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

6 stflffiiksunrtribmemsaftmiayoctfc200 31 fstouffviliemmm sunlribune 6290 main st stouffvilleonl4alg7 wvwyoritfegioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black b de director circulation systems lynn pashko letters to the editor more reasons to not vote liberal federal gun control legislation re anyone but mcguinty liberals after pitbull hearings law letter to the editor by julie king sept 29 after reading ms kings letter stating she was working hard not to elect mr mcguinty and the liberals i have to say i have another reason to not vote for them as well ms king elaborates quite succinctly that the liberals passed a very poor ill- conceived politically motivated piece of legislation for political gain she further states they exuded arro gance were biased and had no integrity in the passing of the specific breed leg islation in other words a ban on pit bulls the same family of liberals brought us our current boondoggle known as gun control this was also rammed through federal parliament without proper con sultation with experts in the firearms field as is the case with the dog breed ban we as taxpaying citizens whether you own a firearm or not have been sad dled with an exorbitant cost 2 billion approximately of a useless law that tar gets responsible owners just like the dog breed ban has shown the liberals personify arrogance and i in tandem with ms king will work hard to see anyone but the mcguinty liberals elected this election mark strait stouffville dont criticize candidates election system at fault re why pay politicians to campaign editorial sept 27 you need not criticize those individu- als who have been elected to a local polit ical office and then expand their efforts at further serving their constituents by running on a different level possibly your criticism should be tar geted at the time frame and scheduling of provincial and federal elections based on your logic incumbents who campaign for an additional term should not be paid by the provincial or federal government after all they are not sitting in parlia ment congratulation to all candidates who place their names on the ballot at any level of government at any time jim grice markham make yuft own thanksgiving toon if s the time of year that cartoonists like to portray politicians as turkeys to indicate that they are bone like dinner it could be john tory or stephane dion dubya bush or general rick hillier anyone whose goose is cooked just cut out the head of your choosing and attach it to the bird above voila a custom editorial cartoon to stick on the fridge this holiday weekend have fun and happy thanksgiving i incidents reminder harmony a work in progress it was a disturbing study in con- trasts between what should be and what is or perhaps between what is and what appears to be i was at the york regional police station in markham last thursday as its community room was dedi cated in memory of kamil sadiq founder of the canadian federa tion of intercultural friendship who died a year ago i knew mr sadiq from our news papers community links panel a citizens group that discusses local issues he was devoted to promoting understanding between the diverse cultures in york region and i could count on him to expand my own perspective he never asked people to compromise their beliefs or opin ions to fit in but to express them in a respectful way that would ulti mately help us all understand how much we have in common at thursday evenings ceremony mr sadiqs son aamir read a letter from sherill kazan alvarez presi dent of the world council of peoples of the united nations praising his vision of spreading enlightenment she also characterized markham as a model of harmony that could be exported to the rest of the world it was touching and nobody deserves the honour more but at the same time i was-pain- fully aware the exact opposite view of york region was being projected throughout the gta a few miles north of us in georgina an appar ently racially motivated clash sept 15 culminated in a car crash that left a young man in a coma the incident which is being investigated as a hate crime has been associated with a phenom enon known as nipper tipping pushing asian anglers into the lake although the victim is not asian if that wasnt bad enough unknown to the crowd at the markham station york police were also investigating an ugly vandal ism incident in keswick in which several cars were spraypainted with swastikas and slogans attacking dave teetzel jews ana nomosexuais i have no doubt that were mr sadiq still alive he would be in georgina right now i know because he was one of the first to go to thornhill when similar antisemitic vandalism hit that community a few years ago indeed even while he was suf fering from cancer mr sadiq went to whitchurchstouffville and east gwillimbury councils convinc ing them to be the first towns in york region to declare themselves diverse communities he knew the cultural diversity that is part of the fabric of life in markham and richmond hill will soon be the reality in what is now small town york region and it was best to lay the groundwork he never made it to georgina which leaves the rest of us to carry on his legacy now i suspect the reality of york region lies somewhere between the glowing picture painted by the un letter and the scaremongering headlines in the daily newspapers markham in particular has done a great deal to promote under standing between different cultural groups but there was a racist graffiti incident not so different from what happened in keswick in 2005 i live in georgina and like mayor rob grossi i have never heard the term nipper tipping until it surfaced in the toronto star i do recall a former police reporter being flabbergasted when he heard a georgina resident use the term nipper to describe his neighbour who was vietnamese but i dont think attacking peo ple for kicks is either common or tolerated in georgina or anywhere else for that matter the fact of the matter is this stuff shouldnt happen but it can anywhere the canadian jewish congress has condemned the hate crimes in georgina but condemning blatant acts of bigotry is easy the chinese canadian national council met with mr grossi tues day but politicians wont solve this either the provincial campaign has been dominated by statements about how educating all children together promotes understanding it probably does but thats not the whole solution either cliche as it may sound we all have to be part of the solution we could all help if we followed the life style modelled by kamil sadiq be who you are say what you believe respect everyone else and look for common ground easy to say hard to do but i know at least one man who did it pretty well letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address thesuntribunercserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clar ity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stoufmlle on l4aig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonynngcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dauma andrews dandrews0ynngcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenynngcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellymigcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauynngcom production team leader sherry day sdayynngcom ontario press comal ope cjnadjn orculjnm aux boons ccab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 citified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group lid a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thornhill vaughan citizenthe erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing