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LETTERS, 1 was very upset to hear of Pierre Tru~ deau‘s acquiescence to demands that a referâ€" ence to the "Supremaâ€" cy of God" be included These are the words we hear and read these days. I would like for these people who feel this way to read, Psaim 53:1 where it reads, ‘"The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Anyone who makes statements like this know what God has classified you as. Once again, 1 must confront that spectre that looms before quite a few old guys like me. To retire and live on beans and dog food, or to step once more into the breach, dear friends, and not become an old dog, licking its wounds and less savorable parts, waiting for the final stiffening into extinction. Well, that was a fairly literary first paragraph, anyway, with a reference to a spectre, Henry V, and old dogs, perhaps loved, but increasingly useless, and ready for a shot through the head. No God? Read Geneâ€" sis 1:2, "In the beginâ€" ning God." Read St. John 1: 1, ‘"In the beginâ€" ning was the word, and the word was God." Who is man to say there is no God? I could get the lastâ€"named, at times, from my wife, if we kept a gun in the house. That‘s one reason we don‘t. Another is that I decided, some years ago, after shooting a black squirrel while thinking it was a black bear, that I wasn‘t cut out to be a hunter and bring home the game, unless it happened to be chess, or dominoes, or Scrabble. Soon the trees will be in bud, and the leaves will be in form once again â€" Thanks to God. The green grass will be springing up. The flowâ€" ers will soon be in bloom, casting their fragrance of beauty to all who can see them. Once again, thanks be Secondly, I am not an old dog, though I would love to be. I always wanted to be a devilish old dog, twitching my moustaches at the ladies, pouring a sherry for a fascinating widow in a suave flat overlookâ€" ing Kensington Gardens at the age of 82, sipping an aperitif in the great square in decaying Venice when I was 88. ‘Twas not Opposed to God in constitution Another says God‘s in charge BILL SMILEY in the constitution. This is not at al} appropriate for a modern, secular state like Canada, where there are many different types of reliâ€" Our country is lowerâ€" ing itself by making such statements. Who does man think he is? God created man in the first place, and gave him life. Sad to say man has made a mess of his life by denying his creator. We must remember God still has the controls and he will rule. to God. The fruit trees will be in bloom, thanks to God. I have a copy of the official wording of, "O Canada"‘ as passed by parliament July 1, 1980. In it they are asking God to "Keep our land glorious and free!" If you say there is no God, why ask for His watchful care? I hope you will find our God still is in conâ€" trol before it is too late. Wilfred John Crowder 65 Krug St. Kit. In the third case, I am not young King Hal of Tudor times, looking for breaches to go into once more. I have been in too many breaches (note to proofâ€"reader; that is not britches) already. The next breach I leap into will be the last one: that hole in the ground. I am just a youngish old dog, to whom no widow under the age of 59 (her version) would give a second look. Unless she were really broke. _ And in the fourth place, I ain‘t afraid of no spectres. That‘s what Scrooge said, and you know what happened to him. This retirement gig is not that simple. First of all, that inflation has you by the short and curly. All my friends who are retired cry: ‘"Don‘t do it‘," as though I were a 17â€"yearâ€"old about to take my first drink or something even more sinful, according to the society in which we grew up. They claim that they can eat steak only once a week, that they haven‘t even the money for one of Freddy Laker‘s trips to England in the off season, that they‘re going to have to sell their fine middleâ€"class homes and move into some fine middleâ€" class apartment where they don‘t even have any lawn to cut or snow to shovel. It‘s a horrible prospect. gilous belief and pracâ€" tice. The worship of a paâ€" triarchal, Judeoâ€"Chrisâ€" tian God (or at least, the worship of a Unique, Supreme God) which is implied by this phrase is only one of these, and it does not make sense to emphaâ€" size it. Atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists live in this country too, and such a phrase is meaningless and inâ€" sulting to many of them. This is not to mention the religions that do not worship a God that is necessarily Unique and Supreme, or the religious people who, while they find the phrase accurate to describe their own beâ€" liefs, do not wish to force these beliefs upon others. And what can it mean to claim that this country is founded on the ‘‘*Principle of the Supremacy of God?" Surely this must refer to the ruthless seizing of the New World land in the name of God and His Kingly or Queenly representative back home, while claiming that the indigenous peoples‘ religions and beliefs were not worth respecting because they were pagan and primitive. C.B. Ostrum Dundar Rd. S. Thoughts on retirement Waterioo Alderman Doreen Thomas appears to have stirred up a minor hornet‘s nest with her recent motion â€" accepted by a slim margin by council â€" that agendas of the administrative committee be made available to counciliors before its meetings. It appears Thomas and some of the other aldermen want to know about some things before they come to a formal council meeting or are alluded to in invitations to receptions. For my part, I‘ve never