SEG Ai toy ay toy way Leanne Harris By! FRANK DERBY Sun staff writer played to the crowd ‘dak a strong 300 Tuesday, Nov. 27, The Karaoke C of “Only You". Again the judges had a hard time deciding and took almost ‘tips, were held at the Sandman Inn, Dexter's Lounge was filled to capacity as 16 tried to twenty minutes, keeping everyone in suspense as they deliberated the outdo each other in this new, hot fad known as Karaoke. The winner would get $100 travel expenses and hotel accom- modations in Victoria and woul of these two great balladeers. When Garry Dee ‘finally announced the winner it was a jubilant Leanne Harrison who took a split decision and a big hug from Beck, the K major contest there. The payof it successful against 11 other regional winners would be $1000 and a recording session while second prize was $500. For those unfamiliar with Karaoke, it originated in Tapan and is essentially popular music with the vocals removed. Participants choose from a list of over 500 songs spanning four . decades from the 50’s to the 80's. Using a laser disk system the music is played, the lyrics are shown across a screen and a wireless microphone is provided for the would-be superstars, Joy Ramsden from Success Entertainment, the company that provided the system for this competition said,” This is great fun for everyone, both the PEARSON WINDOW SOLUTION « Gustom Sized - No Extra «No More Cleaning Mult Panos of Glass + No More Moisturo Botweon Glass * Solld Vinyl - No Painting + Easy Siding on Rollers + Easy Installation and the crowd. We have i a great D.J. in Gary Dee and no matter where we take this show we sell out the place.” Indeed, a big part of the attraction is rooting for friends and all of the singers seemed to havetheir own cheering section. By about 11:00 the five judges, Steve Jerome, Paul and Carol Dasti, Arlene Caswell and Elaine Graham Read 36 » 365-3461 Quality + 222-102 Street Castlegar "Because You Deserve The Best" Rushton had d the field down to four. Blaine Ryder and James Performance Autobody we have the latest in CHART frame equipment to service all your ICBC and personal needs glass claims custom painting free courtesy cars CALL NOW 365-2585 3805 Columbia Ave., Castlegar (old McGauley Ready Mix Bullcing) GRAND OPENING SPECIAL now thru December 31, 1990 25% off Seger subscription rates a} WZ : The The Castifeet Sun ee TW d Cas- degar, while Leanne Harris came from Trail and John Beck trekked all the way from Creston. They all chose another song and pulled out all the stops to ty to sway the crowd and judges in their favor, Making a final decision was tough and Beck and Harri ip If one were to suspect that these two were professionals they would be partly right. Harrison has been driving a school bus eight years for School District 11 but she also sang. in a ‘rock band called Working Class for two anda half years, “My mom was the organist and choir leader at our church so I started singing at an early age,” said Harrison. Four and a half months pregnant with her second child, Harrison was thrilled with her win. “T thought John bad won it for sure."said Harrison. “My husband and I are really icoking foreword. to this trip to Victoria..We haven't been away ona iday since my daughter was bom' two and a half years ago.” When asked if she had any aspirations to continue singing professionally, Harrison replied, "I’ve always had a dream to be a full time singer - We'll see how 1 do in Victoria.” Beck also had some band experience, playing with a group called Presence, Currently working full time for United Auto Parts in Creston, he's happy to sing and perform at the odd party or function, “I don’t particularly like contests,” said Beck. “I've entered a few Karaoke competitions and I had a lot of fun tonight. It was a good compeétition and as it went on I felt my best chance was to play to; the crowd. By the end of the night I felt they were really into my performance and that gave me a - good feeling. ” were asked to come back to’ do it ‘ one more time. By this time the entire patronage of the lounge was up and cheering both of the finalists - singing along on the chorus with Harrison and swooning as Beck sienaed with the meen of the’ performances. She said, “We saw. a. lot of talented people bere tonight and its a shame we could have only one winner. The main thing is everyone had a great time and I expect Karaoke is here to stay.” . Elaine Ryder GRAND OPENING SPECIAL CLASSIFIED — iN TRODUCTION | OLTER “$00 per. week: Lmtd Offer John Beck ~ James. Vanderploeg ‘SUN STAFF PHOTOS / Frank Derby BUSINESS | Act now to save on taxes in the spring — Why wait until spring? Save tax now — or at least act now so you will save tax in the spring. T asked