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

6 * WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, April 30, 2008 |_Oticon + Delta ‘Rediscover the sounds jof your garden! EFrom bird songs to garden party ‘chatter, straining every nerve to hear Acan take the bloom out of your ‘favourite hobby. Missing out on some of the good times? Rediscover your igarden‘s bouquet of sounds. Give the ‘Oticon Delta hearing device a try and «get the most out of what you are ipassionate about! Wonder what happened to the birds singing? {Delta is a hearing device that lets ‘speech come through clearly, so you can understand conversations at garden parties, and let the sounds of jyour garden dazzle your senses. iDiscover a design that reflects your “individual lifestyle. And rediscover the gultimate sound experience in the most lnatural way. Why trust your hearing to anyone else? 570 University Ave E., Unit 905, Waterloo (519) 886â€"2416 uburn Hearing Centre))) .":ms.‘i'w'i‘.‘.ai': Wear your passion on your ears! fr â€"**~* _ For a limited time only: j new in Bloom Edition 570 vmvinsity ave 6. oC CHOPPtR PLaZA t‘s become second nature to include a bottle of Iwater in your kids‘ lunch along with some healthy snacks. If not, they have the opportunity to buy that boitled water from their school‘s vending machine as an alternative to sugâ€" ary drinks or pop. ) o m The local public school board hopes to change that by Septem:â€" ber 2009 after voting last week to stop buying and selling water in local schools. The board‘s environmental advisory committee, headed by Waterloo trustee Catherine Fife, pushed for the changes to address some of the environmental conâ€" cerns associated with bottled water and perhaps cause a culture shift. They‘re hoping to have chilâ€" dren bring in reusable containers or go to the traditional source for water â€" the school‘s water founâ€" tain. Fife said it‘s an alarming trend that universities and other instituâ€" tions are thinking about removing the community water fountain because of how pervasive bottled water has become in our culture. She said 10 years ago you would hardly see water consumed in that way â€" now it seems to be everyâ€" body‘s favourite accessory. "Ten years ago we would never see bottled water in meetings," said Fife. "That‘s a concern." The problem with that is the pollution and the Local school board looks to be first to ban sale of bottles Keynote Speaker: Dr. Carol Cressman Foster Eye Health, Vision Changes, Accessing Services To reserve call 519â€"884â€"7755 No charge for admission. Donations to Lutherwood Child and Family Foundation accepted. Tax receipts for gifts of $10 or more. 139 Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo Parking at Waterloo Memorial Recreation Centre WED., MAY 14, 2008 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. > Luther Village on the Park Great Hall The Aging Eye By Bos VrBanac â€"Chronicle Staff \p Lutherwood and the Luther Village Resident Health Committee Present: "There‘s better ways to spend tax dollars than buying bottled tap water." â€"Catherine Fife Waterloo trustee drain on our own water resources that occurs during water taking. For instance, the popular Pure Life brand of water is bottled just up Highâ€" way 7 near Aberfoyle, taking from the same groundwater that serves Guelph and surrounding communities. Bottlers taking more local groundwater in Waterloo also became an issue last year when Glenbriar made a request to pump more water out of the ground at a - well on the west side of the city. She figures what they lose in ne Fife revenue til;y can make up in cost truste? savings from the garbage that botâ€" tled water generates. "We‘ve asked staff to let us know how much money we‘re spending on either purchasing of water or dealing with the waste of the bottles," said Fife. "It‘s a hard number to nail down * because we do buy it in bulk. "But here we are cutting programs for $50,000 or $60,000 and we don‘t really know how much we even spend on bottled water. If at the end of the day we save $10,000 that could go to library books ... it will be very interesting to me to see what the final tally is." Fife said there are better ways to spend the board‘s budget by providing services and programs than supplying water. "There‘s better ways to spend tax dollars than buying bottled tap water," she said. "It makes no sense from an educational leadership position and from the environmental position. "We also have to start modelling environmental practices." _ s As for alternatives, Fife said the water that comes out of our taps is both safe and cheap. It costs just pennies a glass to consume versus $1.20 for a 500â€" millilitre bottle. "Our water in our schools is safe," said Fife. "In the most recent testing our water was absolutely great, and we have to get kids drinking from the fountain The annual Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday at Carryâ€"On Comics in Waterloo. The annual day held at stores across North America and the world helps promote literacy, while getting readers into the newest developments of the comic book world. Some of the comics being featured in this year‘s installment include big names like Superman, The Xâ€"Men, Transformers and The Simpsons. It also will introduce readers to some newer titles, like The Stranded and Shonen Jump. For more information or to see the origins of the day, go to www.freecomicbookday.com. Carryâ€"On Comics is located at 32 King St. N. in uptown Waterloo. Saturday is Free Comic Book Day Coupled with the fact that a lot of plastic bottles still end up in the landfill despite recycling efforts, and that a number of Waterloo schools have instituted litterâ€"less lunch programs, this makes a lot of sense for the school board, said Fife. The motion came from Kitchâ€" ener trustee Ted Martin, and was adopted now because local trustees heard that it is very diffiâ€" cult to get something like this passed. While board officials conâ€" tinue to look at their contractual obligations with bottledâ€"water suppliers before they can formally adopt the policy, Fife said they‘re looking to be the first school jurisâ€" diction in the province to take such action.