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ReadersWrATp E-mail your letters to editonal@niltoncanadianchamnpion.om. A tough but necessary decision DEAR EDITOR: Car owners are often faced with a difficult decision - do I pour more money into repairs or buy a new vehicle? St. Paul's United Church is faced with the same dilemma about its building. Our sanctu- ary, built in the 1890s, needs sig- nificant repair and our Christian education wing - dating from 1964 - is woefully inadequate for our needs. However, an even more fun- damental issue has been the focus of debate at St. Paul's. How do we extend our Christian ministry into the com- munity and beyond? The conclusion that our membership has reached is that we can't do so if our entire focus revolves around maintaining our present building. Although we, like most of the town, regret that our historic sanctuary must be dismantled, a majority of our congregation have decided that it's time to stop pouring money into our aging facility. We have been reluctant to debate this issue in the press, but we feel that it's important to fully explain St. Paul's position. Here are some facts that have helped us to make our decision after almost three years of study and reflection. Our largest expense after salaries is establishment costs. The cost of maintaining, repair- ing, cleaning and heating a large space thats not used to its full capacity is an ongoing drain to our budget. We're unable to do many Christian outreach proj- ects because so much of our finances are directed toward the building. And then there's the cost of repairs. A 2007 report estimated the cost of bringing our building up to basic standards ai $1.85 million. This would do little to improve the functionality of our building. The development proposal to build a seniors' life-lease resi- dence and a new, smaller church facility will accomplish several things, including: • It will reduce the cost of maintaining our aging building and free up funds for more extensive and effective Christian outreach. • The resale of the units will provide St. Paul's with a contin- uing revenue stream we can use for further outreach projects. • A multi-functional space will allow us to have different worship styles and use our building more effectively. • We will be fully accessible to those with disabilities. It has always been the inten- tion of St. Paul's to save as many heritage items as is realistically possible. We have a committee that's tasked with determining whether the stained-glass win- dows, organ, bell tower, memo- rial items, corner stones and other artifacts can be saved and incorporated into the new building. It's also our intention to con- struct an architecturally-pleas- ing building that will continue to reflect the commitment of the United Church to Milton. We're empathetic to the concerns that have been expressed by the church's neighbours. So when a petition is circu- lated around town asking for signatures to "save the sanctu- ary," the real issue is whether the congregation of St. Paul's should be busy maintaining a large building that no longer meets our needs or whether we should be fulfilling our Christian calling to carry out the work of the United Church of Canada by reaching out to those who seek God's love and sup- port. KATHY SELLERS, CHAIR ST. PAUL'S UNITED CHURCH COUNCIL Time to toss toad out or start dissection • from LEGISLATURE on page A6 took up this past budget. Other measures announced by the Province include reducing large corporation income tax to 10 per cent from 14 (Chudleigh advocates a deep- er slash), cutting small business corporate taxes to 4.5 per cent from 5.5, and eliminating both the capital tax on business investment and the small business deduction surtax. The intent of all this is to reduce the marginal effective tax rate to about 18.6 per cent next July, less than the OECD average, from the current 32.8 per cent. The METR is a measure of the disincentive to investment - the higher it is, the less businesses get out of new investments. This is the toad thats on the table then - ugly on the surface but with complex innards. It's time for the Tories to decide if they want to simply toss it aside or start dissection. Woman fatally burned in morning fire; maid saves 5-month-old baby Time Capsules' are gems of infor- mation extractedfrom past issues of the Champion and other publications in order to provide a window into Milton's past. Explanatory comment is sometimes provided to place the situa- tion in context. May 1913 Just before 7 a.m. on Monday a domestic employed by Mr. And Mrs. R.B. Galbraith was at work in the basement of their house, heard lier mistress screaming in a bedroom upstairs, ran up and found Mrs. Galbraith standing in the room with her clothing in a blaze, and lier baby lying on the bed. The girl snatched up the baby and added her screams to those of Mrs. Galbraith. Mr. and Mrs. Ej. Wilson, who live next door, ran in, and as they could see 1o rug in which to wrap the sufferer, picked her up, carried her downstairs, put lier into a sink, turned on the water and rolled lier in it until there was no sign of fire. Fire broke out in the bedroom and the alarm was given, but before the brigade reached the scene Alex. Armstrong and Fred Maxted extin- guished the flames with water from buckets. Mrs. Galbraith was rushed to a Guelph hospital by the 8:45 a.m. C.PR. train. She is very badly burned from her waist down and is in a crit- ical condition. The woodwork in the bedroom was charred and the furni- ture and bedding were destroyed. Later her death was reported at Guelph Hospital. She was survived by lier husband and three children. The Halton-Peel Baseball League, Milton, Georgetown, Acton and Brampton was organized. Milton was represented by Robert Fleming and N. Ryder. Milton will have a better ground than ever. It will be that in Livingston Park, used last year, but it has been leveled, the work being fin- ished off by the use of a road roller. Mr. Livingston has been good Milton Capsules . enough to give the club the use of the ground for the coming season in con- sideration of the work done on it. He to have the use of it for games played by excursionists visiting the park. Arthur Norrington's new ice cream parlor opened yesterday. Though the weather was cold the parlor was crowded. Good music was played by the Milton Orchestra. For sale. A large siche gas machine (used only three evenings) and two thousand feet of pipe-all suitable for farm, house and outbuildings. Price about one-third of cost. Apply to T.C. Livingston, Milton. Messrs. R.M. Dowling and Wm. Maddocks have gone into partner- ship as Dowling & Maddocks, and have secured the old foundry build- ing, last occupied by Chas. Bundy, where they will do general black- smithing. Special attention paid to lame and interfering horses, road, truck and carriage horses. Morgan Crewson says he has not given up hope for a good oil strike here, as so far the drilling has been done in a haphazard way, not in spots located by the use of the divining rod. He got a fresh supply of oil land leases on Monday and may be expected to use the rod with which he is an expert. This matenal is assembled on behal of the Milton Historical Society byJim Dills, who can be reached through the society at (905) 875-4156 I |" " P•Machnery Dmo Kids Scavengerif.nt & PrizesT Co Mritage Park is oen ail ear for school da is. youth prrams co orate events, weddings, group tours & facility rentals. Cail for details or email infocountyherita ark.com