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economist sunsuntribune saturday dec 27 2003 a metroland immunity newspaper 34 civic ave stouttville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot edrtorinchief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director of production john futhey advertising director retail fuer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci letters to the editor injured oneinamillion teacher inspiration to students we students from st matthew catholic school in unionville want everyone to know of a great person who has recently been in a serious accident raoul baumgartner is a grade 5 teacher at st matthew he was bur teacher last year and is our gym teacher this year he is a founder of conquest basketball camp and organizer of the annual cross country meet for the school board he also produces a musical every year with his grade 5 class as well as coaching the girls basketball team arid the track and fieldteam mr baumgartner is a oneinamillion teacher he has helped us get over stage fnght and taught us to tmnk for ourselves every lesson he does is interesting and fun and yet he is still able to keep discipline intheclass he makes everyone feel comfortable arid able to approach him with anything he doesnt speak to us like we are children and he has a great sense of humour during lunch hour dec 18 mr baumgartner was in a car accident that has left wmwith very serious injuries unfortunately he wont be withhis wife and young son for christmas because he is in sunnybrook hospital uridergping surgery please keep mr baumgartner and his family in your prayers this christmas as he will be in ours robyn hughes anna marie olan sarah iannigan elaine whillier unionville markhams bowman great humanitarian activist this year saw the loss of a great humani- tarian m the markham community samuel bowman as a colleague who worked with sam locally provincially and globally i would like to add insight and memories many in- markham will enjoy and appreciate sams life and philosophy were summed up well in a 1991 economist sun profile fwhen he cpntluded with all the serious issues going on in the community around us that in retirement he should get up arid dp something and so he did by attending as many as three board meetings a day founding or encouraging new organizations andor co- ordinatirig lowincome housing his favourite activity was being the grand father role model at a local school in the process he had a most enjoyable 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 s the economist sun i 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3 email letterseconsuncom time and became an expert on his commu nity local to global often called upon by the mayor or others to solve critical situations sain had a specific cheerful persistent yet polite style goaloriented yet inclusive and always learning himself while educating and mentoring others hecould readily see the commonalties in diverse situations and the linkages between community issues in a democracy we have institutions and organizations to use in the process of com munity buildirig and sam did this with humour humility and efficiency he was a gregarious networker and activist often talking family history with new acquaintances but strangely arriving back at comriiittee meetings with knowl edge of key missing elements in our formal discussions thus giving fresh perspective and eriergytp our work by defining prob lems in fuller terms sams longevity will also be missed because lack of institutional memory is often an impediment to real progress in todays hectic world files are discarded vol unteers generally stay only about three years and staff changes are frequent i particularly recall how all these charac teristics persistence breadth of knowledge and longevity came to bear on our work as observers and lobbyists for the world conference on habitat in 1996 intensely focused pri cities and urbaniza tion the conference documents rarely acknowledged a connection to surrounding rurallands during the preparatory meetings in new york sam insisted cities must rerrieriiber their dependency on rural lands and farm ers ultimately this concept became integral to the wording in the conferences closing report he was welcomed as a friend and col- league everywhere and would advise us all just get up and do something marilyn ashby past chairperson markham social planning council editorial editor jim mason newsroomecohsuneom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skaneymgcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsyrhgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbeuymgcom real estate manager mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom production production manager pam nichols pnicholsymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackyrngcom administranon office manager vivian oneil voneilymgcom york region events- managing director debrawfller dwelleryrhgcom shows manager stacey allen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax2941538 advertising 905 6421908 ext 2 1 classified 18007433353 fax 8531765 distribution 9652948244 ebelee canadian ontariopress clrailatlorb audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper die stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of lorstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving ridvriorkl hill and ttomhillvaughan citizen markham economist 4 sun stoufsurvtribune georgia advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregtticom and tak region printing david suzuki media could help build better connections ik v jt ostofus read the newspaper iv i or watch the news to find out j 8 w 8 on in the world -a- -a- media outlets are our win dows to cornmunity national and inter national events we rely on them to help make decisions in our daily lives so how are they doing well suppose you turn on the televi sion to the local news here you find snippets of daily activities that can easily be put into 30second clips car accidents violence sports scores devoid of context these stories present the world ma confusing episodic format with no connection between events watching the evening television news one might assume random street crime is canadas biggest problem without context we are often left adrift frustrated you open the newspaper and turn to the business section market prices stock quotes economic growth forecasts based on this section one is often left with the impression business would be great if we could just make gov ernment regulations and the environ ment go away problem is of course there would be no business without the environment no natural resources with which to cre- ate any of our goods no eriergy to power pur vehicles homes and factories so you turn to the automotive section this section is about cars reviewing cars glorifying dais deifying cars it does not report about what cars are doing to our air and to our cities heaven forbid if it were to report on car accidents safety i or automotive concerns and what they might actuauy mean todrivers i you might think the trend toward larger less fuelefficient vehicles might be of interest to readers half the vehicles sold in north america are actually light trucks and this has changed sightlines making it much more difficult for other drivers to see it has also slowed traffic and increased smog how about the homes section this section is mostly about new building projects it spotlights newcondos town- homes and housing developments it also reports on the hottest paint colours what it rarely does is reflect upori big- picture issues such as energy efficiency public transit and urban sprawl theres no easy answer to this prob lem its part of the nature of the news business but it is something that needs to be addressed because if people cant understand the context of world events they are more likely to become confused frustrated and angry they will make snap judgments without knowing the big picture they will be less likely to vote and take part in the democratic process when that happens we all lose take the nature challenge and learn more at- wwwdamjsimikiorg