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mssmnfmhamvisbtas economist suntribune saturday dec 14 2002 stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 publisher ian proudfoot opinion editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gord paalucci letters to the editor give gun registry rebates to all here is an idea that would certainly garner our beloved leader prime minister jean chretien some sort of salvagable legacy taking a page from the tories hydro deregulation mess all ontario residents will soon be receiving a cheque in the mail to compensate for the skyrocketing electricity prices my suggestion is seeing as the national gun registry has proven to be one of the most costly boondoggles in canadian his tory 1 billion the liberals could send each taxpayer a rebate cheque after all we have all funded this fiasco with our hardearned money mark strait stouffville find time for real christmas i want to encourage markham and stouffville residents to reflect upon their experience of christmas are you happy with it i ask this because each year i struggle to practise my beliefs and values around christmas for me this is a time when i strive to prac tise love love to others love to myself and love to god however during the christmas season i find it very hard to create the necessary space to give and receive love life is just too busy with all the extra activ ities and obligations that arise within work school community and family settings during our family gift exchange when we give gifts expressing our love do we truly experience love or are these exchanges more gestures of love than the real thing after rushing our children to the church christmas program are we able to enter into the experience of gods love for us during the christmas season how many of you find time to practise the act of loving ones self i find if im not careful im often too dis tracted busy stressed or uptight to experi ence love each christmas season i keep trying to create space to give and receive true experi ences of love i have found two strategies that work one involves simplifying christmas by reducing the number of presents i buy and activities in which i participate i discov er more time and space where experiences of love can happen with my family myself and my faith the second strategy is finding ways to expand the christmas season part of this includes doing christmas shopping and cer tain social activities in november the other part is visiting family members before and after christmas i find we pack too many activities and expectations into christmas and boxing days thus limiting the depths of these experiences letters policy the stoufmie tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the tribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor thetribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3 email letterseconsuncom as a result we are often disappointed by christmas i encourage each of us to find ways to deepen our experience of love within the christmas season lets not become lost in all the busyness and stress gord alton pastor community mennonite church stouffville ransberry column will be missed i always liked to check out joan ransberrys column when i receive your paper but im disappointed to learn she has decided to stop writing it i know i can count on joan to report with out bias on events about town after reading her articles for years i realize that she knows our community inside out and i can count on her to give me the straight goods im not always able to attend meetings or get to events so i trust joan to give me a sane bal anced and informative report recently ive seen various antijoan let ters so i thought i would let you know that some of us are projoan i cant say i always agree with her but i know she is genuine as well as professional ive heard she has sat with and held many hands of our residents through difficult times and given support and encour agement to groups and individuals when joan does a story its not just a job she really cares her only agenda is the bet terment of the community and the people who live here in joans column we got to read about some of her opinions and feelings not just her impartial reporting sometimes she was provocative and ruffled some feathers but isnt that what newspaper columnists do although i sense she has been around the block more than once now she lives here works here and is part of us hey people lets hear it for joan diane strickland stouffville resorts often poor on safety the holidays are approaching and people are planning holiday trips to sunny destina tions so i feel compelled to warn readers of a horrific incident i wimessed while recently vacationing at a fourstar resort in the dominican republic the tragic and sense less drowning of a fouryearold girl on a beautiful sunny day the pool bar was buzzing with activity and gaity an aerobics class had just ended when someone noticed a little girl at the bottom of the pool screaming hysteria and chaos ensued the staff were frozen and didnt know what to do guests were scurrying to find someone who knew cpr an inhouse doctor finally came about 10 minutes later and gave the child an injection while commencing cpr eventually she was put in a vehicle and driven to hospital 30 kilometres away under these conditions she didnt have a chance that evening a single rose was laid on top of the the pool in her memory the next day the resort carried on as usual i was appalled there were at least 100 people around when the drowning occured and no one noticed until it was too late so parents while vacationing please be alert to distractions in pool areas alcohol music and other activities it only took a few minutes to end a young life marianne still markham letters filled with utter tripe re romanow report proves harris right on healthcare funding letter to the editor by j shaw dec 7 over the years i have been able to fend off the thoughts emanating from the mind of one j shaw i have always considered his con tributions to political thought to be not worth the breath used to utter them far be it from me to deny anyone the right to freedom of speech be it written or other wise however at times like this i am inclined to feel embarrassed that the normally high standard of journalism practised by the economist suntribune should be besmirched by such utter tripe contained in most of mr shaws letters bernard graham unionville political correctness goes too far re irate adult gives gentle teen lesson in intolerance letter to the editor by gary weeks dec 7 im glad i wasnt present when an alleged representative of markhams festival of lights committee publicly chewed out a young man speaking about gods love for all people and nations my reaction would probably not have been as gentle or gracious i dont think im exaggerating when i say many people are fed up with political correct ness particularly when it has to do with christianity the recent holiday tree fiasco at toronto city hall is evidence of this the festival of lights might not be a reli gious event however its timing is obviously intended to take advantage of the christmas season to allow christmas carols to be sung but prevent and threaten to call the police on someone speaking about god or jesus christ smacks of political correctness at its heavyhanded counterproductive worst fortunately a growing number of main stream and hitherto mostly silent christian canadians supported by many non- christians are no longer willing to sit back quietly while our traditions and symbols are suppressed or disparaged spirokokkoros markham editorial editor jim mason neivsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane sievckyorkrcgioncom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrcwserabannercom classified manager ann campbell anncerabannercom real estate manager mike rogerson production 7 electronic communications manager john futhey jfulheyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackeconsuncom administration office manager vivian oneil voneileconsuncom york region events managing director debra weller divellerymgcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanyrngcom editorial 9052942100 fax2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune 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 ontano the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthomhillvaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgina advocate york region business times at home good ufe yorkregioncom and york region printing