WHITY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1990, PAGE 5 Today we will discuse market value assessment, postwar economica and the cumulated national debt. After that well get into the. serious stuif. Firot, lots start with econonuca and asseasment. Especially, well start with pennies, which is where economca atrt. (r is it ' where economics atarts.') Pennies. Okay. When I was a kId, a million years ago, when Syl Apps was a hockey star, the Leafs could shoot straight, heck change that, the. Leafs couldn't do anything but shoot straight, bread was nine cents a loaf and a penny vies a unit of money. That means you could buy thinga with it. That's right. Sometimes yeu could flnd shiny pennies rigiit beside the. hitching pont in front of Mrs. Benny's and thon you'd rush i and buy a coupla those and a coupla tiiose and on. of those and enough bubblo gum ta, bow a bubble this big. Try that today. Today's penny ain't worth spit. Which brings me ta, today's second topic, market value assessment. Or rnaybe it was firet. Anyway. . Igrade eigit in Mrs. MacMllan's clasa vie learned about asseasment. Asseasment was based on a il. A mil was about a tenth of a cent. With it you couldn't buy spit. What you could do with a mil was raise taxes. First, the. reeve and the. councillors figured out ail the. things that would coat rnoney for the. next year. That was called a budget. Now of course everybody who owned a property had an assessment. An assessament was what a properf y was worth if it were sold. Course not everbody wanted ta, sell their property, se the assesament was a guesa what it'd b. worth if you did selI it. Exoept nobody'd evor bouoeht a promi& v.se WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Penny for your thoughts assessment was based on what Petey WInters got far lus shack twenty years before. So, relative ta Petey, everybody had an assesament. if tii. township fi gured your place was worth more than Petey's, thon your asesent was higher'n bis; if l.e, than less'n bis. So once council got 'flgured out wbat they'd spend this year, tiiey added it up. Thon added up the. total, assesament. Thon they divided the. budget by the asseasment, or the assesament by the. budget, and what camne out was tiie mil rate, after you multiplied or divided by on, hundretd, I forget whicii. Yes, you ask, but what is a mai11? I once asked Mrs. MacMillan that question. I forget what ah. said. But at any rate y ou couldn't buy bubblegum witii a mill, or candien. or ind on. in tihors.w buns. But youcould buyapack of gumfor 6cents, apack of cigarets or a on of gas for thirty-three cents, a house for a doller fifty-f ive and a usod car for a quarter. In shoit, tii. penny of -today was wortii the Mil of 1949. Except the miii didn'tjinge in your pocket, didn't collect in margarine tube in your Bock drawor, and you didn't have ta roll them before taking them ta tiie bank. - You alose didt have ta, vacuum them u. Tiiere are those people Wiio would Le ta do two thinga in life: abolish pennies and loonies. Don't get me started on loonies. Abolisii loonies and tii. population of Canada would b. twelve. Andf pennies! Heaven forbid w. should ta]k of abolition! Abolisii firat the. mil. Or assessment. Or market values. Or taxes. Abolish pennies! Neyer. There are botter ideas. I have seen the look on the face of ayoung Mgirlat the Becker's store vihen- I dump there- hundred and twenty-nine pennies on hier d.ak ta, pay for a .bag of milk. I have aise seen the. look of Michael Wilsonwiien ho talke about bis GST and bis beloved national debt. H. is truly a man viho loves te count. Se send him your pennies, my friend. Don't bother ta, roll 'em 11k.e bankers insiat you do. Just wrap a few turne of masking tape around tii. outside of the margarine tub. Send tii. whole lot ta Michael Wilson, House of Commons, Ottawia, ne pstage necessary. Se., if everybodjyd do that, and telMichael te put it against the. vhole debt, why we'd pay her off in no Challenge shows iimportance of tech skis Following a succesdful introduction last May, the. 1990 Durham Skifls Challenge continues as a one-day event providing technological studios students the opportunit to skill contesta. It wilI b. held on Wednesday, April il at (leneral Vanier Secondary School. This event benefits students as a vehicle to promoto, self- confidence and aelf-esteem, as a showcase for their talents, and as an oppotunity te demonstrate. excellence in i;kffls in front of their peers, educators, emnployersa, and the. commiinity. The Durham Skifls Challenge promotes liaison between industry and education. It demonstrates the importance of tecb.nical sils. Resident wins$89,9000 April 4. She and husband Bill plan te buy a new car and rececrate their home. The second prize ticket was purchased at the. Whitby Mail. Local artist's show at Barns Wiiitby artist Maureen Edwardisis siiowing an interinix- ture of her paintiga at Cullen Country Barns, Steelea and Ken- nedy, until April 30. Choose from hundreds of quality fabrica! For Sale! Appraisale - 655-8739 The competition tis year icludea architectural drafting, auto body repair, auto mecbamcs, cabietmaking, carpentMy child car., C.AMP, csmetology, culinary arts, electronics, fashion arts, grapbic arts, masonry/trowel trades, mechanical drafting, precision machining, residential wiring, sheet metal, amall engine repair and welding. Two studenta may b. registered in eacii skill contest from eacii achool. TIhe event activities iclude a loeynote addresa, three hour-long sidil conteste, dinner and an awards presentation asaembly. TIi. event. provides excellent opportunities for interchange and discours. b.tween studenta, employers and educatara. Students may qualilfr for competition at the. 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This is an inveatinsnt- in tii. technological aklls of the. youtii in our commiunity and the future avaiability of tecbnically skll.d empleyees. OR ', [-à , - - fz-, 1