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

economist sunsuntribune saturday augso 2003 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot opinion editorinchief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director of production johnfuthey advertising director retail flyer saies nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management cordpaolucci letters to the editor help needed planning reunion stouffville district secondary school is cel ebrating its 50th anniversary with a reunion july 2 and 3 2004 we are looking for people to help coordinate in finding classmates we also need to find addresses of past or present students who may or may not be living in the stouffville area this will help us to invite everyone to the celebration graduates can mail or email the following information surname first name maiden name if applicable address and postal code the years attended and your email address email to sdss50thhotmailcom or send to sdss 50th anniversary and reunion registra tion committee eo box 1328 6379 main st stouffville on l4a 8a3 reunion information and registration forms can be found at wwwsdssreunitedca the registration committee sdss 50th anniversary and reunion community shows intolerance i am tired of reading letters to the editor fihed with intolerance and hate written by residents of a town claiming to have a commitment to diversity i find these letters particularly appalling when it comes to debate on the rights of gays and lesbians all rules go out the win dow and land on markhams perfectly mani- cured lawns by choosing to marginalize a significant group in our society some people forget gay and lesbian people are doctors teachers politicians mothers fathers brothers sisters friends and neighbours in 2000 mayor cousens withdrew his sup port of a sign sponsored by parents and friends of lesbians and gays that read someone you know and love is gay the sign was right like many canadians this some one may be in a committed relationship and raising a loving family these samesex couples and their families are entitled to the same recognition in law afforded oppositesex partnerships and the same respect and dignity canadian marriage law violates section 15 ji of the charter of rights and freedoms by fail ing to recognize samesex unions and oppo sitesex unions as legally equivalent the 2001 reports of the law commission of canada and the canadian human rights commission found our definition of mar riage discriminatory those who argue changing the legal defin ition of marriage infringes on religious freer dom fail to note this liberty also includes free dom from religion the right to adopt ones own belief system is integral to our separation of church and state religiousfreedom ensures the seculariza tion of state institutions such as civil mar riage holding a house of commons vote or a referendum on the issue is as ridiculous as voting on the validity of the once taboo mixedrace marriage canada maintains democracy by protect ing the rights of minorities from the some times unjust will of the majority often through court decisions based on the constitution for pluralism to work we have guaranteed equal rights to everyone regardless of gender race disability religion and yes sexual orien tation protesters can march all they want but as gilles marchildon director of equality for gays and lesbians everywhere canada has said equal rights is not a popularity contest i am not antireligion i recognize the beliefs held by many i am however in favour of tolerance and not all religious interpreta tions value bigotry and hate over compassion and love mine certainly doesnt sheetalrawal markham god doesnt condone hatred re vote no mr mccallum letter to the edi tor by brenda di nallo aug 23 ms di nallo makes quite the assumption in her open letter god is mentioned several times with great reverence unfortunately ms di nallo god doesnt condone hatred so where is my gods viewpoint or is your god the only one that counts has anyone checked with god recently to confirm his beliefs on homosexuality i know its in the bible but is it the bible stories are merely interpretations of god as funnelled through the prism of writers beliefs its obvious the writer of deuteronomys tracts had a problem with gays but what assurance do we have that this is indeed- gods word couldnt anyone stand up a pro claim a teteatete with god call himself a prophet and proceed with the dissemination of this information if so is charles manson a prophet too god talks to him all the time i have yet to hear a definitive argument against gay marriage how exacuy will this institution suffer by allowing more people to join it seriously where were gods warriors when the divorce rate was hitting 60 per cent when deadbeat fathers were creating a glut of single motherhood funny gods warriors seem very interest ed in homosexuality the institution of mar riage is a shambles due to neglect and mis management but nobody cared until gay marriage loomed confounding really unfortunately what i have seen is an act of desperation from the antigay camp having run out of legal options to promote hatred against gays they now seek to misappropriate the word of god to justify their bias cferrara markham david suzuki blackout shows need for conservation a chinese villager looking at a north american newspaper after the recent blackout could be forgiven for wondering what the fuss was all about after all 16 billion people in the world dont have access to electricity at all so losing it for a couple of days might not seem like such a big deal but it is a big deal here north americans are the worlds largest consumers of electricity our society depends on it to heat and cool our homes power lights appliances televisions com puters and much more we depend on it so much when it gets taken away our cities are crippled without electricity last week millions of north americans couldnt do their normal jobs so they just went home all at once caus ing gridlock traffic because the street lights were out do we really need to use so much power watching the news coverage of the black out was a real eyeopener instead of going home sitting in an air- conditioned house and watching television people went out some families sat outside and played games by candlelight others visited neigh bours went for walks or just talked it is sad we are so caught up in our electri fied world that we forget the joy and peace of a quiet evening of course that is not to say we dont need electricity indeed for the most part it vastly improves our lives however because it has always been there when we needed it we have become complacent about electrical power in north america ever increasing electri cal demand is considered a given in the united states percapita consumption of electricity has increased by 50 per cent in the past 25 years we need a new strategy one that focuses on reducing energy use through efficiency arid conservation rather than increasing sup ply consider our homes every day thou sands of new homes are being built across the country and almost all of them are instantly obsolete built to old building standards dr david suzuki is a scientist broadcaster author and chairperson of the david suzuki fbundationjake the nature challenge and team more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the stouffville 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 markhamon l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager stevekane skaneymgcqm sales manager new business development distribution dauma andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbcllymgcom real estate manager mike rogerson mrogersonymgcom production production manager pam nichols pnicholsymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilymgcom york region events managing director debraweller dwellerymgcom shows manager stacey allen sallenymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified i-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9052948244 ehel3i canadian ontariopress circulations audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stmiffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary oflbrstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york regkxi newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhihvaughan citizen martham economist sun stoufrvffle suntribune georgha advocate york regkxi business rimes north of the city yorkrcgkncom and york region printing i 4i arf fcv