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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-10-12, Page 4PAGE, 4—THE GODER ICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, OCTOBEk.12,,1978 Goderich_- SI.GNAL= CNA The County__Town Newspaper of Huron Founded In 1991 and published every' llursday at Ooderlch. Ontario. Member of. the CWt1A and OVUM. Advertising rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advisees '11.50 In Canada, 35.99 to U.S.A.. 'Y/.b to alt other countries. single copies JS cents. f I ploy odver- tlming rates available on request. please ash for Nate Card No. 1 effective Oct. 1. 1979. Second class mall Registration Plumber 9719. Advertising Is accepted on the condition that. In the event of typographical error. She advertising space occupied by the erroneous Item together with reasonable allowance for signature. will not be charged for but the balance of tho advertlsemen9 will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the argent of a typographical error advertising goods or services at a wrong price. goods or service may not be sold. Advertising Is merely an offer to sell. and may be withdrawn at any time. The Signal -Star Is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts or photos. Business and Editorial Office TELEPHONE 524-8331 area code 519 Published by Signal -Star Publishing Ltd. ROBERT G. SHRIER -' president and publisher SHIRLEY J. KELLER — editor EDWARD J. BYRSKI — advertising manager Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 220, Industrial Park, Goderich Second class mail registration number — 0716 Cats and tradition It was with a trembling heart last week that we read that Ontario municipalities are considering a request for a change in the BNA Act in order to—of all things— allow them to licence cats as well as dogs. Heaven forbid. It never fails; whenever there is mention of some canine fracas or other in council and the proceedings are duly reported in the paper, we can rest assured the repercussions will be,great indeed. We shudder to think what wouldhappen in the case of cats running at large. We are well aware that some dog types have long argued that they are being discriminated against as compared to other pet owners — cat owners in particular. Nonsense. There is a very good reason why cats aren't licenced — a reason rooted in tradition that should .be considered very carefully before any mention of change is even breathed. Medieval Europe knew the value of cats. As the great plague swept across the continent and old and young alike fell victim to the Black Death, the lowly cat was the only defence against the engulfing disease. It might even be said that in those times the cat was king as far as the animal world is concerned. Why? Because the cat killed the rats and mice which carried the dreaded plague. In olden days cats were also important members of the ship's crew on long ocean' voyages — again for the same reason, to kill the rats aboard the vessels. It all makes you think that without the amount of. cats we have roaming around towns and cities today, the rodent population"'Ynight be a cause for concern rather than a sometime nuisance. The best mousetrap in the world is still the four -legged variety with whiskers that meows. When dog - owners can prove their pets provide a similar service to Jnankind, then society can reassess the merits of licencing or not licencing. For the time being, let's not mess with tradition. Instead of thinking about licencing cats, municipalities would do better to consider in- creasing the penalties for persons found unloading sacks of kittens on roadsides, etc. Like many of our other problems, the cat problem is caused by humans failing to take responsibility for their pets. Instead off licencing pets; perhaps we should licence pet owners after making sure they are qualified regarding the care and control of their animals. —The Listowel Banner Shopping carts A member of the Ontario legislature, Bernie Newman, has drawn attention to a serious problem. Thousands of people, he says, are being injured by shopping carts driven recklessly by shoppers in North American supermarkets. Mr. Newman says the injuries are due to the pour design of the carts. He suggested that they should. have bumpers. Installing bumpers would be a good first step, all right, but it doesn't go far enough. What is needed to reduce the carnage in the aisles is state regulation and enforcement. We have a Motor Vehicles Branch. Why can't we have , a Shopping Carts Branch? There would be no more of this business of getting stuck with a cart with two wheels that don't turn and another that spins around aimlessly all the time: compulsory inspection (with stickers to prove shopworthiness) would put an end to that. No more double-parking alongside the pickled kumquats: that would get you a ticket. No more getting nipped on the heels by some careless woman driver: that would mean three demerit points on her shopping licence. The possibilities are endless. And just think of the bureaucracy that would be needed to issue the licences, collect the fees, draw up the regulations and tie up the red tape - why, it would cut the unemployment rate in half. Of course, that would mean more people with money to spend in supermarkets, which would mean more congested shopping cart traffic, slower shopping time, a higher accident rate. On second thought, maybe the answer is rapid transit in the supermarkets. Or, here's a novel idea: how would it be if there were no carts at all, just a grocer behind a counter who served you? -Vancouver Sun Allotting responsibility This is the time of year when people are busy. Students are