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Citizens need a wakeâ€"up call s someone who has watched Aand tned to get answers from Waterloo council to specific questions in the past ives, they can be tound in meeting minutes; Just not the answers‘ I think the citizens of Waterioo need to wake up the Cityv of Waterloo is on a spending spree it seems. and hell the City of Waterloo is on a spending spree it seems. and hell bent on destruction Harsh? 1 think not. but that is my opimion. You can decide for yourselt Mam have seen on C I\) the water being pumped out trom the top of the aquifer that provides us with 80 per cent of our drinking water in general terms. in order to lay a sewer pipe tor a subdrivision No concern here. ight? lay a sewer pipe for a subdinviston No concern here. rght? Doesnt evervone lay sewer pipes â€" not along side water pipes â€" through the water? Kingston did. and when the sewage spills from the defective pipe flowed up to the surâ€" face. in the open water of the river, it was one ticked off woman who made the difference and forced Ma)be I‘m becoming a beer snob. I don‘t think so, but I am starting to wonder. This particular journey starts with a trip to Stratâ€" ford to watch a production of South Pacific. > Don‘t 'gel me wrong â€" great singing, dancing, comedy, and all from the troupe. I just can‘t stand the musical. Let me sa_\'.-al the outset. that I quite enjoy Broadwayâ€"type musicals. However. there are some which I don‘t like. South Pacific is pretty much at the top of that list. The other two on the top of my list? Newsies and Grease. Newsies was a Disney production which profiled. in song and dance, the happy lives of the newspaper boys in New York. Happy they were. despite being treated essentially as / @rtig slaves. and making a living on the mean PIF streets. But oh. how they danced. r However. those two make the list because of simple personal overâ€"expoâ€" sure. We once drove to Florida with the three girls in the back seat, singing, over and over and over again, all the songs from both productions. Not to mention the eight million viewings of the movie. And of course. the final straw â€" Grease on Ice â€" which, as a lucky memâ€" ber of the media. I once got free tickets to. Arguably the dumbest thing I have I BOU ever seen. Strike that. It is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. But then. anyone with children has had their moment with that, or Polka Dot Door. or whatever live children‘s show is part of today‘s mix. Such is the price we pay for our luds. Back, however. to the beer story. So there we are. after an entertaining night at the show. on the streets of Stratford. Just a few steps from the theatre. a variety of establishments. at which we decide we should partake of a beverage. Beverage. in my world. usually is spelled BEER. I enjoy beer. many different kinds in fact. I am not a slave to any particular brand. I enjoy some from the big breweries. and some from the smallâ€" craft brewenes â€" and all types in between. My snobbery. if there is any. comes from the transaction. If I have to pay $3 to $4 for a beer. 99 bottles of beer? Not even close LETTERS TO THE CHRONI them to get it repaired. So who is volunteering to keep their head underground for that job? It is not like no one has warned the people. city and region of the concerns. We formed the Citizens for the Protection of the Waterloo Moraine, and have brought it to the public‘s and media‘s attention for three years. ° But like my nomination for our hole ostrich to ke is down there Nexb I an answer as to Next. I am still waiting tor an answer as to where the more than S14 million of equity went after it was pulled out of Waterloo North Hydro by this council in 2004 In my opinion. it was a fool s attempt to pay down the RIM Park debt because the contract was yerny clear that it was not allowed written in the outâ€"ofâ€"court ment. So where is our money 1 would also like an update on the legal actions that we are still paving for in regards to RIM Park disaster. Add it to the bill. it like my nomination tor our nal bird. the ostrich. govern mcemed to stick sits: head in a to hide. Maybe we can hire the ch to keep an eve open while it COM N want it to be something l really enjoy So we pick a pub and sit down. I won‘t name the place here, mostly because I don‘t want anyone else to go through the same thing. And we ask the nice waitress, "What‘s on tap?" "Canadian." she says. And I am taken aback. Nothing against Canadian; I often have some at Oktoberfest. But I was looking for something else. "That‘s it?" I ask. She says no â€" in fact they have pretty much everything. This soothes me. _ "Do you have any Sleeman or Brick?" I ask. 1 like to support the local brewer‘es when possible. "No," she says. "Generally, we just have the domestic beers." Apparently Ontario geography was not in the study plan of this particular waitress. MR | |ast | checked, Guelph and Waterloo m were pretty domestic. C â€" So we decide, on a purely fiscal AN basis, that we will perhaps try another RKE establishment, since there are plenty to choose from. On the way out the door, we‘re greeted by one of the regulars who comments, "That didn‘t take too long." We reply, quite jauntily, "Oh, we‘re just looking for a few more beer choices." He seemed to take some offense at this, telling us. in far more flowery terms than I‘m willing to offer in the newspaper. that maybe we should go to one of those "fancyâ€"pants" places if we want that kind of "crap." It wasn‘t a "fancyâ€"pants" place. In fact, it was part of a chain of restaurants. And we had a Keith‘s. And it was very good, thank you very much. * Hear more of Brian‘s thoughts on life with the KOOL Morning Crew