212 Saturday, January 23, 1993 Burns Societies prepare haggis Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot And auld lang syne Robert Burns 1759-1796 eee Robert Burns wrote that poem about 200 years ago and it has probably, in its time, been sung more often and more widely than any other song in the world. Though Burns, despite his short life, was no shrinking vi- olet an demanded credit for his poetic efforts, he doubtless would be amazed and not a lit- tle amused today (for he had an excellent sense of humor) at the extent of his recogni- tion. This month, Robert Burns Societies all over the world will celebrate the 234th an- niversary of his birth — 25th of January 1759 — at the small town of Ayr, Scotland. These dinners will take place in scores of different lan- guages but with essentially the same ritual wherever they occur. Opening remarks by the master of ceremonies will remind us of why we are there. The haggis will be paraded with all due ceremony-skirling Scottish bagpipes, swinging kilts, whiskey bottles and glasses held high — to the head table to be followed by the Address to the Haggis: which begins: “Fairfa’ your honest sonfie face, Great chief- tan o’ the puddin’ race’. Then there will be toasts and tributes and “Pipers will ye gie us a tune?” Finally, Robert Burns him- self will be given due homage in the address, ‘Immortal Memory and I, and thousands like me, will be listening close- ly with Burns’ burnished ears to this tribute, for it is a diffi- cult one to make. Few famous people have had a greater overlay of legend than Scotland’s poet laureate, so that this best known of men is probably the least known. Apart from the obvious facts that he was a tall, good looking man who had a mar- vellous ear for rhythm and song which was an inex- haustable basis for the lyric, crystal-clear poetry which has caused his stature as a poet, to grow with the years, much else is hearsay. 759 Reflections and Recollections John CHARTERS| Meanwhile, his biographies continue to be a mass of con- tradictions which serve only to enhance the reality of the man himself, and his special genius to touch a responsive chord in the hearts of as many people. There'll be Highland danc- ing and piping, as well as group singing and good fellow- ship, so that individuals who couldn’t stand one another at the start of the evening will be saying to themselves at the end: “Good fellow that, when you get to know him/her”, for such was the effect of the man Burns on others. He made a fool of himself like many another, whenever the opportunity presented it- self — particularly where women were concerned. He was also a man who was manly and yet a bit of a moan- er, he was good natured and spiteful, generous and selfish, modest and conceited, rough and tender, robust and cow- ardly, uncouth and polished, but always believed that this ‘He was also a man who was manly and yet a bit of a moaner, he was good natured and spiteful, generous and selfish, modest and conceited, rough and tender...’ Few first-time visitors to Scotland realize the reverence in which his name is held in that cemetery and the land- scape of Scotland is littered with his memorials. Nonethe- less, his international reputa- tion is remarkable. In Russia, for example, his is admired only second to Shakespeare and there are flourishing Burns Societies in Tokyo and Shanghi. On Jan.25, therefore, all over the world (or some conve- nient near-date in Canada — and the land of the moveable feast) 10s of thousands of ta- bles will groan under the weight of soup, meat, ‘chamfit tatties’ and ‘bashed neeps’ (mashed potatoes and turnips) with gravy and hot, spicy hag- gis. Please don’t give me that “I'd rather drink hemlock,” look!) At last year’s Castlegar Le- gion Burns Night our Rotary Exchange Student, Ania Zabinksa had three helpings on her first acquaintance with it. This traditional entree will be followed by oat cakes, cheese and dessert, all washed down with wine, tea, coffee, and of course the ‘obligatory’ dream of Scotch whiskey. world was made for ordinary people to live in. As such, he struck the cord of universal humanity in all of us, so that Burns Nights wher- ever they are held are an op- portunity to recapture once again that fundamental con- cept of the brotherhood of man. Each year, for many years now, the Castlegar branch of the Royal Canadian Legion has held a Burns Night cele- bration. This year it will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Legion Hall. Run, there- fore, don’t walk, to get your tickets, make up a party and come as Scottish as you can and so get ‘On Wi the Dance.’ See you there. eee One sad note: We will, un- fortunately, be missing one key figure at this year’s ban- quet. Pipe Major Bram Eccles of Rossland, who for the past several years has piped for us so merrily, was killed recently in a tragic highway traffic ac- cident near Addie, Wash. We salute his memory and mourn his passing for he was a bonny piper. ‘Should auld acquaintance Won't buy you a HAMB eee SCSESESCSESECSESECSECSESECSESESE ADVERTISING FEATURE Seven Tips for your R.R.S.P.? 1. Contribute the maximum to your RRSP It is important to contribute as much as possible to your RRSP every year. If you were eligible to contribute $10,000 a year to your RRSP, but chose to contribute only $5,000 per year, if your RRSP earned 8%, in 20 years you would have $247,000 less in your RRSP. Note that you missed only $100,000 in contributions. Borrowing to make an RRSP contribution even makes sense, as long as you can repay the loan fairly quickly. Your tax refund could pay as much as 50% of the loan. 2. Start Your RRSP Early in Life If you start contributing when you are 25 years old, at $5,000 a year for 40 years and earned 8%, your RRSP would be worth $1,399,000 when you are 65. However, if you delayed starting your RRSP until you were 35 and then contributed $5,000 a year for 30 years and earned 8%, your RRSP would be worth only $612,000 at age 65. The high cost of waiting just 10 years to start your RRSP in this case is $787,000 . . . and you really only missed $50,000 in contributions. 3. Make Your RRSP Contribution Early in the Year ‘Avoid the rush, and contribute early in January. Get your money working for you as soon as possible. Again, the magic of compounded interest can work for you, and increase your next egg significantly over the years. 4. Consider a Spousal RRSP Spousal RRSP contributions are advantageous for splitting ;income on retirement. For example, if your spouse will be in 2 25% marginal tax rate on retirement while you will be at 50%, you and your spouse can have up to an extra 25 cents on each dollar of RRSP retirement income from a spousal RRSP. 5. Take Advantage of the $6,000 Transfer of Qualifying Pension Income to a Spousal RRSP From 1989 to 1994, you can transfer up to $6,000 per year of periodic income from a registered pension plan or DPSP to spousal RRSP. This transfer is permitted over and above the regular annual contribution you make to your own or a spousal RRSP. 6. Take Advantage of the RRSP Rollover Provision ‘When you leave the employ of a company that has a pension plan, you may have the ability to transfer accumulated pension funds to an RRSP. Also, if you receive a retiring allowance when you leave, these funds to can be transferred to an RRSP, on a tax-sheltered basis. 7. Maximize Earnings in Your RRSP All too often, people say, “1 or 2% makes no difference in the long run.” The truth is, it does make a difference — especially in the long run. If you contribute $10,000 annually to an RRSP earning 10% instead of 8%, you'll earn an extra $586,000 after 30 years. That's a lot of extra capital for just a 2% difference. —J.W. Warren Wagstaff and Raymond Shum are Investment Advisors with Nesbitt Thomson Inc. BANK OF MONTREAL is pleased to invite you to attend a presentation on INVESTMENT STRATEGIES FOR 1993 with Special Emphasis on RRSP Investments Interest rates have fallen dramatically over the past year. As the rate of change in investment markets continues to accelerate, many individuals find it more difficult to keep current with their financial affaires. This timely seminar will cover the following topics: - Economic outlook - Investment opportunities for conservative investors - Opportunities in today's environment WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1993 Guest Speakers - J. W. Wagstaff and Raymond Shum of Nesbitt Thomson at Fireside Motor Inn Banquet Room Castlegar, B.C. 7:15 - 9:15 p.m. Seating is limited. Please call early to reserve your seat. P d by Bank of M ] Castlegar Branch Reservation Required Phone: Jackie Swanson Bank of Montreal 365--6488 $cS$e¢SeSese URGER SeSe¢SeS$eS$eS$e$e$e$e$e$esS @ Saturday, January 23, 1993 FastLANE Win or lose, it’s ln The News. Jonathan Green 365-7266 FUN RAISER Attention snowmobilers. Mark Feb. 27 on your calendars. On that date, the annual Snowarama will be held at the Nancy Greene Junction. Sponsored by the Castlegar Selkirk Lions Club and Kootenay Snogoers, the event is a fundraiser for the B.C. Lions Society and Easter Seal House. All you have to do is pick up a pledge form, get pledges and complete as much of a trail ride ona snowmobile as possible. For more info, call Lawrence at 365- 7729, Leo at 365-3067 or Wayne at 362- 5143. WAYNE’S WORLD Young hockey players take note. Coca-Cola is offering you the chance to skate with The Great One at the Wayne Gretzky Hockey Camp in Quebec City in June. By dialing 1-800-463-COKE your name is entered in a draw to attend one of 23 Future Stars hockey clinics to be