The Lucknow Sentinel, 1982-07-28, Page 6editorial
Lucknow ,Senfnel, Wednesday, July 28, 1982—P
e6
LUCN
SENTINEL
"Tee Sepoy Town"
Established 1873
THOMAS A. THOMPSON - Advertising, Manager
SHARON J. DIETZ - Editor
PAT LIVINGSTON Office. Manager
• JOAN HELM - Compositor
MERLE ELLIOTT - Typesetter
Business and .Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822
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; The forgotten. Palestinians
Yassar Arafat,; chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization announced Sunday he has accepted all United
Nationalsresolutions on the Middle East but left open the
crucial question of whether the PLO recognizes fsrael's
to exist.
Israeldenounced the move as a "shoddy propaganda
ploy" and. the. United States urged extreme 'caution in
evaluating the, announcement. •
Israel maintains its•siege of Beirut in Lebanon and the
world is left to wonder. if Arafat is only buying more time by.
his supposed agreement to the U.N. resolutions.
' Forgotten in the battle for •Beirut are the millions of
Palestines Who don't live in refugee camps and don't tote a
gun. For the most partthey are middle .class and• con-
servative, religious but not fervently so. They are the most
literate, industrious and best -educated Arabs in the Middle
East. •
Chased' out of their homeland by the Israelis who took
everything, they called the loss of their homeland and all
they owned Al Nakba - the disaster. In exile, a stateless peo-
ple,they struggled to build new businesses and to educate
their. children.
Many Arab nations resent their economic and education
success and fear their numerical strength in exile. In Jor-
dan and Kuwait the majority of . the population is Palesti-
nian. I
Perhaps the Palestinian tenacity to succeed, • many are
decent hardworking, honest peoplewho are not afraid to
work to succeed, and they do succeed, maybe that's the on-
ly quality the Zionists fear most.
According to a Palestinian -American who. taught political
science at an American University, one of the problems in
identity is that many, Westerners accepted the Zionist con-
ception that Palestine didn't even exist. After 1948 and the
declaratibni. ofIsraeli independence, the' Palestinians'
cultural and politica institutions literally, ceased to exist.
For Many yearhsays Ibrahim Lughod €l e.world thought it
wa9Aealing with.an irrelevant population which may:, have
• come frOM somecounttry earlier calied'Palestire.
But ,nationalismwas:born in exile -and withit, slow public
recognition. Many Palestinians would not return to live per-
manently in a Palestinian state.if one were created, but vir-
tually all want a . homeland and the identity and passport
that go along with its - '
Israel whose troops have besieged Beirut for more than a
month, has declared that it wants the PLO, its leaders and
guerrillas, to leave Lebanon and shelling exchanged by the
PLO and Israeli soldiers haveclaimed many civilian
casualties:
Many civilian Palestinians say they should never have
left. Israeland they do not want to start over again in yet
another Arab nation that will have them.
The long.., term effect of Israel's effort to crush the
military and political structures of the, PLO may be precise-
ly the opposite of what the Israeli government wants.
Palestinian nationalism is being inflamed not extinguished.
Even middle and upper class Palestinians who speak of
causes, rather than of armed revolutions and who have no
direct involvement with the PLO, now openly express sup-
port for Yassar Arafat's organization.
One thing is.. certain, the Israelis cannot kill all the
Palestinians and their war in Lebanon will only serve to
make Palestinian nationalism stronger. This is not the way
to solve the Palestinian problem.
letters
To the Editor:
In the Lucknow Council news in the July 21st issue of .the
Sentinel, it was reported that the Council "unanimously op-
posed a referendum on general disarmament being held in
conjunctionwith the next municipal election". The reason
given? Beause all of our Councillors, oppose disarmament
themselves.
Five people in our community - our Councillors - had the
opportunity to express THEIR opinion about this most im-
portant
mportant question. Don't the rest of us have the same right?