every weekday morning from 6 to 9 am. on Waterioo radio station 105.3 KOOL FM. is yery It was settleâ€" 9) "How about Keith‘s?" asks my wife, "or Moosehead?" Negative on both counts, she says. We continue this "Passion of the Pilseners," this "Love of the Lagers," for a few more rounds until I come to the obvious conclusion: they have four brands of beer. And you already know which four they are. Not that there‘s anything wrong with that; just let me know up front. Then I would like to see the busiâ€" ness plan that shows the cost and how we are to pay for anymore squares, joint ventures etc _ And while at it, show the taxpayâ€" ers the current rate of mortgage payments that are still climbing for It was just last April that the prinâ€" ciple stopped increasing. but the debt repayment is just nicely ramp ing up and will eventually top out at over $600,000 per month. So where is the plan? How much are we in debt for the park? 1 bet $125 million is not off the mark with interest calculated. Show us the RIM Park money It this set of counciliors gets reâ€" elected in the tall, I wonder how it is that Waterloo ever was considered for the smart city award. It is time for more people to start asking hard questions and demandâ€" ing some answers. As someone who does know how to keep the books, I would still like the questions I asked two years ago to be answered. Judy Greenwoodâ€"Speers Waterloo AF n 1980, Iying on my back in the backyard, having already Iin\vslt-d countless nights studving celestial maps, I made my greatest discovery to date â€" the gargantuan gas planet known as Jupiter L was nine years old, and considered myself an amateur astronomer. Using only the naked eye, as all astronomers did before the invention of the telescope four centuries ago, 1 mar veled at the mysteries of the night sky and collected books and magazipes on all things astronomical A colourful book titled Solar System captured my imagina tion more than any other. reading intently about the planets, their moons and their orbits. L loved drawing the solar system repeatedly on large pieces of bristol board. It always drove me crasy to see posters of the solar system that ignored planetary size ration depicting Mer cury, for example, as almost the same size as giant Saturn. It still irks me today My favourite images in the book included interpretative My favourite images in the book included interpretative illustrations of the planets surfaces. 1 was fascinated by these frightening"@epictions of lightning storms on Jupiter. the intensely hot and hostile atmosphere of Venus, or the cold bar ren surface of Pluto. so distant from the sun In my early teens, I remember standing in the grocery store * engrossed in the album covers of the . | :\L\Rb}{f\l‘[‘ band. Yes » Hn With their dreamy, otherâ€"worldly landscapes, the fantasy art of Roger Dean reminded me of those illustrated planetary books l adored so much as a plane kid. In my late teens, I discovered the book A Brief History in Time by Stephen Hawking, and began to think about the universe in new and existenâ€" tial ways. By my early 20s, 1 discovered the works of Carl Sagan â€" reading his books, Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot, time and again. Sagan‘s ‘books and captivating PBS programs inspired me to take an introductory course in astrophysics and space science while in university. Although Iearfiing about the evolution of stars and galaxies was everything I‘d hoped for, the advanced mathematical comâ€" ponent was a huge struggle. E C Tw Having taught an artistic astronomy program for children, I was amazed at how much more enthusiasm for science there is among elementary students than university students. Constructing their own threeâ€"dimensional solar system from styrofoam balls and paint, the kids not only had a genuine interest in learning about planets, but were capable of underâ€" standing how they move through space. â€" rrr'l‘hei‘r'young minds were still receptive to the wonders of the universe, not yet bogged down by the drudgeries of dayâ€"toâ€"day terrestrial life. Not surprising, most visitors to the Gustov Bakos Observatoâ€" ry at the University of Waterloo are school children. The facility will host a public tour on Aug. 2 at 9 p.m. 1 spoke with observatory coordinator Mohaddesse Azimlu about the opportunity for the public to discover â€" or rediscovâ€" er â€" the joys of stargazing through the observatory‘s telescope. "The atmosphere of our tours is very friendly and everyone is welcome â€" and it‘s free. Depending on the weather, we usuâ€" ally have groups of anywhere from five to 30 people, and it‘s people of all ages. In the summertime, it‘s great to see grandparâ€" ents with their grandchildren coming out to look at the stars, planets, stellar clusters and nebulae." Azimlu also commented on some of the bigger events held at the observatory in the past: "We had more than 500 visitors to view Mars back in August 2004. The planet was very close and you could even see the iced poles. For the comet Shoemakâ€" erâ€"Levy 9 impact on fupiter in July 1994, over 1,500 visitors came by for tours conducted over an entire week." Among the many ideas that Carl Sagan has instilled in me is that the sky is up there for everyone to enjoy, and one doesn‘t need an expensive telescope or an education in astronomy to appreciate the greatness of nature‘s art. For information on free public tours at the Gustav Bakos Observatory, University of Waterloo, contact Mohaddesse Azimlu at 519â€"888â€"4567, ext. 5130 or email observe@astro.uwaâ€" terloo.ca . Marshall Ward is a professor in the fine arts program at Wil frid Laurier University. Email is welcome at mward@wlu.ca. The sky is the limit â€" why not enjoy it? MARSHALL