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We know all about the high cost of insurance. We know too that those who can‘t afford it, shouldn‘t buy homes, or drive carsâ€"or operate farms. Insurance never seems worthwhile, especially at premium payment time, but it does protect us when our number comes up. And $20 million is no small number. Unfortunately, the doubleâ€"edged sword is that government aid is often only available where insurance is notâ€"therefore, many of the farmers could find themselves out of luck in their attempt to recover from this crushing blow. Perhaps it is our urban orientation, or just human nature to secondâ€"guess, but we find it almost inconceivable that farmers, considering their enorâ€" mous investment of time and money, would not protect what is largely their sole source of income with adequate insurance. So far, what we have heard is this: many farmers claim the cost of insurance, parallel to other insurance industry rates, has skyrocketed to the point where they cannot afford it. Others claim that, weighed against the risk of a freakish storm such as Friday‘s, the investment in crop damage insurance isn‘t worth it. Still others claim the area is not often vulnerable to extreme weather, a statement which flies in the face of the alleged high cost of coverage. And that brings us to the saddest fact of allâ€"the reason many farmers will be ruined, is because so few of them had insurance against damaged crops. We hear loud and clear the cries of the farmers, and their local elected officials, to declare the hit Niagara region a disaster area to qualify for federal aid. We hear similar cries for government grants and interestâ€"free loans to get the farmers back to work and back on their feet. But do we hear any logical explanation why, in an industry so often at the mercy of bad weather, so few farmers have protected themselves with crop damage insurance? PAGE 6 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1986 The news of this damage saddens us for several reasons. First and foremost, it reduces the return on days and months, often even years of hard work by the farmers to little more than rotting ruins. It robs them of their livelihood, will without question drive up the price of homegrown produce for local consumers, and will no doubt force many growers right out of the business due to the economic pressures of starting from scratch. The hardest hit areas are Niagaraâ€"onâ€"theâ€"Lake, where a projected bumper crop of peaches was ravaged to the estimated tune of $20 million damage, and Holland Marsh north of Toronto, where several vegetable farmers also predict their losses will reach the millions. It is with much sadness that we read this week about the plight of farmers in Southern Ontario devastated by last Friday‘s hail, winds and storms. The Chronicle welcomes m:&‘mny‘w’ with name, address and teleâ€" phone naumber and will be verified for accuracy. No ansigned letters will be pubâ€" lisheda_ndt)gChmpiclem serves the right to edit. Kmnr-%:wloo Record Ltd., owner. Publishing address 225 Fairway Rd. S., Address all correspondence to Waterioo office, 45 Erb St. E.. Waterioo, Ont. N2J 117 Tetephone 886â€"2830 News and Sports line 886â€"3021 Waterioo Chronicle office is located in the Haney, White law office building (rear ontunc; upper floor}. Parking at the rear of the building. Open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Manager: Bill Karges Editor: Rick Campbell Circulation manager: Greg Cassidy Display advertising: Helen Smiley, Paula Humme! Classified advertising: Marie Kapshey Editorial: Melodee Martinuk, Mark Bryson (news); Richard O‘Brien (sports). Circulation: June Toushan, Jerry Fischer ; Typesetting and Composing: Fairway Press Publisher: Paul Winkler Second Class Mail Registration No. 5540 _________________ established y”WngWMymmefim.amd Risks erieq asses ha= Cone The Chronicle is proud of its tradition of accoracy and fair radition of racy and fair the possibility of bhuman errot. Constructive criticism of news, opinions and adverâ€" tising is welcome in hopes that all} complaints can be resolved. Those who feel furâ€" ther action is needed should address their concern to the Ontario Press Council, 1st Slater St., Suite 708, Ottawa, established 1854 Your car is soaking up the summer if you, as have most citizens of Waterloo, knocked over a safety cone illâ€"placed with little or no warning at a road reâ€"construction site. You are soaking up the summer if you go to a backyard barbecue and stand around with 10 friends staring at the burgers flaming away, and trying to spot the