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

Relief for qUake families As you know My is presently recov- erlu (to. an. of the worst earthquakes since the mitrtmes. Death tolls climb to nearly "OW, M settlements were levelled. hundreds were reported Injured“ more than 100.” people left homeless. The quake struck in the northeastern, the poorest section of Turkey. " an altitude of 3,000 feet. The plight of many ut these people is almost hopeless " winter sets in. . HereintheWaterlooregiontheTurkish Cultural Association has established a temporary bank account speeitleaily for earthquake victims. The total donations will be transferred to a central account in Turkey by December 30. 1983. Please help the “Turkish Earthquake Relief Fund", account number: Ill-502 652 at any Canada Trust branch. or send your donation to the Turkish Cultural Associa- lion. PO. Box 2511. Station "B", Kitchen- er, Ont., N2H 6M9. Occasionally. the Government agrees to consider a Private Member's Bill. This happened early in October. Agreement has now been reached to provide the Voluntary Sector with a formal parliamentary forum. Discussion can focus changes sought to enrich the 'priceless' contribu~ (ion of voluntary groups to the quality of life in Canada. Sodety", to the Standing Committee on Finance, Trade and Economic Affairs. 'Ne Committee now has a mandate to call witnesses and hear testimony on tax and other measures the national leaders of voluntary and charitable agencies have for years been pressing the Government to imp|ement. Issues that can be manned in- The dohrnment agreed to refer the subject matter of my Private Member's Bill C-233: “An Act to Encourage the we Says review of BCI play too critical clinic: I feel compelled to write in response to the article in the Chronicle Nov. 9 issue regarding Bluevale collegiate’s play "You Can't Take It With You." r iU reporter who wrote the article. and I use the word "reporter" in a loose manner, is printed " Coral Andrews. Ms. Andrews seems to have been carried away by her own importance. The young adults who took part in Bluevale's production. gave an ex- cellent performance. They are not members of a Little Theatre or any other group in that category. They are students who worked very hard. while keeping up their academic obligations, to act the very best they could. Ms. Andrews seems to think they should be criticized rather than en- couraged and for that reason has made a group of sensitive students very un- happy. _ _ - A. I am a mother of one of those young people. and speaking for most of the parents I'm sure, I'm very proud of their effort and enjoyed every minute of the play. _ A retraction of this idiotic article would maybe ease some of the damage done by this lady but a scolding from Ms. Andrews' superior could maybe prevent her from discouraging other students who will again "next year" give of their time and talent to entertain family and friends. a) “allowable charitable activity'. as interpreted by Revenue Canada; b) the Finance Minister's discussion paper on 'te-ed changes in disburse- ment rules for Charitable Agencies and WALTER McLEAN M. [any Kama, Preside-I. Kitchener. on. Waterloo. Ont. the disabled tion under Canada's lava became their riatttaastm-ttetr-dteatiertet," TSsisaetettxtanttt-ttet1tttte, Federal Committee on the Disabled and the Handicapped entitled Obstacles“. The report forms a central reftgeoee point for a study we are conducting. We are looking into existing or 'teo-ed action (for instance. municipal by-lavs. transportation arrangements. building access. etc). which might enable disabled persods to - inore readily participate in main-stream aetivities within our eommo- We are interested in hearing from concerned persons with respect to ob stacks encountered by disabled men. women. and children. We would also like to know whether you have noticed any change in attitudes towards disabled people. If you have any concerns about what's not being done. or comments about what "is being done, we would be very happy to hear hom you. Please contact us at the following address: Graduate Stu- dent Workshop, School of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Water- loo, Waterloo. ter, 3GI. Gives credit to trustees for caring I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Waterloo Chronicle for printing my letter of October 19, 1983 Ire: School Bus Service for Breezewood). Our Subdivision is extremely pleased with the decision of the School Board at their October no meeting. to provide school bus service for our children from Kinder- garden to the end of Grade 3. Any fears I had that the trustees might be unflexible and unreceptive to what we felt was a unique problem for our Subdivision were quickly dispelled. All of the trustees and in particular, the Water- loo trustees, seemed to care very much about the well-being of our children. Hats'ott to all of them for recognizing our unique problem and for granting busing for our young children, within their transportation guidelines. "tiiv"i/eredit thre credit is due. people cared when it counuiq; - . c) the 'Give and Take' tax proposal of the National Voluntary Organizations. These may seem very technical matters. and somewhat removed from the delivery t the services of Canada's 3 million blunteers. But they have a direct bearing on the ability to identify and encourage the answering of social, cultural, religious and health care needs of Canadians. Here are some examples from our own area .... % The Waterloo Minor Soccer Club has been asked by the City of Waterloo to raise part of the funds for new facilities for the 1400 boys and girls currently participating. Together with the Community Services Department of the City, the Club worked out the details of a nine-stage scheme which received City Council approval in March. [$2. it then applied to the Federal Government for registration as a charita- ble agency in order to issue income tax receipts (or donations to its hmd-raising efforts. At this point. Club President Jim Ford ran smack up against the my (ace of bureaucratic regulation. The department Foundations; and Bill Alexander, Chairman, Bream.