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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-12-22, Page 4Christmas glitter Photo by Janice Becker Writer has ideas for Festival Letters THE EDITOR, The future of Blyth Festival is threatened. All attending the Dec. 9 meeting desire to see Blyth Festival succeed and prosper. Economics is simple - must have more coming in than going out! Income comes from supplying a product or a service that people will pay for. Income for Blyth Festival depends on the plays and activities that people will pay for and or support by donations from individuals, corporations and government. The income side - Plays/Programs and how to sell them, I leave to those with expertise in these areas. Financial Facts as of Oct. 31, 1993: - The garage and office buildings cost for taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs and maintenance, about $50 - $55,000 per year or $1,000 per week or $200 per working day. The mortgage is $310,000 and current repayment is about $42,000 per year or approximately $800 per week or $160 per working day. Accounts payable are $190,000 with $90,000 owed less than 30 days, $42,000 owed between 30 - 60 days, $22,000 owed 60 - 90 days and $36,000 owed over 90 days. Services sold ahead with money received but services to be delivered in the future - approximately $47,000. Some recommendations respect- fully submitted: 1) A finance committee of three to five financially competent individuals be appointed to review the finances and make recommen- dations to the Board for their acceptance or rejection. 2) The Board, after considering all factors should decide whether Blyth Festival is viable or should be discontinued...with a major consideration the paying of financial obligations. 3) If the decision is to continue: financial record be immediately updated, so that monthly statements are accurate, complete and current with all expenses allocated monthly, so the year end statement contains no surprises. 4) Consider selling or leasing any building or part of building that can be sold or leased to help cut overhead costs. 5) Prepare accurate budget and monitor it constantly. 6) Have year end financial statement available to the. public a minimum of 15 days prior to the annual meeting. THE EDITOR, The Blyth Village Christmas on Saturday evening was a great opportunity for our community to celebrate the season with friends and neighbours. Four boxes of canned goods and $332.80 were donated to Huron THE EDITOR, I wish to thank all the wonderful people in Blyth who have given me such a great welcome "home". Because Joe is still in high school in Toronto with Ted, I feared I would be lonely here. On the contrary, I feel only the The fall sitting of the Ontario Legislature ended this week. Bill 50 was passed. It allows the Ministry of Health the power to carry out the Expenditure Control Program. Consultations were held with the Ontario Medical Association. One of the big changes is that payments to doctors will no longer be open-ended. The Ministry of Health will budget an amount and ensure that no more is spent. Total payments to doctors will be at least $100 million less in 1993-94 than in 1992-93, when they were more than $4 billion. The government and the OMA will work together to get doctors where they are most needed. Doctors will be required to report Health Card fraud, and the law will protect them from being sued if they report improper -se of a Health Card. Effective knril 15, third parties, 7) All meetings of the board and committees be conducted according to parliamentary procedures with votes and minutes recorded. Hoping this will stimulate debate and contribute to positive long term decisions. It's more important to figure out what's right than who's right. Ross S. Procter A concerned patron of the Festival. United Way. Thanks to all who participated, either on stage or behind the scenes. Don and Lenore Scrimgeour, Fran Cook, Janice Henry and Karen Stewart. warmth am support of old friends. Thank you also to those who continue to support the Blyth Festival through buying vouchers and memberships. Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season. See you all in January. Janet Amos and Ted Johns. such as insurance co ::panics or employers, will have to pay for medical services they request. These third-party requests have never been covered by OHIP. The Minister of Financ,e Floyd Laughren has extended the Ontario Home Ownership Savings Plan (OHOSP). The plan was created tc help low to moderate income first time buyers save for the purchase of the first home. Individuals en married couples who qualify as first time home-buyers can open an OHOSP at a participating financial institution. Once a plan has been opened, they can make annual OHOSP contributions for a maximum of five consecutive years. Ontario will continue to provide income tax rebates when people put money into an OHOSP. Credits are based on income level. The plan was due to end on Dec. 31 but was extended as another means of stimulating the economy. Bravo for village Christmas AD says thanks for support MPP tells new OHIP rules PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1993. C itizen eN A The North Huron P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. NOM 1H0 NOG 1H0 Phone 523.4792 Phone 887-9114 FAX 523.9140 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Sales Representatives, Jeannette McNeil and Julie Mitchell rain The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $20.50/year ($19.16 plus $1.34 G.S.T.) tor local; $31.03/year ($29.00 plus $2.03 G.S.T.) for local letter carrier in Goderich, Hanover, Llstowel, etc. and out-of-area (40 miles from Brussels); $60.00/year for U.S.A. and Foreign. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Peace begins at home "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men" has been the message of hope for 2000 years of celebrating Christmas. Somehow it seems always to be an elusive dream. The spectre of nuclear destruction has receded, only to be replaced by the horror of ethnic and nationalistic hatred. The "goodwill" portion of the Christmas blessing of the angels to the shepherds on that first Christmas seems to have gone missing in large portions of the world. While peace talks go on in Northern Ireland, the IRA bombers struck this weekend, rocking Londonderry with a huge bomb. Protestant extremists on the other side also want to sabotage any opportunity of a settlement. In the holy land itself, both Palestinian and Jewish extremists try to block a proposed peace settlement. In Yugoslavia, Serbs, Croats and Muslims who lived together in peace for generations, now claim their differences (in one recent TV special a Serb claimed such things as wine and cigarettes made them totally different from Croats) meant they couldn't live together. More and more people seem to be unwilling to make the compromises, some of them large, some incredibly innocuous, that it takes to live together in peace. This division of the world into "them" and "us" is infecting nearly every area of our lives. In the home, where marriages once held together despite many differences, couples now sometimes separate because neither partner wants to compromise on his/her "rights". Where a generation ago the goal was to try to understand people of other races, the perception seems to be that "you can't possibly understand me because I'm (black/Asian/handicapped/poor. etc.). The gap between men and women has grown because of people who insist the sexes can't get along so should be as separate as possible. Petty grievances that might have been solved are allowed to fester and grow because of a willingness to retreat to "we" vs. "them" camps. Czechoslovakia splits (amicably at least) to become the Czech Republic and Slovakia becauSe the two main ethnic groups decide they just can't live together. In Canada, it seems more and more probable that the country will split because of growing rigidity on both sides of Quebec,/English Canada divide. With growing world-wide prosperity, with the threat of nuclear war moved to the background, the world's people should be celebrating that "peace on earth" promise of Christmas. Instead, because of lack of "goodwill toward man", we have turned a lot of minor gripes into major problems. What would the Prince of Peace say if he could speak to each of us this Christmas? — KR It is more blessed to give? Those who still maintain it is more blessed to give than to receive at Christmas time would have a hard time proving it by reading the daily headlines. The news is dominated by those who are tired of giving. When Paul Martin, Minister of Finance, called together many of the country's top economists the message was there over and over again: cut social programs. That message is delivered over and over by middle class and upper class taxpayers: we're paying too much in taxes and you have to give less to the poor and the elderly. The message about government spending— if I don't benefit from a program, I want it cut. The rebellion against taxes goes beyond the democratic forms like voting for the Reform Party to the underground economy of buying smuggled (untaxed) cigarettes and booze and doing work for cash in order to avoid the GST and income tax. Those who have think we're being entirely too generous to those who don't have. They can point to abuses of the system (such as teenagers who, unwilling to live by parental rules, move out and collect welfare) to discredit all attempts to help the disadvantaged. While there's no doubt there are those who abuse the system (just as there are wealthy people who cheat on their taxes), there's another reality that's unavoidable: more and more people are living in poverty. Food banks are no longer a novelty but a fact of life. More and more people are living on the streets of our large cities. Cities like Toronto are starting to face the same kind of social problems as we've seen in U.S. cities for decades as the gap between the haves and the havenots grows. Those who have jobs are doing well. Those who don't suffer more and more with government cutbacks. Those with well-established jobs get paid well while many newly created jobs pay minimum wage. Yes waste must be rooted out of government but the Christian, Christmas belief in helping the less advantaged must remain. 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