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My friend Tina battles for breath every day en 1 close my eyes, I can W.:till picture it. And if I stare long enough, 1 even get a few chills up my spine, not to menâ€" tion short of breath. It all happened on a hot summer day over 15 years ago. The setting was Kiwanis Park in Kitchener. One afternoon, my parents and their friends took f ol me and some other |f hÂ¥ * children to the popular . |f manâ€"made swim hole. . | I was all set with my bathing suit, towel and suntan _ lotion _ all packed in a pretty pink beach bag. My hair was tightly pulled into a ponytail. 1 was ready to go. Wait a minute, 1 almost forgot to menâ€" tion the most imporâ€" tant necessity for a sixâ€" yearâ€"old beach bum, my waterâ€"wings. â€" uNope. never ventured into a Mr. Turtle pool, let alone a lake, without For those who aren‘t familiar with the term, waterwings are bright orange plastic sleeves that, when filled with air, fit tightly around the tops of a swimmer‘s arms, preventâ€" ing the person from going under water It was a good thing my parents had a better memory than me that day, or else 1 would have been wingâ€" Soon after arriving at the park, my friends and 1 were more than a little anxious to start splashing. Before we could hear an objection from our parents, the three of us You said it Easter cartoon was antiâ€"Semitic I was shocked and sadâ€" dened to see the BC. Eastercartoon in the Record‘s comic section this past Saturday, April 14. The strip shows a menorah becoming â€" a DO YOU THINK WATERLOO‘S MILLENNIUM RECREATION PARK SHOULD BE RENAMED RIM PARK? QUESTION cross with the seven last words of Jesus. 1 cannot imagine a more blatant example of religious bigâ€" otry appearing in the seemingly innocent guise of a comic\ Where else were wading into the fake lake Hold on, did 1 forget to mention the other two girls were avid swimâ€" mers, and they didn‘t need waterâ€" wings? Did I also forget to point out that in my haste to keep up with my two pals, I forgot my wings in my mom‘s purse? To sum it up, 1 was a little embarrassed, slightly nauseous (which could likely be attributed to the seagull feces and human urine EA I‘m sure 1 ingested) and EY very scared. Not being able to catch your breath is a feeling like no other. You are utterly and completeâ€" ty helpless. Let‘s just say it‘s something I never want to experience again; yet, in a roundâ€"about way, 1 still go through it on a regular basis. My friend Tina is on the verge of drowning every day. But her battle for breath isn‘t caused by the water in a swimming pool. It‘s caused by a constant buildâ€"up of fluid in her lungs â€" fluid that will one day overâ€" whelm her system and cause her to drown in her own mucus. Tina has cystic fibrosis. When I first met her seven years ago, 1 could barely spell the name of the illness, let alone explain it. But today, I wish 1 didn‘t know as much "I think it‘s a little too much advertisâ€" ing. But I guess as a business, it makes sense from their point of view." "Twoâ€"million dollars is a lot of money. They deserve some recognition." Needless to _ say 1 quickly remembered these two facts when I was gulping water by the mouthful and sinkâ€" ing to the concrete floor. â€"Fortunately a friend of my parents spotted me and fished me out. COMMENT Karen Keelan THE CHRONICL Gary Weber would such a message be tolerated? Our community conâ€" tains within it representaâ€" tives of all the world‘s faiths and those who do not subscribe to any faith. as 1 do. Over the years I‘ve become used to Tina‘s coughing fits, her oxyâ€" gen therapy mask, her love for being literally pounded on the back to loosen her congestion, and the fact that few foods sit well in her stomâ€" ach But one thing I cannot accept is that with every passing year, there is no guarantee Tina will see another birthday, another Christmas, or even her own wedding. You see, the average life span for a person with cystic fibrosis is between 18 and 24. Tina will be 25 this October. Enough said. But L am proud to say we are closâ€" er than ever, and we will soon share an experience neither of us will ever forget. m!fi)gelher, along with the help of friends, we‘ve planned a fundraising event in support of cystic fibrosis. The big night will take place next Thursday â€" (May 3) at Sammy‘s Garage in Kitchener. _ â€" Holding an event like this has been a dream of Tina‘s for a long time â€" and it‘s a dream she deserves to have fulfilled. 