“ Estates Busing Committee Beth Home” A. liquor“ B. Heme-s Volunteer aid For some. Saturday’s Santa Claus parade generated a woulerlul hell-g - thataenaeofChrlstmulnthealr.the time to begin celebrating the festive season. For others. however, mid-November is a trifle early to begin the merrlmeut. Though the parade folk are hardly the villain in the overall scheme, many people feel that as each year passes. the true spirit of Christmas sinks further and further into the cesspool of commer- eiaberrploitation. of National Revenue refused the request. Theyannounced: "the promotion of any particular sport is not a charitable pur- pose." The Chief of the Department's Charitable and Non-Profit Organizations Section concluded that, "... since the Club is constituted to carry on its activities primarily in the City of Waterloo, it cannot qualify ... as promoting amateur athletics in Canada on a nation-wide basis." The Club is referred to the authority of the Income Tax Act. but "charitable pur- poses" are not defined in the Act! The discussion paper issued by Finance Minister Marc Lalonde last May, entitled "Charities and the Canadian Tax Sys- tem", met with solid criticism from the Wilfrid Laurier University Development Fund officers. They make many points against the bureaucratic proposals to lump the country‘s 47,000 individual chari- It really is a touchy subject. Hell, I thought it was great last Saturday, a eoWerisp morning. out bundled on King Street listening to bands play traditional favorites, watching the sparkle in youngsters' eyes. The date on the calendar didn't bother me. Yet on the other hand I'm also more than mined at a few of the activities that have been present the past few weeks as well. Some of it is enough to make your skin crawl. table agencies" together with the Inge corporate and family-run foundations. (The rmtutrg8 paper-burden. alone. creat- ed by such muddled thinking would crush the avenge agency! ) ...0ne maior charge that I believe must be addressed by the i suppose it began years ago when department store giants led us down the path by distributing their cherished Christmas catalogues in late October, giving parents a full two months to listen to the rundown of Junior's gift list. Sadly, yet in a way thankfully as well, that abused tradition has, met the cost-cutting chopping block. only to be replaced by a bombardment of pre- tenders disseminated daily through the mails and media. It's hard to keep them straight - that is, if you keep them around the house long enough to worry about them. The Christmas desecration has contin- tsed in nearly all facets of commercial operation. We are told Santa will arrive at one shopping mall via courier service. Really. Free photos at another. Wonder- ful. St. Nick drives this car, eats that food, does his shopping here or there. And oh parents. by the way. make sure to pick up this toy or that game right now. they're nearly sold out across the country. Six weeks before the big day yet! Pourquoi? Isn't Christmas the time to make hay, meet the demand? Buy this video game, sir, it's endorsed by Santa Claus himself. Watch your kids' eyes light up when he receives a personal letter from Santa. Send five bucks, and a self-addressed stamped envelope to ... first); grab, grab," push, push, push. promotion before Poinsettia, merchan- dise before mistletoe. And listen, the various media are as much to blame as the merchants. The never-ending hype of Rubik's Cube, E.T., Trivial Pursuit, where do you think they gained their popularity? Certainly not by sitting on a dusty back shelf in t-uttrodttrtsrur,t-sai-ammi-ttts.tttss---raaer My Santa your nearest toy store. Bawttereisiheliaaetottedraam,and whosehncklesaretohewnpped‘! Are merchants to be blamed, in these unstable times. for attempting to do the best possible for themselves? Certainly not. But likewise. certain retailers. and they know who they are. have no right to insult our intelligence and sensitivities through the exploitation of Christmas and its symbols. Maybe what we could all use is a healthy dose of Miracle on Mth Street, that wonderful 19405 movie in which Kris Kringle rose above the money-grubbing mania to convince everyone of the importance of sharing, and of believing. and of holding on high the meaning of Christmas. Or how about a shot of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, seeing Tiny Tim full of contentment at merely gazing into a shop window at toys he knew he could never own. And of shopkeepers. who generated business with friendliness and courtesy extended throughout the year. For heaven's sake, we can even learn a lesson from that winner of all losers, Charlie Brown, who brought love to the saddest-looking tree one could imagine. and at the same time. taught others the magic of Christmas. -iii; him. there will be those who read this column and scoff "grow up, Camp- bell, welcome to the real world." And so be it. But if it's all the same to you. thank you all very much. I'm going to enjoy the Christmas season the way I want to. Spending time with family and friends. Helping those wherever I can. Making even one person‘s holiday season a little more full of cheer. Praising those who make sacrifices to help those in need. Going to parties where they sing Christ- mas carols. Shopping where there is the least amount of Santa-slinging. Sending Christmas cards, despite the rise in postal rates. Upholding all the traditions that over the years have helped make Christmas such a special time of year for me. Idealistic? Sure. Fantasy? You bet. It's a welcome retreat from the thought of seeing a man in a bright red suit hunched over Donkey Kong in the nearest video arcade. Minister and his civil servants is that: "The proposals contained in the discussion paper would further impede the university and hospital systems from raising the necessary funds to continue to operate." Ernie Ginsler, Executive Director of the Waterloo Regional Social Planning Coun- cil, has questioned the Finance Minister's refusal to give urgently required incen- tives to the Voluntary Sector in the form of tax credits. "Laionde's last Budget dem- onstrates that the Government either doesn't trust us, or simply cannot be made to understand the full jobcreatlon Poten- tial such basic changes could demonstr- ably unleash." l invite you to let the Government know your concern that this reference to the Finance Committee not be allowed to 'die' with the end of the current Parliamentary session. This first opportunity in seven years should not be missed. The cootrftrw tion of our Voluntary Sector is significant. It gives a context to our relations with our fellows, our communities. and ultimately enhances our - of self worth. My Santa Claus is a kind old man, in a big old sleigh, with a teamful of reindeer, who Squeezes down my chim- ney, drinks the pop I leave him, drops off a gift if I've been good, and leaves his footprints in the crunchy snow as he leaves. Pardon the sentiment. That's me all right. Joe Old~(ashioned.