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WATERLOO CHRONICLE | The Waterloo Chroticle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group. a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a division of Southam Publications. a CanWest Company Ken Bosveld _ Deborah Crandall Associate Publisher . Editor, Ext. 215 Fâ€"mail: wehronicle@sentex.net Diayne Weidendort _ Gerry Mattice Group Sales Direcâ€" _ Retail Sales Man tor ager, Ext. 230 Andrea Bailex Bob Vbanac Reporter, Ext. 227 Sports Editor, Ext. 229 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J LP2 Associate Publisher: Ken Bosveld 1â€"905â€"523â€"5800, Exi. 239 The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper The Waterioo 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 ather mate rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freety repro duce them in print. electronic or ather forms. Our mailing address is 77 King SS . Sinte 201. Waterion N2] 1P2. our eâ€"mail address is wehramicle@sentex net. and our fax number is BBA 9183 Deb Duffield Karen Dwyer Circulation Circulation Manager, Ext. 225 Assistant Intessation al Srandard begnal Sunthe ISSNX (432â€"34 10 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 40050478 Sales, Ext. 223 Sales, Ext. 222 886â€"2830 Fax: 886 Narma Cyca Melissa Hounslow Letters Policy lymn Bartol Manager Sales, 623â€"6617 Audited circulation: 26,056 wheesht. I don‘t know about you, but I‘m sick to flamin‘ death of all the whining of late. The news these past months is full of moaning and groaning. _ _ For example, they figure the enclosed park would threaten the "naturalization" of the area, scaring away wildlife and such. Yeah, right. Who we kidding? _ Let‘s see â€" some people in town want a leashâ€"free dog park, but they‘re not happy with the Bechtel Park location city staff has suggested. Same goes for the people whose yards back onto the proâ€" posed pooch park. They have a list of concerns a kilometre long. Some people are still nattering on about RIM Park. "This can never happen "Sollin n again‘" they threaten, fists e y e pounding the table. Good J h ANOTHE M | Lord in heaven. Can‘t we > 6 put this behind us? I mean, | ilLIOee we have, arguably, one of | i N the finest community | recreational facilities in the r A country. Yeah, I know, it “ P * cost a bit (OK, a lot) more â€" | MBE @%@ than anticipated. But, heck, . | ko a£ l bottom line, we can afford | se > 3 it. x C Then there‘s the neighâ€" | _ S > â€" +1 bourhood in town the resiâ€" dents of which were DEBORAH opposed to a Habitat for CRANDALL Humanity home being built alongside theirs. I‘ve got to say this is just about as shameful as the Kitchener neighbourhood a few years back that protested the construction of a group home for physically challenged people. Older doesn‘t necessarily mean wiser As I understand, the residents weren‘t actually opposed to the Habitat organization or the family it is trying to help. No, they were opposed to the design of the house. Apparently, it had not been designed using a standard Columbia Forest cookie cutter. When 1 read these stories, I‘m struck by a common thread â€" self. People are so concerned nowadays with themselves and their own little teenyâ€" tiny, eensyâ€"weensy sections of the planet, they lose sight of the big picture. Whining has become a suburban pastime. Sure, 1 contribute. Some in the know say I‘ve got whining down to a science. But I‘m making an effort to stop. It won‘t be easy, but I‘m making the effort because I‘m ashamed of myself â€" and this community, truth be told. Instead, I‘m going to think of ways to make contributions. To paraphrase the late President Kennedy, I‘m going to ask what I can do for my community, not vice versa. What‘s triggered my sudden commitment? Well, I took a good look at the pages of this week‘s Chronicle. Stories about this community‘s young people have been my inspiration. â€" Page three features a story written by Grade 6 stuâ€" dent Rebekah Parker about her experiences as the Ontario representative at the International Children‘s Conference on the Environment, held a couple of weeks ago in British Columbia. Youth from around the world gathered to create policies governments can adopt to protect the environment. Rebekah writes that delegates inspired one another with the projects they‘re working on at home, and the examâ€" ples she gives are truly impressive. Like that of Ryan Hreljac from Ontario who began raising money for wells in Africa when he was only six years old. He started with $70 and has since raised more than half a million dollars. On Page 12, you‘ll read about WC1 students who raised $20,000 â€" count ‘emn, twentyâ€"thousand dollars â€" for the construction of schools in Nicaragua. "I‘m 