trace chemicals that make the burger more dangerous that the mix in your rye and water. No doubt, some showoff will claim to have seen several of the parts per trillion scampering across the burg. No doubt, the same showoff also has difficulty getting his 10â€"speed in his garage. You are soaking up the summer if you purchase a picnic lunch at the Hotel Waterloo‘s Picnic Basket, then eat it at the corner of King and Erb because of the beautiful scenery. You are soaking up the summer if you have stopped to praise chip wagon operators Greg Dalton and Pat Shaw for brightening up the Uptown area with their marvellous little business, certainly one of the highlights of the summer. You are being soaked up this summer if you have paid full retail price for any goods in this You are really soaking up the summer, or it is really soaking up you, if you can‘t get your 10â€"speed in the garage because of the empties. Your kids are soaking up the summer if you tell them to go cool off by running through the sprinkler, and they come back and tell you how neat it was, especially with the "chocolate water." â€"â€"It is written Quick as I am, it never dawned on me at the time to ask him to elaborate, but later that night while combing my hair 100 times (some say I should comb both to keep them uniform) before I went to bed, I said to myself, "just what did he mean, trying to soak up the summer?" Thinking it through, I came up with several ideas, none of which I have been able to confirm, since I dare not disturb my friend in midâ€"soak. However, for everyone‘s benefit, this is what I feel it Teans to soak up the summer in the city of Waâ€" terloo. You are soaking up the summer, or it is soaking up you, if you can‘t get your Toyota in the garage because of the empties. Your outâ€"ofâ€"town friends are soaking up the summer when they get their films of sights of Waterloo developed and 21 of the 24 exposures have a construction crane in the background. *"*So," I said in my most iniellectual voice to a good friend the other day, "whuz happenin?" *"‘*Not much," came his complex reply, "just trying to soak up the summer." ‘‘Someone else should deâ€"bug the system Talking soak Rick Campbell Chronicle Editor City engineer Jim Willis on the city‘s rejection of an extension for an experimental garbage collection service. â€" SEE PAGE 1 _You are soaking up the summer, or it is soaking up you, when you can‘t get your garden hose in the garage because of the empties. You are soaking up the summer if you got up the nerve to buy that skimpy bathing suitâ€"and it achieved the desired effect, whatever that may You are not soaking up the summer if you are still wearing Hawaiian or floral colored halfâ€"pants. How 1985 can you get? You are soaking up the summer if you have spent at least one weekend obtaining a brutal sunburn on your shoulders from watching a minor sports tournament in Waterloo. You are soaking up the summer properly if you have determined that the right time to hit the Dairy Queen weeknights is 7: 45 p.m., 15 minutes before every minor sports player ever born in this city, and his/her parents, show up after the game. You are not soaking up the summer if you have spent a long weekend in town. You are soaking up the summer, so to speak, if you try to muscle a nineâ€"iron over the river on the 11th hole at Conestoga. Kerplunk. It goes without saying that you are really soaking up the summer, or it is really soaking up you, when you can‘t fit the empties in the garage because of the empties. So there you go. Soaking up summer. Now you know. You‘re welcome. ferociouslyâ€"competitive market. You are soaking up the summer if you pretend to be looking at the stuff at sidewalk sales when really you are gazing at your reflection the store window, which gives an allâ€"tooâ€"brutal dash of reality. But you keep looking, with the hope that some window will give your body a favorable reâ€" view. You are soaking up the summer if you have plopped your little pink body in at least one of the following cool off spots: Grand Bend, Pinery, Ipperwash, Conestogo Lake, Point Clark, Southâ€" hampton, Port Elgin, Bayfield, Lake Muskoka, Lake Simcoe, Elora Gorge, Laurel Creek, Moses Springer pool, Lion‘s pool, Froggie the pool. You are soaking up the summer if you attempt to have fun at one of the area‘s water parks, and if you are over 21 and go down the suicide slide without tripling your blood pressure. I prefer to sit on my bum all the way down, enter the pool at .004 miles per hour, and yell "splash" so fellow sliders won‘t think I‘m just another package courtesy of the area‘s underworld.