Castlegar News December 1, 1990 ARROW LAKE ELEVATION 1439.92 ft. on Nov. 30 Forecast of Elevation 1439.92 ft. on Dec. 7 ECONO SPOTS You can save up to 80% on the cost of this ad! 365-5210 Dr. Keith Merritt and The Medical Clinic of Castlegar & Kinnaird are pleased to announce that DR. RANDY CLEVELAND Will be commencing GENERAL PRACTICE and ANAESTHESIA December 3, 1990 Phone 365-7717 or 365-7255 FOR APPOINTMENTS The 1 HOO 91 NAY NDAR ate the K fe ys all yearr * 12 glorious full-colour Kootenay scenes * 6 talented Kootenay photographers * English, German and Japanese captions * Year-round community event listings A POLESTAR PRESS CALENDAR At Gateway Gift Shop (Airport), Carl’s Drugs, Selkirk Couege , & fine stores the $12.95 PERSPECTIVES Students put on a winner By CasNews Staff A play performed by Stanley Humphries secondary school studen- ts was a success everywhere and for everyone, director Wendy Voykin said. Starting last Monday, The Riddle Machine's cast and crew visited two Castlegar district schools every day until Thursday, when they gave one final performance at Kinnaird Junior secondary school. “The response was oveér- whelming,’’ Voykin said. ‘There werre lineups for autographs. A new stagecraft course at SHSS provided the opportunity for 19 students to mount the production. Taught by Kirsten Apel, the course is designed to give students some ex- perience in the field of stage produc- tion. There are several colleges with diploma programs in B.C. and graduating students are virtually guaranteed employment, Voykin said. “‘There’s a real demand for technical people.’’ She said the students faced dif- ferent technical challenges at each school they visited, and had only one hour set-up time to deal with them. The set fell apart en route to one school. “It was really a challenge,,’’ she said, but added that the students “felt good and will try it again.”’ Fred Vigue, Matt Hample, Cari Jo Huscroft, Gavin Mealing, Christina Rowsell, Scott Saumure, Todd Smee and Alison White made up the cast and Dina Gauthier, Kirk Ismay, Kir- sten Mason, Ryan Schatz, Seanen Sharp, Sherry King, Teresa Potapoff, Donna Ferreira, Stephanie Stephens, Lisa Lebedow and Lisa Guglielmi made up the crew. Super- vising were teachers Voykin as direc- tor and Apel as technical director. Voykin said all the students gave input on the designs and creative ideas to the production. SUNDAY SHOPPING 1] a.m.-5 p.m. WANETA PLAZA, TRAIL Attention Doctors There will be an important meeting of all area members of the B.C. Medical Association Tuesday, December 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Fireside Place COLUMBIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Cari Jo Huscroft as Cara looks on while the robot in charge, played b Prepares to feed the other gers on board a sp Pp d by Stanley 1 Haagait Hample, in the play The Riddl y for local schools last week. le Machine, CosNews photo Beware of impulses now, credit experts warn By MURRAY. OXBY The Canadian Press. A festival of Christmas shopping can lead to a hangover of bills unless consumers control their spending, experts say. And with the recession taking a bite out of many families’ incomes, prudent money management is even more important this season “It’s easy when Christmas comes to put all the financial problems out of your head, because there are par- ties and some fun to be had,"’ says Lisa Sibalis, a credit counsellor in Winnipeg. ‘But when January comes, and it’s cold and dark, there are the problems.”” The difficulties of some of Sibalis’s clients at the Community Financial Counselling Services can be a warning to others “A lot of people are paying for Christmas in the spring. . . . If you overspend, it can stay with you through the following year.” “It’s the case more than ever to have a careful budget and stick to it,"” says Carla Straessle of the On- tario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations A Christmas budget should be drawn up after accounting for the usual expenses like utilities and rent or mortgage payments, the ministry suggests. The budget should list all Christmasexpenses — from cards and gifts to decorations and enter- tainment — plus 10 per cent for un- Action Ad Phone Number is 365-2212 ADVICE foreseen spending such as a last- minute gift Following a budget won't be easy, says Ted Lang, executive director of the Credit Counselling Service in Windsor, Ont “Be prepared to fail the first time because you'll forget something Take another try at it."’ People will have to resist’ the pressure to buy that is fostered by advertising and the ‘‘fairy-tale’’ ex. pectations of the season, Sibalis says. “It’s a matter of discipline. Rather than shop on a whim, decide ahead of time how much you're going to spend on each person and have some idea of what you're going to buy them."* Another option is to buy gifts just for the children in the family, or ex- change names so that each person buys and receives one gift, Sibalis suggests And don’t be ashamed to give a home-made gift rather than a store- bought one, says Lang. “It’s not necessary that you spend a lot of money on Christmas pur- chases, it’s whatis. behind it that counts."” jsp 5 Straessle says people should adopt the same good: shopping habits they would use any other time of year: compare prices, check warranties and ask about a store’s refund and ex- change policy if it isn’t posted The easiest way to lose control at Christmas is through the carefree use of a credit card, the experts warn “Credit is probably the greatest thing ever invented, but it’s a terrible master if it’s abused,"’ Lang says. “Shop as carefully on credit as you do with cash. Statistics will tell you that charge card users spend more than people who buy things with cash."" The recession -has led more families to overuse their cards and forget that ‘somebody has to pay the piper,’’ Lang says. He suggests that people who can’t pay off their credit card debts within a few months replace them with a loan from a financial institution at an interest rate several points lower than that on the card. At the Bank of Montreal, for example, the rate charged on credit card balances was 21 per cent in late November. The lowest personal loan rate was 13.5 per cent for a secured personal line of credit. Debtors facing a cash crunch this season may be allowed by their creditor to make an_ interest-only Payment or defer a payment to January, says Lang. “They're tacking a bigger payment at the end, but that way the loan is still considered up to date and the creditor is not going to be on your back.”” Bank representatives say the con- ditions under which a loan will be renegotiated depend on the in- dividual. “We would be fairly generous if it is a first-time request and he has been with us for a while,’’ said Ed Bougard, vice-president of personal lending at the Royal Bank. You Don't To Eat At... Have to Fly Castlegar's Newest Gift Shop The Gateway PIE IN THE SKY COUNTRY STYLE BREAKFASTS DAILY SPECIALS FRESHLY MADE SANDWICHES BORSCHT & BREAD HOME MADE SOUPS FRESH BAKED MUFFINS & PIES EATINOR TAKE OUT! ASK 7 OUR CATERING + 365-8211 HOURS: Mon.-Fri 7:30 0.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 9.a.m.-3:30 p.m Sun. 10.4.m.-4 p.m | Choose trom a selection of Kokanee T-shirts. Reg. $22.00 Home Brewed in the Kootenays Kokanee Glacier /Pilsener Have One for the Mug Wump Kootenay Boys 365-2788 =