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‘Group Sales Director/ . Editor, Ext. 215 Associate Publisher editonial@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca compasing@waterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO CHRONICLE The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by CityMedia Group Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. Dwayne Weidendorf _ Dreborah Crandall Regional Classified Classified Manager Sales, 623â€"6617 The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. Andrea Bailey Bob Vibanac Reporter, Ext. 227. Sports Editor, Ext. 229 The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name. address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be (Copyright in letters and other materials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freety reproduce them in print. electronic or other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St S Suite 201. Waterioo. N2) IP2 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 edited for length, so please be brief Sales, Ext 223 International Standard Senal Number Blair Matthews Norma Cvca Deb Duffield _ Jean Van Volkenburg tynin Rartal Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Letters Policy B86â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 Group Publisher 1SSN 0832â€"3410 Rob Leuschner 40050478 Audited circulation: 27.538 Fabsenne Viemmix Laune Ridgway Gerty Mattice Sure, the fact that I don‘t know the first thing about gardening made my task tougher. But what really made it difficult was the gardens themselves â€" each spectacular in its own way. So it‘s kind of funny, don‘t you think, that the folks who organize the annual Waterloo Communiâ€" ties in Bloom competition recently asked me to help them judge finalists in the "best front yard" category? Really, 1 was quite impressed by the gardening talents of local residents and the efforts they put en M into making Waterloo the l Connvl® THER | beautiful community it‘s 1 | beautifu | THING... It wasn‘t an easy job for me to judge the five finalâ€" ists in the competition â€" all winners in their indiâ€" vidual wards. Front yards in general have really changed over the last, say, five years. These days, a yard adorned with "alternative ground cover" is as commonplace at the manicured golfâ€"course version my parents and their neighbours favoured. And doesn‘t it make life more interesting? Not to mention environmentally friendly. â€" â€" I was discussing alternative ground cover with my mother the other day. I was telling her that I, too, was opting for plants and flowers and mulch and the like, since an infestation of grubs has all but annihilated the lawn. To which she said, "Yes, you see that a lot now, since most people have stopped using pesticides." She said it like it was a bad thing, bless ‘er. emember me? I‘m the numskull who only R[recemly discovered that annual plants don‘t in act bloom on an annual basis. I‘m the one who has clay pots full of silk flowers on the back deck. Yes, I‘m the one who, as a child, couldn‘t even get my Chia Pet to sport growth. Well, I don‘t know gardening, but I know what I like. And I liked them all. But that‘s what impressed me most about some of the gardens we judged this week â€" the fact they bloomed spectacular â€" an natural! I think it‘s great that local gardeners are leaving pesticides and herbicides on the store shelves. Sure it means there‘ll be more maintenance work involved, like pulling out weeds by hamd, for exam ple. But 1 believe the effort is worth it in the long That‘s why I‘m particularly impressed with members of the Laurelwood community in Waterloo. They‘ve launched a pilot project in which a block of streets are marked pesticideâ€"free. If the project is successful, the voluntary ban will be extended neighbour wide. It‘s great that the neighbourhood has taken it upon itself to impose the ban. But it‘s going to take action by local government to put a halt to pestiâ€" cide use regionwide. The folks at the city say it‘s a regional issue, and the folks at the region say they‘re working on it, but it‘ll take time. Some of you know I‘m opposed to the smoking ban in bars. Restuarants? You bet! But bars? That‘s just holierâ€"thanâ€"though nonsense. A bar owner should have the option of whether or not to operâ€" ate a smokeâ€"free establishment. Just as a patron has the option of whether or not to visit said waterâ€" ing hole. Funny, they didn‘t seem to stall as much when