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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Ken Bosveld Deborah Crandall Associate Publisher . Editor, Ext. 215 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 colurusts are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Publisher: Cal Bosveld B86â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net Andrea Bailey Bob Vibanac Reporter, Ext. 227 Sports Editor, Ext. 229 Â¥he Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor. They should be signed with name, address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy. No unsigned letters will be published . Submissions may be edited for length, so please be brief Copyright in letters and other mate rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproâ€" duce them in print, electronic or other forms. Our mailing address is 75 King St. S , Suite 201, Waterloo N2J IP2, our eâ€"mail address is wchronicle@sentex net, and our faxr number is 886â€"9383 Regional Classified Manager Caralyn Anstey Karen Dwyer Circulation Circulation Manager, Ext. 225 &4X g ® |â€"4 TC*" ;‘. ! International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0832â€"3410 _ __ Audited hh circulation: 26,056 weucimum Advertising Sales, Ext. 223 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Letters Policy Norma Cvca Lymn Bartol roup Sales Retail Sales Director Manager, Ext. 230 Cal Bosveld 136379 Laurie Ridgway Classified Sales, 623â€"6617 Joanne Dicaire Advertising Sales, Ext. 206 The "privileged class" (in Walshâ€"Bowers‘ invidiâ€" ous vocabulary) is not "heavily supported by federâ€" al and provincial tax cuts". Tax cuts were possible because governments had taken more money out of families‘ incomes than it needed; most of that excess taxation was at the expense of middle and upper income families. Tax cuts were necessary because the quality of life of all Canadians was deteriorating due to excessive taxation; indeed, the current recession would have hit our economy even harder if those tax cuts had not occurred. alshâ€"Bowers Dec. 19 vituperative letter, W‘Obscenity at the symphony", is as remarkable for its misâ€"information as it is for its anger. To begin, he confuses corporate sponâ€" sorship with welfare handouts. Corporations sponâ€" sor orchestras because both parties benefit. Corporate participation in events such as the KWSO Masterpiece Lottery is part of their marketâ€" ing strategy and it creates jobs and incomes for our community. Walshâ€"Bowers should also understand that the price of his ticket did not cover his share of the cost of the concert. His seat was subsidized by KWSO‘s corporate sponsors and those who buy lottery tickâ€" ets for the KWSO. As a nonâ€"resident, his seat at the Centre in the Square was also subsidized by the taxâ€" pavers of Kitchener and Waterloo. Finally, contrary to his assertion, European govâ€" ernments have been cutting their support of the arts, just as our own governments have. Given that ticket sales typically contribute no more than 40 per cent of operating revenues, corporate sponsorâ€" ship of orchestras is increasingly necessary. We are fortunate in having the KWSO in Kâ€"W. It succeeds, not just because of its artistic excellence, but also because of onâ€"going corporate sponsorâ€" ship and audience support. Walshâ€"Bowers should have expressed appreciation to KWSO supporters and sponsors rather than indulging in his unchariâ€" table rant against those who keep orchestral music alive in our community. This surely ‘tis the season to be jolly, as demonâ€" strated by the yearâ€"end yarns of our prime minâ€" ister. Once again his comments had me laughing to the point of having to reach for the Depends. Only our Jean could, with straight face, tell us how the perception of an illâ€"equipped Canadian military can be blamed on arms dealers and lobbyists. From what we hear from the U.S., the U.N., the opposition benches and the military itself, the Liberals sure haven‘t fallen to their siren call. Our helicopters are rocks with propellers and our equipment is slightly more modern than those boasted by the Vatican‘s Swiss guards, but don‘t worry, be happy. Reports that our soldiers have to practise actual target practice because they can‘t afford any bullets gives comfort only should I find myself accidentally walking across a military range. Given the colossal allotment of male bovine excreâ€" ment that appears to be oozing from Sussex Drive, maybe we should reâ€"arm our armed forces with honey wagon technology. At least we would never run out of ammunition and our government would never again be accused of not giving a poop about our military. Walshâ€"Bowers should have expressed appreciation to KWSO supporters and sponsors Our prime minister is good for a laugh HRONICL] Ron Thornton, Edmonton, Alberta Stephen Smith, VIEWPOINT The fear of flying, once confined to a couple of preâ€" scient souls, swept through the rest of us as we watched that fateful day when the friendly skies were no more. And that old HallOWEEN â€" koz trick of spreading around some talcum powder took on more omiâ€" nous consequences. It‘s no wonder so many children were kept inside with the spectre of war wafting so freely on our, streets. The dogs of war were finally unleashed in a farâ€"flung country called Afghanistan, yet we in the colonies could no longer boast that the troubles were all over there. Not with access to weapons of mass destruction so readily available to people with the will to use them, and the whereâ€" withal to pay for them. he yearâ€"end reviews are starting to Tpour in and most of them are already looking back on 2001 as another annus horribilis. That‘s the term that Queen Elizabeth coined a few years ago when the British Royal Family, the Windsors, were going through more personal problems than you could find in a typical script for a daytime soap opera. In layman‘s terms, it was another horriâ€" ble year. The personal problems of the hardâ€"up and feckless were relegated to the back pages of the fish wraps after the events of Sept. 11, which officially turned 2001 into the year of fear. C ol + The fear. of anthrax even had shoppers at Conestoga Mall calling in the hazardous materials unit of the local fire department. Accumulations of dust, once thought of as a sign of bad housekeeping, now had people calling 911. A Saudi billionaire, who once would have been lauded fqr his business acuâ€" men, was now being reviled for the way he used his men. And the realization of just how vulnerable an open society is came at Here‘s to another year 1hope you have lots of diapers, because if your year‘s anything Hike the one I‘ve been through, you‘re gonna use them all ! Now if only we could awaken that cowâ€" ardly lien in all of us. All that it would take is a little courage. That loss of innocence shook our confiâ€" dence in our island home of North America, left relatively untouched by the conflicts of the last century. That ill will spread to our already strugâ€" gling North American economy, sapping its confidence, and giving it a bad case of the flu just in time for the Christmas season. ; And with faith comes hope for the new year that courage will help dispel our fears â€" courage like that found in a young Waterloo boy named < | Dustin Listman who passed AC away recently after a brave batâ€" tle with cancer. Regular â€"readers of _ the Chronicle will remember Dustin was stricken with a brain tumour more than two years ago and was at the centre of a campaign called "Dollars for Dustin®" to help out his struggling family. The tumour eventually restricted Dustin to a wheelchair, but the active nineâ€"yearâ€"old weuld still try to get out to play as much as he could. Even when we last saw him at Halloween, he wasn‘t letâ€" ting the cancer hold him back, though the end was near. "I‘m going out as a lion," he said, about his last Halloween, "because they run real fast." a high cost, with the slaughter of more than 4,000 innocents in New York. But the signs of recovery are there for 2002, and the snowball started rolling durâ€" ing the season of giving. _ _ Not a great way to kick off a new millenâ€" nium. There‘s been a return to instiâ€" tutions like family and faith, and not in the faddish way that some pundits choose to characâ€" terize it. Those pillars were always there, it‘s just that more people are open about how much they mean to them.