Page 6, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1992, News Co m m U n | ty b r. | e f S Compiled by oo MacDonald Provincial offences court On Wednesday, Nov. 25, Justice of the Peace Logan presided over Provincial Offences Court. Benvenuto Pigozzo was found guilty of a Schreiber OPP charge of speeding. His fine was $243.75. Dennis Scowen was found guilty of a speeding charge by Schreiber OPP. He was fined $53.75. Maxwell Stanford was found guilty of a Schreiber OPP charge of failing to wear the complete seatbelt assembly. He was fined $28.75. The next Provincial Offences Court date is set for Jan. 20, 1993. Grants for municipalities The Ministry of Municipal Affairs has announced that the provincial government will keep its committment to give municipalities a two per cent increase in unconditional grants. The increase will be one-time only, however, and the grants will be capped at last year's level of $956 million. Municipal Affairs Minister Dave Cooke says the two per cent allocation will help municipalities adjust to the dif- ficult financial circumstances facing both municipal and provincial governments. "We had an obligation to keep our commitment for this reason," says Cooke. "But we also had to cap these grants because the economic recovery has been slower than expected. We had to take action to con- strain costs. "As the treasurer said in the Legislature, 'we are continuing with our long-term plan--we are going to invest in the econ- omy, preserve services and keep the deficit in check. But in all facets of public service delivery, we must adjust to a difficult fiscal reality--this is not business as usual." Cooke also says that while the government has reduced its expenditures by $355 million, revenues have declined by about $595 million. "We acknowledge our com- mitment to our partners by pro- viding this one-time funding, but municipalities also have an obligation to develop plans to reduce costs over the long term," he says. Cooke also says that the changes municipalities are expected to introduce could be structural, operational or administrative, as long as they reduce costs while maintaining essential services and minimize job losses. "We will continue to work with our partners to make nec- essary changes," says Cooke. "We must work together to face the long-term financial challenges that await us." Unconditional grants are Fata neta tana tateentat ntatatatntatatntate'ntatstatatatatatatstatatatatatatstatat,t.tat.t.tt Ute TPT TTT UCT TPT TET e ee ee eee reer eer general subsidies from the province to municipalities to help finance municipal ser- vices. Municipalities spend the grants according to their own priorities. Community calendar «Alcoholics Anonymous meets each Mon. and Thurs. at 8 pm at the Community Church in Terrace Bay. Schreiber meeting are Tues., 8:30 pm in the Anglican Church Basement, Wed., 8 pm, and Sun., 11 am at the Schreiber Rec Centre. *The Catholic Women's League meets every sec- ond Monday of the month in the basement of St. Martin Church at 8 pm. *The Chimo Club holds its regular meeting every third Friday of the month. *The Disability Action Group meets the third Thursday of each month at 1:30 pm at Birchwood. *The Legion Ladies Aux- iliary, Branch 223, holds its general meeting on the last Monday of each month at the Legion in Terrace Bay at 8 pm. GY | DGC. INS WUC CCERUP HEBER UBHBUEURUUREREMUNE EE ECHR UMN EE HEU E BEREUEBUEHUUEEUEEERENE UNECE ERR a Sveeeen ne ee LR RRR Re . @ = The snowmobile season is here and we wish to emphasize the safety aspects of this sport. Many roads used by snowmobilers in the area have gates or cable barriers which could cause injury or death to careless snowmobile operators and damage to their vehicles. We wish to remind everyone of these potential hazards and emphasize the need for care and common sense in Please help all of us who work at Kimberly-Clark ensure that safety is a way of life, on and off the job, throughout our entire community. KIMBERLY-CLARK CANADA INC. PULP AND FOREST PRODUCTS erVevrevertrertetry Letters to the editor Have you been to Moberly Bay? When we moved here almost 30 years ago, I said "That's it. We're not going anywhere else." We'd lived from Florida to Cochrane and this was finally the place I wanted our children to call "home." It was the scenery --trees, wild rivers, rocks, but especially Lake Superior. The people were great. And the mill was the reason for this town to be here. Without it, we wouldn't call this area home. We took the "'liquor line" for granted until years later and a deliberate visit to Moberly Bay. I was repulsed --the smell, the steam and the silence. It was like a scene of death. Things were pretty bad then. The rocks of Lake Superior were covered with shiny black tar. The foam was piled as high as a house, and icebergs of it floated out to the horizon. I actually felt guilty then--that we (myself included) could be doing this to Lake Superior. I've been back many times since. The Bunker 'C' has disappeared into Superior and the foam is less, but the water still has a sense of death to it. it's too dark for plant life. The stream is fast and still foamy. All along the 15 km of this stream, now called Blackbird Creek, there are no fish. At least five trout streams flow into it--Perch, Minnow, Bews, Sister's Lake and Margon. We've fished them all. I still don't know why the fish don't live in Blackbird Creek. | It's probably a number of ingredients. Due to the mill's coopera- tion and government regulations, there have been lots of changes at the mill and new technologies are being developed all the time. But will there ever be fish? I don't know. I certainly don't want the mill to go away, but I hope somebody finds the answer. I don't want my grandchildren to know Lake Superior the way I know Moberly Bay. Audrey Ferguson, Jackfish | MVA will hurt railway The following is a copy of a letter sent to Lake Nipigon MPP and Transportation Minister Gilles Pouliot--Editor Dear Gilles, I am writing in response to the recent decision to introduce leg- islation on how much property tax the railway will be forced to pay on its right-of-way as a result of policies adopted by Metropolitan Toronto that may threaten CP Rail's ability to remain financially viable. : I do not know if you are aware that the introduction of Market Value Assessment (MVA) will result in a 20 per cent--$40 mil- lion in real dollars--tax increase in Metro Toronto alonc. The railways are already struggling with exorbitant property and fuel taxes and unrealistic transportation policies. This latest policy will put another nail in the coffin of CP Rail, who is already competing with a government-owned railway (CN) and a trucking industry that pays no taxes on its infrastructure whatso- ever. I strongly recommend that you seriously consider the repercus- sions that will be felt as a result of the implementation of MVA. These will be the direct or indirect loss of up to 5,800 railway jobs on CP Rail Systems, Ontario , alone. I seriously hope you realize these proposals are flawed and oppose this legislation before I, too, join the ranks of the unem- ployed. Yours Truly, J.G. Anderson, Schreiber ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION BR. #109 SCHREIBER NEW YEARS EVE BASH December 31/92 8:00 pm - 2:00 am MUSIC BY PARTY SOUND $20 PER PERSON Ticket sales for paid Legion Members from Nov. 30 - Dec. 12 & Open to all December 14th You can purchase at the Legion Clubroom Sorry no minors