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Group Sales Director The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by TDNG Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. editorial@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO CHRONICLE Ken Busveld Associate Publisher The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. The 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 nials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisker and its licensees may freely repro duce them in print. electronic or other forms (tur mailing address is 75 King St S.. Suite 201. Waterlon N2J 1P2. our eâ€"mail address is editorial@waterloochronicle ca and out fax number is A86 9383 Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor. Ext.229 Regional Classified _ Classified Manager Sales, 623â€"6617 Deb Lutffeid Circulation Manager, Ext 225 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Associate Publisher: International Standard Serial Number Andrea Barlex Advertising Advertising Sales, Ext. 223 Sales, Ext. 222 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Letters Policy Ken Bosveld 905â€"523â€"5800, Ext. 239 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 yin Bartol Weude Audited circulation: 27538 ISSN 0832â€"3410 40050478 Retail Sales Manager, Ext. 230 Debarab Crandall Laurie Ridgway Editor, Ext. 215 van Volkenturg Circulation Assistant fiob \rltina "Any craic?" It * 1 sloesn‘t usually come across too well, especially if someqne decides that you are indeed, shouting about cocaine, and makes a casual telephone to the regional police. It hasn‘t happened yet, but you wan‘t be too careful. I‘ve been amused by something for quite some time since I‘ve been here. The last thing I ever expected to happen to me, was gething asked directions. So far, I‘ve been approached three times. To make it better, I knew each time and didâ€" n‘t make a bumbling fool out of myself. Usually I would, so I‘m quite impressed with myself. Three cheers for me! ~ I‘m envious of the Canadians right now. It‘s 34 degrees outSide! Pity I‘m stuck in the office, but it‘s better than ht}'ng at home, which is about 11 degrees, accordâ€" ing to my friend (and he thinks that is warm. Ha!). I‘m going to enjoy the heat as much as possible, preferably without going as red as a lobster in the process, or feeling like a cooked one. Before getting here, I was in Dublin airâ€" port wearing black jeans, heavy black boots, black top and, to round it off, a black trench coat (as is the style for a heavy metal fan}. A number of people pointed out I wouldn‘t need it here, which I acknowledged, but I was planning ahead for the return to Ireland. After all, the weather can be unpredictable. As for my beloved trench, which was ‘borrowed‘ from my mother, it is hanging in the closâ€" et at home. Even though I would love to wear it, I don‘t particularly fancy having to crawl everywhere I‘m going, which would happen to me just before heatstroke would pay its visit Here are other reasons for envy: swimâ€" ming pools, telephone calls and hot air balloons. Canadians can have swimming un‘ .ncs "oos When I was first coming here, dire warnings were given about behaviour and expectations. One particular warning was regarding an Irishpword, ‘craic‘, which translates _ as *_ ‘fun‘. This particâ€" ular word, when f €T spoken, sounds GUEST B like ‘crack‘, as COLUMNIST the term used for cocaine. sw A ‘ve been inCanada since June 11, and I Ihave to gdmit, I‘m really enjoying it. The weather, the people, the atmosâ€" phere are all fantastic. Back in Ireland we have a constant grey sky, people are grumpy and always find something to complain about. As for the atmosphere, well, there is only a certain amount of time you can sit in a pub doing the same thing every day. . Imagine this scenario: An eveâ€" ning in the pub, which is filled with jovial peoâ€" ple, and an Irish person notices their friend com:â€" ing in the door. When noticed by their friend and shouts across, In praise of swimming pools, free phone calls, and balloons Continued on page 9 VIEWPOINT . . The air is thick withâ€"summer Around In Circles: Vancouver is making a big pitch for the Otympics, and it‘s wishirtg them no ill, but I hope they lose, lose, lose. Also likely to get a s(’miithump on the egr is Clariâ€" ca [forgxpecting too much of Waterloo council} and .\‘I.lj-']l,fimncial Services Ltd. (for gauging the intellecâ€" tual grasp of council right to the last ampersand). Butâ€"whoops!