Elio Luongo, senior tax manager for Peat Marwick * ‘Thome, chartered accountants, to summarize the strategies which save most people the most tax most often. This list will alert you to tax tips you should consider; you will probably need further expert advice on how these ideas apply to your situation. *Registered retirement savings plans, The 1990 contribution rules are unchanged: 20 per cent of earned income -— $7,500 maximum, or if you belong toa profit-sharing plan, $3,500 minus any contribution you make to the RPP ox DPSP. 1) Your 1991 RRSP contribution (18 per cent of earned income to a maximum of $11,500) will be based on your 1990: income. so consider nenee earned income for 2) Contribute carly in the year now and 1994, you may put an instead of the to ‘start carning tax-sheltered income as soon as possible. 3) Consider an RRSP contribution rather than paying down debt, especially if your taxable income is more than 000. 4) If you invest in good-growth shares for the long term, consider contributing somo to your RRSP to trigger a capital gain so you can usé your capital gains exemption. 5) Contribute to a spousal . RRSF if your spouse will be in a lower tax bracket than you when the funds are withdrawn, Between ional $6,000 per year of private (not CPP or OAS) pension income into a spousal RRSP, above the normal contribution limits. Watch the three-year attribution rule, 6) Transfer your retiring allowance/severance pay within allowable limits.to your own’ RRSP. But beware the AMT (altemative minimum tax); see if splitting the payment between two years would eliminate the AMT. 7) Well before the end of the year in which you tum 71, decide whether an annuity, RRIF or combination of the two would be the best way to deregister you RR *Registered education savings plan. Put up to $1,500 a year for up to 21 years into an RESP for each beneficiary (= future student, needn't be only a child), You don’t deduct your contribution, but the investment growth in the RESP is tax sheltered. Then the student declares this growth as expected to increase in value to Id: Interest an id income while ding a post secondary institution full time, probably paying little or no tax. You lose the investment growth if the beneficiary doesn’t go on to higher education. * Income splitting. Because tax rates increase as your income increases, shifting income to taxpayers. (usually family members) in a lower tax bracket saves tax, Two individuals with incomes of $30,000 cach pay about $4,500 less tax a year compared with one individual having $60,000 income. 1) Lend or give money so a spouse or child can cam second generation income. (The first gencration income is attributed back to the person providing the funds. ) 2) Put family allowances into for the child: d to the because you have deductions like early or monthly RRSP and will be until the child is 18, but capital gains will be considered the child’s for tax purposes. 4) -Higher-income spouse should pay the bills (incl invesiment losses, ask Revenue Canada to give your employer permission to withold less tax fon each paycheque. ) lower-income spouse's income taxes — both quarterly and on April 30.) Lower-income spouse should do the investing. 5) Pay children's perhaps taking less income but receiving stock option, stock , or phantom stock plans. 4) Maximize business use of they can invest thelr own (eared or inherited) money. 6) Split CPP benefits once both spouses are 60 if one has higher benefits and is in a higher tax bracket than the other. * Employees. 1) Bargain for non-taxable benefits: pension plan ions by the employ health, sich or pany car (for example, making business calls on the way to and from work), minimize personal use and keep a log. * Self-employed. 1) Pay salary or fees to lower- tax-bracket spouse or children for Teasonable services. 2) Write off home expenses (subject to certain restrictions). 33° ‘Choose year-end to tax deferral or make use income eamed will belong to the child for tax purposes. 3) Transfer assets that are plans, reimb uN of i recreational facilities. 2) If you get a tax refund of losses. Next Week: Tax-saving tips for investors, plus deadlines, to remember for everybody. Students should find learning more enjoyable through new approach By BARBARA TANDORY Advertising in the _ Castlegar Sun sells Phone 365-2278 REGIONAL DISTRICT OF CENTRAL KOOTENAY Invitation to Tender : CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE HALL SEALED TENDERS for the construction of a fire hall in Electoral Area J of the Regional District of Central Kootenay will be received by the undersigned under “the following terms: } mo One fire hall is to be constructed in tha Ootischenin area of Electorial AreaJ. -2.. "The fire hall will be constructed of wood frame, cement block, metal, pre-cast concrete or any other acceptable aa material or combination thereof. 