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pthe triblfrie thursday y2ll 198 the tribune thursday may 21 1998 vol 110 no 40 the tribune is a member of the ontario press council comment s ms send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial being waterwise residents of ontario continue to debate the battle of whether junior kindergarten should be implemented how- ever there are other programs that are equally important which have been cut or ignored of late a graphic illustration of this can be seen in the recent tragic deaths of teenagers in water accidents the province has cut many water safety and swimming programs from its schools curriculum at a great cost it should be mandatory for every child in ontario to learn at least the fundamentals of water safety if not to swim com petently young people must take driver lessons to use the roads but do not need lessons to use ontarios waterways this is ludicrous considering our collective love of our lakes and rivers young people should be taught the rules of water safety from as early an age as possible as soon as they can walk they should be enrolled in swimming classes even babies can be taught the rudiments of floating and holding their breath fines should be increased for not wearing life jackets the leading cause after alcohol use for drownings in our water ways the two fishermen who spent 1 7 hours in lake erie are testament to the effectiveness of this simple safety pre caution the deaths of the two teens on lake simcoe and six others last weekend drives home the reality of what can hap pen if the precaution is not taken being waterwise not only makes good common sense it should be made mandatory learning in our schools host of holiday trials tribulations i am a mildly overweight entering- middleaged fairskinned white male with high blood pressure and a propensity for infectious diseases why they even allowed me on a plane bound for mexico last week ill never know people that know me have under stood for years that i am a walking insurance claim yet none of them took the time to tell me that taking a vacation was bad for my health but i suppose its because i wouldnt have listened anyway i like to travel and i like margueritas and refried beans and so last week we took off for the sunny south little did i know that record temperatures would be set at home and little did i care since record temperatures accompanied by humidity that felt like you were trapped in someones mouth were being set in the yucatan as well my ancestors travelled to the north ern reaches of scotland to escape this sort of weather so it was only natur al for my genetic coding to rebel against the mexican climate the moment i stepped off the plane i minute with mair andrew mair burst full bloom into a heat rash that could have earned me the marquis position in any side show i spent a full day sulking in our hotel room with a wet towel draped over my body watching mexican soap operas from what i could gath er these are a lot like american soap operas except the characters have names like roderigo and orlando rather than blade or ashley the next day we had planned a trip to the ruins at tulum and coba which are located at the seaside and in the middle of the jungle respec tively coba boasts the highest pyra mid in mexico and after a two kilo metre hike into the bush i climbed it halfway up i felt strangely nauseous but it wasnt from the dizzying height it was about 37 degrees and getting hotter by the time i got back on the bus heading off to tulum i was loopy from the heat and was wearing my fingernails down from the prickly heat that raged all over my body again our guide said i should sit out the next stop and stay in the air condi tioned bus but i was determined that i had not paid 50 us to just climb some pile in the middle of the jungle i dont remember much after that actually im told i had heat exhaus tion i spent the next day sulking in our room with a cool wet blanket draped over my body and another one wrapped around my head the following day i had an appointment to snorkel off the coral reef that runs the length of the mexi can riviera so i mustered my strength and took the boat ride out to the reef if youve never done this go now and do it it is fantastic it is truly another world down there i became so enraptured by this other world filled with lavishly farce cast and crew say thanks dear editor the cast and crew of music mania and the stouffville united church couples club would like to thank everyone who attended our produc tion of tour de farce we trust that you had as much fun watching the show as we had in pre senting it we would like to thank the tri bune for its excellent pictures and stories of music mania the public ity you afforded us was superb and your constant support is greatly appreciated letters we are pleased to report that the show was a success and that the pro ceeds raised will be donated to the evergreen hospice program to assist them in the wonderful work they do in our community a scholarship award for excel lence in the performing arts will be presented to a student at stouffville district secondary school as well anyone who lives in stouffville area is welcome to be a part of music mania and we encourage new talent in any facetof the production planning meetings for music mania 99 begin in early september so watch this paper for the date and time thanks again for the great cover age and continued community sup port greg and kathi phillips presidents stouffville united church couples club sponsors of music mania coloured fish and miles of coral that i sort of lost my bearings i big wave carried me over a crest of coral and i found myself trapped in a maze buffeted by the waves i quickly discovered firsthand how thousands of ships met their ends on the spiny backs of coral reefs coral is sharp it cuts scrapes and stabs you if you flounder into it which i did deathly afraid to touch anything for fear it might rear up and bite me or be some poisonous form of sea lichen i blun dered about like a clubbed seal until i broke free of my rocky prison advice for snorkellers if you are cut in the ocean leave the area imme diately i swam back to the other divers to avoid getting lost again only to see their eyes collectively widen behind their masks in horror i turned around to see my leg trailing blood and an unpleasantly large bar racuda following me our guide chased the big fish off before i lost any limbs but the inci dent left the group somewhat shaken and the fun was essentially over for the day naturally i spent the next day in my room with several wet towels and a box of mexican bandaids thus endeth the holiday have you ever wondered while waiting for a plane who those pas sengers requiring special assistance are that get boarded first i was that passenger this is the third time ive been to mexico and every time i nearly send ohip oyer the edge i understand when they hear im going on holiday theycahin extra staff i think after three strikes you should be out so from now on its northern holidays for me in places where there is far less risk of injury or disaster i wonder how fares are to the himalayas this time of year stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper ian proudfoot publisher alvin brouwer general manager andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debraweller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear directory distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us v vj news y 9056402100 retail sales 9056402100 classifieds 18007433353 distribution 9056402100 fax 9056405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 the stouffville tribune pub lished every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland trinting publishing and distribution group of commu- nltyv newspapers which includes ajaxpickering news advertiser allibton heraldcourier barrie advance brampton 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