Zurich Citizens News, 1977-02-16, Page 4Yo.
Page 4
Citizens News, February 16, 1977
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Loto-Canada
Gambling is a disease and it should be
treated as such. A compulsive gambler
may find it very difficult to keep from suc-
cumbing to his disease and we feel such a
person needs all the help we can give him.
It is too bad the management of Loto-
Canada does not seem to feel the same
way.
Last week in the mail, we along with
most other householders in the country,
received literature promoting Loto Canada
and order forms to purchase lottery
tickets.
We have no objections to such lotteries
existing, we have no objections to purchas-
ing a lottery ticket if you so desire. But, to
send such solicitive literature into our
homes is an outrage. What right does a
lottery have to push its way into our very
homes in an effort to get us to spend our
money? Is it not enough that they "fill the
newspapers and the television and radio
with their appeals to take a chance and win
a fortune?
,If any of you read Canadian magazine
this past week you will have noticed that
There seems to be a common misconcep-
tion among ratepayers in small and even
large municipalities. This misconception is
the belief that they pay their taxes "for"
something, some specific thing. This is not
so.
A municipality is a business, and as such
it has revenue and expenditures. Some of
its revenue comes from the provincial and
federal governments and this portion of the
revenue is usually tied to specific expenses.
However, revenue received by a
municipality in the form of taxes is not tied
to any specific expenditures. This is in-
come to be distributed by the municipality
in the way they see fit. They do not have to
use it for such things as roads and recrea-
tion, they do not have to use it for any par-
ticular purpose. They do have to decide
what expenditures will benefit the majority
of their ratepayers, who supplied the
money, and hopefully spend it accordingly.
This is one of the reasons why this and
other newspapers have so encouraged g the
residents of area municipalities to very
the odds against winning in any of the Cana-
dian lotteries are very poor: In fact, in
most cases you have a better chance of be-
ing struck by lightning than winning the top
lottery prizes.
Sending order forms for Loto-Canada
tickets into our homes is an intrusion of our
privacy. It is taking unfair advantage of
people, especially of problem gamblers or
those who may be trying desperately to
stop gambling. Perhaps they have the
courage to turn the television off, to close
the newspaper, to ignore the radio and the
signs plastered on so many store windows,
but is it fair to tempt them any further than
that?
Sending the actual order form from the
tickets into the home of a problem gambler
is like sending a bottle of booze to an
alcoholic to see if he has the guts to dump it
down the drain.
We feel these are unfair tactics Loto-
Canada, and we sincerely hope they
backfire. We at least will never again
purchase a Loto-Canada ticket. It's a
matter of principle.
rice
tion
carefully consider the men they elect to
hold office in municipal government. Those
men are elected for two year terms and for
those two years ratepayers will receive
services from their municipality according
to how the council wishes to distribute its
money. Legally, it is very difficult if not
impossible to try and force a council to do
something desired by the ratepayers, but
those same ratepayers can exert a lot of
pressure on their council if they are un-
satisfied with the distribution and use of
their tax money.
However, when it really comes down to
the crunch, council has the power to spend
the tax money as they see fit. The time to
worry about how your tax money is being
spent is at election time. If you can't trust
the men you elected to use good judgement
and fairly distribute services to the
municipality, then unfortunately the
ratepayers have no one to blame but
themselves, because they elected their
council.
It's a bitter lesson to learn.
Letter to the Editor:
When have you last heard the
expression, "How long 'til
Supper?" "I can hardly wait!"
or, when told to wait longer
"Can't!" "I'm Starving!" Many
children often remark thus and
we consider it a privilege to
satisfy their wants and needs but
tell me, have any of you even the
slightest idea of what Starvation
really means, and can you even
vaguely imagine the MILLIONS
OF CHILDREN who GO TO BED
HUNGRY EVERY NIGHT? The
number is staggering but it is
reality. That is why I am asking
YOU, the people of Zurich, to hold
Walkathons, Bingoes, Rallies,
ANYTHING AT ALL that will
help put CARE over the top.
HUNGER HURTS! Please send
tax deductible donations to
CARE, 1312 Bank Street, Ottawa.
Vivian Wagner
Well, winter's back again. Admittedly it wasn't gone for
long, but I was hoping. There's one good thing about the
reverse of the weather, any town which doesn't have an
arena is laughing. All they have to do is get out their skates
and take to the roads, they make terrific rinks.
* * *
In case anyone was wondering, smoking has not been
banned from the Zurich council chambers. Unlike other
councils, such as London the topic has not even been raised
in council as far.as I know. That could be because a majori-
ty of the council members are smokers. So non-smokers
like myself who regularly attend council meetings will just
have to suffer a little longer.
*
According to the Ontario Safety League more collisions
occur in November, December and February than any
other months of the year. With January storms so frequent,
it's no wonder there are fewer accidents, there are fewer
people on the roads to be involved in them!
*
Mothers must be going crazy. First their kids are home
from school and storm -stayed in the house for over a week
at a time, then just when mothers everywhere are
breathing a sigh of relief as the buses begin to roll once
more, along comes a Sunday storm, and bingo many of the
buses fail to run once more.
If you are one of these frustrated. mothers and are
wondering what to do with your kids, why not consider get-
ting them interested in the model building contest being
offered by Heimrich's Variety in Zurich.
Model building should keep them occupied and active
while at the same time keeping them out of your hair and
with a contest there is the added stimulus to finish the
model by the deadline date and have it in the competition.
The prizes are more models so, who knows, you could keep
your kids busy for the rest of the winter.
* *
Perhaps some of you may have noticed the rather rutted
condition of the village streets since the weather has once
more returned to its frigid best. These ruts can be very
dangerous both for drivers and pedestrians so it would be an
excellent idea for all those concerned if extra care was
taken.
* *
I myself have almost had my car pulled off the street by
making the mistake of letting the car tires head into one of
those ruts and if that happens when there just happens to be
someone walking on the side of the road the results could be
disastrous.
Even when the ice melts the resulting slush is almost as
dangerous as it too can grab your car. The slush is even
more of a nuisance to pedestrians than the icy ruts in some
ways as unthinking motorists go zooming by and spray
them with the salty slush.
Pedestrians too should have consideration for the drivers.
Kids especially tend to be the offenders here as several
times I have seen them run into the street without looking,
or walking to and from school in the middle of the street. I
realize the sidewalks are buried under a good deal of snow,
but I also realize there is room to walk on the side, not the
centre of the road. Perhaps parents could mention this to
their children, and then do something even more effective
than words—set an example.
\. FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS
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