17, and there‘s so much more 1, and the school, could be doing," says Beth Blowes. When } look at the contributions these young peoâ€" ple are making both locally and globally, 1 can‘t help but look at myself in comparison. And, frankly, 1 don‘t measure up too well. So, like 1 said. I‘m taking steps to change that. In the meantime, I take comfort in knowing that the bright. globally aware young people of our com:â€" munity will one day be calling the shots. , hush up. Shut your cake hole. Put a sock in it. eep your trap shut. Or as me marimy would say, mesant) | THING... | \r e NE 32 | | | ~diteet 3 | 1 DEBORAH ’ CRANDALL | VIEWPOINT The bustling home of Breslau Internaâ€" tional Airport is getting 900 more homes in two developments that may quadruple Breslau‘s size in the next 10 years. All of which may prompt the airportâ€" centre village to seek cityhood status or perâ€" haps strive for the annexation of Kitchener. In any event, it could assume the debt Kitchener has undertaken in buying most of the city‘s core. What about financing? It could always ask Waterloo how you get cutâ€"rate financâ€" ing... One Damp Thing: 1 hate peace and quiet; it‘s so awfully middleâ€"class. That‘s why it‘s refreshing to see the region back in highâ€" decibel form. The bone upon which the factions are gnawing is a portion of a Walkerton report which supports the region‘s position that it should have responsibility for all aspects of the water system. The way things now stand, the region is responsible for the supply and treatment of water, and the is iss : : j municipalities do the distribuâ€" tion. However, Regional Chairâ€" man Ken Seiling, as he had before, voiced support for regional control of the entire hE water system. hssA Municipal officeholders were quick to dissent, anthpre» dictably Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig who let the charge. He accused Seiling for the 1,756th time for trying to fatten his regional regime. The region‘s back in high decibelâ€"form 1 felt a bit saddened at that . because Mayor Doug has been BA more or less silent for the past year, and I thought maybe he had reformed. But no, sit. He was obviously waiting for the right target. But, hey, I don‘t want to get in a discusâ€" sion with the mayor. That would be endless. The mayor would try to get the last word with an echo. One for the Books: Pray tell, is there anything Waterloo council can‘t mess up? Now it‘s the expansion of library facilities, which has become another dreary saga of council ineptness. Oh yes, and you can include the councilâ€" appointed library board, too. It‘s stillâ€"like councilâ€"pressing ahead with its desire for a new central library. Never mind that at three public meetings recently most folks 8 j â€" y n adi c . ) Ciry or warernoo ~.__, StAOLUN SANDY And 58 per cent responding to a survey were against it, 20 per cent wanted branches only, and a mere 10 per cent wanted a new library. And the board keeps saying the pubâ€" lic be damned. opposed the construction of a new central branch. But now belatedly council is going to explore the costs of enlarging the Albert Street facility. _ o And, oh yes, there‘s a potential mixâ€"up on the SuperBuild grant of nearly $3 million. It‘s been approved for a new library and YMCA to be built on Father David Bauer Drive. But if it‘s not pursued for that site, it‘s goodbye $3 million. So again, with all respect, I‘d suggest the best thing council could do for Waterloo is resign. It hasn‘t done anything worthwhile so far and it looks like it‘ll just add disaster to disaster. True, every now and then it looks as if council is coming to life, but each time you rtaatea find you‘ve been mistaken again. You find that council is ( M *) â€" still the same old council. What a feat it is to be picked by the Trudeau family to be the author. Their coâ€" operation and a cadre of researchers promise it will be a complete portrait of our most colourful PM. Author! Author! You have DY to tip the topper to John D English, the UW professor who wrote that excellent biography of Mike Pearson. He‘s going to get the chance to do the same with a biography of Pietre Trudeau. That‘s particularly true since the only material forbidden to him is medical data an Margaret Trudeau. That‘s a reasonable limitation. Of course, work an this biography will take years so there‘s no hurrying to your favourite bookstore. To stress the point: Chretien is liable to be the exâ€"PM by the time the book arrives. And you feel as if you‘ve just been taking the up stairs on the Titanic. Up in Smoke: Girls make up more than a fair share of new smokers, the folks who handle the statistics say. But smoking makes a women‘s voice harsh. Just flick some ashes on her best rug and you‘ll