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BEST AVAILABLE COPY THE HERALD Wednesday Jane 1M Page J 30 years ago Greetings by telegram from Queen Elizabeth and letters from Prime Minister and Sandy Best MP were received by Mr and Mrs Jesse when they celebrated their wedding anniversary June 1999 Three local girls graduated recently at Alma College in St Thomas Marilyn Heslop daughter of Mr and Mrs Rex Heslop Heslop Court completed her Grade studies and intended to enter Teachers College in the fall Karen Scott daughter of Mr and Mrs Arthur Scott Maple Ave graduated and planned to return to Alma in the fall Gail McGilvray daughter of Mr and Mrs Garfield McGilvray Guelph Street that year completed the commercial course winning a gold pin for general proficiency AH pupils of Mrs Bernice Gowland were successful in receiving honors in their piano examinations held recently at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto Successful students were Carol Lawson Grade Kenneth Bell Grade Dianne Grade Edith McDonald Grade 5 Wayne Preston and Richard Butt Grade theory 15 years ago Halton HUls cancer drive ed Its quota of by more than reported campaign chairman June This excellent result was due to the ef fort of volunteer canvassers the cooperation received by the people of Hills and the news media she said Christian Scientists from Georgetown attending the annual meeting of the denominations in ternational headquarters in Boston Massachusetts heard that todays need for moral integrity is one of the most obvious urgencies in our society Eleven guide and brownie leaders and one gentleman from Acton district recently completed their standard Red Cross first aid course and- were presented with their certificates at the Guides Own day held in the scout house Receiving certificates were Bea Ginger Helen Rose Seatoo Marjorie Strongitharm Doug Vaughn Margaret Wilson McDonald Shirley Scott Simionl Jean Vaughn and Patricia Van 10 years ago Film Productions In- corporated of Scarborough was seeking the approval and co operation of local civic officials and businessmen for a fourweek production schedule which will transform selected areas of Georgetown into smalltown USA for scenes from the film Never Trust an Honest Thief Filming was expected to begin Jury 30 Despite initial reluctance both municipalities Halton Region and Halton Hills have agreed to pool their financial resources and grant the Acton Community Services Centre the additional needed to cover its operating budget 5 years ago The Chamber of Commerces BIG celebration achieved their goal of attracting more than people to Gordon Alcott Arena The three day event was undoubtedly a crowdpleaser for the many who toured through the some 157 booths and displays marking Georgetowns anniversary Dont shoot the of news Ken Please councillors of Hills dont shoot the messenger I had the amazement of sitting through a town general assembly meeting the other night where the press became the scapegoats for what was a lack of communication between the town and the organizers of last weeks Highland Games The games a 14year Scottish tradition in Georgetown were threatened because organizers didnt feel they were getting co operation from the town The town maintains they did nothing wrong But from fear or lack of diligence in finding the source of the problem some councillors have said bad pressis the reason the town is buzzing with talks of this year being the Highland Games last season Mark Holmes and I sat innocent ly albeit attentively in the press box last we as town councillors shared their experiences at the Highland Games They had every opportunity to proclaim their in nocence in what seems like one confused situation after another Apparently the mayor spoke to the games executive a while before the games took place but ap parently that wasnt good enough One account says the group didnt want camping this year another said that they did So when camping was cancelled it was done in a state of confusion at town council It was too con voluted to even report on But the mayor was absent that week and town councillors said they didnt know what exchange had taken place between the mayor and the Highland Games organizers Monday night the mayor said he was quite surprised by what he read in the press One councillor said what appeared in the press would cause the town irreparable damage But from most accounts damage was already done before the story appeared in the papers Several councillors attending the Highland Games at the Fairgrounds in Georgetown were the source of reporters informa tion They were the ones who said there was a loudspeaker announce ment saying the town didnt want to continue the games next year As chance would have it games organizer Keith Spicer was at the council chambers unsuspectingly delivering a winning raffle ticket prize to Norm Elliott Mr stated his qualms with the town were over the treat ment of the group during this years Highland Games On the phone last week he said that things were difficult enough to find accommodation in Hills without cutting off camping rights for those visiting from across the country and from south of the border But in all this confusion one thing is clear Reporters report And politicians politick We will report what we hear and politi cians will do their best to squirm out of often awkward situations And sometimes that means Democracy has proven to be the weakest form of government Dear Sir In the midst of the current uproar in China a 21yearold stu dent informed the nations 84-year- old leader You really dont understand the point This reminds us of a cartoon we saw some years ago which depicted a student rushing out of university and proclaiming to the world Ive just got my BAI The world responded Take it easy son sit down and Ill teach you the rest of the alphabet Too many university students these days are idealistic youngsters who would tear down all existing institutions overnight but unfortunately lack the ex perience and maturity to replace thm with anything better In the image seen in vision by Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 2 the four World Empires are symboliz ed by precious metals Democracy however is the clay element of the composite It has proven to be the weakest form of government devised In the human experiment In essence it is just one level above anarchy a conclu sion reflected in current trends developing in Western society K Barrett Guelph Views on tax reforms clash Ottawa By VIC PARSONS Ottawa Bureau Thomson News Service WiU Michael Wilsons new Goods and Services Tax mean more jobs or fewer Will it hurt or help the regions Will it be used to cut the deficit or not There are fundamental disagreements between the finance ministers view of his federal salestax baby and the