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

Bob VRBANAC EDITOR exi. 229 editorial @ waterloochronicle ca sports@ waterloochronicle.ca 8 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, August 1. 2007 Peter WINKLER PUBLISHER Jennufer ORMSTON REPORTER exi. 203 jormston @waterloochrontcle ca EDITORIAL Gerry MATTICE ext. 230 RETAIL SALES MANAC Bill PHURA ext. 228 bprhura@ waterloochrontcle <a Cardly GIBBS ext. 222 egibhs@ waterloochromcle.ca Ahcia DE BOER ext. 202 adeboer@ waterloochronicle ca SALES REPRESENTATIVES Norma CYCA ex1. 223 neyeat@ waterloochronicle «a sales @ waterloochronicle «a CLASSIFIED $19â€"895â€"5230 CIRCULATION 519â€"886â€"2830 ext. 213 Canadian Publications Marl Sales Publication Agreement Number 4005078 Internutional Standard Serial Num ber ASSN 0832â€"3410 Audited Circulation: 31,292 The Waterloo Chronicle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considers complaints against memâ€" ber newspapers. Any complaint about news, opinions advertising of conduct should first be taken to the newspaper. Unresolved complaints can be brought to: Ontario Press Council, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706. Toronto, ON.. MSB 1J3 The Waterloo Chronicle is published . each Wednesday by Metroland Media Group Ltd COPYRIGHT mf contents of this new\paptr are protected by copyright and may be used only for personal nonâ€"commerâ€" cial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is proâ€" hibited. To make any use of this material you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyâ€" right. For further information conâ€" tact Bob Vrbanac. Editor, Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8 ADVERTISING ONTARIO PRESS COUNCI Letters to the editor must contain the writer‘s full name, signature, address and telephone number. Addresses and telephone numbers are used only for verification purposes and will not be published. Names will not be withâ€" held. We reserve the right to edit. conâ€" dense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal purposes. Letters may be submitted by fax to 519â€"886â€"9383 or by email to editorial@waterâ€" loochromcle.ca or by mail or delivâ€" ered to Waterloo Chromicte, 279 Weber St. N.. Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8 LETTERS POLICY WATERLOO CHRONICLE 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20 Waterloo, Ontano N2J 3H8 $19â€"886â€"2830 Fax: 519â€"886â€"9383 ww w. waterloochromicle va FAX §19â€"886â€"9181 editonal@waterloochronicle.ca EMAIL iER here was a controversy in the uptown core about l three years ago about aggressive panhandling and the community‘s response to the issue. People using the uptown on a daily basis thought it was a detriment to the work being done to promote the core. It presented an unsettling picture for those trying to bring more people into the uptown. The initial response was to get the police involved, and employ some of the laws on the books to address the problem panhandlers. â€" â€" The reality turned out to be that a few hardâ€"core homeless were not representative of the real problem that Waterloo and other communities were facing â€" there was a real influx of people in need of shelters and other services to get them off the street. The police, while doing an admirable job of trying to balance the community‘s concern with the need to conâ€" nect some of these streetâ€"involved people with social agencies, weren‘t equipped to deal with all the complexiâ€" ties of the issue. That was when the idea to hire an outâ€" reach worker was first suggested. Other jurisdictions have run similar successful proâ€" grams, and a pilot project in Kitchener‘s core had a posiâ€" tive effect. Three years later, Waterloo‘s uptown core finalâ€" ly has a person to handle this important work in linking people in need to services, and gauging just how deep the problem of homelessness runs in the city. Statistics being presented in an ongoing ad campaign tell a disturbing story. For every homeless person seen, there are four people the public doesn‘t see makingâ€"do on the kindness of family, friends or strangers. This unseen face of homelessness is evident at the local Out of the Cold program that is bursting at the seams during the winter months. Just because those temporary shelters are closed for the summer doesn‘t mean the problem has disappeared. This outreach program is a good first stepin framing those issues and hopefully coming up with some longâ€" term solutions. Helping the homeless VIEWPOINT or many of us, sumâ€" Fmenime means weekâ€" end getaways spent relaxing on a dock, camping in the woods or reuniting with old friends. Move over, get out of the way But by the time you get to your idyllic locale of choice, you may regret ever venturâ€" ing out of the city. That‘s how I felt a few weeks ago when I headed up north on a Thursday evening. Figuring I had beat the weekend exodus, I took my time getting ready, packed up the dogs, and headed out, only to discover you‘re not beating the rush leaving at that time. Traffic along Highway 401 flowed relatively smoothly, but by the time I merged onto the 400, it was at a standstill. For starters, there were several drivers who thought that changing lanes freâ€" quently would help get them ahead of the backup. And that‘s when the fun began. â€" They cut in front of me even though there was hardâ€" ly any room and a turtle could probably move faster than my car. Then there‘s the jokers who eat, apply makeup or read maps while behind the wheel. He was driving beside me for a while and 1 caught sevâ€" eral glimpses of him steering with his wrists, which is On this trip I saw a driver typing feverishly on his BlackBerry. CHI apparently a good way to keep your fingers free for typing. â€" But of all the speeding, weaving and tailgating I saw that night, one man clearly stands out in my mind. He was driving his pickâ€" up truck behind me in the "fast" lane. 1 was travelling at the speed of traffic, but not as quickly as he wanted me to go. With lots of vehicles around me, I decided to stay in my lane and continue on. Once in his new position, he gave me "the finger" for about 15 seconds. He just held it there to be sure I saw. Stopâ€"andâ€"go traffic conâ€" tinued for the next 30 minâ€" utes or so, and this rude driver was stuck right in front of me. He finally saw a break in traffic, and quickly whizzed in front of me. Suddenly, the traffic stopped. And the pickup sat motionless only feet away from me. I wondered what was going through his mind at this point â€" did he regret his lewd gesture? Road rage â€"a term that encompasses many behavâ€" iours, from yelling and speeding, to tailgating and cutting others off â€" is more dangerous than people think, and can result in death. Did it really make him feel better to be in front of me rather than behind? Typically it occurs because someone is frusâ€" trated by a situation and they take these feelings out on other drivers, according to Olaf Heinzel, Waterloo Regional Police Service‘s public affairs coâ€"ordinator. "People sometimes forget that when they‘re driving a 2,000â€" or 3,000â€" or 5,000â€" pound machine down the road, at any rate of speed really, even 60 or 70 kilomeâ€" tres an hour, that‘s a lot of weight that‘s being moved down the road. "And when that comes in contact with something suddenly, it can cause a lot of damage," he said. With the holiday weekâ€" end approaching, Heinzel advises motorists nat to leave at peak times, allow extra time to get to your des tination, focus on driving and obey speed limits. More cars on the roads means delays will occur â€" and that can lead to frustra tion and road rage. I‘m just glad I‘m staying home.