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jormston@ waterloochronicle.ca Greg MACDONALD REPORTER ext. 215 edmacdonald@waterloochronicle.ca SALES REPRESENTATIVES Norma CYCA ext. 223 neyca@ waterloochronicle.ca Jackie HAMILTON ext. 228 jhamilton@ waterloochronicle.ca Carly GIBBS ext. 222 ' Bob VRBANAC EDITOR ext. 229 editorial @ waterloochronicle.ca sports @ waterloochronicle.ca Gerry MATTICE ext. 230 RETAIL SALES MANAGER Peter WINKLER PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Jennifer ORMSTON REPORTER ext. 203 sales@ waterloochronicle.ca cgibbs @ waterloochronicle.ca Brenda SOKOLOWSKI ext. 202 bsokolowski@waterloochronicle.ca CLASSIFIED 519â€"895â€"5230 CIRCULATION 519â€"886â€"2830 ext. 213 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Publication Agreement Number 40050478 International Standard Serial Num The Waterloo Chronicle is published each Wednesday by Metroland Media Group Ltd. The Waterloo Chronicle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considers complaints against memâ€" ber newspapers. Any complaint about news, opinions advertising or carduct 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. 8 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE * Wednesday, April 23, 2008 ADVERTISING ber ASSN 0832â€"3410 ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL Audited Circulation: 31,292 COPYRIGHT The contents of lh):;ncwspuper 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. LETTERS POLICY Letiers 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 Addresses and telephone numbers are used only for verification purposes and will not be published.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€" loochronicle.ca or by mail or delivâ€" ered to Waterloo Chronicle, 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20, Waterloo, Ontario N2J 3H8. WATERLOO CHRONICLE 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20 Waterloo, Ontaric N2J 3H8 519â€"886â€"2830 Fax: 519â€"886â€"9383 ww w. waterloochronicle.ca 519â€"886â€"9383 It's a shame that it‘s come down to this â€" that the UpTown Business Improvement Area has had to hire offâ€"duty police officers to control rowdyism in the core. But the problem isn‘t new if you ask uptown resiâ€" dents and retailers who have had to deal with varying degrees of vandalism and boorish behaviour over the past few years. This was a problem we‘ve seen in other city cores, most notably in Kitchener and in Guelph, where patrons would empty out of their entertainment disâ€" tricts and engage in all types of antiâ€"social behaviour. Since the demise of the Block that Rocks in downâ€" town Kitchener some of that activity has shifted our way. It‘s a sign of a vibrant downtown that we can attract some of that nightlife. But coupled with the draw of the university crowd, it had the potential to spill over into major security issues. We‘ve already seen examples of that with the near "riot" at an uptown establishment earlier this year. So instead of waiting for the problem to spin out of control, Waterloo‘s UpTown BIA has decided to engage in some preventative medicine by hiring paid duty offiâ€" cers to make their presence known in these hot spots. Just like a police ctuiser on a highway can make other drivers slow down, the officers now cruising the uptown can have a similar impact to those who want to act up. This is another forwardâ€"thinking measure of the BIA that has worked so diligently to make Waterloo‘s core a destination spot. â€" â€" s It‘s a sign of a growing city that we have to deal with these issues, but it‘s also a signal of the strength of our uptown that it is so popular both night and day. _ _ _ But it also doesn‘t take away from the responsibility for those who visit our core for a good time. â€" The citizens of Waterloo shouldn‘t have to give up the night and this is one way to ensure that doesn‘t happen. It‘s a family friendly place and promises to be even more so with the addition of the civic square. Party police VIEWPOINT ‘m a little sad this week Ibecause my almost 10â€" year relationship with my Cougar is finally over. Before anybody gets the wrong idea, I‘m talking about my Mercury Cougar, or "my first love" as my wife describes it. The other type of cougars are known for prowling the bars of Waterloo and not the streets of the city like my baby. I think her jealousy of my car started because of someâ€" thing that happened the first Christmas after I bought it in 1998. 1 drove my sixâ€"cylinder silver frost beauty over to her extended family‘s house for their annual Christmas celebration. When her older cousins Ron and Dave saw the sports car in the driveway they immediately started to tease my future wife that I had bought the car instead of the engagement ring. . In fact, the ring diin‘t come until two years later and might explain why my wife blurted out at a school chum‘s wedding that we‘ve been together for "five freakâ€" ing years." Which would have been fine if it wasn‘t said over an open mic in a room of about 100 strangers. I spent the rest of the night explaining myself to a group of my friend‘s older relatives who wondered why I was taking so long. â€" â€" In some way she‘s right, my car does represent the It was the first thing I owned on my own, after a few payments of course, and represented a freedom I no longer have. time before we were married and had three energetic boys to deal with. And over the years it has proven to be a bit of an impractical choice. Have you ever tried to get a baby in the back seat of a twoâ€" door sports car that was a fourâ€"seater in name only? When the firstâ€"born came along she suggested we buy a fantily car. I said I could make it work as long as I visited my massage therapist and my chiropracâ€" tor. When the middle one was born, I still suggested it was an appropriate family vehicle and we bought a "cute ute" for her that would accommodate three baby seats in the back. Little did I now that the last one would show up 16 months later BOB VRBANAC and the pressure would realâ€" ly be on to replace my car. The last straw came this winter. when one of the many deep potholes around the city injured the front paw of my big cat, and it no longer had a spring in its step. But I convinced my wife that it would be best to drive my car out instead of tradâ€" ing it in. By this time the old "Coug" had more sentimenâ€" tal value than material ones. And I was able to nurse it for almost a decade. I told my most trusted mechanic that I was no longer willing to sink anyâ€" more money into the old beauty. I got the fateful call at work last Friday â€" it‘s not a good sign when your mechanic calls you up laughing. He told me it was time to put a bullet in it, and suggested a nearby wrecker. The right rear tire was about to fall off, and it was bleedâ€" ing brake and transaxle fluid. 1 replaced that spring and took the car to have its snow tires removed last week when the bad news came in. Well the news didn‘t realâ€" ly hit me until I had to clean out the old girl and take off the plates. My wife told me I could buy another sports car, but only if it had four doors. Thanks for the underâ€" standing, honey. So now I‘m the proud owner of a Subaru, and I‘ve only got one cougar left in my life.