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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-10-30, Page 6Page 6—Luclmow Sentinel, Wednesday, October 30, 1985 "The Sepoy Town" BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1985 PA/0 mops • Thomas Thompson James 'Friel Pat Livingston Joan Helm Merle Elliott -Advertising Manager -Editor -General Manager -Compositor -Typesetter �JJi '\C'Y�nbs,Y'4�Y,•, 'Subscription rates in advance: s') 7.°0 Outside Canada $6Q uu. $14." Outside Canada $58.°° Senior Citizen Second class mailing reg. no. 0847 Advertising is accepted on the condition that in' the eventof a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowancefor signature, willnot be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at'the applicable rates. Goodj9b done on budget The fledgling • Liberal provincial government has produced its first budget and Treasurer Robert Nixon has made a credible attempt at, satisfying the needs of a vast number of interests: The most significant features of the Oct. 24 budget are funding for 10,000 low -rent housing units and to subsidize loans made by private sector parties to build an additional 5,000 units; $375 million to develop programs for youth jobs and training; 10,000 subsidized'day care spaces; $11 million for programs to help seniors stay in their homes as long as possible; and $74 million to help deal with the' current crises farmers, are experiencing. All this will be paid for by a two per cent increase in income tax, from 48 to 50 per cent of the .federal ,take and by hitting the old standby trio of gasoline, cigarettes and booze with increases of one half a cent per litre, one cent per package and 15 cents on a case of 12•beers and 26ers of alcohol. Drivers will also be hit for increases in driver's licence fees of $6 and,car registration• fees also of 56. Corporate taxes also increase slightly and a three per cent surtax on wealthier citizens will be applied. There' are a couple of new 1features 'resulting from the Liberal government's first preparation of a budget in 42 years. , The first is that the government has told certain agencies it supports the amount of mon.-1, to be applied for in the next year. This will end, or at least tone down, the desperate scrambling that goes on for funds, and it helps to provide fiscal guidelines for those agencies well before they budget. • The second is that Nixon has proposed/a° .major public hearing process to be an integral part of budget prepara- tion. The work currently goes on in a kind of vacuum' because the stringent security arranged to stop any budget measures getting out for private citizens to capitalize on also hampers information getting in. Although the budget' didn't go far enough to 's,#lit NDP leader Bob Rae whose party isi keeping the Liberal government afloat with an agreement to support the - Liberals for two years, he can't complain that no attempt has been made to address some of the agreement's provisos. And despite the. fact Progressive Conservative Frank Miller says there are $652 million of broken promises in the budget, it would be foolish for the Liberals to) make good on all their campaign, promises in their first budget. Nixon pointedout as much as possible has been done at this time within a "framework of fiscal responsibility. J.F. Duke the dog didn't seem to think that attending the rabies clinic held at the Luclmow town hall was that great an idea, but ,he held still while. veterinarian' Rob Blldfell of %Ingham vaccinated him. Fred and Tom Mulder, both of Dungannon, brought in the young German Shepherd. [James Friel photo] Allan Livingstone was a shy,reserved lad, and was not • inclined to ; discuss his personal life .with anybody. Although Chippy Chisholm was bursting to know what progress Allan had made with regard to Anne Murdoch, he did not press the young meanfor details.. One thing old Chippy knew for sure:- whatever smelly red herrings were needed to cover up Annie's disgraceful philanderings with the son of Sir Alexander Macbougal, her crafty and hypocritical mother would provide. Cer- tainly, if the Murdoch's family honour was to be saved, things would have to happen in a hurry - more quickly in fact than the secret growth of Annie's unborn child. Chippy knew that Katie Murdoch had set her wicked plans in motion when Allan did not come down to breakfast one morning. His bed had not been slept in and all 'his personal belongings were gone. Mrs. Chisholm was very distressed. She had developed ,a strong attachment to the young stonemason. "Whatever can hae. happened tae the lad?" she asked her husband, holding her hands across her breasts in fear. "Where did he gae?'' "If Katie Murdoch has her day, 'twill be some place • far awa' frae Redtrees," Chippy said angrily."She'd use anybody tae gain her ' ain ends!" ' At the site of the new church, Chippy was confronted with more questioners. He could not of course, say with any certainty what had happened to his young friend and he would not speak to anybody except the Reverend Duncan MacLeod. ' `If anybody kens what has happened tae Allan, Mrs. Murdoch does, Let's gee over , tae the Murdoch place, MacLeod - let's ask "• the crafty vixen point blank!" The minister could not understand why Chippy was so hostile towards Mts. Murdoch. He did not really believe that she would know the ,*hereabouts of the stone- mason. However, since hdf had no wish to lose workmen from the church project, he egged to go with Chippy. Mrs. Murdoch Met them at the door, almost as if she had been expecting them to call. It was perfectly obvious, to Chippy that she had anticipated their visit and'was fully prepared for the confrontation. "Do you 'know where we can find Allan Livingstone?" MacLeod asked. "He has not arrived for work this morning, his bed has not been slept in, and ;Mr. Chisholm and I are very concerned about him." Mrs. 'Murdoch pulled herself up to her full,height and took in a very deep breath in preparation for delivering a well -rehears- ed .performance. "I'dinna ken where that ragamuffin o' a stonemason hae gone," she shouted in feigned fury. "But wherever he went, he took my poor little lass. wi' 'im, •I • dread tae say it Reverend, but' it seem's they ,hae eloped!" Katie Murdoch pretended to sniff as if to hold back her tears. She touched the edge of her apron to her nose andshook her head like a person devasted by grief. A puzzled look crossed the face of ' the minister. "This is indeed serious, Mrai. Mutdoch. Especially since I understood she was already betrothed . to. the son of Sir Alexander Macbougal. Perhaps we should ask MacCrimmon'to call out the men and .go after them. For the life of •me, I cannot imagine a good boy like Allan doing such a thing!" , Chippy Chisholm was disgusted by the spectacle of Katie Murdoch lying like the .devil to hide the sins of her wayward daughter. What angered him most was the dragging of the name of, a good living young' man through the mud of public scandal. , "You wicked, scheming, lying , ofd • hag," he almost spaf into the face of Katie Mutdoch. "I might hae let ye get awa' wi' • the story,o' ye daughter eloping wi', Allan. But 111 no stand by an' let ye ruin the good character 0' mi friend. I'm gain' tae tell all the folks in Redtrees the truth!" "The truth?" MacLeod asked, thorough- ly' puzzled by the whole scene. ' • "Aye, the truth," Chippy said vehe- mently. "Annie Murdoch is carrying the bairn o' a MacDougal,•in her belly and Allan Livingstone is goin' tae marry 'er tae save 'er 'onour!" The Reverend Duncan MacLeod looked pitifully at Katie Murdoch. "May God have mercyy on your soul," he said softly.