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Ambulance service should be improved Emergency services are hot topics in Waterloo Region these days. We‘ve learned that ambulance service has slowed by three minutes since 2000. Ambulances reach 90 per cent of emergency calls in less than 16 minâ€" utes versus a target of nine. â€" Regional residents have a 12 per cent chance of surviving a heart attack. In fact, Waterloo Region has one of the worst cardiacâ€"arrest survivâ€" ability rates in North America. (And) Waterloo Region falls below an already low Ontario averâ€" age number of citizens trained in CPR. minutes to get help Those who receive CPR from bystanders before paramedics arrive are three to four times more likely to survive than those who don‘t, according to a specialist in medical emergencies. The region, local community, charitable organizations, service clubs and business associations could show leadership in this regard Heartâ€"attack victims have just six Whvn do birthdays stop being such a big deal? I don‘t put much stock in them myself Once you become a dad of course, you are required by the little known "law of the father" to say things such as: "I don‘t really want anything," or "Oh, I don‘t need presents." Ry that, we most definitely mean we don‘t want anything which includes socks, underwear or ties When your children are younger, this is mostly a moneyâ€"saving measure Since inevitably shopping for a pres ent is going to involve opening my own wallet to give small children enough money to buy something for myself Why not just cut out the middleman? The whole topic is inspired by my old est daughter‘s latest birthday, which is this week, and marks her 26th year k L tried, in vain I might add, to institute a maximum age of 25 on any birthday celebrations. This was voted down, mostly because the three of them are all under the age of 25. and my wife likes to think she is Birthdays, in our house, always involved the honoree selecting a restaurant at which we would have a special family dinner In the beginning. this involved any restaurant that had a kids menu and an annoving magicran We also went through the phase of birthday pat ties at various themed restaurants Uhankfully those days are over. and now the biggest discussion at our family birthday parties usvally molves what kind of beer to arder Jhus time round. we td the same thing, Our oldest was altowed to pick the restaurant Bonding with the babes over birthday cake and candles by partnering to encourage and Tuition costs create fund widespread CPR training for a fesidents. â€"_* _ an uphill battle In Waterloo Region we have four separate emergency dispatch cenâ€" tres. A single dispatch centre can save precious time, and lives, by elimiâ€" nating delays in relaying messages between coâ€"operating fire and ambulance dispatch centres and quickly clear multiple cellphone calls from people réporting the same incident. None of the existing dispatch centres has the capacity to support all emergency services, so a new highâ€"tech facility would be needed. To fully address the region‘s emergency services shortcomings we need also to consider future needs. What is really at stake is the prompt provision of essential emerâ€" gency services that our citizens need and deserve. This includes having more cit? zens trained to perform CPR. Owen Lackenbauer Kitchener COMMENT she preferted Of course there are always some compromises In this case, we went with her choice, except for the fact it was located too far away from her middle sister, who has moved out, and in the wrong direc tion for her younger sister. who had to i seee] | drive back to London for school l [ )l (h, and we had to have dinner a 4A day early, for the same reason, and at Rl\l an earlier time But other than that, everything was the same together. So Diana and 1 get to sit back and listen to their stories (some of which, I guarantee, would cur} your hair) and marvel at what the three of them have become. interesting, independent. feisty, funny, all living their own lives while taking enough time to connect with the people who really matter {t‘s a pretty nice gift for us * Hear more of Brian‘s thoughts on life with the KOO] Morning Crew every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a m._on Waterioo radio station 105.3 KOOL FM 1 don‘t think the girls have figured this out yet, but I think these birthday getâ€"togethers are no longer about the birthday girl; mom and I get a lot more out of them. Certainly, it‘s a lot more low mainte nance now. We‘re not cutting up food or having to make any menu choices. And now, with everyone running off madly in opposite directions, it really is one of the few times we have all of us As a firstâ€"year student at the Uniâ€" versity of Waterloo, my family and I already feel the burden of payâ€" ing for postâ€"secondary education. With the increased tuition fees, along