RE tS SETS gee.

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A useful yardstick

Findings by the commission of

Unlike Lillooet, dates of local

inquiry into recent probl in the
Lillooet school district provide food
for thought for those in the
Castlegar school district, if only os
a yardstick by which to measure
local performance.

The commission heard presen-
tations both critical and supportive
of the Lillooet school board, inclu-
ding two petitions signed by
teachers and parents that said they
have been treated justly and fairly
by the board

Still, the commission found
areas tor concern. It said both sup-
porters and critics agreed the
board runs a closed shop with
minimal input from either the
public or its employees.

The Lillooet board does not
publish its agendas or the dates of
committee meetings. It has no
regular question period ahd allows
public input for only half an hour,
twice a year

Castlegar school trustees
come nowhere near to matching
their colleagues in Lillooet. For one
thing, agendas here are
distributed freely to the media well
in advance of board meetings and
are easily available to the public

Perhaps the board could go
that extra mile and announce the
meetings in the newspaper prior to
its meeting, or find some other
satisfactory way of regularly in-
forming residents of the meetings

In any event, Castlegar parent
groups are heavily involved in
school affairs and usually have
representatives at the board
meetings

That means those represen
tatives — like anyone who attends
the meetings — have access to
school trustees ot least once a
month

But here again, the board
could go out of its way to en-
courage more participation by
parents and taxpayers. Mind you,
increased parental participation in
school attairs would mean greater
accountability on the part of
trustees. But would that be a bad
thing?

gs are readily
available here, though they won't
do anyone much good unless they
are a trustee; the meetings are
closed to the public.

The Castlegor board feels
trustees are better able to speak
their minds at the committee level
without having what they say
reported in the.media or passed on
by parents

That kind of attitude is tine
with personnel and property issues

both sensitive areas which
require delicate handling.

But surely debates over fun-
ding tor programs such as Russian
Immersion should be heard in
public, even if they are heated

Letters to the Editor

If open c 9
aren't possible the board should
publish minutes detailing commit.
tee recommendations and reasons
for the decisions, and touch on
those recommendations at the
regular board meetings

Not only would that ensure
the public and press are aware of
the committee recommendations,
it would make doubly sure trustees
who aren't members of the com.
mittee know what has taken place

To the local board's credit, it
has a question period at the end of
each regular board meeting
Sometimes the question periods
might appear useless — especially
when no one asks anything or
when there aren't any members of
the public in attendance

But the periods are essential
They allow the public access to the
board in a formal setting and the
question and responses are on
record.

Finally, the Castlegar board
doesn't have any problem with in
put from its employees. Mike
Rodgers, Castlegar and District
Teachers’ Association president
has said a number of times he is
pleased with the board's co
operation and openness with
teachers.

The board deserves credit for
going out of its way to make sure
employees are involved in the
decision-making

Fred
Merriman

An area gas station attracted my
attention with a sign reading 46.8
cents per litre. This was a full
service facility at that
price it seemed only fair to wait on
myself,

The owner appeared shortly
after the valuable fuel began to flow
into my car. Sometime later — with
the register reading $30 and my
casual comment remarking that
perhaps the tank had a hole — the
owner quietly advised me that his
gross profit on the transaction was
64 cents. Increduously, I looked him
in the eye for confirmation that in
deed he was speaking the truth

Doesn't sound fair does it?” he
asked. “At 46.8 cents for regular
gasoline my gross profit is 2.5 per
cent. Most of your $30 goes to
government

In due course my dilapidated
Mercury and I journeyed on with
my parting comment: “You have my
sympathy and understanding.”

Then it occurred to me that we
can all do something about that kind
of unfairness. We should all ask and
insist that all governments disclose
the amount of tax included at every
price level and let that tax be
reported separately through the
retail price

However,

Most of us are unaware of the
hidden nature of taxes paid at the
import level or contained in man
ufacturing and wholesale prices. It
is also interesting to note that éach
level of tax is compounded by the
manufacturer, wholesale or retail
merchant's markup. _

Some oil companies have taken
out advertisements or printed cards
reporting the breakdown of our

# a
\
\ 4

dollars spent at the pump. You may
observe that these advisory notes
appear only rarely

We suggest that pressure was
brought to bear by the various
taxing authorities to let the sleeping
dog continue to rest in the noon day
sun while the wily and stealthy
pussycat makes off with his dinner.

