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economist sun character education saturday may 4 2002 committee goes public with character initiative six public meetings to gather public input on attributes by kathleen griffin staff writer character is who you are and what you do especially when no one is looking character is having values and beliefs you consistently express through actions and behaviour building good character is a deliberate effort and one york region and its municipal and business partners are taking seriously now they believe its time to take the concept to the public the idea is to be able to incorporate good character into our lives not just at home but at work in our communities in our schools explained brenda larson kirlik former editor in chief of the york region newspaper group and member of the regions character coun cil were all doing it we just dont think about it we need to take the opportunities there are to talk about things like respon sibility and respect lets make it deliberate the region has organized six public meetings this month and invited ratepayer groups busi ness organizations school councils youth groups faith communities service clubs and cultural groups to participate along with interested residents councils vision statement reads in york region people recognize and promote the importance of good character they treat others as they would like to be treated show respect are accountable fair honest and courageous have empathy persevere show initia tive and act with integrity its a way to encourage peo ple to think seriously about val ues that count said markham mayor don cousens a strong supporter of the initiative there is no one place any more that reaches everybody no church or synagogue or mosque hwf5vwifflbhhdt hlililil 1 111111 ill 99 fmipzm jm m tony wong markham councillor says there is no magic number of attributes brenda larson kirlik committee member says idea is to incorporate character into daily life don cousens markham mayor wants to encourage people to think seriously about values were all doing it we just dont think about it were looking for ideas of how to move it forward how to practise it how to highlight it and how to demonstrate differ ent character attributes the public will be asked to help decide which attributes the region should embrace some character councils in the united states have as many as 42 attributes while the york region district school board has selected 10 and the news paper group 12 including opti mism empathy respect enthu siasm trust and perseverance theres no magic number explained markham regional councillor and character coun cil member tony wong we are trying to crystallize the attributes we want to focus on and the public should be involved in giving us input on that the next step is to design a strategy on how to focus on the attributes for example if there are 12 one could be highlighted each month character training materials and trainthetrainer programs will also be formulated likely building on successful programs in the us mr wong added the character council of indiana is a statewide organiza tion formed in the summer of 2000 to provide training and support for businesses organi zations and communities inter ested in the initiative under the countrywide umbrella group character first operations manager stephen leckenby said while effects of the character programs are hard to track and quantify a commit ment to good character shows when a culture of good charac ter is created within a business meetings in your community maple thursday may 9 730 to 930 pm father john kelly 9350 keele st richmond hill thursday may 9 7 to 9 pm richmond hill public library i atkinson st markham thursday may 9 730 to 930 pm council chambers 101 town centre blvd aurora thursday may 9 730 to 930 council chambers 100 john west way keswick wednesday may 22 7 to 9 pm stephen leacock theatre 130 gwendolyn blvd newmarket thursday may 9 730 to 930 pm dr john m denison secondary school 135 bristol rd or municipality again and again we hear people tell us they can teach someone to build a house or teach someone to sell a house but its difficult to teach good character mr leckenby said but you can incorporate good character into the dayto day business the hiring process the discipline process and cre ate a culture of good character when character grows the potential of growth in other areas is so much better when you highlight charac ter shine a light on good char acter and people see that recognition enough they start to say thats what i should be doing mr wong acknowledged character is very much an intan gible something most people feel they model already at first sight it seems a statement of the obvious but were really trying to buck that trend we want to make the point that we wont just talk the talk well walk the walk were committing resources and manpower and help from all citizens to a very strong posi tive initiative to effectively emphasize character this is not just a program its a way of life deregulation could bring windfall by mike adler staff writer when ontarios electricity mar ket opened to competition may 1 paul kahnert of markham was on bay street in toronto pockets stuffed with monopoly money leading a protest against hydro deregulation at the same time in newmarket brent kopperson of georgina announced a new cooperative he hopes york region residents will join to buy a spinoff from deregu lation clean electricity from the wind mr kopperson said the new windfall energy coop can sell shareholders power from wind tur bines because the old monopoly on power generation has ended wind farm potential investors may decide at a meeting next month june 22 at the windfall ecology centre in newmarket the towns former hydro building on water street if they want to build their own wind farm on york regions lake simcoe shoreline said mr kopperson director of windfall ecoworks a nonprofit company that audits homes for energy efficiency another option would be to join a larger cooperative a project pro posed by the ontario sustainable energy association called lakewind the simcoe shoreline is consid ered a potential lakewind site as are kingston and goderich mr kopperson said he thinks york residents could probably go it alone with wind turbines in georgina the shoreline has a long flat sweep of the lake to take advantage of the prevailing westerly wind he said each 94metre high turbine rotating 21 times a minute could supply power to 250 homes but while mr kopperson was optimistic about prospects for cleaner energy mr kahnert called wednesday the day the market became deregulated a dark one for ontario citizens a lineman for 23 years at toronto hydro mr kahnert has become a leader in the fight against the provincial governments plans to privatize and deregulate electricity as spokesperson for the ontario electricity coalition chapel ridge f un ral home 8911 woodbine avenue markham ontario l3r 5g1 3 blocks north ofhwy 7 90s 3058508 email 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