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6 . WA'I'ERLOU CHRONICLE . Wednesday, February I i, yy Peer WINK! I R Pt “USHER Elli I (III! -\I Jenmtrr MIM)', l I tN ttF.P0ttTF.Ft m 30] indium “All t , [IllIOR a! ?15 Morn/u numb». hnmu Ir " If"): \‘RBAVM SPHRTS EDITH“ m 339 mnmmnvu waterirrm krvtrtrle I a WATERLOO CHRONICLE bern MAITIt l Eu Im RETAIL SALES MANAGER sporlva watrrpodrromclr m un ERTISINI; Mum: ctch m I}! ru'rm‘a wwedvorhmmtle a: mlmu "nertoorhmmde rd Am ERTNM,' REPRFh'FrNTMO FY BdIPIIWRK at tpiUrtsst mttrdaaorhmstwlr u: (ark GIBBS m If: revhhuu “will". hmmrlr " ctAMitrm, flu-$10153 m um um» it9Witw?lHit a: II I (hm-dun Publualmm Maul Sales Puhlicauon Agrvemer" Number 11 1050478 IMcrnaturrrat Standard Serial Numhcr ASSN 02512-34") will"! t 'Irrulutmn 11.30} (“TANG PIN col MTI [he Waterloo Otromck u a mam-:1 ot The (Mina Press ( mmol. which cum-d m mmpl-mu 13mm! umber msmr pen Atty complaint abum um. "pm otsadwrtesircomiuctdtoukH'trsrhe [aim to the mp2! litresrlwd mm puma an be mm to (hum Press (mmul. I (when Street, Sum 1706, Immmm ,MSB IH [he Wanda» ( hromtk 5 published each Wednesday by Mtlruhnd Main Group t td . a mlmdmy of Iona! l orporr COPYRIGHT The columns of tbs W " pm land by my" and my be Inf am tor personal mm-co-col 9mm All min nghts we turned and Cgt88httttT- oatoetsprx%bued 141mm, WM ”In mutual you mun frru otrtam tltr pcrmmmn of the "In" of tbe mm ugh! For funky mlnrmalmn ("Marl Andra Built). Him-r, Watedoot hnmr ck. 379% St N Sum CO. Wgtetloo, (harm NN "l8 " TIER) HNAI Idlers In the nduml an“ mun": the ”link In“ "I'll. “gm-m. address and "ka will!" Mdreaes and trhWow minke" are med mth " wnl'xaI-rm pm "In and null ml he Maud Nuns I!" no! he mllhcld We man the ugh: to edrt omdrme or mm In» (minimum My Mom In kpl yum letters mu h: "dtmrttrd in fan In Siqmtte9Ttttor in man! In Murmur” oartriooctrronrcle u or ht and 01 than! to “unit-M hmm ck I"? Mr Nt N Mule 21) “union ”hum NU UH 279 Weber St. N., Sui" m Wm, 0mm NU 3H8 “assume Fax: “W933 ,ttorataterimxhrmtidexa In ”9-3693” EMA" “a War MMt.0ttrNPF.tt5i0N mums: N $erre?0 WIN“ Students have too many temptations these days he director of St, Jude's schttol made the right deci- l sion 15 years ago when he banned electronic devices, including cellphones. from his school, His foresight to make this decision before the use of cellphones, MP3 players and BlackBerrys became wide, spread means his students are receiving an education that is free from these temptations. Teenagers already have' enough distractions in class to contend with. and vibrating cellphones certainly should- nt he one of them. "It is not necessary for a student to be in constant communication with their friends at all times." said Fred Gore. the director of St, lude's. And he's right. A complicated calculus or history lesson is lost on the student who is sending text messages to their friend across the mom And now that many of these devices have miniature cameras in them, they could be used to violate others' privacy, . Maxim some students' academ" struggles are being compounded try the fact they come to school with a cell phone in one hand. Ipod in tht othtt Parents could hefp to combat this trend hy ensuring children leave their electronic devices at home, for use after school Many parents reason their child needs a cellphone at all times in case there is an emergency But Sir lohn A. Macdonald principal Julie lelfer had a point when she said, ”Wouldn't you rather have the stu- dent find out about the emergency in a safe place. like down in the (mica from an adult?" 2007 VIEWPOINT " r I Trto. I've got a feel- ing we're no! in Kansas anymore" That old Indy Garland line from the Wizard of o, went through my head about um times Last week. Let me take you back to last Tuesday evening -- eight days ago to he exact, After putting the paper to bed for the week. I came home, put on a pair of flarr nel pajamas and settled mm a full eveningoflaundry My roommate was out for the evening, which meant I had the whole place to myself __ I love those nights, Between 7 and 7:30 p.m,. while folding my second load of warm, dry clothes. I heard a loud knock at the front door, followed by a couple rings of my doorbell, My first thought was that my roommate forgot hot key, and was banging furiously to get out of the frigid tempera' lures. ' When I got to the front door, I could We two people through the window Now. in the almost two years I've lived in my home. I can count on three fingers the number of times I've had an unexpected visitor at the door One was the census lady coming to collect my over due answers. and the other two were people collecting for charity Quickly remembering February is Heart Month k and having done the same job mysella few years ago --e" I expected the people to be volunteers collecting for the local chapter of the Heart and Stroke foundation, Wrong. As soon as I opened the door. t wished I hadn't, A clearer view showed me the people were two teenaged hays -- and they didn't have charity pledge forms in their hands, The one (m the left asked me if I knew where a certain address was. the next thing I knew. he was taking a slight step for ward while asking me if they could use my phone. I immediately pointed toward the next street mm. Before hé could uller another word, I said. "No, sorry" and shut the door, Needless to say, my mama raised no fool, As if anyone in his or her right mind would let a stranger v in alone two -- into their home. At first I didn't think much of it ,. his story was plausible. Maybe they were 1ostandinneedofaphone, But then the wheels start. esiturttintp I'm in the middle of my row of condos .._ it's not like I'm in an end unit that's nearest lo the road or a bus stop. Why did these Iwn guy", knock on my door? I started to panic. Evan'- thing started running though my mind. Did they know t was home alone? Had they been watching my place? Did they want more than to use the phone? On the advice of a friend, I called the Waterloo region- al police - not to report an incident, but to give them more of a heads-up. in case the youths were knocking on others' doors -- namely those of women who were home alone, l muldn'l have heen more impressed. A policewoman rang my doorbell m minutes after I placed the call. and she assured me she and her partner were checking out the neighbourhood. I don't know whether the police found the youths that night or if there were um similar complaints repnned But I donmow the mun tion shook me up. People have been telling me how lucky I am. and that I shouldn't have even answered the door Deep down, I know they're right, But all I keep thinking is, this is Waterloo It's not Toronto; it's not New York City. It's Watedoo lt just goes to show no city, town or village is ever too small for bad things to happen. 'l:ve certainly learned my