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

PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY Second Class Mail Registration Number 5540 It is not the easiest thing to swallow the news that convicted University of Waterloo history professor Leo Johnson is "fighting to save" his teaching career. _ _ â€" Currently serving two years less a day at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton after being found guilty on nine counts of indecently assaulting girls aged nine to 13 and one count of sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 14, Johnson is deserving of no such consideration. In fact, we find it utterly reprehensible that it has taken bureaucraâ€" tic decisionmakers this long to come to no conclusion as to his future at UW . â€" Why the fit of compassion? Why drag on senate committee hearings that have been held since February, with no recommendations on the horizon? â€" â€" We‘ve beard all about what a wonderful man Johnson is. Marvellous teacher too. An arm‘s length of character witnesses at his sordid trial painted a picture of a respectable human being who finally succumbed to the psychological trauma of a torn and tattergd pas_t. So what? The point to be made here is that while Johnson may very well be worthy of such praise, he has perpetrated and been convicted of some of the most heinous crimes known to man. Not just crimes of deviant sexual behavior, but worse, crimes involving the betrayal of trust invested by those in his care. Trust of innocent youngsters who will carry the emotional scars stemming from Johnson‘s actions long after he has paid for them in incarceration. Their‘s is the future we should concern ourselves with, not his. He has violated the rights of others and now must face the consequences of having his own rights and privileges rescinded as a result. That‘s the way it works, isn‘t it? And the University of Waterloo should immediately cease and desist with this appalling buckâ€"passing; that it has gone on this long is an abysmal affront to the victims, their families, and our community in general. _ Isn‘t this the finiversity that weeks ago declared war on its Engineering newspaper for its sleazy nature, condemning it as a vehicle besmirching UW‘s proud image? How rich! _ _ We now turn in the dictionary to letter "h‘". As in hypocriâ€" sy. This is neither an Old Home Week nor a Remembrance Day column. It is merely a desperate attempt to catch up with my correspondence, triggered by a week‘s holiday, in which I, at first tentatively, then frantically pawed through the unansâ€" wered letters on my desk. Oh yes, I have a secretary. But she‘s not worth a diddle. She‘s great on emptying ashtrays, sorting my desk until I can‘t find anything, and telling me I‘ll never be a writer until I learn to change a typewriter ribbon. She also serves a great cup of tea when 1 am scriptorially constipated, and fending off phone calls when I sit before the infernal machine in a catatonic state. But she simply won‘t get down to it and write my column for me. What‘s the point of having a secretary if you have to do the dirty work yourself? Especially when she‘s practically a blood relative: your wife? Back to the letters. We‘ll work from about now back through a year or two. A letter from Orest Woychuk of Wainwright, Alta., hit me where it hurts. He‘d read a column in which 1 referred to his brother Roman, "Chuck", an old P.O.W. buddy. Chuck is dead; flew into a hill down in Quebec in 1957. We‘d planned, in our young romanticism, to go to Yucatan, Mexico, when we got out of Double standard tloi \\‘ | BILL SMILEY published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Record Ltd., owner 225 Fairway Rd.S., Kitchener, Ont. Waterioo Chronicle office is located in the Harper . Hgnoy and White Law Office Buillding (rear entrance, upper floor). Parking at the rear of the building. Open Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m address gorrespondence to Waterioo office: 45 Erb St. E., Waperioo, Ont. N2J 1L.7, telephone 886â€"2830 prison camp. Chuck was restless and violent. I could have predicted his end. I was reminded of him when I read a dedication to a novel: ‘‘To the victims of the Great War; among whom are the survivors."" One of his favorite sayings was, "If you sleep fast enough, you can get five or six hours sleep in two hours." â€" -"(‘)i;evs{fiiys, in understatement, "He was very restless on his return from overseas â€" there‘s no need to explain why â€" you both were there and went thru it all." Chuck had three wives, and his brother says they "had a hard time catching up with him‘"‘ because "my home is where I hang up my hat for a few moments." Poor girls. Poor Qhuck. _ Another old ghost turned up recently: Don McCuaig, former private in His Majesty‘s forces,‘former newspaper ediâ€" tor, the scourge of the Ottawa Valley. For some reason, this idiot and I have an affinity that transcends almost everyâ€" thing. We can meet after ten years and thoroughly enjoy each other‘s company. Silly duffer is in France, living in a village taking an {mmersion course in the lanâ€" ;u;g-g lâ€"â€"él;i’jrust hear that Ottawa Valley Irish coming through the French. For example, "terrible". _l.puf‘rench it comes CAaTIpEF} mm nte en en o ie Nee es out "terreeb" with a little guttural on the "r". In Ottawa Valley it comes out "turâ€" Publisher: Paul Winkler Manager: Bill Karges Editor: Rick Campbell 21. established 1854 "I certainly think city council, before it goes on a rampage making a lot of silly statements should consider the position of the school board. If they do decide to close the school we should all butt out." bul" Here‘s one from Jack Seely, Hay River, N.W.T. YÂ¥es Jack, I‘m guilty. I am the guy you worked with on the old Harmonic on the upper Great Lakes in 1937â€"38â€"39. But I am no longer the fellow you recall as ‘"a handsome and intelligent young man from Perth, Ontario by the name of Bill Smiley.‘" We were both stupid to be working for one dollar a day, thirty days a month. And I am not handsome, merely distinguished. You were the handsome one, with your lean face, blond hair. Remember Peachy diving off the hurriâ€" cane deck? Remember Capt. Bill Taylor flouncing around like a French gigolo, wooing the lady passengers in an aura of sweat and booze? He wound up as a bartender, after the S.S. Noronic burned. And another from Bob Love, somewhere in Alta. (envelope lost), a long and friendly and warm letter of reminiscences and shared experiences. And another from Mrs. Jay Webster of Lake Francis, Man. which tells a lot about the state of Canadian publishing, bookâ€" selling and Winnipeg as a cultural centre. ‘"Would you enjoy reading the books you mention, Boys, Bombs and Brussels Sprouts by Doug Harvey, and Terror in the Starboard Seat, by Dave Mcintosh. After It is written asking on the average of once a month in the Cole Book Stores in Winnipeg, I was told it wasn‘t on the order form so couldn‘t be ordered. Somebody must be failing in their job if these books aren‘t available west of Toronto." More letters. A card from my daughter, almost three years old. "I was thinking of you a lot as your 60th birthday apâ€" proached. I love you a lot. Always have. Always will. I have just begun to be aware of the things you have taught me: strength, perseverance, tolerance and humour." Thanks a lot, baby. Just went through the old cheques. Sure enough. Somebody is, lady. Canadian publishers, notoriously timorous, would rather spend money on public relations for their name than pushing books with merit, but without a bigâ€"name author. Canadian bookâ€"sellers are generally subsidiaries of American or British chains. Most of them couldn‘t name ten Canadian writers to save their souls. And eleventyâ€"seven other letters. I‘ll get at them during the summer holidays, but don‘t let that stop you. I need nourishment. Drop a line and let me know that my secretary is not the only one who reads this column. Waterloo Ald. Doreen Thomas commenting on the proposed closing of Brighton school. â€" SEE PAGE 1