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As a citizen of Waterloo concerned with the fluoridation of our drinking water, I sat in on the (Jan. 14) council meeting. I would like to share my impres sions of that meeting with Waterâ€" loo‘s residents. Much information was presented on both sides of the issue. Recent scientific reports lead me to believe that what we‘ve been doing here in Waterloo may indeed not be safe for our residents. These reports site many health concerns with the fluoâ€" ride being added to our water. Kudos to councillors Vieth and Freeman for putting forth recomâ€" mendations to immediately stop fluoridating our water while we determine the safety of the fluoride being used. being used. y I ul â€"fean Uifortunately. not enough of our needs l'ethlnklng councillors were able to see the danâ€" gers here and voted for the status When I read the Chroni quo. recently, 1 was appalled to _ I was surprised by Coun. Whaâ€" ley‘s lack of concern. Flouride opinions changed with times To fluoridate or not to fluoridate the water? That indeed will be the question. City council last week agreed to hold a plebiscite on the issue. As a brief aside, I should point out that is the last time I will use the word "plebiscite." I shall call it a vote from now on. Why use a $10 word, when a $1 one will do the job? Anyhow, someone contacted me after the deciâ€" sion, and said I should be the voice of reason. I found this pretty amusing on a _/ f{@ee number of different levels. I am not often . | Pl accused of being reasonable. ah But it certainly was an issue I could grab hold of. We‘ve been putting fluoride in the water for years. There‘s no eviâ€" dence of any damage, and there are widespread benefits. Who are these whackos who want to put an end to it? Then I started to think about it. Not just the issue of fluoridation, but some bigger questions, and 1 realized that iniâ€" tial reaction was a little bit too easy. And, like so many other problems, the answers are not always that simple. Right now, I don‘t have those answers. But I have a few questions. First of all, I‘ve done a significant |I highs amount of research and I haven‘t run across too much which makes me worry about the addition of fluoride to the water. Some 70 per cent of people in Ontario drink fluoridated water. And that‘s not my issue. ‘Fluoridation began years ago in an effort to improve the population‘s dental health. I am wonâ€" dering if that is still necessary. Toothpaste now contains fluoride and applicaâ€" tions are also available from dentists. Do we still need to add fluoride to the water based on that alone? A lot of people don‘t have dentists, true enough, but do we get enough from toothpaste? I don‘t know the answer to that. But I‘m pretty sure someone does, and it seems like a perfectly sensible thing to ask. I have a couple of other concerns, which I believe are far more important to discuss than the scare campaigns being run by the groups that want to put an end to fluoridation. Lots of questions need answering Is there some reason processes we began 40 LET] Well Mr. Whaley, times have changed. We know a lot more about this issue today than we did 40 plus years ago. For example, do you really think that residents who previously voted in favor of fluoridation would have done so if they‘d known that our water was to be fluoridated not with a pharmaceutical grade fluoride, but with hydrofluorosilicic acid, a toxic byproduct of the fertilizer industry? He wanted to sweep the whole issue under the rug and not burden Waterloo‘s residents with another referendum on the issue. He felt the three previously held referendums settled the issue and there was no need for a fourth one. When I read the Chronicle recently, 1 was appalled to see another gigantic flaw in our immiâ€" gration system â€" Chuck Wiley, a war Openâ€"door policy BRIAN BOURKE COMMENT years ago have to continue forever? Technology and in@provements in a number of areas have changed the way we do many things. Perhaps this should be one of them? Again, I don‘t know, but it‘s an interestâ€" ing thing to ponder. I also wonder about something considerably deeper. Over the past 40 years there has been a draâ€" matic shift, I think, in the way people view governâ€" ment and individual freedoms and choice. Given that less than 30 per cent of AN voters will bother to cast ballots, does RKE that not open up the result to a great deal of manipulation? And if we‘re going to make a deciâ€" sion that impacts on absolutely everyone in the city, can we not find a better way to survey them? Should the question be opened up to more peoâ€" ple? Maybe people under 19 would like to have a say. Should they? How can we know the result will be a good barometer of exactly how people feel? How will we know the information we get from either side will be accurate? We have people who vote now without being properly informed. How can we be sure people will take an interest? Do we assume that people who don‘t bother to vote don‘t care one way or the other? It seems to me right now that in trying to get an answer to the fluoridation question, we‘re going to have to deal with a few other things first. Brian Bourke, a member of the 105.3 KOOL FM morning crew, can be reached by email at bbourke@koolfm.com. Waterloo If this was the first time around, would we, as a group, be inclined to agree to a plan to add something to the water no matter its benefits, if there was