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PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1985 Didn‘t someone else also once say that the only causes worth fighting for are the lost ones? Estrin‘s main argument focused on the fact he feels usage of the lot by Mutual Life employees during the week would in all likelihood be interpreted by the courts as a nonâ€"church related activity. That‘s debatable but we are inclined to agree with Ald. John Shortreed‘s view that churchâ€"related activities bring a grey shading to black and white bylaws. Estrin argued, in true Dragnet fashion, that the courts are interested in "just the facts"‘ and feels the city would have little problem in winning support for its case should the bylaw be challenged in court. Maybe. Maybe not. so," the lawyer questioned council‘s inaction and credibility for failing to at least test the strength of their existing bylaw as a show of support for its citizens over corporate/commercial expansion in Uptown residential neighborhoods. We agree with that argument on moral grounds. Given its stance on the encouraging of the singleâ€"family lifestyle in the Uptown area, council was negligent from the outset in not pursuing the bylaw right through to the court level if necessary. And why didn‘t they? Because they were advised they would likely lose? So what? It would not have been a vote of nonâ€"confidence in their city solicitor to say ‘"thank you for your advice, but morally our priorities lie with our residents and therefore we at least owe them representation."" In that respect, if the bylaw was proven to have no teeth, it could be amended, and the case could be looked upon as a lesson learned. Or was the city wary of stepping on the toes of one of its largest corporate citizens? Perhaps, but in that instance compromise would appear to be the best solution and there is little evidence (at least in the residents‘ view) compromise has been exacted in this instance. Worst of all, was council worried about setting a precedent in attempting to nix the informal agreement between Holy Saviour and Mutual Life â€" knowing full well such activity goes on daily at other church lots in the Twin Cities? Would enforcement open up an entire new can of worms with regards to "churchâ€"related activities,"" the everyday usage of church lots, and the methods churches use to generate additional, muchâ€" needed funds? We mentioned in our special report on parking last week that this was a threeâ€"cornered issue among groups with honorable intentions. We were wrong. It is a fourâ€"cornered issue, with the city completing the square. But as honorable as they may have intended to be in coming to their decisions on the matter, council has abdicated their duty of protecting the interests of their citizens in accordance with the city‘s own bylaws. The matter should be pursued to the highest level, if only to prove, as Shortreed quoted, that often the "law is a ass,"‘ and/or.that the bylaw needs amendment. Estrin, who neyer did make it clear which or how many of the Uptown residents he was representing at the meeting, argued long and hard that the bylaw, which city solicitor Bill White advised council would likely not stand up in court, spells out that the agreement between Holy Saviour and Mutual Life is clearly a violation. That brings us to a more intriguing argument raised by Estrin. Using expressions such as ‘"encouraging lawlessness," ‘‘inciting the highest degree of cyniâ€" cism,"" and "flaunting all laws and inviting others to do Though we may not agree with all his arguments, lawyer David Estrin raised an interesting angle at city council Monday night with regards to the onâ€"going battle waged by Uptown residents over the use of the Holy Saviour church parking lot on Allen St. E. Second Class Mail Registration Number 5540 Letters welcome Suburtan Newspapers of Amerse published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Record Ltd., owner *n 225 Fairway Rd. S.. Kitchener, Ont Inaction Waterioo Chromicle office is located in the Haney. White Law Office Building (rear entrance, upper foor) Parking at the rear of the building Open Monday to Friday 9 00 a m to 5 00 p m addreys correspondence to Waterloo office 15 Erb Stâ€" E. Waterloo, Ont. N2J 1L7, telephone 886 2830 Publisher: Paul Winkler Manager: Bill Karges Editor: Rick Campbell established 1854 A strange bird is our Hugh. An odd bird, indeed. _ and admitted that it was just enough to pay his He can be as cunning and wily as an Egyptian _ debts. (It wasn‘t, of course.) bazaar merchant. Next moment, he can be as naive He has friends all over Canada and the U.S., and as a sixâ€"yearâ€"old who has been slapped for doing _ sees nothing wrong with "dropping in for a visit‘ something unthinkable in our rectitudinous