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PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 23. 1990 -- 7 + DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY Got the mid-winter blahs? Feeling a bit blue these days, especially as the Christmas bills start rolling in? Gosh it was so easy back in December to go Christmas shopping with the "plastic." But don't worry, be happy. Think of Robert Campeau and Campeau Coroporation. Man, if you think you over-spent a bit at hristmas, this guy's got a king-size debt problem, thanks to his State- side shopping spree a year ago to the tune of $10 billion (that's in Yankee green-backs, too) to wres- tle control of two huge department store chains, Al- lied and Federated. And just as the piper must be paid for your over-induigence at Christmas, the chickens are coming home to roost for Mr. Campeau. Only trouble is, the little guys, like you and me, don't have the luxury of a Chapter 11. That allows big guys like Campeau to bail out, declare bank- ruptcy, but still carry on business as usual, free from the talons of angry creditors and suppliers. If you welsh on the Chargex bill, some guy . shows up at your front door with a court order and walks away with the TV and VCR, or slaps a gar- nishee against your pay cheque, which is shrinking all the time, anyway. But don't worry, be happy. Unlike Mr. Cam- peau, you probably don't have the Reichmans or the DeBartolos hovering around, just waiting to pounce. The Reichman Bros. (Olympia and York put a lot of money into Campeau's buy-out in the tates, as did DeBartolo. Both however, have apparently agreed not to Viewpoint by John B. McClelland pull in the markers by seizing assets Campeau put up as collateral (like half the Scotia Bank Tower in downtown T.0.) The Campeau saga is a fascinating one, if you like big numbers, with all kinds of big banks, big business and big lending institutes involved. As one analyst put it recently, Campeau's de- partment store chain in the States is not in trouble. His problem is the debt. He paid too damn much, for his dream of owning, among other things, Bloo- mie's in New York. Campeau will weather through this storm, maybe have to sell off a bit of his empire in Canada (the Oshawa Centre and several other huge shop- ing malls, not to mention hundreds of acres of and in west Ottawa) But he'll re-structure the debt, re-arrange the payment schedule and so on. But his biggest friend in this affair is the ego of his creditors. If the entire plug was to be pulled, they would look bad. A clear signal would rocket through the financial world that they backed an un- sound buying spree. Saving face is more important than covering lost dollars. Too bad it doesn't work that way for the little guy who should have known better and kept the plastic in his wallet back in December. Seriously, there is no question that Campeau Com. got in far too deep in buying the department chains in the States, paid far more than those ghains are capable of re-paying through their cash WS. Maybe there's a lesson that all those crazy take-overs, the leveraged buy-outs, the junk-bond deals are plain and simple bad business. Like real estate flips and land speculation, buy- outs generate money for a fortunate few, but a zip to the wealth of the nation. And more often than not, there are more big (and little losers) than win- ners. Frankly, when big business or anybody else bites more than it can chew, it deserves to gag, even choke. NO SHOWS And speaking of dollars, how in God's name can the sport of baseball be paying the astronomi- cal salaries to its players? | don't know about you, but I'm one baseball fan sick and tired of picking up the sport section of the paper and reading that some "run-of-the-mill" guy with a lifetime average of .263, or an ERA life- time of 5.69 on the mound is getting paid a couple of mil per season to play baseball. | don't blame the players or their agents for go- ing after the big bucks. The television contract will pay the owners billions, so why shouldn't the guys on the field share the gravy boat. But network TV contracts depend totally on one thing: the willingess of the advertiser to pay the bill. And if the advertisers are willing and able to shell out a King's ransom to plug s aving lotion, beer, cars, or whatever on basebal telecasts, even- fully that money will come back from you know who. o Me and you, the consumer who buys the prod- ucts. Turn to page10 Remember When? 45 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 25, 1945 Mrs. Earl Wallace attended a Conference of the Bell Telephone Company in Oshawa last Thursday. Flight-Lieutenant Michael Wood, D.F.C. of Greenbank, has arrived home after three years of active service overseas with a Halifax Bomber Squadron. Congratulations to Flying Officer Edgar Emmerson RCAF, on being awarded the DFC. Edgar attended Port Perry High School. The children of Seagrave School enjoyed two holidays on Monday and Tuesday while the school was being wired for hydro. This will surely be a great benefit to the pupils by relieving eye strain on dark days. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 27, 1955 The Rod and Gun Club held its annual meeting in the high school gym on January 20 at which time the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Arthur Brock; Sec. Treas., 0.0. Hamilton; Auditors, Ben Smith and Harlin Davey. The Women's Association met at the home of the president Mrs. Gladys Archer on Thursday, February 3. The travelling basket realized a nice sum at the last meeting. The Fidelis class held their first annual meeting of the year at the home of Mrs. Reg. Foster. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 28, 1960 About five o'clock Wednesday morning, Mr. Herb Buckland wakened to find his home on Bigelow Street in flames. The local fire brigade were summoned but were unable to do little more than prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby homes. Another year has passed at Community Memorial Hospital, Port Perry and we are now entering our seventh year of service to the community, providing round the clock service for the sick and injured. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 28, 1965 About 400 students, ex-students and teachers danced to the excellent music of the 'Blue Diamonds' at the 17th Annual 'At Home,' in the Port Perry High School auditorium last Friday evening. Miss Susan Roach, Manchester was chosen 'Queen,' and Miss Gale Forder was 'Princess.' Local skating stars, Anna Forder and Richard Stephens, were in Oakville last Saturday, where they entered in the Cen- tral Ontario Senior Competitions. Again the young skaters pro- (Turn to page 10) Letters ii Policy hampers affordable housing To the Editor: Affordable housing should be a number one priority in Durham Region. It was available until the Durham Official Plan was Regain control To the Editor: Congratulations on your editorial "To The Future' in the January 16th issue of the Star. I am constantly being accused of certain cynicism caused by our complacency while politicians do these things to us. Indeed, it is rewarding to read views that make common sense; provoking to know that our so-called representatives cannot realize the wisdom in them. Today in Europe, Germans, Hungarians, Czechs and Roma- nians are regaining control of the destiny of their nations by mak- ing politicians do the bidding of the people. Apparently, in Canada democracy ends at the ballot box. Once elected, our representatives ultimately become pawns in the hands of a leader who seems to want to thwart the will of the people. If we are truly a democracy, Canadians should learn to get in there and mix it up in politics more than they do. Maybe some- day we will also regain control of our destiny. I can only hope. Keep up the good work. Respectfully, Leslie A. Parkes, Port Perry, Ont. enacted. Since that time and over the last ten years we have witnessed a housing crisis. It is more evident all the time and these are the reasons: 1) Controlled city development squeezing people in. 2) Monopoly land control for select companies. 3) No rural development. 4) New housing areas in bet- ween the two nuclear generating plants only. 5) Thousands of farmers unable to freely sell their land, but forc- ed to live off ever decreasing sub- sidies and smaller earnings. 6) More government-built houses each year built at the ex- pense of taxpayers. 7) More '"'non profit" type hous- ing built with greater profit for co- operative companies. If an ordinary layman set out these planning principles he would be called insane. Wonder of wonders, our Regional Planners are advising council these insane principles are successful and should be continued. Successful for Who? This is Canada, it is not some third world country where humanity means little. Let's put a stop to this insane planning which is robbing all citizens of their land rights. Thousands of young people died for this land. Millions lost their homeland to ob- tain this land right in Canada. Surely, we as citizens and our councillors will work to put a stop to this exploitation. Yours very truly, Doug Wilson, R.R. 2, Port Perry Smile For The Day INTERNAL AUDIT REVENUE DIVISION SERVICE = "Weallenjoyed your book."