another way to access the same chemical? I have no idea how that would turn out. I don‘t even know how I would vote on such a proposal if it came to me now. But it is an interestâ€" ing question. You‘ll have to answer that on your own. And I have questions about the vote itself. The city will put the question on the ballot in the 2010 election. resistor admitted into Canada as a refugee for leaving what he himself signed up for. â€" â€" If you did not see it, Wiley signed up to join the military, and after viewing some harsh realities that accompany war he took it upon himself to say that he did not wish to be a part of it anymore. Next to the native people, my family was one of the first generaâ€" tions to come here. They worked hard to build what we have today. It really irritates me that my forefaâ€" thers built this country and people like Chuck can come here and is so easily accepted and allowed to teach our children while he awaits his country‘s decision on his future. Now where will Chuck live? What will Chuck do? Oh wait, he‘ll come to Canada as a refugee. Does our government not realize we have much larger issues to deal with than allowing refugees in? What has this country come to when we simply have an openâ€"door policy to the world? Trevor Daynard Waterloo t was back in November 2004 when smallâ€"business owner IFrank Warren printed 3,000 blank postcards as part of a comâ€" munity art project, inviting people to share a secret with him anonymously â€" something that was true, something that had never been told to anyone. He handed the cards out at subway stations, left them in art galleries and slipped them between the pages of library books. In a strange coincidence, my wife received Warren‘s first book, PostSecret, for her birthday earlier this month, while the very next day one of my daughter‘s school teachers lent me the latest edition, A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book â€" and I have been enjoying both books immensely In just three years, Warren has received more than 150,000 creatively decorated anonymous postcards, curated several PostSecret art exhibitions, published four books and won multiâ€" ple weblog awards for his site www.postsecret.com. I found those reflecting on childâ€" hood and adolescence to be most endearing. One reads, "When I was 14, someone told me: I‘m excited about your life! Thank you. Those words have stuck with me. They keep me going. I won‘t disappoint you and I keep passâ€" ing them along to others." While lying bare their private fears, hopes, regrets and desires from people of all ages, each postcard is an intimate and extraordinary little piece of art. Another reads, "I am a junior in high school. I have good friends and a M loving family. I am smart. I am a good athlete and musician. But I would trade all that in if it meant I would be beautiful." Many secrets address mortality, like the one that reads, "In a crowd, (friends, family, strangers) I always wonder which of us will die first." Another has text pasted overtop of a photograph of a tourist beach that reads, "I still can‘t believe you died so I pretend you are away on a very long vacation having the best time." On one postcard, the image of a shoe is juxtaposed with a photo of a mangled car, "In the fourth grade, I had to claim my shoe in front of the class when the resident joker put it in the room‘s lost and found box. Everybody laughed. He was killed in a car crash 33 years later. I didn‘t feel a damn bit sorry for him." Some of the more disturbing confessions include longâ€"held secrets of various abuses, speaking of rape, incest, physical and emational abuse and adultery. Suicide is a common theme as well, with secrets like, "Every time I approach an overpass, I think how easy it would be to simply turn the wheel ever so slightly to the left and find peace, at long last." In contrast with some of the darker and haunting secrets are humorous ones that speak of age and liberation. A minimal blackâ€"andâ€"white postcard reads in capital handwritten letters, "This morning I found a white pubic hair!!! (I‘m only 33)." Another reads, "I stopped wearing panties to the office weeks ago â€" work has never felt so refreshing." Other playful and lightâ€"hearted confessions include, "I love to pee when I‘m swimming," and "Even vegetarians think of meat from time to time! Mmm. I know I do," accompanied by the face of a smiling woman with maniacal eyes, and a big red tongue licking her lips. With themes of masturbation, infidelity, hatred, love, chilâ€" dren, loneliness and everything in between, these publications not only make for great coffeeâ€"table books, but a wonderful and enlightening conversation piece when read out loud. And no doubt, readers will recognize something in themselves in the postcard writings. In reflecting on the PostSecret books, it was these words that resonated most for me: "I wish I could help those who send in their secrets. I want to make all the pain go away for them. I am your friend even if you never met me." 1 feel the same. And that‘s no secret. Marshall Ward is a visual artist and independent filmmaker, curâ€" rently teaching life drawing at the Waterloo Community Arts Centre. Email is welcome at marshall_ward@hotmail.com. Postcard secrets are pieces of art "He‘s been in prison for two years because of what I did. Nine more to go." WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, January 23, 2008 * 9 MARSHALL Anonymous