Warren McDougall'
redtrees
by don campbell
Ian Jamieson's visit to Toronto, and
the encounter with his old ship
"Kingston Lass", only increased. his
, yearning for the open sea. With no •
family obligations, he was torn
between his senserof duty towards the
people of Redtrees, and the urge to
returnto a seafaring . life. As he
wandered aimlessly along the water-
front, he had .almost decided on his
future course, and began to consider •
what useful article he might bestow
upon the community as a parting gift.
The new church at Redtrees needed
an organ, and Jamiesonwas deter-
mined to procure this item and leave
it as a legacy • by which he could be
remembered. With this in mind, he
enquired the whereabouts of a mer-
chant
who was likely to have an organ
for sale, and was directed to Kelly's
Emporium, a large warehouse on
Front Street.
There was only one such musical in- .
strument in the store. It was new and
shiny, with carved embellishments.
Known in those days as a "pump..
organ", it -required two people for its
operation; an organist and an assis-
tant who moved the lever arm of the
'air pump, up and down. Instruments
of this nature .could not be compared
to the magnificent pipe organs of
large churches, but for humble places
of "Worship, they. Were invaluable.
Jamieson considered himself to be,ex: '
tremely, fortunate kwhaifedia,covered
.-
such a prize. His good business sense
however, wouldnot allow him to put=
chase any mechanical contraption'
unless it was proven to be in excellent
condition. He asked if there was
anybody on the premises who could
play the organ and was informed that
the owner of the emporium was an ac-
complished musician.
• "Please convey my compliments to
.Mr. Kelly," Ian Jamieson said to an
elderly man who was working as an
assistant, "and ask him if he would be
so kind as to demonstrate the quality
of this organ."
The old man coughed in nervous
embarrassment. "Mr. Kelly has been
'dead this past two years," he said in a
sad tone. "If you have no : objection
'Sir, I will ask Mrs. Kelly to attend to
you," '
Kathleen Kelly was a woman born a
full century before her time. In the
days when females were not Supposed
to direct a business of:this nature, she
gave the immediate appearance of be-
ing highly efficient and somewhat
`aloof. She -approached Jamieson in a
swift, confident manner, and he in-
stinctively removed his hat .in a
gesture of respect. Dressed in • the
height of fashion, and in complete con-
trast to the character she portrayed,
her gown was designed to emphasize
her feminine charms; full at . the
bosom and narrow at the waist. As she
swept across the ,floor, her long stiff
skirts swished with every movement.
She seemed to be surrounded by an
aura of "no nonsense" urgency, which.
probably had extinguished the fire of
many a man's fantasies. - Her face
could not have been described as,
beautiful but there was an au8tere at-'{
tractiveness about°her .features. With .
,hair plaited and shaped into.a burl at
the .back of .her head, she. appeared
more like a school ma'am than a
shopkeeper.:
Ian Jamiestuf still wore the clothes
which marked him as. a ship's. officer -
and Kathleen Kelly, with her keen
business acumen, did not overlook
this fact. .
"This organ is priced for retail sale
only," she said with an accent which
betrayed her Irish origin. "Should you
intend to purchase•it for shipment and
resale elsewhere, I can assure you
Sir, you will gain little profit. "',�
"If it functions and plays satisfac-
torily," IaiKeplled,,"I shall be willing.
to pay your asking price. I do not wish
to trade it. It isneeded for the church.
of my community."
Satisfied that her . time was not
aboutto. be wasted, Kathleen Kelly
seated herself at the organ .and
pointed to the arm at the side of the
case. "If you will kindly pump the.
bellows Sir, I will play."
Mrs. Kelly was , indeed a fine
organist but by .some strange fascina-
tion which he could not understand,
Jamieson was more interested in the.
woman than the music. , Impulsively,
he was determined to see her again.
"I am temporarily out of funds," he
lied, when the music had ended. "May
I leave a deposit of two golden
sovereigns and return tomorrow to
settle the account?"
If Kathleen Kelly had not seen the
blush upon .. Jamieson's weather
beaten cheeks, as a Woman experienc-
ed : in the complexities of life, she
would have•,read the message which
Ian shyly. tried.to .conceal. ,Only the
ghost of a smile came, to her face, but.
there was &leek in her,eyes which was ,
not apparent Jamieson., He Was, of
course; ' more informed about ships
than the intricate workings ' of the
female mind.