â€"just broke a rule again by telling my troubles to readers. Telling them is pointless. Half of them don‘t care, and the other half figure you had it coming to you You got the impression a lot of the diners felt the same, but they weren‘t saying. Maybe they weren‘t representative of the body of voters, but they may have been. Emie Eves, what with the Chris Stockwell episode and the drama encompassing the heatâ€"wave drain on Ontario‘s output of electricity, has had his misâ€" eries. The leaders have surely been doing a lot of mudâ€" slinging. I tuned in the legislature the other day and I thought I was listening to Divarce Court. Well, itreally wasn‘t that bad. The last time we had a real smog alert a chap was mugged in Victoria Park by two guys and all they took was his cough drops. In any event, this must be one of my final pieces on RIM Park and its fantastic financing. I bid the subâ€" ject adieu with a heavy heart and a tear half the size of a football coursing down my cheek. No Decision: The other day while dining with a bunch of pals I asked them how they‘d vote in the upcoming Ontario election. I should have saved my breath. They were shy about saying, but it clearly wasn‘t from modesty. It was because they weren‘t comfortable with any of the choices. One who had voted Tory was disilluâ€" sioned, but he wasn‘t charmed by the Liberal offering. The third party? No, no, no. That is, in that they didn‘t feel strongly for or against. That brings the conclusion that the election may be close, mighty close. The two parties have been going at it in the TV blurbs as if there were no limits to their war chests. It‘d be a pity if an election were called and they had not more than a couple of bucks left. We had a couple of sthogalerts so now the sumâ€" mer has officially begun. You know theres a smog alert when you go to a funeral and hear coughing from inside the coffin. . _« ~ * > â€" FondFamwell The RIM Park hearings are histoâ€" ry, save And except for the findings by Mr. Justicg Ron Sills, which should be historic gs well as h_vsl"erit. I‘d guess that, among ether things. he will land on Watertoo council like a halfâ€"ton of bricks for its knowâ€" nothingâ€"doâ€"nothing posture in approving the deal. __ That‘s how mindful I am of how many times the park and its limitless horizons bailed out this column in the crunch. GeGeendcacts SANDY BAIRD He could be puckering up for George Bush the .Elder, or helping â€"Geor$e the Junior in his quest for slingshots, claymores, and other Weapons of Mass Destruction. . If you were buying insurance the search at the airâ€" port would also qualify as a physical. Or to put it another way: Hed be frisked in places where youd never keep a bomb if you had one. Closed Door: It looks as if Paul Martin as PM will play host to George Dubyah as one of his first official guests because the Warrior President doesn‘t want any part of Jean Chretien. The latter should feel good about that. Having Bush as an Ottawa guest would be a real headache. It would bring every nutbar from Cod Gullet, Nfd., to Leftist Haven, B.C. All of them would assemble to do harm to the visiting hero. Inasmuch as Canada‘s armed forces will be other wise engaged (in Afghanistan, Bosnia and else where), we‘d have to swear ins#iae Boy Scouts to proâ€" vide security. n Say, every year they try to eliminate a D few deductions. That doesn‘t mean the rich will pay more. It just means they‘ll have to work harder to pay less. There‘s a lot of other stuff 1 could mention, but because Bush is a bearcat for security, it‘ll be necesâ€" sary to search him as he‘s never been searched before. He settled with a cheque for $60,000 the day before his appointment. , And for any folks who‘ve ever tangled with the tax people, that‘ll sound like kidâ€"glove treatment. More than that, no officials can BM | recall any tax problems reported in the )\ ER | _ security check he supposedly;nndvrâ€" | went. Despite alkthe good purposes it espquses, the~‘ ()I_vn'gics have become a haven for hoods, con men, chisellers, and people of that ilk. Canada has been stung on the Olympics often enough, and we should give a lot of other countries a chance. Better we should put our money into someâ€" thing \w’()flhWI"QFâ€"like a contmemorative Statue of Brian Mulroney. Parting Shot: George Radwanski is gone but the malady lingers on. But slmngel'y%\"vn more than by his exorbitant wining and diripg, folks are question; ing that settlement with the tax depdrtment. Itâ€"seems that about the time ef his appointment, Radwanski owed the federal governmnent $540,000 in taxes. Say, he could probably make a mint in offering to broker settlements for people in a tax jam. All of us know that tax refunds are slower than a helicopter over a nudist colony, but the Radwanski settlement sounds as if it were done in a thrice. So what will happen? Not much. You can wager that no one in authority wants all to be told. So Radwanski is likely to exit to subsequent silence.