assessment unwrapped recently by the Conference Board a respected private research agen cy It seems the only thing the two sides agree on is that the nineper cent GST to be introduced in 1991 will whack up consumer prices by about per cent from the previously anticipated five per cent Some mighty big assumptions are being made about the impact and the nature of the new tax The Conference Board makes three Lets look at how realistic they are First it assumes that employees who have their dented by higher consumer prices wont try to make up losses by asking for bigger wages Unless theres a wagedepressing recession that seems unrealistic The board by the way says spending money available to con sumers in 1991 will be billion less because of the GST Assumption Two is that the Bank of Canada will not intervene with higher interest rates Despite his obsession with Inflation John Crow the central banks governor has hinted be overly con cerned with a onetime hit by the GST NERVOUS BANKER But Crow gets twitchy when workers hint they might like a few extra bucks to restore their lost buying power Finally the board says it expects businesses will fully remove the existing manufac turers sales tax before adding the GST Theres something about this assumption The temp tation to leave a few extra pennies on the pricetags of currently- taxed goods might prove over whelming A recession might be the only thing that would persuade pro ducers to completely remove the existing tax Prices would be in clined to fall if consumers just stop buying With these assumptions what does the board foresee for 1991 There will be a loss of 72000 jobs that year as the economy shrinks In 1992 that could rise to about lost jobs By the losses should be halted If there was no GST in 1991 the economy would grow by 3 2 per cent the board says With it economic output rises by per cent In 1992 growth should be faster with salestax reform than without Despite the promise that the GST will be revenue neutral the board says the new tax will extract billion more from taxpayers in and this will go to billion by 1993 This money it argues will be applied to deficit reduction REGIONS HIT Moreover the board says some regions will be heavily hit The GST will be particularly brutal in the Atlantic provinces largely because it will apply to services One service 3 tourism which the board estimttes will lose about billion nationally Thats because higher taxes on restaurant meals and hotel rooms will discourage both Canadian and foreign visitors Quebec will also suffer because its clothing industry will be hit and it has a relativelyimportant ser vice sector Prosperous Ontario and Western Canada should have net gains except where tourism is important The boards analysis has made Wilson somewhat cranky He in sists the government will return any windfalls from the GST to tax payers in the form of salestax credits and reduced income tax There will be no extra money for Ottawa he says But you could almost see him wink when he added that there could be more cash for the govern ment if the economy is stronger than his department expects Remember this is the same Wilson who said income surtaxes would be removed when the GST came in and then changed his mind Wilson also says the reformed tax will mean billion more each year jo the economy that households receiving average wages will have more spending money after all taxes and that jobs will be created not lost Later this month technical papers on the GST will be publish ed Perhaps then there wont be as much groping in the dark Good old American assertiveness pulls em over every time Weirs View Like a lot of Canadians I dont really rank very highly in terms of assertiveness My own theory is that this is simply a national trait and one which separates us from the Americans When it came time to choose a national symbol the Americans selected the eagle Our own ancestors steelea in a country full of bull moose and grizzly bears and opted instead for the beaver It would be tough to be much more selfeffacing than this short of going straight to the tufted tit mouse But Im nonetheless fascinated to see good American tiveness in action Which is why it was so mtrlguing to read about Sylvester Stallones amazing solu tion to traffic problems In LA It seems Sly has bad loud speakers installed in each of his cars When he gets stalled In a traf fic jam be simply orders other driven to pull over- and apparent I they actually do Welt My first response quite frankly was to sneer Just for starters theres this business about installing a loudspeaker in each of his cars Perhaps its my Scots ancestry but something begins to rankle whenever I hear of someone who owns more than one car Heck I even have doubts about people who own more than one necktie Still lets try to be fair Stallones solution to traffic pro blems might seem a little osten tatious but at least its preferable to certain other strategies favored by California motorists Awhile back as youll recall there was that spate of news stories about Callfomians who were responding to traffic conges tion by shooting at other drivers Which seemed a classic example of American assertiveness taken to a fairly unfortunate extreme Look Madge the guy in the Honda just changed lanes without signalling Sorry Hon but Im go ing to have to kill him Oh Walter Couldnt you just wing himalittle instead Besides anyone whos even been stuck in traffic can empathize with Stallones frustration After all traffic jams serve to illustrate other peoples shocking lack of consideration There you are trying to drive home from work And youre stuck five miles thanks ta a pack of idiots who had the gall to finish work at the same time Still the mind boggles at the sheer nerve of someone who would install a loudspeaker in his car Think about it what exactly does he say to those other drivers Emergency Emergency Movie star late for his lunch- thing Or does he just get straight to the point Im Sylvester Stallone and youre not So pull over peasant This of course raises a vacative question would you per sonally pull off the road if Sylvester Stallone ordered you to do so over his loudspeaker Lets be honest Sly Stallone may be pretty hot stuff in the eyes of Sly Stallone But to a lot of other people hes just another middle- aged fitness buff who talks like be has chronic sinus problems As such its possible Stallone doesnt identify himself over the loudspeaker makes you wonder about the conversations that take place in the other cars Guess wed better pull over Madge If that guy has a loud speaker be must be pretty impor tant Like the Governor maybe or No look Its that poor man who hasnt made a decent film since Rocky I The whole thing thoroughly crass and boorish from a Canadian perspective And yet Must such a stunt yourself