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

Rodeo a big bust Help available By IRENE GENTLE The Champion A recent report shows it wasn't just the cowboys who go( thrown as the Millennium Rodeo, held as the Country Heritage Park ini Jase July. The Town also took a dive when the event landed witb a $17,500 loss. The western affair was held to raise funds for Multon's planned millennium garden, as well as simply celebrate the year 2000. Hosted by the millennium committee, the rodeo received a rocky ride belore passing as council, with some counicillors wor- rying it wouldn't be able to pay is buis, much less raise money. "I quessioned somte of the numbers that came out and unfortu- nately, 1 was right," said Councillor Rick Malboeuf ai Monda,'s Town Council meeting. "An $1 8,000 loss to me doesn't look suc- cessful." The event, whicb was beset with fouI, rainy weather on its sec- ond and last day, scraped up close to $11.000 in admission fees alone. 'Mat was bolstered by about $1.700 each from the on-site beer garden and evening dance revenues. Sponsorships from Mohawk Raceway, Look TV and others further filled the coffers. Overail, the rodeo eamned, $26.500. But $44,000 in expenses led to a $17,500 overai sbortfall. Mr. Malboeuf noted Council should have known there would be a deficit from the experience of the Lion's Club, which brought the rodeo to town in the past. "Because of a bad decision of council, we lose $17,500 and nobody wants to talk about it," he said. "I hope counicit Ieamned a lesson from this." The only other comment came from Councillor Ron Furik, who spoke directly after Mr. Malboeuf. "Your worship, ditto," he said. Confidential tutoring is available to Milton adults. The North Halton Literacy Guild offers small group classes or one-on- one tutoring for people who need help with reading, writing, spelling and basic math or computers. Cail 873-2200 to register. The Canadian Champion, Friday, November 3, 2000 - 13 se50Otaio. S.Uio. 7-28 ___j