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Grade school track and field, in case you don’t remember it, involves quite a bit of running of various distances, but also includes many less glamourous events that they won’t be hosting in Beijing, such as standing lonump, softball toss, and hop, skip and trip, skip, step and stumble, hop,‘tn'p and tumble, or whatever you want to call it (at least that's what appeared to be happening from my vantage point), not to be confused with triple jump. than 400 words and must Include a daytime telephone number. name and address. The Sun~1Hbune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edlt for clarity and space. Lotta: to the Edltot, The Sun-Mona 6290 Mala St StoufMlo. GM LM K37 Besides, Father's Day is coming up and I wouldn't want to be in his bad books. I might miss out on some boffo gift, like breakfast in bed (although he’s too young to really take command of the stove for bacon and eggs) or a certificate worth three hours of snoring on the couch, waking up periodically to see how far ahead or behind Tiger Woods is in the US. Open. lETTERS POlICY took time during lunch on Monday to check out a district track meet in Stoufi’ville and I have the sunburn on my nose to prove it. My younger son was in an event and he didn’t want me to miss it. ‘I’ve missed a lot of similar events in which he’s been involved. The Sun-THbune welcomes your letters. All submissions must be less Re:HospitaIseye3percenttaxlev_y,/une 7. We are against another levy of taxes. We are in our late 705 and depend on the hospital, but already pay a health tax for We already pay health tax I don’t believe it should be considered as an endless pit of money, always tapping the taxpayer for whatever comes along. At best, this should be a provincial responsibility, with out-sourcing to smaller satellite offices or even in large malls for minor medical conditions. What we need is more staff doctors and nurses and a better use of existing square footage. The hospitals within York Region have beds that are often not even used. As a taxpayer and having worked in the building of expansions of hospitals for more than 30 years, I oppose a hospital levy. This will never see any improvements for hospitals, like the famed gas tax that was supposed to be used to repair our roads. We need more doctors, nurses, better use of space 6 Sunâ€"D‘ibunel Saturday, lune I4, 2008 jmason.yrmg.com Re: Hospitals eye 3 per cent tax levy, lune LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Immcnvn MEDIA Marketing 3. Advertising Minus" Dawna Andnews dandmusefyrmgmm EDITORIAL Editor Iim Mason _jnmcon@ymg. mm JOE SARINO MARKHAM What was interesting was there were a lot of other dads there, sev- eral of whom I recognized from the 01' sunscreen. I was standing there in thy work attire â€" shirt and tie, dress shoes â€" and, of course, no baseball cap My son’s event happened an hour after it was scheduled, so I spent an hour_in the midday sun. The teachers were doing a great job but as can be expected when you have 1,000 children to mind, things can get behind schedule. Which is how my nose ended up looking like a cooked lobster claw. Many of the kids could run like the wind, jump like they had spring- loaded shoes and throw the ball like future major leaguers. These were their own little Olym- pic_q_ualifiefs,_ Yo_rk Region style. This is not to say the kids were not great. They wore their school colours with pride. They were the children of people who'd come to Canada from the four comers of the planet and looked beautide out there on the fields, short, tall, blond hair, black hair, fair skin, dark skin and every shade in between. Fortunately, they had some nice soft sand in which to land. Re: Hospitals eyeB per cent tax levy, lune 7. I am opposed to any further tax increas- es in any form. Canadians are over taxed already and this is another form of tax grab. Governments and public institutions should learn to live within their means instead of looking at tax money as a bot- tomless pit. Let government, hospitals live within their means Our own Markham council should stop building until the infrastructure (number of beds per 1,000 people) has caught up with the expansion. this purpose. The provincial government is responsible for seeing this money is used to expand our hospital. b What do you think of this issue? E-mail letters to jmason@yrmg.com magnified Manager Bonnie Rondeau bmndmu @yrmg. mm HAVE YOUR SAY, STOUFFVILLE SfiWâ€"Fibune SYLVIA AND PETER KOENS MARKHAM PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot ASHOKA KAMINOULU MARKHAM 6290 Main St. Smuflwue, ON. MA 167 (I always thought a guy saying, “I work from home," was a eupheâ€" mism for, “My wife has a really good job so I don’t have to work." But that’s just me being jealous.) Later I asked another one, who was standing near me watching our sons race. “Not.work_ing today. ” “Oh, I work from hOYne. I’li catch up a little later,” he said. “No, I work from home," said one guy I_rec_og1_1ized from hockey. So I asked on'e of them, “You got the day off?" school and town and hockey and so on. They were wearing shorts and Tâ€"shirts and sandals. Which I interpreted to be something other than work attire, unless they are in a Beach Boys cover band or maybe professional lifeguards. Pnonucnon Tbam [leader Sherry Day Bernie O’Neill Auflilm Busmnss MANAGER Robert lazurlco Burro: m Cm Debora Kelly Could that work mode be in your future? I read a story this week out of Florida, where the $1.35 a litre we pay for gas translates into a nice, round and psychologically signifi- cant $4 a gallon, where the state is encouraging some employees to work a four-day week with longer days or to work from home. pm. on a weekday, or go to school events in the middle of the day, because they have the flexibility of being self-employed or working for a company that has no problem with a home office. ADVERTISING 905-640-2612 Imified: 1-800-743â€"3353 Fax: 905-640-8778 They are the ones able to coach hockey at odd hours like before 5 The bonus for them is they are close to their kids and can take a bit of time here and there to witness those milestone events and make up the time later. Some of them are self-employed, but several work for companies that seem happy to have them working out of home offices, as long, I guess, as they see results. How many of these guys are there, working from home? Quite a few, if I simply count from among the dads whose sons play baseball or hockey with my two boys in Stouflville. DISTRIBUTION 905-640â€"261 2 ilX EDITORIAL 905-640-2612 x: 905â€"640â€"8778 Dnncmn [um Mann a Tncunowcv lohn Futhey A York Region Media Group community newspaper The Sun-Tribune, published every Thursday and Saturday. is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd, a wholiyowned subsidiary oiTorstar Corporation. Metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across Ontario. The York Region Newspaper Group inciudesThe Uberai, sewing Richmond Hm and Thomhill, Vaughan Citizen, The Era-Banner (Newmarket/Aurora). Markham Economist Sun, Georgina Advocate,York Region Business Times. North of the City. yorkregioncom and York Region Printing. Dumcron, Cmcuunou Swans Lynn Pashko Dlmnl, ADVEKI'ISING You Ramon Panama DISTRIBUTION Gm MANAGER Barry Black Bob Dean SEW-Tribune ManyYork Region residents drive a long way to a workplace, only to sit in front of a computer all day or talk on the phone â€" two tasks that could be done from anywhere. But if gas prices go any higher, like the $1.50 a litre predicted, views may soften -â€" at least a little, espe- cially if the workers start complain- ing or clamouring for a raise. For some jobs, it's not easy to measure output unless they are right there with you. Communica- tions sufler, teams don't work as well together. Or at least that’s the belief. So their workers come in every day, even when the cost of office space is high. Many workplaces and manag- er types â€" myself included â€" are skeptical about whether or not peo- ple working from home are putting in as much effort as those in the office. (We always imagine they're shuffling around in their pyjamas. sipping tea and watching Oprah.) “Everybody’s hurting and every day it gets worse,” one Miami-Bade commissioner said. “All I hear is people talking about gas and food prices going up." More than 20 per cent of those elingIe h2_1ve _al_re§dy signed up.