The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6-mse Canedian Champion, Friday May 9, 1997 **'OPINION Box 248, 191 Main St. E. The t;anadian Champion, published twice weekly at 191 Main St> E, Milton, Ont., L91 4N9 (Box 248), is one xf The Metroland Printing, Publislxxg & Distix Milton, Ont. L9T 4N9 butina Ltd. group of suburban companies which includes: Aas I Pickering News (905 878 341 Advertiser; Alliston Herald/Courier; Barrie Advance; Brampton Guardian; (go5 878 2341 Burlington Pont; City Parent; Collingwood / Wasaga Connectlon; East York Fax: 876-2364 Mirror; Eobicoke Gaardian; Georgetown Independent/ Acton Free Press; Kingston This Week; Lindsay This Week; Markham Economisî & Son; Midland / Classified: 875-3300 Penetanguishene Mirror; Mississauga News; Newmarket I Aurora Era Banner; Northumberland News; North York Mirror; Oakville Beaver; Orillia Today; Ian Oliver Publisher Oshawa I Whitby I Claringon / Port Periy This Weelt; Peterborough This Week; Richimond Hui/TtiornhillI/ Vaughan Liberal; Scarboroagh Mirror; UxbridgeI Neil Oliver Asociate Publisher Stouffville Tribune; Today's Seniors. Davd Bos General Manager Advertising is accepted on the condition thaî, in the event of a typographical error, that portion nf the advertising space uccupied by te erroneous item, Rob Kelly Editor togeher with a reasonable allowance for signature, wiIl not be charged for, but Teri Casas Office Manager te balance ufthlIe advertisement will be paîd for at the applicable rate. The pub- Timn Coles ProductionManager lisher reserves the righî lu calegorize advertisîments or decline. Okay, I got the message and I'm better for lit Looking Back .. 0 When I was quite a bit younger, I had a phi- Iosopby Ibat 1 think 1 might bave picked up from a war movie. Don't volunteer for anything. Tb'en I had the misfortume of relating that par- ticular philosophy to my Iadyfriend, a person who volunteercd for practically everylling. "Why bother," I said. "Somebody else will always do it." She laid into me pretty bcavily, and within minutes my smug littie attitude changed into one of shame. What if everyone thought the same as you? Don't you think you have a responsibility to your kids and your community? How corne it's always the same people? If more people volun- teered, don't you tbink it would make it casier on everyone? Okay, okay, I got the message. Instead of wondering why people went to the trouble of volunteering, 1 started to watch how tbey did it because I wasn't quite comfortablc witb my ncwly-acquired feelings of responsibili- ty. One of the people I watched was Brian May, a man wbo recently passed ofStad0 away, much too young. He why pSitp1s was a volunteer. He coached my oldeut ttOubhof Yvo daugter's sofîbal îeam, stredt and as she noted, coacbed tjyddi almout everybody in Milton Iy4M at some time. aftque Brian was many thingu to wt yM many people, and I can't do justice to that fact in tbis fei small space. rso However insignificant I .......... was to him, he taught me sometbing meamingful. Y...... You see, tbrough him, over one summer, I discov- ered the secret to voluntecring. I don't know if be consciously knew tbat he knew the secret, but he did. Il was quite simple: He enjoyed what he was doing. At the time it was a revelation to me. Prior to tbat, volunteering your fimne for free and having fun at thc sarne time did not make an equation. Wbetber be was wise-cracking from tbe tird base coaching box or doing it in more subtie ways, one tbing was clear. He wasn't there because he had to be, he was there because be wantcd to be. one incident sticks out in my mind from that summer because it involvcd my oldest daughter. Brian had been tcacing ber how 10 pitch in practise, and she was doing pretty welI. Whcn she got ber chance to pitcb in a gante Vew Point for the firut time, howcver, she bombed big- time. She stood djectcdly on the pitching rubber, obviously quite upset, as he came to take her out. He said something to her and by the ime she was walking back to the bench she bad a big smile on ber face. LasI ycar, wbile coaching a girls rep team in Bolton, I had to take a pitcher out of a pressure- packed playoff game because she wasn't doing well. I didn't know what 10 say t0 ber, and wben she left the pitching mubbcr she was wondenng crying. went to the That wasn't particularly hD'~ fun for eitber ber or me, anS ig1 and it made me recaîl tbe wa" how incident witb Brian and my daugbter. bemuse 