Beating the tax man

individuals taking advantage of what
has become known as the “under-
ground economy”, and the shift has”
produced an estimated $50-billion
worth of income on which governments
aren't collecting taxes.

Simply put, the underground
economy is that murky system that
includes, among thousands of other
examples, the taxes not paid by
waiters or waitresses who don’t report
the full extent of their tips. Or the
plumber who moonlights after hours
and gets paid in cold, hard, unreported
cash.

Indeed, in the broadest sense of
the term, the underground economy
includes everyone who receives money
for handling tasks large and small, but
doesn't report the income to the tax
collector.

The reason for the seeming
increase in the underground network?

Canadians are now paying 40 per cent
or more of their income in taxes and
many feel:they are being ripped off. So
they fail to report some of the cash
they earn, believing they are morally
justified because the goverment will
only waste the extra tax dollars
anyway.

They fully understand the practice
is illegal, but the underground ec-
onomy devotees are able to point to

specific projects where governments -

are tossing away large chunks of

They may wonder why Ottawa's
top civil servants are worth upwards of
$110,000 per year, while their coun-
terparts in the United States get only
$72,000. Or why those who deliver the
mail are able to earn $25,000 per year,
while they are paid less, even though
they. may be, better educated and
harder workers.

People working in the under-
ground economy read about the banks
and other major companies paying 10

CENTRAL AMERICA

to 20 per cent of profits in taxes, when
they feel the rate should be 50 per cent
or 80.

They also hear stories about the
few hundred Canadians who pay no tax
at all, even though they earn more than
$100,000 per year. (That's known as
good tax planning.)

What's sad is that the voluntary
tax reporting system that has served
us so well over the years is being
eroded each time an individual fails to
pay tax, even on a few extra dollars
worth of income.

Such individuals are wrong when
they break the law. But they do have a
point when they talk about wasteful
government spending.

It has become clear that govern-
ments do spend « lot of taxpayer
dollars . peedleasly,
general after another has noted.But
that still doesn’t justify tax evasion,
which is really what we are talking
about.

Economies in ruin

Editor's Note: A U.S. study commis
sion on Central America has recom
mended a five-year, $8-billion program
of economic aid to the region. This
story, the first of two, describes some
of the major economic problems be
setting Central America.
By STEPHEN ADDISON

MEXICO CITY — The image of Cen
tral America as an unstable collection
of gun-happy banana republics contin
ue and economists gay it is one of the
main reasons for the region's woeful
financial condition.

It has discouraged foreign investors
and bankers and recuced the flow of
tourists to a trickle

“It is a vicious circle,” Amilear San.
tamaria, Honduran chief government
spokesman, said in an interview.

“They stay away because they think
we are al} ving in a climate of terror,

of,

Perhaps the debate is
ad nauseam, nevertheless, as many
beseech the government to solve
our many problems with the 48.9
per cent of our gross incomes they
now quietly take, this particular
writer takes the view that we would
be better off if the money remained
in our hands from the start.

Most of us could offer several
good ideas about what we would do
with a raise in income equivalent to
more than 50 per cent. We would
probably spend more. That would
create more jobs.

Labor wrestles with manage.
ment and management ~questions
the productivity of labor. While
these formidable adversaries have it
out, the silent, paternal government
pussycat claws away nearly 50 per
cent of our gross incomes.

It must often oceur to the casual
observer that the participants have
been so busy playing the game that
they haven't noticed the referee
making money during the game.

It seems fair to me that the
referee should at least diselose all
the rules of the game and the fees
that are being collected for imposing
and enforcing those rules.

We should not hold our breath
waiting for the various taxing
authorities to disclose any more
than they think expedient.

but the . of their
foreign exchange turn worse and this
in turn ledds t6 te political unrest.”

A report by, a U.S. bipartisan com
mission headed by Henry Kissinger
said last January the fast drop in Cen.
tral American economies ‘contributed
to political tensions. It recommended
an $8&billion, five-year emergency
stabilization program for the region
but acknowledged that even if it were
successful, per capita wealth in 1990
would only be three-quarters of what it
was in 1980.

Of the five main countries in the re-
gion, Guatemala, El Salvador, Hon-
duras and Costa Rica are pro-United
States while Nicaragua is an avowed
foe.

The Nicaraguan revolution in 1979
coincided with an upsurge of the civil
war in El Salvador and the end of a
period of relative prosperity for Cen-
tral America.

