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« ( i « 2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville. December 14,1983 Section Two Council Faces Budget Dilemma The Town of Newcastle is coping with its budgets more effectively today than several years ago. We recall times when budgets were not given final approval until May or June. By contrast, elected officials hope to put the finishing touches on next year's budget some time in mid to late February. Moreover, the town's speedy action action on budgetary matters has not produced runaway tax bills. Last year, expenditures controlled by the Town of Newcastle resulted in a tax increase of just over four per cent. Regional and school board levies may have been higher, but that was not the fault of local officials. officials. There are two major improvements improvements to the budget process. First of all, council agrees each year to a tax rate which serves as a preliminary preliminary objective used by staff in their calculations. Because budget goals are clearly defined, we do not have preliminary preliminary announcements of a possible 50 per cent tax hike, followed by furious pruning of expenditures to the point where a more acceptable budget is set. Budget goals mean that town staff know better than to burden elected officials with long shopping lists of expensive projects which have no hope of gaining approval. approval. In other words, the budget guideline (this year it's five per cent) means that town staff prune upcoming expenditures from the budget even before the document goes to council for discussion. Secondly, council has adopted a system in which costs are reviewed informally among staff and elected officials before being subjected to a formal debate in public. This may sound to some observers observers like unnecessary secrecy. But that's simply not true. Council's informal informal discussions concerning budgets allow elected officials to talk frankly, without the need to make political statements. The public isn't really interested in whether the municipality buys plain or frosted lightbulbs and dis-, eussions on this kind of routine budgetary matter might as well be dealt with speedily, and at the informal informal level. When all is said and done, a council council really has little room to manoeuvre manoeuvre when it sits down to prepare estimates on what it will spend and what it will receive in the upcoming year. It does not decide whether or not it will plow snow from roads or whether or not it will collect garbage. garbage. It has no option as to whether or not it will keep arenas open or whether or not it will pay salaries to its employees. In other words, large slices of the tçtal budget pie require.little debate debate because expenditures repre sent work which must be done. Items which should be on the agenda for discussion include matters matters such as the introduction of new programs, the purchasing of major equipment, land, or buildings and the hiring of new staff. And in view of a lack of growth in the economy and a lack of growth in this municipality, municipality, decisions on major new items should be few and far between. between. Perhaps the only unresolved budget issue facing Newcastle council is the depth of budget cuts which the public would accept. Members of council constantly hear that taxes are too high, and that's to be expected. No sane person wants to pay any more taxes than necessary. But perhaps the ratepayers are tpdng to say that even the four or five per cent increase which council council hopes to achieve is too much. Maybe the elected representatives are satisfied with this level of expenditure, expenditure, but perhaps the electorate electorate is not. Maybe council should respond to the voices crying for no more taxes by introducing a zero increase increase and explaining how many staff would be laid off and how many services would be scrapped if taxes were held at their current levels or even reduced. It should be noted that any efforts to trim expenditures to the bone should be matched at the regional and school board levels. It would be unfair for Newcastle to pinch pennies while allowing regional government and school boards to spend freely. This is especially important important when you consider that the town's expenses are roughly one quarter of the total tax bill and even if you curtailed all town taxes, you have only dealt with one quarter of the problem. All of this, of course, smacks of the Proposition 13 concept which was introduced in California a few years ago and won support in that state. We suspect, however, that given the choice between potholes in the roads and good roads supported by a modest tax increase which keeps pace with inflation each year, most ratepayers would opt for the increase. increase. Today's status quo probably rep- ; resents the best compromise between between those Who feel government should meet every request of all pressuré groups and those who begrudge begrudge every penny squeezed from the public purse. But it would be interesting to see the public response to a proposal •in which taxes could be cut back at the expense of trimming municipally-offered municipally-offered services. Perhaps it is time that this option is placed before the public for consideration. consideration. An interesting communique arrived recently mentioning that Enniskillen Public School would be holding its Christmas. Concert