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For many, an appearance in court as a witness can be a traumatic, frightening experience. Victimâ€"Witness Services, in coâ€"operation with the Waterloo Regional Police force, hopes to relieve the anxiety of a court appearance through its witness information service. Pat Arbuckle The service, funded by the solicitorâ€"genâ€" eral of Canada, began its operation Monday, Jan. 24 in the Criminal Division of the Provincial Court in Kitchener. Chronicle Staff It is designed "to provide some support for people who are witnesses in court,"" explained Mark Yantzi, coâ€"ordinator of Victimâ€"Offender Services, a division of Community Justice Initiatives. "Witnesses have a very responsible Economics may be a highly technical subâ€" ject but to a University of Waterloo economics lecturer, Larry Smith, it is also a very hurman Chronicle Special â€" He has an academic interest in finding out why people make the economic decisions they do. He‘s therefore keenly interested in the role of advertising, which he regards as a useful (though someâ€" times misused) activiâ€" ty related to this kind of decision making. Advertising is useful in that it encourages inâ€" novation. It is also useâ€" ful in that it encourâ€" ages competition, he would argue. Witnesses now have an aid â€"to relieve court anxiety Insofar as innovation is concerned, Mr. Smith says there is little social value in baving a new idea or invention sit on a shelf unused; the key to getâ€" ting new ideas into use is to help people find eut about them. Lecturer studies role of advertising in economics 5 Iceâ€"cold drinks aren‘t actly on the top of veryone‘s list this illy time of year,. but tlocking up on some for at next party or getâ€" together could go a long way in helping Brea organizations. 1 CKKW Radio and :::.('h Boy/Dutch Girl markets in coâ€" Bperation with Cocaâ€" i‘ola have a campaign January that should ap great benefits for ig Brothers and Big isters as well as for e Rotary Club. ‘ For every 12750 ml. Bot(les of Coke, Sprite or Tab sold during Janâ€" uary at every Dutch Boy and Dutch Girl, $1 wil}l be donated to Waâ€" _ Time to ‘stock up Advertising does this. Thus advertising moves â€" new â€" products along from the idea stage to the point where goods are sold in the marketplace and used in the home. In this sense, adverâ€" tising is useful not only in marketing new prodâ€" ucts . . _ it is also useful in disseminating any kind of a new concept or idea; advertising techniques can be used to save whales or proâ€" tect the environment equally as well as to market automobiles, he says. ‘"One problem, howâ€" ever, is that we are bombarded with so many messages about so many things we tend to ignore them unless they really catch our attention," he notes. *‘*So the attentionâ€"grabâ€" bing aspect of advertisâ€" ing may well be more important than the inâ€" formationâ€"disseminaâ€" The idea started with CKKW sales representâ€" ative John Hendrie. whose 10â€"yearâ€"old son Steven is this year‘s Timmy. *‘*We look upon it as a way of helping the communigy.‘‘_ said George Humphrey of Dutch Boy. ‘"And when you can help three or four associations at one time, that makes it extra nice." ‘ terloo Regional Police who will then make a cheque presentation to the aforementioned agencies. during their benefit hockey game February 2 against Kitchener Rangers. position and perform a vital function that is essential to the courts," he added, yet often the needs of victims of crimes or witnesses are overlooked. "We haven‘t done much for witnesses or the victim. Sometimes they are taken for granted." Yantzi said. Yantzi feels that most people are intimidated by the court system as they are by any formalized institution. But at the root of most of this fear is a lack of knowledge or understanding of court proâ€" cedures. The program‘s staff of 11 volunteers hope to counter this with pamphlets containing information about the court system and moral support. Yantzi emphaâ€" sized that it is not the role of these volunteers to discuss witness testimony, Information service formed This he freely admits can result in some repâ€" rehensible advertising, some of it in very bad taste. Sometimes it trivializes important concerns . .. it triviaâ€" lizes human life itself. "I am thinking of one ad that made fun of forture chambers," he recalls, ‘*in spite of the fact that such things exist today in many parts of the world. That kind of ad is totally unâ€" acceptable." tion aspect." In recent years, he notes, there has been increased opposition to sexist ads, because they depict women as either stupid or as sex objects. ‘"Advertising has reâ€" sponded to such comâ€" plaints and today we are getting more