They cut back on imports, narrowing
the gap in their growing trade deficits,
but depriving all sectors of the econ
omy of vital components.

Farmers and industrialists who
wanted to import fertilizers or spare
parts received the same answer: no
dollars available.

Economies began to stagnate and
state revenue from taxes on once-
thriving business and exports shrank.
Governments, mindful of a saying in
the volatile region that every jobless
person is a potential guerrilla, were
unwilling to cut back on spending.

More money was going out than
coming in, both in the external trade
account and the internal budget.

As the countries lost money, so did
their people. Since 1980, inflation-ad
justed per capita income has fallen 6.6
per cent in Honduras, the region's
weakest economy, and 8.1 per cent in
Guatemala, the strongest.

‘Investors stay away
because they think we
are living ina climate

of terror’

The fall was worse elsewhere: 12.4
per cent in Nicaragua, 14.8 per cent in
Costa Rica, the most peaceful country
in the area, and 19.3 per cent in the
most war-torn, El Salvador.

The drop in personal income ag-
gravated day-today hardships and
emphasized the glaring inequality in
‘wealth distribution, economists say.

U.S. dollars are still available to
those who can afford them, but the
shortage of foreign exchange has led to
a widespread and tangled system of
official, parallel and black market rates
throughout Central America.

In Ni

grew #t an average of about six per
cent in the face of steady world demand

products while their ofl bills and debt

pay rose fast.

gua, the official exch

rate stands at 10 cordobas to a dollar,
but the black market offers up to 100.
In the other countries, black market
premiums over the official rate range
from nine to 70 per cent.

‘The U.S. dollar shortage has dealt «
heavy blow to trading within Central

for Economie Integration, an indepen-
dent body, put the 1963 trade total at

about $750 million, a drop of 30 per cent
from 1982.

Foreign economists see Nicaragua as
the worst hit because of its inability to
secure U.S. aid and the reluctance of
agencies like the International Mone-
tary Fund and the World Bank to lend
to the Marxist Sandinista government.

The value of Managua’s trade with
the four other common market coun
tries has dropped 61 per cent over the
last two years, secretariat figures
show.

The economists say there is little

chance of improvement as long as U.S.
backed rightist Nicaraguan rebels con
tinue their campaign of economic sabo-
tage.
The direct cost of rebel activity such
as replacing blown-up bridges or
wrecked coffee-processing plants has
been estimated at about $50 million for
Nicaragua, and $850 million for E] Sal
vador’s four-year civil war.

But economists say that in both cases
the cost is far outweighed by the ex
pense of maintaining the country on a
war footing and diverting productive
labor into the security forces.

(Reuter)
NEXT: Long-term outlook

Please address all Letters
to the Editor to: The
Castlegar News, P.O.Box
3007, Castlegor, B.C. VIN
3H4, or deliver them to our
office at: .197 Columbia
Avenue, Castlegar, B.C.

as one auditer:

?

H

Fe
sf

lene Robertson and Ann scoring 62 and
57.
“2° 6
The Castlegar Clippers are still in
first place in the junior ball league.
They defeated Kinnaird at Kinnaird
Sunday with a score of 42. Floyad
Boettger of the Clippers was on the
mound for the full game.

A petition signed by local business-
men calling on the village to control the
issuing of trade licences was read at
the regular meeting of the Castlegar
council Tuesday night and was filed.

. 2 «6

Kinnaird residents use more water
per capita than any other community in
B.C., D.A. Whelen of Associated En-
gineers told a public forum meeting in
Kinnaird Tuesday night. The
was held to discuss the village's
$177,000 waterworks extension bylaw
which will be voted on Monday.

* 8 «

Tenders for construction of a six-mile
link in the Kinnaird-Christina Lake
section of the Southern Transprovin-
cial highway will be called within five
weeks.

The disclosure was made in a tele
gram from Premier W.A.C. Bennett to
Rossland-Trail MLA Donald L.
Brothers, who said he fully anticipates
the new route will be in operation by
1961.

. 8 @

Jimmy Lamont was installed as new
president of the Castlegar Rotary Club
at a social evening last night at the
Skylark in Trail.

* 8 «6

The Robson post office moved to its
new premises Monday. Although it is
not yet completed, Robson postmaster
Jim Leamy opened his new post office
Monday to serve the more than 200
persons getting their mail at Robson.

The new post office is located half-
way between the old post office, which
was located at the East Robson Store
and the Robson Community Church.