3. ‘A 10% bid bond wil be required. ‘ 4. Tender. forms, drawings nod depositing $25.00 with the Regional Distict of Central Kootenay at 601 Veron \Street, Nelson, BC GS2 SES), which is Seftencdable upon return of ell docimenté i in? “Bead condition. 5: \ Aa oncate inspection ts achodutod for 1660 am, Seurday, D December 8; ; 1990 A he, Gone lh rs al ie 0 et Perec ieee ore | are expected to attend. 6. “All Waders should be marked “Tender - = Area J Fire Hall” sand mist be ceived. “at the Regfdnal District of Central Kootenay Office, 601:Vernon Street, Nelson, “BC, VIL 4B9 by no later’ Han ee poh Deceber 20 1990, ot which time wad place they will be publicly opened. ; : ADs Ton Rega Die of Cena! Ket rare ti ee a If to the District. may be obtained | by*. Sun staff writer Imagine school without report cards. No exams, no grades, no bad marks. The Castlegar School District has moved ‘in this direction this fall by impl ing the B.C. Mini: system anyway” for the last few years. “We're not doing things very differently than in the past,” said Dodds. The changes seem to proceed unnoticed by the young “leamers” 1 who, says Dodds, Pp C.D ry of Education’s Year 2000 curriculum at the primary schools level, “The report card as we know it will be gone eventually,” says Castlegar schools superintendent Terry Wayling. In the near future, he adds, “maybe next year, the standard report card will be th ‘a manila folder of sample work representing the student’s progress. This will then develop into a student's portfolio. Berlier this month, parents of children in Primary 1-4 received the new new report cards — without grades. Wayling says the new report card is “not vastly different.” But it is very different. The new report card is “anecdotal” in form, meaning that teachers have to write out their reports of the child’s progress in paragraphs. The emphasis has moved away from pointing out problems and weak areas to stressing student's strengths, what Wayling calls “the positives.” The immediate burden of the transition at the primary level has been felt the hardest by teachers, ly at report card time this month when they had to spend long hours to > prepare them. would probably “‘see a difference until they’re older and sophisticated.” Perhaps in grade 6 or7. The system still has to pass a test with parents, and one Castlegar mother is worried that the new system is ing cracks done properly. Otherwise — she speculates — the program may fail “not because the ideals are wrong or because the concepts are In the year 2000 when little Johnny sits down at his Apple desk computer the phrase “an apple for the teacher” will have smacked of ancient history. And schools may not even be called schools anymore. If the teach the history of modem education, little Johnny may leam that kids like him used to be called students or pupils. A sweeping reform in the education system of the province is underway this fall, sending off a wrong, but because the app is wrong.” “Right now Jenny's suffering because the system has failed on her,” she said, A concerned and involved parent, Rice feels that Jenny is an of little ona course towards a future in which school activity as we know it will be a thing of the past. The new education system will be student-focused rather than teacher-oriented, and the language of education will have ch d to ple of the plaguing the transition in the educational system that is supposed to be universal across already. sirJenny brought‘areport-card *? cand it was awful,” says Wendy Rice whose daughter, in P- 5. (grade 4 in the old system), was put in an old-fashioned classroom of the intermediary level after attending for a year of Year 2000 program in Salmon Arm, where the family had lived before moving to Castlegar. “The idea is good but it has failed on one of my children,” says Rice. She says ber daughter has not leamed there what she is supposed to know here, according to ber new teacher. “I'm terribly frightened that it’s going to do more damage than good, if it’s not done properly,” said the mother of two school- aged children. But Rice also likes the ideas behind Year 2000 curriculum changes, “It’s time they changed the education system. It’s time we start incorporating ideals into learning. Teachers need to what these ideals are.” The has been predictable — but modified by their enthusiasm for the new curriculum, says Richard Dodds, the principal at Woodland Park Prim: ary. “Let me put it this way,” he said. “They complain but in a nice way.’ Dodds — whose experience with the program is both asa Principal and a primary teacher — explains that teachers ave bad to cope with increased workloads and large classrooms on top of the work involved in learning the ropes of the new system. In the initial stage of the system, the teachers themselves bave become leamers. “They like the program but they’ re up’ against time Dodds reported. “They peeks have no time.” Onc of the things teachers complain about most is large classrooms, and Dodds the difficulty: “With a class of over 25 it’s difficult to impiement the +The ‘average class size in Castlegar is in the 20-25 range, but ‘some classrooms are pushing the upper limits. Pointing out ‘that the school district bas decided the program this school ye: while it’s not mandatory ‘until 4 next year — Dodds ‘insisted that Belmary teachers have not found the changes “too tough” because the new instruction has been “part of their Her only concern is that it be P' Last year, she notes, her daughter was in a model Year 2000 classroom chosen for the ministry of d "8 reflect the broad system changes. This fall the new language is making a shy entrance in the Castlegar schools, which used to be called elementary and are now called primary.. af as : “We.don’t call them students, Year 2000 lingo anymore,” explains School District No. 9 superintencent Terry Wayling. “We call them learners.” Perhaps the most important lingustic change to the outsiders is the elimination of the traditional numbered grades: instead of Kindergarten, grades 1, 2 and 3, we have Primary 1, 2,3 and 4. “But we still call them schools,” adds Wayling. Richard Dodds, the principal at Woodland Park Primary School, says the primary teachers are getting hang of it, li For Eric Spilker, 6, it still comes easier to say he’s in grade one than in P-2. But the little learner at Woodland Park Primary knows what P-2 means: “P means Primary and 2 means second year.” he explains. When asked what he likes best about school, he states his preference as that what kids always liked best since the beginning of school —playtime. But Eric calls it a new name. “Having centres,” he replies without speaking — but slowly. “I think we are getting used to it.” But, he notes, “we still have to use the word “Kil Centres — explains his teacher, Alexia Tumer — are half-hour play periods in the classroom. Her P-2 has ten such centres, with the parents. Otherwise, they'd say, ‘P-1? What's that?’” In practice, educators are not changing their language usage overnights. “Kids are called everything,” says Dodds, “youngsters, children, school kids — and leamers.” And kids will be kids, no matter what they’re called. beginning with a computer centre in'a window comer. Other centres include library, science centre and math and writing, and also the old kids’ standbye - a dress-up comer and and a building centre with Leggo blocks. As the schools superintendent Wayling-points out, “schools are still schools.” promotional video. She was in an avant garde class. “This year, she is, according to their standards, not educated.” But as a parent Rice shares the hopes of the educators for the program and the vision. “I’m one hundred percent behind it,” she said. Year 2000 curriculum was developed by the ministry of education on the basis of recommendation made by the 1988 Sullivan Royal Commission on Education, The Castlegar area board is the program’ "8 intermediary phase, but Turner says says it’s still uncertain whether the district econ it next year or the year after arth big task ahead of the (school) district is to send out a response to the education ministry on the initial phase. The school board has until next spring to make a progress report with regard to the primary level. Tumer says the school board is concemed with the impact of the changes on the teachers as well as students and parents. “The primary teachers are overworked,” he notes. “And we still have to educate parents; there are still parents in this community who wonder why is it necessary.” The program should work fine, once given a chance to take root in the classroom, the schools superintendent believes. It should even become enjoyable in the long mun, he “The approach has to be modified to make learning more enjoyable,” Wayling said. “We're will not be lost; in fact it may be enhance.” And Turner believes the success of the new system will depend on the teachers’ learning its visionary philosophy. “We need to give teachers more daytime to study these approaches, “he noted. “We have to get the parents and the teachers to d the ” ‘ of the opinion that ic rigor Your business looks good in the Sun. Your professional image will make a good impression on your customers. 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