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economist sunsuntribune saturday dec 13 2003 a metroland community newspaper 34 cmc ave stouffviue on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot letters to the editor prolific torysupporting letter writer deserves ode re merger opponents misguided letter to the editor by kirk sutherland nov 29 another great letter from mr sutherland where he lives in some other land if i disagree hell insist i must be a socialist oh how hell be in all his glory when all are firmly rightwing tory percy barber markham establishing small user fee could help markham stouffviue hospital re hospitals face tough times nov 29 i am 76 and have not been in the hospital one day however that may change so i would like to take measures to ensure a healthy hospital i suggest all markham and whitchurch- stouffviue residents pay a small charge up front any time they go to markham stouffviue hospital for service perhaps 10 for adults including seniors and 5 for chil dren each visit jimcalderwood markham stouffviue council should consider need for inhouse lawyer should the town of whitchurch- stouffviue have its own inhouse lawyer i beueve there are many ways a lawyer could be very valuable to councu members and staff and therefore to residents for example apparent problems with certain town bylaws may not be with the bylaws themselves but with their interpre tation and enforcement a major task for an inhouse lawyer would be educating the new couhtil in its municipal role au councu decisions and possibly some of its omissions have legal implications this includes the spending of pubuc funds a second task would be to educate staff and ensure au town documents comply with laws and bylaws a third function would be to review and assess town contracts development propos als and general operations my awareness of the need for an inhouse lawyer comes from hearings conducted by two councilappointed committees the opinion letters policy the markham economist sun welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist sun reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the economist sun 9 heritage rd markham on l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom committee of adjustment and property standards committee neither reports to council according to a bylaw members of the property standards committee are hot eligi ble to be on another local board however for the past three years the same three people have sat on both commit tees was the property standards bylaw brought to the attention of the new councu when the appointments were made the term local board of a local munic ipality ie single tier or lower tier is defined in section the municipal act and municipal affairs act it includes a board committee commis sion and authority confusion may occur if legal and couo- quial terms are interchanged however the act says a local board does not include a pubuc ubrary board since it is governed by the pubuc libraries act this is another area where confusion can exist if provincial laws are not brought to the attention of councu should councu be aware of its account- abuity and liabuity margaret l may stouffviue stolen vehicle wakeup call for stouffviue resident on dec 3 i woke up to face an empty space where my car once stood it was an eightyearold neon parked in a weulit lot right outside our windows in a townhouse complex on the ninth line in stouffviue the saddest part is i beueved stouffviue was stul free of such crimes perhaps we are now country too close to the city anyway if anyone sees an abandoned black 1995 neon ucence plate acbj 391 please cau pouce witold borozynski stouffvjlle editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skaneymgcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom real estate manager mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom production production manager pam nichols pnicholsymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vwian oneil vonellymgcom york region events managing director debraweller dwelleryrngcom shows manager staceyallen sallenymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 90 6421908 cxt 221 n classified 18007433353 fax8531765 distribution 9052948244 b3e13ifiplb canadian ontario press cbculauons audit council board member suntribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper tie stoufmlle tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of itxstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york regkxi newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan citizen markham economist sun stoufvidesunthluriegeorginaaoocate yca regkxi business times norm of the city vorkregkxicom and york region printing editor in chief advertising director debora kelly retail flyer sales business manager nicole fletcher robert lazurko advertising director director of classified real estate production events management john futhey gordpaolucci david suzuki air not as anonymous as you might think most of us generauy dont think about the air we breathe why would we its always there au around us besides its invisi ble at least most of the time and thats the problem because we dont tmik about it and because it just seems so big we treat our air like a dumping ground for waste we feel anonymous in our atmosphere as we might in a huge unknown city but air is also extiaordinarily mtimate fifteen times or more each minute we unconsciously draw about a halffine of air deep into our lungs filter it absorb some into our bodies keeping some and then exhale the rest to pass on to our neighbours without a constant source of fresh air wed die in just a fewminutes yet even with miuions of people breatiiing our cities never run out of fresh air because it is always moving and not just a uttle a greek philosopher once said you cannot step twice into the same river his point beingthe waters are constantly fiowing the same could be said of air in just one week the air you are breathing now could be halfway around the world its part of a global system that connects the atmosphere to au uving things this connection means whatever we put into the air could end up in our neighbours back yards or in their lungs even tf theyre half aworldaway when fire broke out at chernobyl it was the swedes who announced the accident because they detected a sudden radia tion spike over sweden pouutants that can make us sick are hot the only things we are dumping into our air we are also dumping tons of car bon dioxide and other heattrapping gases into the atmosphere that are increasing the earths natural ability to absorb heat from the sun gases such as carbon dioxide may not have as immediate of an impact on us as does say ozone but while ozone lasts only a few weeks in the atmosphere greenhouse gases can last a few decades to a few centuries atmospheric carbon dioxide concen- trations for example largely from burn ing oil coal and gas have increased by 31 per cent in the past 200 years such a large increase is now having a noticeable effect on the earths climate and concerns about what this wul mean for the future are growing an article in science describes climate change as a truly glob al issue one that may prove to be humanitys greatest challenge what we must remember is this is a problem of our own making and it is not insurmountable we are not so small that we cannot have an effect on something as large as the air itself nor are we so big that we cannot change me the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg