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economist suntribune saturday june 8 2002 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 opinion publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director of advertising debra weller 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 stacey allen business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil letters eliminating zionism will bring peace to middle east re magazine reeks of antisemitism may 23 while it is standard fare for israels sup porters to paint anyone opposing its brutal policies with the broad brush of anti- semitism it is astonishing to note your paper has become their mouthpiece it is imperative for canadians to under stand what the zionist state of israel stands for since the end of apartheid in south africa israel is the only country in the world that is based on a racist ideology zionism the nobel peace prize winner bishop desmond tutu referred to israels treatment of palestinians as worse than that meted out to blacks by the apartheid regime most canadians have little idea of the brutality suffering and humiliation inflicted on palestinians a comparison of the two sides casualties is revealing in the past 20 months more than 2000 palestinians have been shot dead one third of them children that is more than israels total casualties of around 450 the majority being soldiers in april israel perpetrated massacres in jenin but refuses to allow an inquiry while claiming it has nothing to hide if so why not let an independent commission investigate it israeli president moshe katsav is on record as saying palestinians are less than human israeli prime minister ariel sharon is an indicted war criminal with a gory record of massacres from qibya october 1953 to beirut 1982 and now jenin it is important to understand the origins of political zionism it emerged in the pecu liar environment of late 19thcentury europe where discrimination against the jewish people was widespread theoder hertzl came up with the ludi crous proposal that jews could not live with nonjews and must therefore have their own state europes problem was thus transferred to palestine courtesy of the british while the jewish people had suffered grievously in europe they became the perpetrators of similar crimes against the palestinians israels policies are condemned not only by palestinians and muslims but also by many conscientious jews these include fig ures such as noam chomsky uri davis the late israel shahak and in south africa water underachieving millionaires a selfdestructing pitching staff were passing the buck bice hbtihez minister ronnie kasrils whom i had the pleasure of meeting during my recent trip to that country the holy land will have peace only when the racist ideology of zionism is removed and all people muslims christians and jews live as equal citizens under the law zafarbangash markham read harry potter books with childs delight imagination re stores shouldnt be selling evil harry potter videos letter to the editor may 30 a few years ago i scanned through the first harry potter book i was offended that a childrens story should have the boys parents dead i was offended with the idea he went to a school to become a wizard still i thought i better read one of the harry potter books after one i couldnt stop reading and am now on my fourth instead of being in an orphanage like lil orphan annie harry has been raised by very mean relatives but like annie he is kind helps others and is a cheerful person there are bad people in the stories that harry and his friends use their wits to over come where is the evil influence doesnt every child dream of flying or being able to get the better of a bully kids play pretend games or use their great ability to imagine themselves in various real ities too bad adults lose this harry like every child is happy sad afraid of being in trouble with his teacher frightened brave clever and makes mis takes children can relate to harry please dont ban these novels read the stories with a childs delight of wonderous places awe some animals and the ability to look after himselfherself there will still be time to read the bible ev ellis markham york regional police provides highquality service to citizens re shoddy practices give police bad name editorial may 30 i was disappointed in both the content and the tone of this editorial while judicial censure is necessarily based on the evidence presented to the court rather than all the facts of an investigation it is always of con cern to the police service my initial review indicates that the offi cers acted in good faith in the performance of their duties however given the serious nature of the matter a complete and independent review is being considered and for that reason i am unable to comment further on die specific incident i would however like to address some of the other uninformed and misleading aspects of your editorial the current operating budget for the york regional police is 107 million not the 120 million you reported the policetocitizen ratio quoted is only letters policy stoufiville tribune 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 heritage rd markham ont l3p1m3 email letterseconsuncom stouffville tribune servingthe community since 1888 ebu3 bob how to get in touch with us telephone 90529422oo fax 9052941538 canadian circulations audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 thursdays only email newsroomeconsuncom distribution 9052948244 distributioneconsuncom classified advertising 8532527 18007433353 9 heritage road markham l3p 1m3 a guideline and does not take into account other specialized resources available to us such as air support canine and intelligence units york region remains one of the safest com munities of its size in this country in which to live and the policing budget as i have stated before is adequate to meet our needs york regional police is committed to train ing and devotes significant resources to that priority we are known throughout the polic ing community for the extent and calibre of our training and for the quality of our equip ment and technology since january 2001 about 350 officers have completed investigative courses the major case management system recentiy imple mented by the provincial government was piloted by this service and we are recognized as a leader in that field with two of our officers training police personnel across the province york regional police is noted for its inves tigative expertise and is frequently sought after to conduct difficult investigations for other police services and for the ontario civilian commission on police services the oversight body for policing we are also involved in a number of joint forces initiatives as a valued member and currently have 10 officers seconded as investi gators to such projects rcmp chief supt ben soave recently commented the york regional police are a strong partner with the rcmp and are often called upon because of their professionalism and expertise in criminal investigations york regional police seeks always to act in a professional manner and to provide a supe rior quality of service to the community we are a learning organization constantly reviewing our practices and procedures to ensure we meet that goal this matter will be assessed in our quest for continuous improvement robert middaugh chief of police community police centre responds quickly to concerns after talking with our wonderful crosswalk person of 13 years sharon norton i decided as a concerned parent of three children attending stouffvilles summitview public school to write a letter to the community police centre about the safety issue at this crosswalk an ongoing frustration has been expressed about those who run the red light while chil dren are walking to and from school the peak periods are at 8 am to 820 am noon to 1220 pm and 250 pm to 330 pm i was thrilled with the response from the crc in two weeks my letter was responded to by police officers showing up during all three crosswalk periods now im the first to admit im not the per fect driver but we all need to be reminded to slow down at this intersection and consider the safety of our children the response from the crc is evidence that it is available to listen and respond to concerns we have in this community isolawideman stouffville stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the 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