105.3 KOOLâ€"FM‘s own Angie Hill has agreed to MC the evening, a number of businesses have donated great door prizes, and the folks at Sammy‘s were nice enough to give us the club for the night free of charge. While tickets for the event are selling well at $5 apiece, there will still be some available at the door the night of the event. Yes, everything seems to be falling into place. The only thing still missing is you. _ _ For more information on the event, call me at 886â€"2830, ext. 227. Such a "Christian Triumpant" message belongs in the rightly termed "Dark Ages," not in a multicultural and just "That‘s usually the way things are done. I think it‘s good for Research in Motion to have philâ€" anthropic interests." someone tops $2 million, the park will then be renamed after them?" Continued on page 10 Beth Kayash n june, U‘ll be travelling to British Columbia to attend a conferâ€" Ience. then staying for another week of vacation. Among other things, I‘m looking forward to being out of Mike Harris‘s backâ€" yard for two weeks. Unfortunately, unless there is a dramatic turnâ€" around in public opinion in that province between now and May 16, 1 may be going from the rightâ€"wing frying pan into the reacâ€" tionary fire. It appears likely that British Columbia voters are poised to oust an NDP government with a record that is flawed but still admirable, in favour of a party that calls itself the BC Liberals. With the awareness that anything 1 write is highly unlikely to affect the outcome, I just want to say: "DON‘T DO IT!" Make no mistake about it; the corporate community and the media that they own have been working to ensure the defeat of the BC NDP government since it was first elected in 1991. These efforts have intensified since 1996, when the voters didn‘t do as they were told. According to the BC Federation of Labout, "between 1996 and 1999, British Columbia‘s business community put over $7 million into Gordon Campbell‘s BC Liberal bank account. And that doesn‘t even include what they spent on Campbell‘s Liberals in the year 2000, the runâ€"up to a provincial election â€" those numbers are still to come." Included in those numbers are sizeable donations from media owners such as Rogers, Shaw, WIC . mm Communication, Hollinger, CanWest | e o Global and The Financial Post. | ANOTHER The other tag that has been applied to the NDP government is "scandalâ€"plagued". The two scandals most often cited are the soâ€" called Bingogate and the allegations that former Premier Glen Clark helped a friend get a casino license. The diversion of bingo funds was a crime, but it occurred years before the party was electâ€" ed and no one associated with the government had anything to do with it. The allegations against Clark are before the courts, but the media have already found him guilty (it didn‘t help that reporters "acting on a hunch" were at Clark‘s house when the RCMP executâ€" ed its search warrant}. The personal credibility of current Premier Ujjal Donsanjh is beyond reproach; in fact Clark‘s staunchest allies have criticized him for not interfering in order to stop the investiâ€" gation against Clark oo e dn Liberal leader Gordon Campbell was drafted by the Vancouver business community to take over the BC Liberal Party in 1993, after the death of their previous party of chaice, the Social Credit. They are not concerned about labels. They are concerned about impleâ€" menting their agenda and stopping the progressive policies offered by the NDP The Liberals have promised, among other things: to "mine the hell out of parks" (the NDP has protected a record perâ€" centage of land in the province); to stop building nonâ€"profit and coâ€"op housing; to freeze the minimum wage (which is the highest in the country); to unfreeze tuition fees (which are next to lowest in the country}; to reverse the historic aboriginal land claims process; to scrap the law banning scabs; to eliminate the Fair Wage Act (which requires companies doing business with the province to pay a living wage); and give a massive tax break to those that need it least. To those of us living in postâ€"1995 Ontario, it all sounds frighteningly familiar. There are some wellâ€"meaning people in British Columbia who think that the NDP deserves to spend some time in opposition, even if they generally support the party. They have been convinced by the concerted corporate and media camâ€" paign of the past 10 years that Gordon Campbell should be the next premier of British Columbia. The province, and the country, cannot afford to lose one of the brightest and most progressive gavernâ€" ments around; neither can it afford to unleash the policies yet another right wing ideologue BC voters face stark choice |ANOTHER | yc Eks | wise | | | | _ sCoTT | PIATKOWSKI