The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

= EDITORIAL ONIARIO PRESS COUNCIL The Waterloo Chromcle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which conâ€" siders complaints against member news> papers. Any complaint about news. opimians advertising or conduct should first be taken to the newspaper. { nreâ€" solved complaints can be brought to Ontario Press Council. 2 Carlton Street. Suite 1706. foronto. ON.. MSB 1J3 COPYRIGHT The contents of this newspaper are proâ€" tected by copyright and may be used only for personal nonâ€"commercial purâ€" poses. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is profibited. To make any use of this material you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information contact Andrea Barley. Lditor. Waterloo Chromicle, 279 Weber St. N. Suite 20, Waterloo. Ontario N2J 3HK CLASSIHIED 3194 XÂ¥5â€"350r CIRCLLANION 13199 NY4â€"2257 The Waterloo Chromicle is published cach Wednesday hy City Media Group Inc . a subsidrary of Torstar Corporaâ€" tron LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor must contain the writers full name, signature, addrews and telephone number. Addresses and teleâ€" phone numbers are used onl for verifica> tion purposes and will not be published Names will not be withheld We reserve the right to edit. condenise or recxt atty Jennifer ORMSTON REPORTER eu. 20 Boh NRBANAC SPORTS EDITOR : COMPOSING Millie MARIN Lrm HABICH Canadian Publications Muil Sules Publication Agrcement Number 40050478 Andrea BAILEY EDITOR exr. 275 editorial a waterloochronicle ca Gerry MATHICE _ £xr 230 RETAIL SALES MANAGER Norma CYC A ext 223 imorvana waterloachromicle ca Bill PIHURA exr. 228 bpihura a waterloochremicle.ca Curly GIBBS ext 222 International Standard Serial Number ASSN OK32â€"3410 Rob L ELSCHNER REGIONAL PUBLISHER Dwarne WHIDENDORL ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER WATERLOO CHRONICLE sportsiar waterloochrmicle.ca sales a waterloochranicle ca ADV ERTISING ADV ERTISING REPRESENTATIVES dudited Circulation wihhsia warerlonchronicle ca 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 www. waterloochronicle.ca HA 8%6â€"9 383 EMAN MEATL OR TN PFRSON Sthext 203 Un mutted n 11 to editorial c. 279 Weber St N Ontarie NJ 3HS t axg. 220 $1.202 wachnn A lawn can survive quite well with a onceâ€"aâ€"week watering that gets all the way down to the roots. The region has slightly tweaked the bylaw this year to allow watering of gardens, trees and shrubs on alternate days, on top of other water uses like washing the car and topping up pools. This is in response to the water measâ€" ures it put into place last year. There was a time when we thought water was just something that came out of the tap. But we know now that it isn‘t an infinite resource; we have to protect the precious water resources we have. Conservation of our water supply sounds like it‘s going to continue into the future as the region reviews its longâ€" term water strategy. With the region continuing to grow, safe and secure water will be a big part of our future. That means everyâ€" one must do their part and turn off the tap when they don‘t need it But the reality is outdoor use of treated drinking water really is a waste. Think of the cost that goes into the treatment and disâ€" tribution of it. It makes some wonder why people would turn on their taps and spray it around in the first place. We‘ve been blessed in Waterloo Region to have a source of clean, drinkable groundwater right underneath us in the Waterloo moraine. But we know about the development pressures and other factors impacting this resource; that‘s why conservation has become so imporâ€" tant. M t seems that some people still aren‘t getting the mesâ€" Isagv: that the best way to preserve their lawn isn‘t by drowning it on a nightly basis. It‘s been a couple of weeks since the Region of Waterâ€" loo enacted its outdoor waterâ€"use bylaw, and enforceâ€" ment officers are still seeing a lot of the people not folâ€" lqwing the watering restrictions. This is going to require a change of behaviour on their part, and a rethinking on all our parts about how we use such a precious resource. Conservation is key ""You could and you should want to make it an Aâ€"plus." Strong words Waterloo citizens‘ panel VIJ} se e lim Erb #4] of That can be good when you‘re fighting your way up and down the aisles of a grocery store â€" pushing past a mother with her three energetic children and the loud taunts of the endless shelves of potato chips. But it can also be frusâ€" trating when you‘re trying to find a gift for someone, while dad‘s pointing out that the first thing you see is "good enough." Needless to say, 1 don‘t do this kind of shopping with the old man too often. But, in the spirit of Father‘s Day, 1 decided to put my trepidation aside and accompany pops to a local electronics store this past Sunday. Iruthfully, he was doing me the favour. 1 needed a wireless router for my home comâ€" puter... if it wasn‘t for dad, I‘d likely walk out with a telephone answering machine without being the wiser. "perfect deal." Little did I know that was my first mistake, In order to get that desired bargain, we had to purchase the router at full price, and send in for our promised rebate Like most men, he‘s always been of the mind that you get in and get out of a store as fast as possible. hopping with dad has Salways been an interâ€" esting experience. Not good, not bad â€" just interesting. Entering the heated rebate debate So in we went. in search as my dad puts it, the This seems to be the new J D) tJ1 | norm for many businesses â€" though the technique doesn‘t sit well with baby boomers, like my dear old dad, who are used to enjoyâ€" ing the sale price up front. 1 usually put up a stronger fight before conâ€" ceding to anything my dad has to say, but this time I had to agree with him. And, take it from me, this isn‘t a topic you want to debate with the 50â€"plus crowd. "When you buy a car, they knock money off right then and there," the old guy announced as we drove from the store parking lot, router and rebate card in hand. "There‘s no rebate anything to fill out â€" the sale price is the price you pay." In this fastâ€"paced world, remembering you even have a rebate card to fill out â€"let alone actually filling it out â€" is a lot to ask... unless you‘re my dad, who lives and dies by redeeming every dime he can. We ‘"ought it was the second coming last week when his After all, it‘s not a store‘s fault that Joe consumer forâ€" got to fill out his form â€"he had every opportunity to get some money back. Before going home, we stopped at another store, and once again came across one of these amazing mailâ€" in rebate deals. At that point all I could do was nod in agreement, confirming to him once again that he‘s right and will always be right. In dad‘s defence, howevâ€" er, these rebate offers do seem like a bit of a scam. Making customers work for a deal is a turnoff â€" why do it? Thankfully there are still operations out there where the sticker price is what you pay â€" and if you can talk them down further, you see the immediate results of vour effort I‘d be willing to bet that at least 50 per cent of the time, that rebate card winds up in the garbage rather than the mailbox â€" a result of either honest forgetfulâ€" ness or plain laziness. And you can‘t tell me these companies don‘t realâ€" ize this fact and count on it to save money. _ Dad couldn‘t resist resur recting the rant before leay ing that particular aisle. The biggerâ€"name stores should take notice Now excuse me, I must make a trip to the drugstore to buy some carplugs for another shopping excursion with dad saic $10 rebate from Pepsi arrived in the mail. t