with other expenses such as residence, meal plans and textâ€" books, postâ€"secondary education is simply too expensive even for midâ€" dleâ€"income families like mine. _ The prices of textbooks are usuâ€" ally over $100; they are costly because students have to buy them. Quality postâ€"secondary educaâ€" tion is crucial for the future growth of our economy. _ The eight months of firstâ€"year university have cost my parents more than $12,000. However, more students are graduating with thousands of dolâ€" lars in debt. With the burden of finding a job after graduation, as well as paying off debts, how does the government expect graduates to contribute to the economy? Lucy Gao Richmond Hill The first live concert 1 ever saw was Johnny Cash at Centre in the Square. My older sister took me when 1 was nine, and I‘ve been a fan ever since. When I saw him, he looked 10 feet tall on stage. He was wearing all black, of course â€" black jacket, black shirt, black pants and black boots. 1 had never seen, or heard, anyone remotely like him. A Johnny Cash tribute night, a benefit for ROOF (Reaching Our QOutdoor Friends}, is coming to the Starlight in Waterloo on Feb. 24 â€" with performances by Danny Michel, Bob Egan, NQ Arbuckle, Shannon Lyon, Paul MacLeod, Emm Gryner and many others. 1 1 Wl . 10 s se ue When the man comes around en oo e eeanmie Much has been said and written since Cash‘s death about 3 1/2 years ago, and even more since the movie about his early career, Walk the Line, which came out in 2005. This Feb. 26 would have been Cash‘s 75th birthday. Danny Michel, master of ceremonies for the upcoming tribute night, was also a child when he first heard of Johnny "I ‘(hink when I was about 10 years old, Cash was doing ads for the first ATM machines," remembers Michel. "They were called the Johnny Cash Money Machines." My earliest memory of Johnny Cash was on the American crime fiction TV series Columbo. The 1974 episode was titled Swan Song, and Cash guestâ€"starred as Tommy Brown, an exâ€"convict turned gospel crusader â€" turned murderer. Manp n It was on this show I first heard the song Sunday Morning Coming Down {written by Kris Kristofferson}, sung by the character Tommy Brown. _ It‘s still one of my favourite Johnny Cash songs today. Michel says Live at Folsom Prison is his favourite Cash album, "(It) is quite moving to me â€" the way Johnâ€" ny stuck up and fought for the underâ€" dog was always cool." t C I always loved the Live at Folsom and San Quentin Prison albums as well, and appreciated the solidar inmates. usen denoie These songs tell stories of the downtrodden â€" tormented by the unfairness of the world and the consequences of their own wrongdoings. Perhaps what resonates for me most are Cash‘s songs about miscarriages of justice, like the reâ€"recorded I‘m Free from the Chain Gang Now from his last record, American V: A Hundred Highways. It‘s about a recently released prisoner who was wrongfully accused Singer/songwriter Emm Gryner, known for her haunting melodies. cites Cash‘s American Recordings albums as some of her biggest musical influences "(Cash) made me want to drop all the keys of my songs and wear black," says Gryner. "I find a lot of his darker themes to be really intriguing, and I‘m always drawn to that in my own music." : Gryner says she will be performing two songs for the John ny Cash tribute night: "I plan to do Girl in Saskatoon, which (Cash) wrote with Johnny Horton. Not many people know he wrote a song with Saskatoon in the title â€" but it‘s a gorgeous song with really vivid imagery and great lyrics. I‘m also doing Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog, from the Live at Folsom Prison record because | think it‘s fun for a female to sing about a dog staying out of her henâ€"house." Michel, who usually plays the Cash song Sam Hall at his own concerts, says it was already chosen by another perâ€" former for the Cash tribute night uioi s dn Ahicaltcat n en indA "I‘ll have to learn some new ones," says Michel. "And that‘s hard when they‘re such important songs." Gryner adds, "I‘m really looking forward to being at the Starlight, which is one of the country‘s best venues. (Tribute nights) are like a variety show, and there are so many talented Canadian artists that you can‘t help but be entertained. 1 always learn so much from these nights â€" usually that Danny Michel stéals the show at every one." No matter who steals the show at the tnbute night, every musician involved knows that there will be only one true star Though he won‘t be there in body, the Man in Black will be there in spirit and. more importantly, in music Marshall Ward is a professor in the frid Laurier University. Email is welco WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesf&ly, February 21, 2007 *3 rofessor in the fine arts program at W it Email is welcome at mmard@ whi.ca the solidarity Cash felt with the MARSHALL