tonight. Also included was some . information on- the background • of ■ EPTAC' (Enniskillen Parent Teacher Action Committee) that we found most interesting. The purpose of -EPTAC is to support the teaching staff morally and physically whenever required (or requested) or whenever our executive feels it to be in the best interest of the students. EPTAC raises funds - both by donations and through fund-raising projects and the money is spent on worthwhile projects for the benefit of our students at the Enniskillen School. EPTAC's executive includes: Past Chairperson Aggie McKenzie, Chairperson Bev. Whitbread, 1st Vice Chairperson Judy Griffin, 2nd Vice Lois Alloway, 3rd Vice Kathy Trent, 4th Vice Joan Hudgin, Treasurer Francene Newton, Secretary Anita Fogarty and Publicity Person Jan Mayer. The release also included a few of the highlights of EPTAC's efforts for the past school year: ; A contest was .held for the design of. an Enniskilleri School crest with . the winning design submitted by ; R.J. Fordi We contributed a total of $740 toward school bus transportation for special class trips. We have equipped our playground with slides, log and tire monkey bars, etc. Contributed money for costumes for school plays and helped make them. Made substantial monetary contributions towards a computer and photocopier for the school. All in all, we would say that, EPTAC has done a.very good job and deserves considerable credit for their interest and enthusiastic support. This sounds like an organization that would be useful and helpful in every school. Our congratulations on a job, well done. (Banaùtim Statesman 6233303 (+CNA Durham County's Great Family Journal Established 129 year* ago In 1654. 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All layout! antfcompo.lllon ol advetllaamenla pioducad by Iht employe#! ol The Canadian Statesman, The Newcaelle Independent and The Jamas Publishing Company Limited aie protected by copyiight and must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. 115.00 a year -- « months U.00 strictly In advance foreign -- 145.00 a year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, Thé Canadien Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the understanding that It will not be liable lor any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned lo The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case If any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman Its liability shall not exceed such a portion ol the entire cost ol such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears lo the whole space occupied by such advertisement. Simple Justice for All 0 L- v. V'V' iWI m mm •If a Cobourg Santa and Friend The case of the woman who refused refused to testify against two men charged with rape draws attention to the many problems with our justice justice system. Reform of the system must come soon and the reforms must be major ones. What is happening now is the Canadian public is losing all faith in the justice system. Those ideals that are instilled in our minds when we are young, quickly become tarnished and battered battered as we get older and see how the system operates. Court cases are often not decided upon the issue of right and wrong, but instead upon who makes the best case. So the expertise of your lawyer can make a notable difference difference in your case. Naturally, the best lawyers are usually the most expensive, meaning the average man on the street can't afford their talent. So, what happens when the average man goes up in court against a large business or someone with great wealth. It doesn't mean the rich will beat the poor in court, but it does stack the cards in their favor. Another aspect of the legal system system that is disillusioning is the length of time it takes to settle a case. For example, the rape trial referred referred to in the first paragraph, started about two years ago. That's a heck of a long time to settle a case. And yet it's indicative of the ponderous ponderous manner in which the legal system works. If it isn't the expense that will keep people from pursuing justice through the courts it is often the amount of time required that serves as the deterrent. Another feeling that is often ex . pressed regarding our justice system system is that it protects the guilty far too much. When we see murderers released after serving just a couplé of years of a sentence, when we see cases thrown out of court over what seem to be silly technicalities! when we see our police unable to stop what appears to be an obvious wrong, we start to harden our attitudes. attitudes. The call for the return of capital punishment, longer jail sentences sentences and other stiffer penalties gets louder and louder. It's not a case of people wanting to see others hanged or locked up so much as a need to feel the innocent innocent will be protected. Our legal and justice systems must strike a balance between protecting protecting the public while, where possible, possible, rehabilitating the criminal. We want a humane justice system but one in which people can have confidence. It's a tall order and one that requires requires a whole new attitude towards towards our courts and penal institutions. institutions. If we don't fill that order, if we don't start bringing in the reforms to our justice system, people will look for alternatives. Lack of faith in the system could eventually pave the way for a law and