implementing the ban on smoking in bars. And that makes no sense to me. Caving in to the massâ€" es, I say. Seems more people oppose the presence of cigarette smoke in establishments they‘ll never haunt than oppose poisoning the environment. _Me? I would rather walk past a bar full of smokers than a yard sprayed with toxic chemicals. I don‘t know > gardening, but I know what I like VIEWPOINT Mike is reputed to have blown $400,000 on just one party, and that had to be the one in which you didn‘t have to pay to check your hat. On the other hand, he‘s had some deals with promoter Don King, and that‘s been known to be a recipe for disaster. And that is a problem that our western Ontario cities will never face. It will always have a race close by. ‘ Twentyâ€"four hours a day, seven \ days a week it has at hand Highâ€" way 401, the neverâ€"ending race. Say, women can drive as well as men, says a traffic expert. ’ When you think about it, that isn‘t such a great achievement. 1 _ Now no one has accused Michael of cosâ€" mic brilliance, but he‘s at least had to know how to make change for a sawbuck. And now that he has worked his way through his bankroll, he can probably count his friends on his thumb. Checkered Flag: Montreal has received word that its Canadian Grand Prix will be axed from next summer‘s racing calendar. movers and shakers on smoking regulations, Waterloo Region should count itself honoured. Ah yes, it seemed like a faint hope when the region started talkâ€" ing about clamping down on smokers. I thought the idea had only two chances â€" slim and But the region pressed on and, amid the screams and hollers of the bar owners and the puffers, eventually the councillors made it stick. The idea has caught on, and centres, big and small, are signing up to quell the smoke. And, wonder of wonders, there‘s talk of provincewide legislation to achieve the en you really spend, even a goodâ€" Wy bankroll doesn‘t last very long. So Mike Tyson has gone through $300 million, and he‘s filed for bankruptcy. If you want to use this region as a test, folks would vote for the ban in overwhelmâ€" ing fashion. It‘s now a treat to sit in a café and know that you won‘t be neartyâ€"suffocatâ€" ed by tobacco smoke. Say, there‘s all manner of stuff to help you quit smoking. And when everything else The race never ends on the 401 t such a %eat achievemnent. Take A Bow: As one of the IT SAYS HERE THAT PEOPLE TODAY DON T KNOW HOW TO DrIve sarciy . WHAT Do you suppose _ THEY MEAN BY TUAT? _ HRONICLE | SANDY Valentine Stuff: Now the big worry is whether J.Lo has dumped Ben Affleck because of his sexual shenanigans with a Vancouver stripper Scrub It: Emie Eves is making noises as if he wants to erase the salary boosts for MPPs. It would be more impressive if he had spoken up when the matter was first raised. * His argument is that times and finances have changed and the raises are harder to implement now than they were then. The Americans have cranked up their efforts to pacify the country, but it seems to have brought a lot of arrests and not much mc\ Ese He‘s proven he‘s no actor, and now he wants to attempt something new. Maybe he has some skill at politics. It‘s worth a try. fails as a cure, try carrying wet matches. A lot of silly things were said during disâ€" cussions on pay raises, some by a local MPP. (Do you remember them, Mr. Wettlaufer?) Say, an bldâ€"timer is one who can rememâ€" ber when going to the eternal rest didn‘t mean landing a job withghe government. The Guns Bark On: American troops are dying in Iraq on a daily basis despite all the blarney that Dubyah delivers on an almostâ€"daily basis. J I By the way, another arguâ€" ment in favour of lasting peace is that it would give us time to finish paying for the last war. Oh, What Next? Amie Schwarzenegger is planning on running in the California recall election. That‘s fair enough. _ There‘s some hope the publicity may revive patronage of their film Gighi which has been described by the Washington Post as "enervated, torpid, slack, dreary, and, oh yes, nasty, brutish and long." It‘s costing far more that the American brass reckonedâ€"or at least revealedâ€"and the voters will want an accounting in due course. The word is that the Saddam people are offering a $5,000 bounty on U.S. service people, and that brings a grim note to the campaign. If it‘s true, of course. Maybe Dubyah can hold a fundraiser the way he‘s done for his campaign. He could help defray the cost of the carnage.