held across Canada in February and March. Two children from each clinic will be chosen to attend the camp in Quebec City. Start dialing today. LocdSPORTS Jonathan Green SPORTS REPORTER It’s amazing how much of an effect one little flu bug can have on a basketball team. Last month, the Stanley Humphries senior boys basketball team dropped a 73-62 decision to their counterparts from Nelson, one week News photo by Jonathan Green Rocker Todd Bonderoff looks around for someone to dish it off to during a 71-60 win over Nelson’s L.V. Rogers Wednesday. Healthy senior Rockers down Bombers after beating the same team 96-67. Coach John Ritchie the team suffered because key players Mar- cel Dusseault and Rob Machado had the flu. “We've got some sickness going around so we had two of our main guys out,” he said in a December interview. “(Because of that), we played quite badly.” But with no sickness to report Wednesday, the Rockers came out on the winning end of another meeting with the Bombers, 71-60 at Selkirk College. Dusseault was the Rockers top scorer with 21 points, while Dan Kooznetsoff added 20. The win came just days after the Rockers finished an impressive sixth at a AAA tournament in Richmond. Ritchie said the combination of a strong team and some relaxed play were the keys to Wednesday's win. “I think (we won) because we were healthy and that we handled their pressure better than last time,” he said. Leading for most of the game, the Rockers took a 36-24 advan- tage into half time before outscoring the Bombers 32-10 in the third for a 57-34 lead heading home. L.V. Rogers dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Rock- ers 26-10, but only because Ritchie utilized most of his bench. Ritchie said he’s looking forward to fine tuning some parts of the team’s game that have suffered because of a lack of practice time — thanks to the lack of a gymnasium to work out in. But with repairs to the school’s gym floor to be complete by next weekend’s Rocker Invitational, he said practice time will be theirs once again. “That’s going to make a big difference” he said. “I’m very happy with my defence but on offence, we haven't had enough time to shoot the ball.” Over on the senior girls side, the Rockettes keep rolling along. Winners of 10 of their first 12 games heading into a tournament last weekend in Kamloops, the locals barely broke a sweat in winning the North Kamloops tournament. Knowing the competition would be anything but stiff, coach Jack Closkey said the tournament enabled the bench players to see some action. “The other teams were weak,” he said Thursday. “I wanted to make sure the substitute players got some floor time. “It worked out really well.” The Rockettes breezed through the first three games of the five- team round-robin tournament, outscoring their opposition, 207-74. Meeting Quesnel’s Barriere in their final game, they had to work for it but took the title with a 63-60 overtime win. Rhonda Dawes earned a berth on the tournament all-star team, while Wendy Closkey was the tourney’s most valuable player. As nicely as things have gone this year, Closkey isn’t quite con- vinced the Rockettes are for real. . He said that a clash with the hosts at the Crowe tournament in Trail tonight should prove that once for all. “We'll find out when we play Trail this weekend,” he said. “If wi can’t handle Trail, then we’ve got some work to do.” Visiting Rebels almost ruin Bruins home winning streak NEWS STAFF If hockey games were 43 minutes long, the Castlegar Rebels would have handed the Grand Forks Border Bruins only their second home loss of the season Tuesday. But games are 60 minutes, and those 17 extra minutes were all the league-leading Bruins needed to repel the Rebels, 5-3. Trailing 3-0 going into the third period, the Bruins built on Jason Watts’ first of two at 16:33 and kept on going. Rebels captain Kevan Rilcof said it was a game he’d like to forget. “[’m trying to block that one out of my memory,” he said. “Grand Forks turned it up a notch and they got a couple of breaks.” Looking to extend a modest two-game win streak, the Rebels came out flying and took a 1-0 lead when Mike Hunter scored from Rilcof at 11:30 of the first. Kevin Leiman made it 2-0 on the power play at 15:29 of the second before Todd Doyle upped it to 3-0 at 1:17. And then disaster struck. Sixteen seconds after Watts’ first goal, Travis Hancock made it 3-2, Watts tied it at 14:18 and defenceman David Burroughs won it for them at 6:22. League scoring leader Derek Bird added an empty net goal with 1:04 left. The Rebels play host to Rossland at 8:30 tonight and Columbia Valley at 5 p.m. tomorrow. Both games are at the Complex. A “DEBT CONSOLIDATION LOAN” will take care of Christmas expenses and credit card balances. Kootenay Savings Where You Belong