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The answer was clear â€" never. This board has become too sanctimonious. Too self righteous. Aren‘t there any democrats left on that body who will allow ordinary ratepayers the right to speak out and exercise their rights? Or have they simply become pawns of the bureaucracy? That is a question that confronts every government â€"â€" and it is certainly one that this group needs to consider. _ _ Otherwise, they‘ll be out of office sooner than they think â€" not because politics is a burden and they tried their best â€" but because they failed at democracy and the rule of law in its very essence. # # # J. Frederick Sagel is a Kitchener lawyer who lives in . leri Waterloo. That one really worried -x;:-efl._l_t:b;);l;h_t again about democracy and how it really ought to operate in a free society. Would Ll"l}‘coln or Jefferson â€" they‘re my ideals â€" sanction this? Well, it seems that Mrs. Stemmler tried again. Last Wednesday, she was barred by the board‘s chairman, Louise Etrvin, from distributing material about the issue to some parents. Her handbill asked ratepayers to attend a meeting of the board on May 27 to "control the unnecessary spending of our tax dollars." Mrs. Ervin said no â€" the board doesn‘t allow any "advertising" in schools without board permission. _ Can you imagine poor old Abe Lincoln, President of the United States, born of humble origins and dedicat_ed to public service, telling a delegation to leave because they missed a legal time limit? That was the first big mistake. The board could easily have l‘;/ea\hwed the time limit to permit discussion, but instead hid ind what appeared to be a legality. Sheer nonsense. Looks bad on th&t&fi'a holds no legal weight at all, It‘s a rigid ‘ittitude that serves nobody but the vested interests of the members and the administrators. Mrs. Stemmler, it turns out, hadn‘t given the trustees the required notice to raise the matter of a delegation‘s questions to the board. So they turned her down. They didn‘t want to talk about Langdon Hall. ho ul If I were a u?tya in the Waterloo Region separate school board system, I‘d be worried. bet Worried not because the board seems to waste an awful lot of money(vl â€"fman'y' publx;:dbodiea do t.ll::: â€" but bficause a new attitude of cynicism arrogance set into the dealings of that board and particularly its chairman. s In any democracy, the rule of law has to apply. People elect representatives to various positions in government to run for whatever positions are important to them â€" but they also expect to be heard when the time comes. Think of the great democrats in history. Thomas Jefferson. Abraham _ Lincoln. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Lester B. Pearson. They were all leaders who understood that their power came directly from the people and that those same folks who elected them had to be listened to. That‘s what‘s disturbing about the Waterloo separate school board. It has taken on a life of its own and, unfortunately, it isn‘t acting in the best tradition of democracy. Earlier this year, the board decided to hold a threeâ€"day planning session at Langdon Hall, one of the most exclusive places in the province. But when public bodies, such as the board, start holding meetings there â€" whether they got a deal or not â€" it looks bad, smells bad and requires a lot of explanation. That‘s what the trustees had to expect. No question about it. And they got it â€" in the form of a Waterloo lady named Kalita Stemmler. Mrs. Stemmler is a ratepayer who didn‘t like what she saw at the board. And she wanted to ask some questions about it. So she went to the board‘s meeting last week with a small delegation to demand some answers. But when she got there, trouble ensued. ‘ m"TTHEuw Ns _23 Politicians can‘t ignore rule of law Jim Vanderleeuw dufllcys some of the environmentally friendly rroducts he is sell. He hopes to turn his partâ€"time enterprise into a fullâ€"time business. M pramntedintnt issA B dn lb s 4 B & sc 58350 3 That product was Natura Odor Remover and the substance was zeolites, an organic mineral formed from volcanic ash. Vanderleeuw was so impressed, he bought the regional distribution rights to the product and Lion Enterprises was born. ""I did quite a bit of research on this before I got involved. I went to libraries, talked to chemists and other experts and determined the legitimacy of the mineral and the retail version of ." Zeolite is a mineral, mined in several places including British Columbia, that acts as an absorbent. Odors are generally caused by gases, says Vanderleeuw, and zeolite adsorbs those gases by trapping them in tiny Dores: Chronicle Staff ~ When Jim Vanderleeuw suddenly found himself unemployed, he decided to start his own business. But coming up with a winning idea isn‘t always easy, so Vanderleeuw used his nose. And what he found were bad odors â€"those everyday odors in homes, offices, cars and restaurants â€" and an interesting substance called zeolites. "I was at a trade show and I came across this display for a product that removes odors using a totally m"f;‘-ural suEastanee fg"md in ‘t}ae environment," says Vanderleeuw. Jim Vanderleeuw finds end to his job search right under his nose Enjoy the whole car, but only pay for 53%. 48 monthâ€"lease $173.62, plus taxes per month. Optional Buyâ€"Back $4,039.65, plus taxes. WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1991 â€" PAGE A15 Lease a Honda Civic Down Payment Only $575.00 Since he began selling the Naâ€" tura products, Vanderleeuw has tried many experiments to test zeolites. He‘s put ammonia, a sharpâ€"smelling dkemical â€" comâ€" monly associated with lingering pet odors, in his hand and added a pinch of Natura Pet Odor Remov er and the smell vanished Zeolites haven‘t just been dis covered. In fact, says Vander leeuw, they‘ve been in use by industry for many yvears. They are commonly found in laboratoâ€" ries and are used to filter water to make sure it is pure, they are used in the petroleum industry to separate a product into it‘s diffeâ€" rent components and one form of zeolites is used in household water softeners. ‘"The concept is similar to that of baking soda. People have ac cepted for years that baking soda in the freezer helps get rid of odors. The difference is, baking soda is manufactured to a certain degree and doesn‘t last as long as zeolites," says Vanderleeuw Once an odorâ€"causing gas is adsorbed by the zeolites, says Vanderleeuw, it is gone and with out the side effects of an unknown chemical being produced by a variety of chemicals being mixed together ‘‘Most odors have one or two gases present. An example is cigarette smoke which is a combiâ€" nation of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Other houseâ€" hold odors include gases such as formaldehyde from plywood, car pets and furniture. Other gases include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, freon, ammonia and hyâ€" Unlike other odor controls, zeo!â€" ites don‘t just mask an odor with perfumes that may actually be generating other harmful gases and it doesn‘t release the gas like other filter systems, which filter only particles in the air, not the actual gas that causes the odor Chronicle (Continued on page A16) EVERYONE!