order electoral platform which will see civil rights tossed aside in favor of a more simple justice. Improving our justice system could be expensive. It's already an expensive system to maintain. But, if it restores public confidence infills infills cornerstone of our democratic way of life, it is something we can' ill afford to do without. We need a justice system that is efficient, fair and affordable. -- Renfrew Mercury SUGAR and SPICE The Bane of Their Lives Hats Off to Enniskillen EPTAC Glad I'm not a small-town, downtown downtown merchant these days. I'd probably probably be developing an ulcer and not sleeping too well at nights. Bane of the small-town merchant used to,be the big town or small city not too far away, where there was more variety for the customer. Despite the most rigorous attempts attempts of the s/t d/t merchant to educate the, people, in their arbitrary arbitrary fashion, went sashaying off to the larger centre on a Saturday to spend their shekels. They still do. But another bogey, three times as fearsome, has come out of the woods to give the s/t d/t merchant nightmares and cold sweats. It began as the supermarket, usually usually built on the edge of town, where taxes were much less, .and there was lots of room for parking. The supermarket bit heavily into the sales of grocery stores, drug stores and hardware stores, to mention mention a few of those afflicted, selling everything from toothpaste to lawn chairs. Mind you, the supermarket didn't give the, personalized service, the follow-up on repairs or returns that the.littlq merchant did. But it was kind of exciting: lots of people to gawk at, a veritable cornucopia of goods to choose from, easy parking. Fighting what, in many cases, was a rear-guard battle, the family business, business, the. small merchant, modernized modernized his store, joined with his fellows fellows in sprucing up the downtown area (helped by government grants), aqd finally realized that he had to advertise, after years of believing believing there was no need, that everybody knew where he was and what he sold. In many cases, and in many small towns, it was too late. Despite what became desperate efforts to fight the trend, there began a sort of rot downtown: a big turnover of small . businesses that lasted only a short time; the closing up of old family businesses as their owners saw the light; the "for sale" signs on downtown downtown property. It was rather sad. Then came the real crusher: the development of malls. Every small town or village with any self-respect self-respect suddenly acquired a "mall". At first these were neighborhood affairs: just an acre or so with half a dozen shops. A drug store, a dry- cleaning outfit, a take-out food restaurant, restaurant, and two or three other service service shops. Then the big boys moved in. Sniffing Sniffing the wind, they knew a golden- egg goose when they smelled one. They bought, or leased, huge chunks of land just outside the town, where taxes were minimal. Often it was bush or tough, useless land. In came the bulldozers; down went the trees. The big paving machines followed, and virgin territory territory became a vast expanse of asphalt. asphalt. As the downtown merchants shi- ' vered in their boots, the wheelers • and dealers, the mall-builders, lined up customers who would rent or lease space in the "grand, new mall." Within an incredibly short time, the jerry-built edifices went up, the mall blossomed into a combination of the old Saturday night in a small town, and a fall fair, and many a downtowner experienced the kiss of death. What is the attraction of a mall? Why do hundreds, then thousands of shoppers pour into the malls, like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse? Well, they have something for every taste. Video games for the kids. A place to meet and ramble and shoplift for the teenagers. The heavy scent of hot junk food in the air. A certain excitement at being part of a moving mob. And of course, a huge grocery store, dozens of small boutiques, and vast chain department stores where you can buy almost anything, and which can undercut the small merchant on prices, because of their volume buying. Add to this easy parking, where even the most maladroit motorist can find a space. Even though the shopper must walk a quarter of a mile from his car through rain or snow. And then there is the allure to the pig in most of us. Make out a careful list of essentials. Talk to yourself. Steel yourself against all blandishments. blandishments. And, after all this, I'll bet you spend far more at the mall, flourish your credit card more often, than if you had shopped carefully carefully downtown. Human nature. We can't resist all those goodies. The shopping mall is the ultimate monument to a materialistic society. society. And let's face it, the price is very often right. Aside from the shopping, the mall is a crowded, noisy, exciting place, on the surface. For the homebound housewife, the glitter and the gaudiness gaudiness and the canned music represent represent an escape from the dull drudgery of house and kids. There are gimmicks and sales and specials, and a place to sit down, rest the aching dogs, and' have a coffee. There is variety and color and there are sounds and smells that take the individual out of his little rut. And, after all, if all those other people are shopping at the mall, it must have something going for it. Right? And those