Southeast gets spotlight at
Titled Showcasing Eastern Manitoba, the free trade show on the main floor was designed to provide the public with an opportunity to explore what the region's communities have to offer for living, working and playing. While there didn't appear to be an abundance of visitors in the convention centre showroom Sunday afternoon, the exhibition spaces looked attractive. The RM of Piney display featured a stunning mural—by artist Shirley Saunders—extolling the joys of life in the sprawling municipality. Reeve Marvin Hovorka, Councillor Barbara Zailo and Councillor Harold Grawberger seemed to agree. "This mural was supposed to be an eye-catcher—and it is," said Reeve Hovorka, "we're had so many people take pictures of it." Niverville town councillor David Braun and Steve Derksen, an Olde Tyme Country Fair committee member, said their replica of Western Canada's first grain elevator—built in Niverville in 1878—attracted a lot of attention. And just like the 21 other exhibitors, the RM of Piney and Niverville also had plenty of brochures and handouts listing attractive details for visitors. Ultimately, said Debbi Fortier—part of the event's steering committee—this might have been the weekend's greatest coup. Fortier, a community development coordinator for Triple R Community Futures, was asked if she felt the objective of the trade show had been achieved. "They have promotional material prepared now," she said, noting, "the project made the communities look at what their assets are and recognize the importance of keeping current websites." Fortier said there was some good feedback heard from out-of-province visitors, as many curling fans in Winnipeg for the Brier came by to tour the displays during off-times. "It's our first-ever time holding this event; I think convention centre events—like the car show or the wedding show—have to develop a bit of a reputation before they see big attendance." Southeast towns, municipalities and community development corporations (CDCs) accounted for 12 displays in total. Other than the RM of Piney, Town of Niverville and Buffalo Point First Nation, areas represented were Morris, the rural municipalities of Morris, Stuartburn, Ritchot, Montcalm and Franklin and the community development corporations of Lorette, Ste Anne, La Broquerie and the Chaboillé Region (St Pierre-Jolys, Otterburne, St Malo). "We probably would have liked to see more people come through; all felt that what we had was quality contacts made," Fortier admitted, adding, "Not everyone's the Steinbach of the region." Nor an RM of Hanover, for that matter. At a recent meeting of the Hanover council, members noted that since the municipality has essentially run out of capacity to grow, they didn't feel it would make much sense to showcase at the event. Niverville budget to hold line on taxes Although it was only a preliminary glimpse into what Niverville's financial plan will include for the coming year, the town's residents might find the following news quite heartening. No increase in taxes. Deputy mayor John Funk released the small, yet oh-so-significant tidbit during a regular council session Tuesday night. "We're keeping the mill rate steady...there will be no mill rate increase, it will be constant throughout 2008," Funk announced. Chief administrative officer Jim Buys said the town is looking at $4 million in total expenditures for the year. Funk had recently reported the town ended its 2007 fiscal year with a modest surplus of about $13,000. He indicated it was less than usual, due to extra road projects like the paving of Spruce Drive. While nothing has been finalized, Funk hinted that spending this year will include road and sidewalk improvements, as well as funding for environmental/green-related projects. After a committee session, council said it intended to give first reading to its 2008 financial plan. There will be a public budget hearing on Tuesday, April 15, where all residents are invited to attend and voice any concerns. School tax creeps up in Hanover After weeks of work to determine the upcoming school budget, Hanover School Division has decided on a tax rate increase of half a mill. The province announced a tax incentive for school divisions in its January funding announcement. At that time it was suggested by the province that school divisions should be able to "hold the line" on school taxes. It was not mentioned at that time that some divisions, including Hanover, did not qualify for the grant. Still, the division says it is appreciative of the efforts made by the province to increase funding to reflect its expenditure increases over the last four years. After much discussion, some last minute adjustments did, in fact, make Hanover eligible for $67,000. However, the division says it was not a significant enough amount to accept. Continued growth in Hanover has the division facing many challenges. Currently the division is planning to add 10 classroom teachers, four phys.-ed/health teachers, four vice-principals, 24 educational assistants, a mental health worker and an additional divisional alternative education teacher. At Tuesday night's meeting, finance chair Marilyn Plett said this has been a tough decision for trustees but she says they have made a decision that best addresses the needs of Hanover students and also allows the division to maintain its reserve funds. Trustee Randy Hildebrand voted against the budget. He said after the meeting his vote was not an indication that he didn't support the budget. It was instead a vote of protest against the provincial government for putting Hanover through a challenging decision making process this year, a process he says must change in future. The one-half-mill increase will give the division a 2.45 percent accumulated reserve, which is still about half of what the province recommends for all school divisions in Manitoba. The division estimates this year's school tax increase will represent an increase of approximately $34 on a house assessed at $150,000. More impact, more donors Once someone dies, it becomes rather difficult to ask him or her for money.