1 Tbe next ime I bad 10 CoMfbrffle remnove Uic saine girl from vly.aCUîred a game I was ready. "I'm going 10 take you kgs ofout," I bold ber. "But it's not your fault. If those play- ................. crs were all a foot taller, al 'OWUMthose pitches would be strekes. It's their parents fault." Sbe left smiùling. A couple years ago, I voluntcered to mmid the barbecue at a softball tournament. A two-bour sbift tumned mbt a l-bour shift wben thc orga- nizers couldn't find anyone cisc todo il. By the end of Uic day I was as bumnt as tbe hamburgers I cooked, but I still enjoyed it. I bad fun and feit useful aI the saine ime. Wbat could be better than that? One nigbî Uis week I got a cail from two dif- ferent coaches wbo asked if I would fill in for tbemn on the saine nigbt. One was a girls softball tearn in Milton and the other was a boys basebal teain in Bolton. I couldn't because I bad 10 work, but instead of feeling reicved Uiat I bad a ready excuse, as I would bave at one ime, I was disappointed. That's because one summer I learned the secret 10 volunteering. Tbanks, Brian. Trophy wlnners Scott Wilson and Darens Krantz displayed the awards they won ut the Ai-Ontario Karate Chumpionahips in December, 1976. Scott 100k first place in the junior green to brown bail: category while Drlene was third ln the women's kutu event. Here's the whole truth It's nice 10 geltbe wbole trutb. To several instances recently more detail on events would bave provided a clearer picture of the facts people were prescnting. For example, I recently stumbled across a local cable acceus show that gave Oakville Mayor Ano Mulvale, Burlinglon Mayor Rob Maclsaac and Flamborough Mayor Ted McMeekin an opportunity 10 talk about local govemment. I was stuooed by the lack of real hard-hitting queutions offered by the bost Ralph Robinson until I learned he's an Oakville councillor. Nobody mentioned tbat littie tidbit. Regional councillors arc running around trum- peting Uiat Uicy reduced tbeir portion of the tax bill by 4.6 per cent. On thc surface ils very corn- mendable. Tbey curse the provincial government because, despite tbir efforts, taxes in Halton will risc. Howcvcr, I wanted 10 know then, and I still want 10 know. Would Halton counicil bave agrced 10 a 4.6 per cent decrease in spcnding on existing pro- grams if tbcy wcre not pushed by thc provincial govemment lbrough Uic downloading exercise? So far, in conversations witb some council- lors, the answcr, off the record, is a resounding no. This is just as I suspected. Why won't anyoF corne ouI and say that publicly? Tbe culs were made in response 10 Uic provin- cial govemment foisling new responsibilities on local governments, wbicb forccd them 10 cul Uieir budgets 10 keep taxes from rising unaccept- ably. Il Is my contention that witboul Uic download- ing, municipal govemments would neyer bave cul their budgets. Period. I beieve that if you give a poitician or gov- emment moncy tbcy will find a way 10 spcnd il. Wîtness tbe current federal government, which is racking up surpluses but maintaîning bigb tax rates witbout reducing the country's overall debt. 0f course, some people complain Uiat lax culs Reaume with a b View benefit the icb. Howcvcr, in Icftist Ontario the tnith is the rich are detincd as those who can psy their rent on lime. Weilletc me just say, aI leasI these rich caro their money. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ALLOWING PEOPLE WHO EARN MONEY TO KEEP SOME 0F IT. At Uic same lime, I arn sympathctîc 10 some formn of minimum tax for individuals and corpo- rations. Another instance of n01 getting the whole story occurrcd recently aI town council. Councillor John Challinor paîîed bis col- Icagues on their backs for fiscal management aftcr reading a section of the recent Ontario bud- get document which claimcd well managcd municipalities like Milton were able 10 reduce taxes Ibis ycar. Weil, that's n01 the whole story. In actual facî, taxes in Milton are going Up, thanks 10 provincial downloading on Hallon Region which will push Uic average propcrty lax bill up about $138. Yes, Uic Milton portion of taxes decreased but only because of a buge provincial funding grant. To fact, the local portion of taxes could bave gone down even more tbanks 10 the provincial grant, but local council dccided 10 put some of Uiat extra money mbt a reserve fund raîber than reduce propcrty taxes a fcw dollars. I just Uiougbt you might ike 10 know.