Canaâ€" _ and staying a few days. And he‘s just as hospitable dian society. with his friends. He‘s asked them all up to his I obeserve him more closely than I have in years, because of geography. For some years, he attended, occasionally, various universities, from Toronto to Halifax. He worked on a boat on the Great Lakes, and another on the Vancouverâ€"Alaska run. He spent five years in Paraguay. There were sideâ€"trips to Mexico, Israel, Guatamala, Costa Rica. He‘s been to Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. As a result, we didn‘t see much of him. He arrives from the city on Friday evening. Does he rush out to his beloved cottage, which he rented to "get away from the city?" Not on your life. We have cups of tea, some food, a little yatter. He plays the grand piano and some new tapes he‘s discovered. We watch late TV. He sleeps late, showers, brings me a cuppa in bed, plays more piano or guitar, and halfway through Saturday afternoon, I almost have to kick him out to go to his retreat in the country. He charms people, and opens up to them . He is an excellent listener, except that he gets a bit of a glazed look when I go on about something he doesn‘t agree with, or has heard before, or doesn‘t fit into his scheme of things. Now. he has rented a winterized cottage at a beach near me, while maintaining his practice in the city. Nobody but Hugh would rent a cottage which he must vacate from midâ€"June to Labour Day. But he did. . He returns to my place Monday evening and the same routine is followed. Tea, shower, music, TV He catches the early bus Tuesday, usually and goes back to work in the city, where he sleeps on a bed in the clinic he shares. A tough life. We spat, infrequently, but fairly fiercely. I‘m sceptic; he‘s believer. In everything: holistic medicine, astrology, reflexology â€" the mind boggles when he gets on to the relation between music and the entire body. I ask snarky questions until his dark brown eyes begin to smoulder But he has a great personality, and a wonderful curiousity. He is very fit, because he eats only the right foods, except that every time he leaves, my refrigerator is almost cleaned out. He is completely amoral about money. He received a small inheritance from his grandfather, ‘"For financial viability, opera is riskier than any of the other cultural offerings, and it boils down to the question, does opera really sell in this town?" * "/p mey on BEER NN CORNER srokEs, DAD, CAN WE 5E PA STAND CV THE LAujNl NEexT sSU9)mER 7 " It is written Strange bird Bill Smiley Syndicated columnist Centre in the Square general manager Scott Walker, â€" SEE PAGE 16 So. You see? If Hugh hadn‘t come home, and wanted a chance to drive the car, I could be sitting. dead cold, i&my own blood, still reading the paper. I‘d been waiting three weeks for a bed, and there I was, with a little cut on my head, being cosseted and sewn. Oh, it was worth it. They put a great. flapping bandage on the tut, and then tied a thing around my forehead, so that I looked like a hippic or an Indian or a longâ€"distance runner. My neighbor was delighted by my band. But it fell off in a few hours. It was apparently designed only to hold me head together. I informed him that I had come home late, left no lights on, carried four bags of groceries, had made a misâ€"step on the back porch, and fallen (still holding two bags of groceries), and had cracked my head on the sharp side of the porch. By the time he got there, it had almost stopped bleeding down my neck. My mother taught me that a cold compress would ease the bleeding, years ago, when there was no such thing as an emergency ward But Hugh was horrified. He insisted, over my objections, that we go to the hospital (He loves driving my car.) It turned out that the cut was fairly deep and wide, and the doc stuck some stitches in it Did you ever try to get a bed in a hospital? It‘s like getting an engraved invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, except that 1 doubt the Queen‘s signature would get you in This may sound as though I thoroughly dislike and am suspicious of my son. Not so. It‘s just that he has a human spirit that is not easy to pin down He loves his sister (who is another weirdo), his nephews, and, at times, his father. He went on a long trek to see his grandfather, who is in his nine ties. He came home the other night, and found his father draped in his favorite armchair,. with a wet towel on his head. Was aghast. "Dad,. what‘s the matter?" He has friends all over Canada and the U.S., and sees nothing wrong with "dropping in for a visit" and staying a few days. And he‘s just as hospitable with his friends. He‘s asked them all up to his cottage, where he has an electric piano, courtesy of youâ€"knowâ€"who, a TV, all the appliances, and electric heat.