15 YEARS AGO
From the July 10, 1969
News
Increased traffic at a freightways
terminal located near the Kinnaird post
office has grown to the extent where
town council termed it “a
inconvenience to the people.”
* 8 6

The heating system has now been
installed and is now in operation at Bob
Brandson Memorial Pool at Kinnaird.

. 8 8

The Castlegar Cloverleafs baseball
team was awarded the runners
trophy in the Panhandle Shrine Club
Babe Ruth tournament held at Sand-
point, Idaho last weekend.

. 28 «@

Al Harvey, a former member of the
Castlegar Kiwanis Club who was a
teacher at SHSS here, has been named
president of the North Vancouver
Kiwanis Club.

e 8 6

Funeral services were held this
morning for well-known and highly
respected businessman Lloyd Walter
Ackney, 53, of Kinnaird, who died
suddenly Monday.

He was manager of the Mitchell

Rebels, have a new coach. Ed Wyatt, a
player with Trail Smoke Esters for 10
years, is new coach of the team.

7 @ e

Skylab, which plunged to earth yes
terday morning, has a way of affecting
the lives of those who may not have
otherwise given the incident much
thought.

Several Pacific Western flights, in-
cluding one to Castlegar Airport yes
terday morning from Vancouver, were
eateolled because of Skylab’s re-entry,

Cantin said there is no
sign of any recurrence of
the cancer which forced
amputation of Fonyo's left
leg 10 centimetres above
the knee when he was 12.

“People were worried
Steve was suffering the
same problem that afflict
ed Terry Fox,” said Cantin.
“But that is not the case.”

Fonyo made it as far as
the town of Riviere-du
Loup in eastern Quebec
one week ago before taking
time out to visit Montreal
where he spent the early
years of his life.

SCHOOL INQUIRY
FINDS PROBLEMS

A commission of inquiry has found that recent problems
in the Lillooet school district “stem from management and
governance practices that are inappropriate by contem
porary standards.”

The commission recommends a number of changes in
practices and policies of the Lijlooet school board and sug
gests that it combine its three top administrative positions
into one.

The commission was appointed by the B.C. Teachers’
Federation but operated independently and without direc
tion by the BCTF. The Lillooet school board declined the
BCTF's invitation to appoint a member to the commission
and refused to participate in its investigation

The commission was appointed on requests from the
Lillooet Committee of Concerned Parents and the Lillooet
Teachers’ Association. Those requests were prompted in
part by the dismissal of David Singh, a probationary
teacher, on April 24. No reason for the firing has been given
by the school board.

The commission said it heard much testimony about the
Singh case, but that it was unable to comment on the master
because it is now before the court. Singh is suing the school
board and the editor of the local newspaper.

The commission said it also heard presentations both
critical and supportive of the school board. Two petitions
signed by educators and parents said that they “have been
treated justly and fairly” by the board.

But the commission's analysis indicated nine areas of

1 i and y practice that

need correction.

It said both supporters and critics agree that the board
“runs a closed shop with minimal input from either the
public or its employees. The board's supporters see nothing
wrong with this but the critics see it as a kind of “family
compact.”

The board does not publish its agendas or the dates of
its committee meetings. It has no regular question period
and allows public input for only half an hour twice a year.

The commission says the school district is “over-admin
istered and under-serviced.” The district, which as only
1,052 students, has a superintendent of schools, a director of
instruction, and a secretary-treasurer, who earn a total of
$154,712 a year.

The commission says the three jobs should be handled
by one person and the money saved should be put into school
services.

The two commissioners were Carol Pickup, vice-chair.
person of the Greater Victoria School Board, and Dr
Norman Robinson, professor of education administration at
Simon Fraser University.

bet,

&,.

GET DOWN! . . . Breakdancing

demonstration was put on at arena complex this

week for local youths. Event was part of Castlegor Recreation Commission's sum

mer program.

CosMews Photo by Ryon Wilson

Steelworker leader
ordered reinstated

TORONTO (CP) — A court
ruling upholding the rein-
statement of a union local

it was an unwarrant-
ed judicial interference in
union affairs, say two top
officers of the United Steel-
workers of America.

Lynn Williams, interna
tional union president, said
Ontario Supreme Court “sub-
stituted its judgment for that
of the union” in dismissing
a union appeal of the rein
statement of Cec Taylor,
president of Local 1005 in
Hamilton.

Taylor lost his job last
August in a 65-64 vote at a
membership meeting of the
local 1005, Canada’s largest
Steelworkers local with
10,000 members. The inter
national union upheld the

VSE stock prices

VANCOUVER (CP) —
Prices were down in light
trading Friday as the gold
oriented Vancouver Stock
Exchange felt the effects of
plummetting gold prices. Vol-
ume at the close was
7,343,462 shares.

Of issues traded, 103 ad
vanced, 315 declined and 378
were unchanged. The VSE
index was 970.17, down 13.70
from Thursday's close.

Gold prices dropped more
than $20

In the industrials, Bank of
Nova Scotia Preferred A re-
mained at $25 3/8 on 100,000,
International Medical rose
05 to $1.45 on 35,000, B.C.
Resources fell .05 to $3.10 on
14,070 and MMC Video One
Canada dropped .05 to $2 on
4,800. Woodwards A was
steady at $12'/ and Datel In-
dustries declined .05 to $1.55.

On the resource board,
Ramm Venture fell 51 to
$2.30 on 239,400, Zenco Re
sources dropped .04 to .66 on

131,500 declined. Pezamerica
warrants B fell .18 to $1.56
and Zytee Computers ad-
vanced .06 to $1.43.

On the development board,
ZEP Energy warrants B
gained .01 to .08 on 151,000,
Asitka Resources climbed .02
to $2.26 on 129,900.

A.M. Wheels is pleased

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estimate on Septic
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two-year

Last month an Ontario Su-

preme Court judge ruled
Taylor had been treated un
fairly and should get his job
back immediately. And ano-
ther Supreme Court judge
ruled Wednesday the union
could not appeal the rein
statement.

“The decision (dismissing
the union appeal) causes me
grave concern about whether
our union really can set the
standard of conduct touching
upon own own internal af
fairs,” Williams said

“The fact that our request
to appeal was refused says to
me that the court simply does
not understand how a union
works, or the lengths that we
go to be fair and to assure
honesty, responsibility and
democracy in the administr:
tion of all of our local unions.”

Williams said Taylor was
found guilty of three viola.

tions of the union’s consti.
tution in an interna! trial and
appeal procedure.

Williams, of Toronto, is the
former director of the Steel-
workers’ Ontario district.

Skelly
blasts .
Socreds _

VANCOUVER (CP) —
British Columbia has a gov-
ernment that has stopped
listening to the people of the
province, New Democratic
Party Leader Bob Skelly said
Saturday.

Skelly was addressing
some 500 people who gather
ed in a park for a rally
sponsored by Operation Soli
darity

Skelly told the crowd that
the province needs a gov.
ernment that is willing to lis.
ten to British Columbians
and that will recognize the
plight of the unemployed.

Earlier, Art Kube, presi.
dent of the B.C. Federation of
Labor, said the Social Credit
government, which he des.
cribed as “socially barbaric,”
has completely mismanaged
the economy

Meantime, the president of
the Employers’ Council of
B.C. said in an interivew that
the budget of last July 7 was
not a disaster.

Jim Matkin rejected crit-
icism that the document has
led to massive unemploy
ment, saying the bulk of the
jobless are being affected by
poor resource markets over-
seas

CO

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IND)

featuring

INVESTMENT & TAX PLANNING SEMINAR

Planning for Retirement ¢ Income and Personal Taxes
© Dividend Tax Credit © High Yield Gov't Bonds
¢ Equity Opportunities

Castlegar — Fireside Inn
Saturday, July 21, 1 p.m.

Reserve your place at this seminar or arrange for
a private appointment by contacting
Erik Anderson or John Carter at (604) 683-1181 or by
writing Nesbitt Thomson Bonga:
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 4N7

, 650 West Georgia,

FREE and without obligation, I would like to

know more about:

A. Seventh-day Adventists and what they believe
B. Why Adventists worship on Saturday

Adventist Information Ministries

I
3
4
5

C. Christ's soon return

D. Righteousness by
E. Prophecy
F. Creation

Ta as ET
Address

City

Postal Code: —____

faith and forgiveness of sin

would also like:

Location of a Seventh-day Adventist Church in my area

A personal visit from a Christian in my area

To have sémeone study the Bible with me in my home

To study the Bible but prefer to do it on my own. Please

enroll me in a Bible correspondence course
Prayer

] Other (Specify)

Seventh-day Adventist

Church in Canada
1148 King St. East
Oshawa, Ontario

L1H 1H8

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