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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Hegional Classified Manager Publisher: Cal Bosveld 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex net 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J IP2 hss No ansigned lerters sull fe pablishei : Submissions may be edited for length. so please be Is ol + opyright in letters and ather materials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St S., Suite 201, Waterloo N2] 11°2. our eâ€"mail address is wchronicle@sentex net. and our fax number is 886â€"9383 The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a division of Southam Publications, a CanWest Company The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. International Standard Serial Number [SSN 0832â€"3410 br Letters Policy Carolyn Anstex Circulation Manager Andrea Bailey Reporter lim Alexander Director of Advertising Cal Bosveld Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 136379 Nurma Cyca ,»\dvrl}lsi ng Publisher e WaterIor Audited circulation: 26,056 sn Barrol aure Ridgwas nal Classified Classified Manager Sales C 5> SK1\ [( â€"â€"â€"â€" G tovid be signed adelress annt pin it will be cenbied ta the Deborah Crandall Editor Joanne Dicaire Advertising Gerry Mattice Bob Vrbanac Sports Editor Karen Dwyer Circulation eal tou Retail Sales Fditeir Wrestling fans can look forward to an actionâ€" packed week of activities leading up to the show on St. Patrick‘s Day. With wrestling‘s popularity in Ontario and its huge fan base in the city, it‘s a lock | that the SkyDome attenâ€" e dance record of 67,678, set at WrestleMania VI in 1990, will be shattered. WrestleMania XVIHI will DEB also aitract thousands of CRAl tourists and â€" generate millions of dollars in tourism revenues. "WrestleMania puts a Full Nelson on television fans around the world," Harris said. "We‘ll bodyâ€" slam every other big event venue in the world with this show and it‘s time to Just Bring It!" Harris was in Toronto Monday, duking it out with the embarrassing Mel Lastman (in a veritable media circus) to take some sort of credit for the fact that the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment will bring WrestleMania XVIII to Hogtown next year. It‘s not that I‘m knocking wrestling. Oh heck, who we kidding? â€"yes I am. Frankly, it gets me lathered â€" not so much the activity itself, per se, but the way folks treat it as a legitimate sport. Saturday evening, the old boy and I were driving back from T.O. after a day at the air show, and we {mostly Mike) were listening to The Fan radio staâ€" tion. The big news that night was that Mr. Harris was going to be making a big announcement on Monday about wrastlin‘... yadda, yadda, yadda. Both Mike (that being my Mike) and I fumed at two things: (a) that Ontario‘s premier could find nothing of consequence to throw his support behind and that (b} wrastlin‘ was being discussed on a soâ€"called "sports" radio station. Nope. I just don‘t get it. I don‘t understand why it‘s so darned popular And, boy, is it ever! So 1 thought 1‘d go to our own resident WrestleManiac for some answers Reporter extraordmaire Andrea Bailey is a hard core wrestling fan. Here‘s her take on it. "It‘s a perfect blend of athleticism and entertainâ€" ment with a soap opera slant," says Andrea. "Also this exent will boost Toronto‘s economy by mullions of dollars." Well, Andrea, that doesn‘t really answer my question, now does it? Highâ€"wire trapeze acts are a perfect blend of athleticism and entertainment. But they‘re really just circus acts. (oooh, good parallel, eh?) So, again, what is it about wrestling that would cause an otherwise intelligent young woman to plaster her office walls with posters of The Rock. "MEN IN TIGHTS!" Well, that‘s all right then "Hosting Canada‘s largest sportsâ€"entertainment event will be quite the Undertakerâ€"ing, but 1 know we can do it," said Harris. "It would take a Stone Cold heart 10 QVOid GCLINZ . mm caught up in the wrestling excitement." roruuoIns19nN I‘m not making this stuff up â€" I swear. Undertakerâ€"ing? Can you believe it? Can you stomach it? or those who‘ve ever questioned or doubted FMike Harris® priorities as Premier of Ontario, Monday‘s antics should be even more reason to raise an eyebrow or two. Surely he has better things to concern himself with than wrestling. I wasn‘t able to cover the event, but Harris‘ office was kind enough to send me a press