back in school and in the rural areas people are busy taking in the harvest, be it field crops such as corn, or home garden produce to put on the family table throughout the winter. It is also the time of year for Supreme Court cases. If you're' like us, you will find reports of these case's ex- tremely interesting, whether or not you are familiar with the principals involved. The decisions handed down might well set a precedent which sooner or later will touch upon our own rives. One such decision was handed down in a Supreme Court case held in Kitchener last week. The case concerned the awarding of damages totalling $387,000 to two children who lost their parents and were themselvesinjured in an accident in 1975 which was caused by a drinking driver. Another passenger in the drinking driver's car was. also killed in the tragic death. The interesting aspect of the case was the way in which the court divided responsibility for the ac- cident. The driver a 60 -year-old man, was found to be 85 percent responsible and the Woodstock branch of the Royal Canadian Legion where the man had been drinking was found to be responsible for the remaining 15 percent. As a result the Royal Canadian Legion was ordered to pay into court $58,000 as its share of the settlement. The jury found that the Legion allowed the driver to drink to excess and was negligent in not providing adequate supervision of its patrons on the day of the accident. In this particular case the driver had at least twice the legal limit of alcohol for impaired driving in his blood. In our opinion this kind of decision is long over- due. Whether a person is tossing them back at a Legion branch, a swanky hotel or the local watering hole, we feel the establishment ought to have some sense of responsibility. When a person has ob- viously had too much to drink, then he ought to be cut off from the bar. It's just that simple. . A few more decisions like the one handed down by the Ontario Supreme Court in Kitchener last week would go a long way to awaken a sense of respon- sibility on the part'of establishments serving booze to people.—The Listowel Banner Housewife's value Canada's elected representatives in all the scilemnity of the Commons Chamber embarked upon an enterprise of c'bnsiderable hazard - they were discussing the cash value of a housewife's work. The consensus seemed to come out at something approaching $10,000 per year for Mrs. Canada who is the mother of two and who stays at home all day, attending to her specialized duties. It seems a low figure. In these days of inflated wages and indexed civil service pensions (indexed for MPs, too), the competent Mom is surely worth more than that. Why; in terms of energy expended, ti she may even be doing more in the homestead than Hubby atewhatever salt mine occupies his day ... and it's a safe bet she works longer hours. MPs, of -course, can discuss such matters in the sanctuary of the House. Parliamentary immunity secures' them from having to be accountable for their words outside, except that we hope a few of their wives read Hansard, the daily report of proceedings. As for us, we'll assure the distaff side they are worth more than every penny they can get. Thin we'll sensibly keep quiet about the subject. Sudbilry Star Sun splashed waters by Daae Sykes BY MIKEGRENBY (Based at The Vancouver Sun, Mike Grenby writes a nationally syndicated column on personal finance If you are one of the 850,000 ho1dlhds of f -Series - 24 Canada Savings Bonds, which mature this fall, here's news which could be of great interest to you. In fact, if you have left those bonds to compound, you will certainly be looking forward to collecting "great interest" on November 1. Bonds you bought for $5,000 for example, will have interest coupons worth another $5,000 - and you will collect a cash bonus as well, but more about that later. This interest represents investment income and so -could be taxable. To keep as much of that money as possible, remember these tax - saving tips: If you have been declaring each year's interest as you went along - even though you didn'tclip the coupons - you will simply declare this year's interest when you file your 1978 return next spring. When you cash the coupons, you will get a T- 600 slip showing the total interest for the nine NNW GEAR READERS years. As you will be declaring only the 1978 interest, you should at- tach a note to your tax return explaining that you have already declared the ,rest of the -inter-est; year by year But if you haven't been declaring the interest this way, then you must add all theinterest you collect November 1 to your in- come for this year - and the tax man will rub his hands with glee. One way you might be able to lower the tax bill is not to collect all nine years' interest on November 1. If for example, you have +$5,000 of Series 24 bonds, you stand to get $5,000 interest November 1. That $5,000 would then be added to your 1978 income. - But you could choose to cash only $2,500 of the interest on November 1 and the other $2,500 next January 1. This would split the income between two tax years. In other words, you would add $2,500 to your 1978 income and $2,500 to your 1979 in- come. So you would put off having to pay tax on the second $2,500 until you filled your 1979 return in, 1980., You might also save income tax, because you might be able to use your $1,000 interest exemption twice. Another, example: If you have $1,800 of Series 24 interest coming due this year and you take the money money November 1, you will add $1,800 to your 1978 income. Deduct the $1,000 interest exemption and that leaves $800 of taxable income. But if you split the interest - taking $900 November 1 and $900 next January I - then you add only $900 to your 1978 income. The $1,000 in- terest exemption eliminates this. The same thing will apply when you declare the second $900 in 1979. So instead of having $800 taxable bond interest income, you have none. (To make this point, I've assumed you would have no other interest or dividend income). + 'Three notes: ONE : Don't blindly follow this approach of splitting the bond income between the 1978 and 1979 tax years; consider your own situation first. For example, if you have little or no other income this year but will have considerably more income next year, you might be better off to take all your Series 24 interest on November I. In other words, you wouldn't want to post- pone any income from a low tax year to a high tax And even if you do take all your Series 24 com- pounded interest this year, thereby sharply increasing your 1978 income over your income of previous years, general averaging could help out taxes. General averaging is applied automatically - provided you have filed returns over the past four years_ If you haven't, attach a note explaining why and ask the tax department to apply general averaging. +++ TWO: Always make sure you keep the interest coupon blocks intact - or you could lose some or all of the compounded in- terest. So if you are splitting interest between November 1 and January 1, always cash entire interest coupon blocks; never split up any at- tached interest coupons. If you changed from the cash method of reporting your bond interest to the accrual method a few years back and still want to spread the bond in- terest over two tax years, some special rules apply. Ask your local district taxation office for the information sheet which explains the guidelines_ +-f- + THREE : The bond certificate (representing the principal, which is the money you originally paid when you bought the bond - and which is not taxable when you get it back) may be treated separately from the in- terest coupons. That means you may redeem the bond cer- tificate (at which time the cash bonus is paid) separately from the in- . terest coupons_ As far as the cash bonuses go - $11.50 for every $100 of Series 24 bonds - always make sure you get the money when youredeem your bonds. There is nothing on the bonds themselves about this bonus, and an inexperienced teller, for example, might not know anything about the bonus_ You may treat this bonus as either interest income or a capital gain. As this capital gain qualifies for the $1,000 interest -dividend exemption, the best thing is to treat the cash bonus as a capital gain. So you add half the bonus to your income, Turn to page 5 • 75 YEARS AGO The seat in town council rendered vacant by the resignation of C.A. Humber was filled Wednesday evening of last week by the unop- posed election of W.F. Clark. One or two cases of typhoid are reported in town this week. J.H. Worsell's men are,. Placing the metal roofing at the library building now. Barrister Blair, the new members of the firm Proudfoot and Hays, has purchased 0 the Malcomson property on St. Vincent Street for 82,500. The premises lately fitted up by G.M. Elliott adjoining his grocery will be known as the "Made Leaf" China Ha 11, LOOKING BACK W.T. Murney pur- chased a "Perfect" gasoline engine from the Gasoline Engine Com- pany of Toronto Junction through their local agent, Jas A. Strachan and is having it installed in his butcher- shop for the purpose of chopping meat and making sausages. 25 YEARS AGO Population of Goderich, increasing for almost a decade, will reach an all time high this,,, year. Indications from town assessor, William Sturdy, are that the population will hit over 5,650 --an increase of about 400 over the 1052 figure of 5,252. Record . size perch catches were made at Goderich harbor on the weekend when many hundreds ofvtsititig ,I I anglers found the fishing and the weather 100 percent. One of Goderich's oldest businesses changed hands recently and a merchant who has been in business longer than any other merchant in town had gone into retirement. George MacVicar, who has operated a boot and shoe store on the Square for over 50 years, has sold the business to William' W. Ross who has assisted him in the operation of the store for many years. Beginning January 1, 1954 Goderich will be policed by a town police force. Council made the i� decision `fast Frida'y""ii'ight to hire a chief constable and three constables to help him. Mr. R.J. +firkin, superintendent of A&P Stores, visited Goderich on Tuesday, "looking over possible locations for the site of a new supermarket." 5 YEARS AGO Federal Agricultural Minister Eugene Whelan told about 400 Huron County farmers and their wives last Thursday night that the government is attempting to find new ways of „giving them security through price and income stabilization. Mr. Whelan was speaking to the Huron County Federation of Agric'ulture's annual meeting at a packed house in. Saltford Valley ' Hall. Recently the staff and equipment of the I,Gederich'yreather station moved from a trailer into a brand new $15,000 complex at Sky Harbor Airport which has been constructed by the municipality and founded by the Goderich Development Cor- poration. Lifetime residents in the Goderich area, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bisset, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Wednesday at their home in Goderich. A meeting of the Goderich Businessmen's Association was held Wednesday afternoon in the auditorium of the Goderich arena to hear a presentation. by Huron County planners Garry Davidson and Nick Hill for redevelopment of the downtown area of Goderich. i