"Very well Sir," she said in a softer
tone than her usual speech. "We will
finish our business tomorrow."
reportfrorn queen's park
6y Murray Elston
MPP Huron -Bruce
Retail Sales Tax
..R is to be noted that the committee
work has been effective, insofar as the
retail sales tai, office has now
changed the regulation once again
with respect to the catering done by
charitable and religious groups.
Initially, there was to beta one -event
exemption. Then it was changed to
allow up to four events per year, and
we have now discovered, after
pressure having been brought to bear,.
that the Ministry of Revenue will
allow "a reasonable number" of
events by charitable and religious
organizations , to be covered without
collecting retail sales , tax. The
reasonable number is a judgement
call, apparently, by the ministry, but
would certainly seem to indicate that
-
a group would be able to go beyond
four events.
I shall continue to report when more
details of the tax regulations become
available.
Committee Hearings ,
Last week I provided a synopsis of
some of the presentations in the retail.
sales tax committee hearings, and I
am again providing information on
the presentations of various groups
who appeared before the Committee,
for your information:
The Association of Municipalities of
Ontario felt very strongly that there
should have been prior consultation
with local governments, and charged
that the treasurer is "shifting his
fiscal burden onto the backs of the
province's municipalities". Stating
that the issue must be discussed in
terms of the burden which it will place
upon, the property tax ''base, the
Association recommended that the
government should re -exempt
municipalities from the retail sales
tax. The Association indicatedthat
the impact will be $75 million in this
year alone - $35 million more than
estimated by thegovernment.
Alderman Dale Willoughby of the
City' . of Thunder Bay told the Com-
mittee that the City would be unable to
raisethe necessary revenue to cover
the added ,costs imposed by the
provincial budget since it has already. •
set its mill rate anduser charges.
Thunder Bay will be forced by the
additional financial burden to delay
its project for a local police station.
Also;, the provincial budget will add a
further $400,000 to the cost of the city's
projected auditorium, which will
probably place the facility beyond
existing fund-raising capabilities. The
city considers that the province has
set an historical precedent, in that "it
isdirectly attacking the property
tax".
Welland's Heritage Council ex-
pressed concern about the expansion
of the retail sales tax base as it applies
to non-profit organizations. The taxon
meals below $6 will .inhibit the
organization's ability to conduct fund-
raising activities, and it was
recommended that the government
exempt such meals ' when these are
nerved at any event connected .with
:the advancement of culturalex-
pression,
xpression, In addition, the council
feared that there will be many errors
in collection of tax; due to the
government's confusing directives.
The Regional Municipality of
Hamilton -Wentworth recommended
that municipalities should be . re=
exempted from the seven percent
sales tax, because it - is impossiblefor
them to accommodate the added costs
involved with mill, rates and user
chargesalready established. Failing
such .a re -exemption, the only alter-
native would be for municipalities to
reduce services. Hamilton's mayor
told the committee that the expansion
of the sales tax base will add some $1.5
million to thecost of the city's arena
and trade centre. 0 •
The provincial budget will have the
effect of increasing the City . of
Ottawa's annual' costs by about $2.1
million, which translates into a $14.28
increase in the annual property tax
bill for the average Ottawa resident.
While the city agreed with the prin-
ciple
rimciple of reciprocity of taxation - that
is, one level of government levying
taxes on another and vice versa, it
was indicated that this "must work
both ways". At the present time, the
provinbial government' pays
municipalities grants, ''in lieu of
property takes for buildings which it
occupies, and these . grants are
significantly lower than the amount
which would be collected through
normal taxes. It was emphasized that
the Province has an obligation to
consult with municipalities before
introducing any tax or "fiscal chajges
whichwill have an impact on 'focal
government.
For its part, the City of Windsor was
opposed to the extension of the retail
sales tax base because this would
raise the municipality's expenses by
some $1,125,000, and there were no
additional sources of, revenue
available to cover the increased costs.
While the city appreciated the
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