ads which depict men cookâ€" ing or taking care of the children,." Smith notes. *‘*We are also starting to see examâ€" ples of men being sexâ€" ually exploited . . . of men in various stages of undress, for inâ€" stance. Whether that constitutes an imâ€" provement over the time when only women were sexually exploitâ€" ed seems arguable. There are those who would say that while sexual activity is a significant and imporâ€" tant part of life it ought not to be trivialized in an advertisement." As for advertising as an aid to the entrance of new products and services into the marâ€" ketplace . . . the other side of the coin is that advertising can also inâ€" hibit such entry. "This is because adâ€" vertising has become so costly a small, fledâ€" gling company can‘t afford it," he says. ‘‘The big company can, in fact, use its huge advertising budget to restrict entry by a smaller wouldâ€"be comâ€" petitor, no matter how excellent the latter‘s product line may be." Campers experience ‘feeling of the wild‘ Pat Arbuckile For most people, last week‘s cold snap offered an ideal opportunity for an evening spent curled up in front of a fire and a night snuggled beneath the blankets of their warm bed. Chronicle Staff Not so for some of the workers at Laurel Creek Nature Centre. Instead naturalist Dan Schneider and volunteer Rick McCleary opted to test their mettle with three nights of winter camping in subâ€"zero temperatures. The pair tested three different camping techniques in preparation for Sunday‘s Secrets of Survival presentation at the centre by Shane Baker and Peter McGoâ€" vern of Goolak Backwoods Coâ€"op. About 100 camping enthusiasts attended the workshop for tips on proper clothing and equipment for safe enjoyable winter camping. The first night Schneider and McCleary slept under the stars. their sleeping bags the only protection against the bitter â€"20°C cold. Subsequent nights were spent in a tent and a quinâ€"zee or snow hut. The snow hut, modeled after those used by Algonquin Indian hunters was built by piling up snow and then hollowing out the centre. Although this type of shelter is only to provide information about the court procedure. â€" â€" ‘"If people know more about the court and court procedure they will be better able to perform their function and will feel less anxiety and pressure," he explained. Volunteers wil} be on duty daily at the courts to give directions, answer witâ€" nesses‘ questions or to simply sit with them and provide emotional support durâ€" ing the periodic long waiting period until they are called to testify. ~ The service was developed, explained Yantzi, as the result of a 1980 survey of 200 victims of crimes. The study concluded that victims have three basic needs â€" for information, for practical assistance in arranging transportation and babysitting and for emotional support. Battle subâ€"zero weather WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1983 â€" PAGE 3 easy to construct, Schneiderâ€"warned that children should never attempt it without the help of an adult because of the danger of a cave in. The hut must also be allowed to harden at least a day before it is used ans special care must be taken to ensure that there is adequate ventilation. The final verdict of the threeâ€"night experiment: although he managed only about four hours sleep, Schneider deâ€" scribed the experience of sleeping out under the stars as "the most impressive." Both enjoyed "the novelty of sleeping out. It gave us the feeling that we were out in the wild," he said. :\nd iithough both the tent and the snow hut offered good protection from the cold Schneider said that he preferred the snow hut. "I enjoyed the snow hut better than the tent. It was warm and we slept very well," he said. e Buoyed by the success of their latest venture the two are now looking for even bigger challenges. Next winter they plan to camp for an entire weekend "living like the Indians." "We think it will be much more of a challenge," said Schneider. ‘"We won‘t be able to come back into the centre for our meats or to warm up." The witness information service is only one of several programs that are being developed as a result of the study. Although the program‘s volunteer staff do not plan to contact witnesses prior_to their arrival in court, anyone who has been subpoenaed to appear in Provincial court can call Victimâ€"Offender Services. ‘"We will arrange to meet them ahead of time, sit with them through a court session or take them to an empty courtroom and let them sit in the witness box," said Yantâ€" zi. Yantzi said that he would also welcome calls from those interested in becoming volunteers. For more information about the program, contact Victimâ€"Offender Services at 744â€"6549.