understood how the city planner could be left off such a commitâ€" The committee consists of treasurer Don Schaeffer, clerk Ron Keeling and city engineer Jim Willis, with mayor Marjorie Carroll as a nonâ€"voting member. â€" One weliâ€"placed source telis me that they, in effect, run the city and that aldermen are expected not to interfere too much. And so, on April 21, a lengthy feature by Maser in the Citizen, began "It‘s a cinch the Canadian Dental Association won‘t nominate And, as for the aldermen, some of them feel they‘re being clued out of some of the most important deliberations to affect the city. The only thing is â€" councillors to do that. When one of the editors at the Ottawa Citizen recently put reporter Peter Masner onto a story about fluoridation in general, he was informed by an Ottawa group about the upcoming Waterloo plebiscite on the issue and given the name of Herbert Riedel, an organâ€" izer with the Waterioo Safe Water Society â€" "the antis." Actually, the cloistered power of the adminâ€" istrative committee is an old subject, but one that rarely gets talked about â€" at least publicâ€" ly. If so, one must remember that they do a pretty good job of running the city. A few weeks ago in this column, I mentioned how the fluoridation controversy in Waterloo was being observed far and wide with peculiar interest. Hornet‘s nest stirred Most of these old friends are in a pitiable state. They have decaying discs, heart problems, high blood pressure, the gout, the crud, or some other debilitating nightmare. Yet they‘re all in their early sixties. My fatherâ€"inâ€"law, 89, would call them ‘"boys". _ â€" Well, I don‘t think I‘ll be one of the boys, at least not for another year. I am a mere sixty years old. I am as sound in wind and limb as a man of thirty. Forty years ago. I limp a bit with the gout. But that is merely a sign of good living, and I limp rather proudly. I scarcely need glasses, except to tie my tie, or hit an ashâ€"tray. I can‘t hear much of what the students say, but my lipâ€"reading is excellent, and I don‘t want to hear what they say, anyway. They‘ve been giving the wrong answer for years. I have a partial plate, but I lithp through it only when we have hamburger in the cafeteria and it gets a bit clogged â€" no more than three or four days a week. All in all, a fine specimen of homo mithancropus, whatever that means. I wouldn‘t want to translate it, because some 89â€"yearâ€"old Latin teacher (we don‘t teach Latin any more) would jump on me and tell me I was either a depressed ape or a melancholy man. That I don‘t need. I feel I though we elected the PHILIP JALSEVAC WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MA Y 6, 1981 â€" PAGE 7 Such conviction makes one realize that going before council with a proposal can sometimes require a certain amount of luck in persuading councillors one way or the other. On fluoridation again for a moment â€" the feature on pg. 5 of this week‘s edition basically outlines some of the questions inherent in the dilemma of those trying to decide whether they‘re pro to antiâ€"fluoridation. You have to kind of hope the wind‘s blowing in the right direction some days. Strangely, a renewed interest in the subject has been occuring in the province to coincide with the local plebiscite, quite by happenâ€" stance. How‘s this for decisiveness? At a recent council meeting, Alderman Robert Henry was voting on a motion to send a plaza proposal back for further study. As he raised his hand to vote, Henry could be heard to audibly sigh "I don‘t know ..."" He reluctantly voted anyway, while expressing his doubts out loud. It raises serious questions in both regards, but is by no means a definitive answer to either side of the argument. But we can already hear the workedâ€"up objections of people from both sides of the debate, that apparently being the nature of the subject. It‘s why John Marier, chemist with the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, says his study team got it in the neck from both proponents and opponents of fluoridation when the NRC refused to either heartily endorse or condemn the practice outright. That‘s how this one goey. The article goes on about the local plebiscite, and Riedel‘s claims against fluoridation versus the staunch support of the dental assoâ€" ciation. j And that, it seems, only makes observers more keen on what‘s happening here. Waterloo resident Herbert Riedel as its man of the year for 1981." But then my conscience assails me. I think of all those young fellows of 40 or 45, whom I am keeping out of a department head‘s job, and I pretty nearly break down. Until I recall the fact that their wives are working, they have just bought a new van or boat, and they are making more money than I. Then I decide to stay another year, and I break up, chuckling at the grinding of teeth, the silent curses in the night, the visions of their child having to work during his/her summer vacation to make it through college. like either, at given times. *‘*Why doesn‘t the old nit quit? He can‘t teach anymore. His department is the worst run in the province. He has no idea how to organize his budget. He doesn‘t know what a budget is. He‘s not sure whether it‘s fall term or spring term. And what is really maddening, he doesn‘t care."" And they‘re right, or partially so. Well, I‘ve decided. I‘ll stay until at least Christmas. I‘ll quit then, suddenly, and leave somebody else to sort out the mess. And if my wife doesn‘t stop spending money on decorating. l reâ€"run this column in ‘88. Why doesn‘t Trudeau soive it by appointing me to the Senate?