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t 6 stoujfville suntribune m saturday jan 13 2007 istouffvhle suntnbune 6290 main st stouffvilieonl4a7z5 vwmyoikregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief director interactive director advertising marketingpartnership debora kelly media technology distribution director business manager john futhey bai y black debra weller robert lazurko director circulation york region printing systems general manager lynn pashko bob dean letters to the editor religious faiths intolerant re you dont have to share belief to respect others by jim rabyniuk jan 4 regarding which of abrahams sons was to die in biblical or koranic tales the dis tinction is silly the effect it should be noted was wealthy medieval christians willing to march upon the arab empire swords raised as they murdered at will later on well- educated muslims were willing to pilot planes into the world trade centre mr rabyniuk next introduces the con cepts of rationality and intellectual honesty quickly devaluing both terms a rational assessment of the muslim faith by a christian must start by saying all muslims are destined for an eternal hell i dont think he understands his own faith he preaches tolerance however christianity states it has the bnly right answer so does islam any religious faith particularly those evolving from the abrahamic tradition is if honestly held inherently intolerant i agree that political correctness is offensive religious belief itself arrogantly the cause of so much evil doesnt deserve respect matt douris stouffville some drivers dont know how to operate headlights it sounds a bit silly to say such an obvi ous thing but i saw some drivers in my neighbourhood at dennison and brimley roads driving without their headlights i used tobe a mechanic at some dealer ships and even now i am a sunday mechanic i know how a car works to my surprise there are a few drivers who use only their parking lights at night not their headlights a couple of weeks ago as i was entering the ymca in markham a black honda civic driven by young woman pulled up without headlights on so i approached the driver and said why dont you turn on the head lights when you drive a car at night her reply was i am driving a car with headlights on i pointed to her that her headlight switch was turned only one flip at the parking light i said she needed to flip one more time to fully activate the headlights its stupid but at the same time it could be dangerous for both drivers and pedestri ans if they do not know how to turn on headlights they should at least consult with their owners manual fumio ishiguro markham ive gtf a ff vkp wgging peeper were not famous but we can change world its common for towns and cities to partner with similar communities elsewhere in canada north america and around the world markham for example is twinned with laval quebec cary north carolina wuhan china and haidian district also in china richmond hill is twinned with lakeland florida numerous factors go into these twinning agreements the most important being economic devel opment and trade often a sister city will be chosen because many residents came from the area for example vaughain has twinning agreements with cities in italy israel japan and the philippines this makes for politi cally popular as well as economi cally beneficial partnerships a cynic might add a third criteri on it sure helps if the twin city is a pleasant place for politicians and bureaucrats to visit then you have the case that breaks the mold stouffvilles part nership with igoma tanzania there is little economic advantage to be gained in an impoverished african community few folks in stouflville claim tanzanian heritage and while many locals visit there its hardly a holiday the stoufiville igoma project has furnished a doctor medicine and equipment to the only medical clin ic in the town of 40000 it sent markham nurse glenna cumminspeterson over to help people in igoma and the surround ing area and it has provided 500 mosquito nets to help prevent malaria with 1500 more to come it helps nurses and vocational stu dents pay their tuition and is work ing on providing a clean water sup ply stouffville is calling on other communities to take on similar partnerships now if one of the smallest pop ulationwise communities in york region can make this kind of differ- david teetzel ence to so many people surely big ger wealthy communities such as markham vaughan richmond hill and newmarket can do likewise ok admittedly stouffvilles partnership is led more by the communitys churches than its politicians and that may in fact be easier to do in a smaller more homogenous community such as stouffville but every religion endorses charity and thomhill at the very least already has an interfaith organization called mosaic that helps people in need we dont have to look very far this week to see an example of how an individual can have a global impact const davis ahlowalia spent his vacations helping orphans in india and jamaica he convinced york regional police to sponsor the jamaican orphanage closer to home he supported the york south association for community living friends of the poor vicars york region and the toronto aids walk and in the meantime he earned his living keeping us all safe we lost this hero in a horrific crash on the weekend as well as two young men sulman yusef and waleed shaukat who by all accounts were also examples of what a character community is supposed to be york police are hoping to contin ue supporting the orphanage to honour const ahlowalias memory residents who want to make a memorial contribution can bring donations to friends of the poor canada inc to any york police sta tion but while someone as selfless as const ahlowalia might seem intimidating to us average slobs i believe we all have the ability to be heroes whitchurchstouffville has grabbed hold of this i know every town in york region has the resources to do what stouffville has done i believe every town in york region has people who want to do what stoufiville has done i think its high time we stopped entrusting the developing world to governments and rock stars and took action ourselves the stouffville igoma project is willing to mentor other communi ties for more information call the stouffville chamber at 905-642- 4227 or eastridge evangelical missionary church at 905-640- 3911ext42 letters policy thesunilribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribuncrescrvcs the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune stouffville on l4a7z5 jmasonyrngcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom assistant editor rickvanderlinde rvanderlindeyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrewsyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallcnyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant 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