmond green we are bidding fond farewell to character commissardon gousens there he stands on the platform flanked by commissarelect brenda larson arid character czar avis glaze intoning sancti monious platitudes and shaking the virtual hand of a hologram of terry fox while thou sands of adoring vapid children in clean white shirts hum the horstwessell song howard a doughty richmond hill join our online discussions atyorkregibncom your opinion is important to us on our let ters to the editor pages and on our website we invite you to join the ongoing discus sions at yorkregioncom and youre welcome to launch your own discussion there too the site serves readers of the york region newspaper group which includes the economist sun stouffville tribune richmond hillthornhill liberal vaughan citizen newmarketaurora erabanner georgina advocate and stouffville sun letters policy stounvillethbune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 herttagerd markham ont l3p 1m3 email letters9econsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 ueeb canadian circulations audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 thursdays only stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ud group of newspapers which includes the ajavpickering news advertiser alllston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burtington shopping news burlington post city patent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etoblcote guardian flamborough postgeorgetown independent acton free press kingston this week lindsay this week mldlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mlsslssauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakville shopping news orillia today oshawawhltbyclarlngtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hitlthomhlllvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stcufmile tribune todays seniors uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian phone 905 2942206 fax9052941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 distributioneconsuncom dave teetzel societys tolerance of violence catching up with us last april i wrote a column expressing my horror at a brutal beating outside a maple high school i wondered how a mob could throw a teenager to the ground punch and kick him in front of 100 witnesses and have nobody remember the sad lessons of the jonathan wamback case and i said if we dont instill respect for human life in our young people there would be more horror stories today another teenager lies in hospi tal after a savage attack by nine youths outside aurora high school saturday two young guys arranged to meet at 1 am to fight over a girl one brought a friend for backup the other brought eight friends who punched and kicked the other two until they required hospi tal treatment one required surgery joe wamback whose son is still recovering from brain damage after being kicked in the head by a group of youths was horrified i think our message to society is not getting out there he told our reporter im talking about parents school offi cials and governments too willing to accept violence as a way of life these young people clearly thought their actions were acceptable this was nt a spur of the moment- school yard fight it was prearranged they had to learn it somewhere it goes beyond governments or schools or even parents our society not only toler ates violence it considers it a form of entertainment v its riot about whether or not we accept or tolerate violence we should be utterly repelled by it particularly after seeing it on a large scale last fall for a few weeks after- sept 11 the blinders were off we put a damper oh daytoday aggression tv networks and movie studios gained a new sensitivity- it seemed like we had leamedsdme- thing but soon the grief and revulsion over sept 1 1 and a genuine desire to stop ter rorism turned into a frantic campaign of retribution against osama- bin laden and the taliban the hostility seeped back into the culture everything is back to what we sadly call normal if thats our attitude toward violence we shouldnt be shocked when blood shed follows us into a school yard in a quiet suburban town we have to show our kids we hate all acts of violence not just the shocking headlinegrabbing crimes but all of it im not buying this people are just naturally violent you cant dp anything about it stuff anymore this and it hasno place in our community we allowed violence into pur hearts arid homes and we can kick it out tjf r