release Monday to tell me all about it, so that I, in turn, could tell you. Here‘s how it read â€" ver batim: Mike Harris, Ontario‘s Premier, today congratuâ€" lated the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE) on its decision to hold WrestleMania XVIII at the SkyDome in Toronto on March 17, 2002. Aw c‘mon Mike. Wrastlin‘? Show a little dignity, man. That‘s not news ... or sports DEBORAH CRANDALL VIEWPOINT But judging by the rain we got this sumâ€" mer, you can put us down for a green Christmas. Yes sir, if you want rain, move to Vancouver. It‘s a great place for people who always wanted to live in a car wash. And where else can you see someone getâ€" ting married in a rubber tuxedo? Saving Grace: A Queen‘s Park group is toying with the idea of protecting taxpayers in the light of Waterloo‘s encounter with the RIM Park financing. How‘s that? They‘re trying to find a way so that the bureaucrats know what | aaaaass they‘re getting? Well, it strikes l me that‘s the very reason you ()I\( have highâ€"priced bureaucrats in â€" MR I@ the first place. | What next? Is Queen‘s Park going to lend a hand to deterâ€" mine whether the fertilizer the city is buying is up to scratch? Or the salt spread on the streets is good enough to salt sauerkraut? What is Queen‘s Park doing sorting municipal jobs out for municipalities? If the plan offered for the park financing was legal, why is the province getting into the act? Strictly from a news standpoint, this as a focus of CBC, coverage wouldn‘t make much sense. If it weren‘t for the RIM Park fiasco, this summer wouldn‘t have brought hardly any coverage at all. And remember, the parkâ€" financing yarn isn‘t a TV kind of story. osh, don‘t look now but this is the 49th day of what was recently the "new" year. Ahead lies the long haul through Thanksgiving and then â€" whoopee â€" Christmas. They‘re searching for ways to ensure that municipal officials know what they‘re getâ€" ting into. k Fade to Black: A recurring rumor in local media circles is that CBC is going to put a new bureau here. I doubt it‘s true, particuâ€" larly when the CBC has its muchâ€"lamented case of the shorts. €E"*" i/. /NX asowy pays MEE P EME M’NN [Be seies apovt AgE T gte M‘N ‘{{% NC A SONG OF CK N APpy DAYS ARC HERE MN If you want rain, move west MOXO T {T‘S FUnNNY HOW YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO ENOW WHEN IT‘5 BACK TO SCHOOL WEEK_L 0 â€"â€" I suppose I could sell a lot of books, but each is a sort of friend. That I still have them is proof that I want ed to read them again. You were wondering about the difference between an antique and junk? It depends on who‘s running the garage sale. Still, I like garage sales. You get a chance to see what people bought at garage sales a year ago. *L" u For one, I have no stomach or skill for activities retail. For two, I‘d be embarrassed at having people paw over my mistakes from the past and wonderâ€" ing about my judgement in buying a sawâ€" dust black cat as a souvenir of the Plattsville Sandpaper Festival. It‘s amazing how broad the sales offerings are. I‘d hate to put my collection of Doulton for sale where it might get mixed with the Port Stanley souvenirs. The increase from the current $78,007 a year was recommended by Integrity Commissioner Gregor Evans who got the final say under last spring‘s legislation. I‘m a fairly avid TV watcher of the legislaâ€" ture, and for a minority of them the increase is not excessive at all. But for some of them â€" perhaps a majority of them â€" it‘s just too much. Perhaps I‘ve written this before, but pay many of them what they‘re worth and you‘d be breaking the Minimum Wage Act. en Frozen Assets: The air has ryâ€" been chilled a bit, but it‘ll be a M LR J while before the frost is on the TLY | pumpkin. Until it is, you can bet * J â€" there‘ll be garage sales aplenty. It‘s not, mark you, that I‘ve got anything against TV. As a matter of fact, I wanted to do golf commentary. But, alas, 1 flunked whispering. Salary Tonic: Our MPs are getting a 25â€" perâ€"cent increase after the next election, putting them among the highestâ€"paid politiâ€" cos in the country at $106,554 a year. It‘s amazing how many peoâ€" ple have been peddling flotsam and jetsam. Granted, the sales drop off in the summer, but they‘ve never truly gone since spring. Frankly, I‘ve got an attic and a basement that could supply a couple of garages sales, but I have no plans for putting the stuff on the block.