clever devils who set up the malls don't miss much. They jam in a drugstore, and a hairdressing hairdressing salon, and a trust company or a bank, so there's really no need to' go downtown, is there? Personally, I hate malls. They are too impersonal and noisy and crowded for me. I feel like an animal, animal, in a mall. I have a sense that I am being manipulated by some socio-psychologist who first conceived conceived the idea. I'll go on shopping downtown. But hundreds of thousands won't. United Way Image Changed After several years of frustrating and disappointing results, the Town of Newcastle finally came into its own this year as a vibrant and successful part of the Whitby- Oshawa-Newcastle United Way campaign. Last year, the Town of Newcastle collected $13,230 for the United Way. This year, so far, $33,824 has been collected here, with still more to come. Probably the big difference in the results came about through the formation of a local committee that took over the organizational work rather than leaving it to the main group, basically centred in Oshawa. Members of the local group really went to work, exploring every avenue, gathering support from individuals who spent a great deal of time and effort, giving encouragement, advice and mainly making contacts and explaining what the United Way and its agencies were all about. Schools, corporations, commercial businesses, professional groups and others came through because of their efforts, most exceeding their quotas considerably. Our sincere congratulations to those who played important roles here in United Way's transformation from a mediocre contributor to one that all town citizens can be proud of. With the kind of results that were obtained this year, we would think that several community groups who are not at the moment part of the United Way would be taking a close look at applying for an agency status. Next year's results should even be better. Dear Editor: The Friends of the Museum wish to thank all the people who, in so many ways, supported supported their programs this year on behalf of the Bowmanville Museum. The winners of the raffle, drawn by Councillor Marie Hubbard, during the recent Victorian evening party were: Gail Podrats, Oshawa, rocking chair, donated by Charlie Downey; Sara Bragg, Enniskillen, silk flower bouquet bouquet donated by 4 Elegance Shop, Oshawa; Vivian Cowan, basket of wines donated by Friends of the Museum; Marion Jeffery, Bowmanville, grape vine wreath, the door prize, donated by the Friends. Thank You, Marion B. Veinot play being criticized or young people in everyday life? The actors and actresses were not using their own words but merely the words of playwright playwright Paul Zindel, I watched the movie "On Golden Pond" last night, where dear old Henry Fonda used some pretty offensive language and he won an Oscar for his performance. The language language used added some spice and realism to the movie. I feel that the language, which others feel is offensive, used in "And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little", is not immoral. immoral. In our day and age, these particular words are merely expressions. If society is going down the drain, I don't feel that "offensive" "offensive" language is a major contributing factor. Yours truly Kathy Thompson Why Don't People Stop This Cruelty? Dear Mr. James; I am sorry to read that Wes Hills and Dorothy Payne were disappointed with the production production "And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little." I, for one, quite enjoyed the play and thought that it was one of their better productions to date, Why complain about the Drama Club's choice of play to present to the public? You bought tickets to see an adult play, and that is what it was. I didn't bear anything that I haven't heard before. About 75 percent of Saturday night's audience was over 4t) years of age, If any of these people thought the language was rude, I didn't see anyone get up and leave. As for young people using bud language, is it just the By Justin Flint, Tom White, Stephen Cook-Abbott, Brad Powell Why do people kill animals? animals? Perhaps the question should be: How do these animals die? There are such cruel ways of killing the animals -- seals are clubbed to death and skinned alive; wild animals animals are held in steel jawed traps until they freeze to death. Did you know every day more and more wildlife are becoming extinct.? Why do people destroy some of the most beautiful things on earth -- animals. They make the earth such a nice place to live and as I said they make it beautiful. When they slaughter seals, they only kill them for their fur, what's some fur coat for an animals life when it must die such a horrible death. We have interviewed some people. Here's what they said: Teacher I: "all animals ; have rights to live" and "being cruel to an animal is like being cruel to a human." Crossing Guard: "I don't like animals being killed" and "I think animals that have to live in water should have a chance. The government government should clean up pollution," pollution," Teacher II: "It's stupid". "It makes those, who are cruel to animals feel strong," Teacher III: "They should give sick dogs a sleeping needle instead of a gas chamber" and last but not least housewife: "I think you should find a home for the animal before killing the poor creature" and "Yes I've stopped someone beating beating their dog." '-■A: F ■ V