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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Dway â€"Werdendort Ken Bosveld Dehorah Crandall Associate Publisher .. Editor, Ext. 215 tw published: Submissions may be edited for length. so please be brief Copyright in letters and ather mate tials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for pubhcation remains with the author. but the publisher and its hcensees mas freely repro duce them in print, electronic ar ather forms Our mailing address is 75 King St 5.. Suite 201. Waterlon N2L IP2, our e mail address is wehronicle@sentex net. and cur fax number is 886â€"9383. The WaterIna Chronicle welcames letrers to the Editor: They should tee signed with name, address and phone number and will be verfied for accuracy. No unsigned letters will The Waterloo Chrorucle is published every Wednesday by The Eairway Group,. a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a diusion of Southam Pubbcations, a Can \West Company The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper Group Sales Direcâ€" . Retail Sales Man tor ager, Ext. 230 [ynin Bartol Lannie Rudgway Regional Classified _ Classified Manager Sales.623â€"6617 Andres Bailey Bub‘ rhanas Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor, Lxt. 229 886â€"2830 . hax: 886â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wehronicle@ sentex net Deh Duffield Circulation Manager, Ext 225 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J IP2 Canadian Publiationy Mail Sales Product Agreement Number & [36328 Internatonal Standard Serial Numbe Audited cireulation: 26 .056 Norma Cyra Melissa Hounsinw Advertising Advertising Sales, Ext. 223 Sales, Ext. 222 Letters Policy Publisher: Cal Bosveld ISSN 0#32â€"4410 Cal Bosseld Publisher haren Dawver Circulation Assistant berry Mathcr According to Powers‘ lawyer, the third video was meant to be a simple and "humane" slaughter of the cat, and he was to consume the cat after the fact, in an effort to demonstrate the hypocrisies that lay within our society; that we choose to treat one animal as a companion, yet consume another for dinner. Through his lawyer, he also went on to say that they "went too far" with the slaughter, that they had ingested a drug called jimson weed, a hallucinogenic that causes violent and erratic behavior, and thereby the men involved were not acting in their regular demeanor. His lawyer later went on to say that Mr. Power did not stop Mr.Wennekers from torturing the cat because he felt that Mr. Wennekers suffered from suppressed anger that he needed to release. Does this pattern of thinking sound far too rational for someone who was supposed to have ingested a drug so powerful it turns a pacifist into a torturous ghoul? The cat was later found by the police and the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, uneaten, decapitated and in the fridge of the dingy apartment. The first video supposâ€" edly, according to his lawyer, depicted a scene from a slaughterhouse, where a chicken was killed, and afterwards, Mr. Power, a vegetarian and animal rights activist, ate the chicken on film. That video earned him an A in his art class at the Ontario College of Art and Design. The second apparently depicted him and his friends dancing with corpses of various animals to disco music. As a member of the public who attended the sentencing hearings, and chose to view the video at the first public hearing (approximately half the courtroom left the room when announced that the video would be played), and also as an artist and strict vegetarian, I simply don‘t buy their defense. If Mr.Power wished to make such a profound statement, then he should not have ingested any drug beforehand. Once the viewer sees that the ‘artist‘ is intoxicated, the entire meaning of the act is lost. Next is the fact that the cat was never eaten, despite the fact that police were not called to the scene until a few days afterwards, after the men had. according to Crown Attorney Robin FHumerâ€" felt, bragged to their roommate regarding the torâ€" ture. Mortified, she then notified the police. I would like to believe that Mr. Power and Mr. Wenâ€" nekers were, in fact, remorseful for the actions that took place at their hands. However, if that were the For those of you unfamiliar with the case, the inciâ€" dent occurred last May. After finding a cat wandering the streets, the three men videotaped themselves strangling the cat (who was given the name of Kensâ€" ington by the media, as the crime was done in an apartment in the Kensington market area of Toronto) from a noose, stabbing her repeatedly, kicking her and removing body parts such as her eye, bowels and skin, all while she was still alive. The videotape was 17 minutes long, and depicted the torture for 15 of those minutes. Kensington died at the very end of the tape. The video was to be the third installment of a series of videos that were meant to convey the message of animal rights. Sound like a Bl Ub ol Sga paradox? That has been the GUESIT general thought throughâ€" COLUMNIST out the trial. Imost as long as the ‘Chicken or the egg?