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

economist sunsuntribune saturday april 26 2003 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stoufmlte on l4a 7z5 publisher arc proudfoot opinion editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flver sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci letters to the editor police should stay out of regions pot reform project re pot smokers beware region planning awareness campaign april 10 this article mentioned an estimated 26169 york region students have used mar ijuana while there have been almost 5000 reported unsuccessful attempts to quit since cannabis is not an addictive sub stance i have to ask what is defined as an unsuccessful attempt to quit someone who thought it was a shame to let a joint burn down but seriously with regards to cannabis and driving it should be noted rick reimer of kilaloe on was recently acquitted of impaired driving because ontario court justice bruce macphee was satisfied his cannabis use was not an impairment furthermore it should also be men tioned courts across the country are throw ing out possession charges on a regular basis and regardless of what police or the justice minister may say in this country courts have ruled possession of under 30 grams of cannabis is a legal activity while no one wants kids skipping school to get stoned i think this type of awareness activity should be placed firmly in the hands of health professionals and should hot in any way have police against the loosen ing of cannabis laws for professional devel opment reasons involved in the program timmeehan communications director ontario consumers for safe access to recreational cannabis ocsarcorg toronto critic should consider returning his land to native people re letter showed intolerant attitude letter to the editor by bill marriott april 1 7 mr marriotts attack on letter writer roy weldon showed a typical liberalleft attitude he preaches acceptance and tolerance to everyone but those who disagree with him should move out of town apparently no one else can have an opin ion even the assistant editor of the paper which is his job isnt it mr marriott labels mr weldon a racist for his views on the asian influx in markham but he has not even met the individual however i note he does have sympathy for the native people of canada so he should feel free to give his land back to them hell feel much better george adams markham letters policy the stouflville 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 the tribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p 1m3 email lettersqeconsuncom dedicated gta bike routes would reduce congestion as i grow increasingly frustrated and annoyed with the traffic congestion and cost of driving a car in the greater toronto area i cant help but think there must be a better way to handle our rush hour madness if only bicycles were a more practical solu tion as kids back in the 1950s we had small motors that would drive bicycles today there are all sorts of superefficient quiet motors to drive bicycles hightech fibres allow us to make lightweight semienclosed bikes the problem is we dont have suitable bikeways from the suburbs into the city in my mind a bikeway is just a six-to-10- foot- wide twoway stretch of asphalt wires in the roadbed would solve the snow and ice problems that would plagueriders on the 25 snowyfreezing rain days each winter a mile of bikeway costs a small fraction of the cost of building and maintaining a major road or subway system where there arent convenient ravine hydro or railway routes i envisage express routes alongside existing streets with astute placement of tunnels and ele- vated sections we wouldnt even need stop lights from major mackenzie drive to toronto city hallj its about 23 kilometres during rush hour this is a 75minute drive on a bike route it should take about 60 minutes or less of course the reduced car traffic would reduce highway maintenance enough to pay for these routes the romans were the first to build straight routes for highspeed vehicles and aqueducts for transporting water significant distances perhaps its time to go boldly forth where no man has gone before by expropriating parts of fourwheeled vehicle routes to usher in a new generation of two or three- wheeled vehicle transportation corridors jimreid richmond hill members of all ethnic groups sometimes avoid learning english re english important for safety letter to the editor by roy weldon april 12 i was born and raised in canada and im of chinese decent which makes me a proud chinesecanadian most chinese people who move to canada do so tostart a better lifeand provide more opportunities for their children if chinese people have no other intention than to recreate china as mr weldon wrote wouldnt simple logic suggest staying in china if mr weldbh bothered to look in a dictio nary he would realize the word immigration is defined as to enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native which is exactly what markham has seen invasion on the other hand is defined as a largescale onset of something injurious or harmful such as a disease i dont want to speculate on what mr weldon meant when he wrote markham has seen an invasion not immigration but per haps racist comments shouldnt be masked behind remarks that make no sense to whom is mr weldon referring when he says no doubt the people in that communi ty consider learning english not worth the effort i wont deny there are some chinese people who dont understand english but this occurs in all racial groups and the chinese cdmmunity is no different does this make it ok no but singling out one group is blatant discrimination i think i can speak for the majority of peo ple in the chinese community when i say learning english is worth the effort wherever that places your doubt mr weldon we dont want it lynda wong markham volunteer week salutes time effort given to improve life every day volunteers dedicate their time and talents to lend a hand in our communities volunteers understand we all share responsibility for the health and vitality of our community and ultimately for each others wellbeing they are one of ontarios most valuable assets during national volunteer week april 27 to may 3 the ontario trillium foundation pays tribute to volunteers in your community through projects handled by our founda tion alone as many as 20000 volunteers in the simcoeyork area have contributed more than 500000 hours in the last three years whether they ensure wildlife survival fight illiteracy support youth sports or care for the sick volunteers help make ontario a better place i also want to say a heartfelt thank you to anne pegg chairperson of the foundations grant review team and her 15member com- mittee in your community our foundation an agency of the ontario ministry of culture depends on the leader ship and enthusiasm of more than 340 volun teers who donate more than 60000 hours of their time each year thanks to their work we are able to address the unique needs of communities across ontario in recognition of the contribution these volunteers make lets celebrate and be inspired by those who give robert power chairperson of the board ontario trillium foundation editorial editor jim mason newsroameconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skaneymgcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acwnpbellymgcom real estate manager mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom production electronic communications manager john futhey jfuiheyymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil vonetlymgcom york region events managing director debra weller dwellerymgcom shows manager staceyallen sallenymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean kdcanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax2941538 advertising 2942200 classified i-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontarlopress circulations audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouflville tribune published every thursday and saturday rs a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing lid a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york regkm newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hoi and tbornhillvaugrian citoen markham economist sun stouffvine tribune stouftvibe sun georgina advocate york regton business times at home good life yockregkxicom and york regkm printing jll im