‘ &ebale has been around, there has been the uestion of what is considered to be art, and what is not. The current ‘Cat Torturers‘ trial in Toronto has once again opened the forum of disâ€" cussion on this topic, as Jesse Power and Anthony Wennekers have recently been sentenced for their video depicting themselves and one other unidenâ€" tified man, torturing and mutilating a live cat. The reason for their actions? An art project. 6 Can torture be considered art? Continued on page 9 LISA OLSEN VIEWPOINT They‘re alike in so many disrespects Compare our fate with that of London, ON. About the same time as our expressway was built. London nixed one as disâ€" ruptive of the charm with which it figured that community was just overflowing. The one that came in for applause was, no, not Kitchener‘s decision to build an incineraâ€" tor {it was littleâ€"used) or the Belmont Ave. store area (it sat built but undeveloped for 30 years or so.) __ No, the project that won the cheers was the Conestoga Expressway, the ribbon of asphalt that has transformed these Twin Cities. The expressway (and it stirred some oppoâ€" sition}) was undertaken when Kitchenerâ€" Waterloo didn‘t have a major traffic mess. But thank heaven +73 the nayâ€"sayers weren‘t heeded. ONCEF Think of the mess this comâ€" munity would be in if it weren‘t for the expressway. Just imagine if that constant parade of cars were dumped on King, Weber, Lancaster or Park Streets. The result is that London ever || DN since has been scrambling to get on top of its traffic situation. Meanwhile, we have the expressway and its feeder roads to move traffic. Incidentally, some expressway drivers would stay at the limit if it weren‘t for the noise factor â€" all those cars hitting you in the rear end. Anxious, Anxious: The way the mideast is boiling up doesn‘t give you much confidence in the future. The way things are going you feel like a fool in buying a fiveâ€"year calendar, let alone a suit with two pairs of pants. Wrong Decision: Say, if we‘re weighing the worst decisions ever in Kitchenerâ€"Waterâ€" loo, there‘s only one nomination. No, it‘s not RIM Park or the soonâ€"toâ€"be Kitchener market. Road‘s Scholar: The other day the conâ€" versation swung around to wise community decisions in the past, and I suppose you‘re now saying that it wouldn‘t take a splitâ€"second to review all of them. or a depressing lateâ€"morning scene, it‘s Flough to beat sitting in a Waterloo burger spot near a clutch of high school yahoos with a dismal command of the language. You can put it this way: If they deleted proâ€" fanity from their conversation, they wouldn‘t be saying much. And the louts were nothing if not loud. No, I don‘t know what high school they were from, but it should take no pride in them. By the way, they sound like brothers. They‘re alike in so many disrespects. It goes away back. It‘s when Kitchener (it AG FAR AS THE RIM Papy @anmug )\w 1 WAS ACTING WEu wriay @@\ THE SCOPECOF MINMIGPA _ /7 C\ ~_ HRONICLE | SANDY BAIRD __iM Last year the drought almost y got that bad. For example, last f summer a neighbour mailed a letâ€" D ter and had to pin the envelope shuf Taking Ways: Some polls are hoots. Take a set the other day in which respondents called 68 or 69 per cent of provincial and federal politicians crooked. Those results are nutty unless it‘s the way you define dishonest. For example, it‘s charged that the PC are lavishing hospital funds on the riding in which Emie Eves is runâ€" ning. Is that crooked? By ordinary standards i‘s not. But the folks who responded to the poll must think so. Not me. I‘ve spent 50 years consorting with politicians and I could count the ones I knew to be dishonest on ont hand. Things aren‘t quite the same in the Excited States. Down there when you hear a politician is starting a new term, you‘re not quite sure where. Hey, we should all be hoping that it does rain. Remember last year and the year before. They were dryer than a popcorn belch. We needed and still need the moisture the heavâ€" ens may pour down. was Berlin then} council wouldn‘t pay $500 to get the jog out of Queen Street at King Street. It was just too much money, they said. Say. I bought that new book that teaches you how to make your stomach hard and flat. It really works. You slip the book in your shorts. As a matter of fact, if we got a rain that lastâ€" ed as if the Big Dipper had sprung a leak, we should all be grateful. Then we might get smiles from farmers, hoozahs from the lake shippers who can run their boats deeper, and, of course, gentle " cheers from umbrella manufacturâ€" k > Incidentally, the jog is supposed to arise from a tree which prompted all the foot traffic (it was all on foot, natch) to go around it. Maybe it was a pioneer stunt to be sure of a litâ€" tle exercise. One Damp Thing: Folks have welcomed the recent crisp but cool mornings, but a lot of them have added, "Gee, but I hope that it doesn‘t rain." And that‘s not to mention the troop of cottageâ€"owners who are weary of the fiveâ€"minute hike before they can plunge a toe in the water. We need the water. Or else one of these days, when the Region is trying for more succulent,. sparkling Grand River water, it‘s going to hear only the ugly sounds you get when you‘re trying to suck more out of a vanished malted. [MQUTE CAPARE * waens TapPAE®