Secter, the dean of law at the University of Manitoba, was addressing a small audience in Steinbach on the topic of charitable giving. The event, held at the Eastman Education Centre and supported by the C.P Loewen Family Foundation, was titled the Technical Aspects of Charitable Giving, also featuring speakers John Neufeld of Smith, Neufeld, Jodoin in Steinbach and Leilani Kagan of the law firm of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman in Winnipeg. Secter was the final speaker of the morning and presented an unconventional call to the audience, a message to essentially spend, spend, spend. "Create more impact and you'll create more donors," Secter said. Neufeld and Kagan spoke to the audience about experiences as lawyers working with clients as well as the estate planning process. Secter shifted the discussion with his argument that more people need to understand the importance of giving as a lifelong practice and the contention that people will more readily donate money to charities they see making major impacts in their community. While understanding the tax advantages of making a donation is all well and good, Secter believes people need to be much more motivated simply to give. It is certainly a shift from the notion that charities must focus on the wants of potential donors and not the needs of the charity itself. "Proper planning is good for the donor and good for the community," Secter said. He pointed to well-known philanthropist Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, and his massive donations to the foundation established by Bill and Melinda Gates. The $37 billion Buffett donation to the Gates Foundation, which works primarily in researching treatment and a cure for AIDS, stipulates the foundation must spend $1.5 billion from his donations each year. Secter also noted that Canada struggles to meet the same standards as the United States. Private foundations in the United States took in about $500 billion last year while foundations in Canada took in around $14 billion, a much smaller sum even on a per capita basis. He says the difference comes from a much stronger tradition of reliance on private funding in the United States. Now, as government funding for things such as health care is growing scarce in Canada, that need for private support has obviously grown, Secter, a Harvard Law School graduate who worked in the his family's garment business in Winnipeg as a young man, says. At the recent opening of Bethesda Hospital's Cancer Care centre, it was noted that a facility of its scale would not have been built without private assistance. The Bethesda Foundation contributed millions to the project. Secter agrees that the Steinbach area does have a strong history of giving, something he attributes to the area's Mennonite heritage. Secter, who is also president of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, says other communities, while of different backgrounds, need to commit to that same practice of supporting the community. Heist at electronics outlet
The burglary ranks as one of the largest ever reported from a retail outlet in the Southeast. "The degree of sophistication in this crime leads us to believe (the thieves) aren't local. That's not to say we're eliminating a local connection—it's just that I don't think these were 16-year-old kids," said Steinbach RCMP Cpl. Bill Richards. A Sound Advice employee said on Monday his co-workers were shocked and dismayed by the break-in, something they already experienced when the store was located on Highway 12 north. "There was way more stolen this time. That was pretty minor by comparison," he pointed out. Included in the stolen property was a brand-new 2008 black Ford F-150 4X4 crew cab pick-up truck valued at about $40,000; it was by far the priciest item stolen. The truck, parked in the shop's garage, was used by the thieves to load stolen merchandise and later flee the scene. An estimated $60,000 worth of store goods was stolen, including 15 big screen LCD and plasma television sets (according to a Sound Advice inventory). 'Sophisticated methodology' Cpl. Richards said auto stereos and speakers, home entertainment systems, cell phones, BlackBerrys and other personal electronic devices make up the cache of stolen goods. Thieves gained entry to Sound Advice by throwing a hammer through the side entrance door, which is also the employee entrance. Working rapidly, the thieves had a mere 30 seconds—a maximum of 45 seconds—to disable the alarm system. Cpl. Richards while it is completely possible young offenders could have executed the burglary, it is not something typically seen in the area. "For them to disable an alarm system in such a minimum amount of time shows sophisticated methodology. "Obviously, they knew (the store's) setup before they pulled off the caper; they did some pre-planning," he commented on Tuesday. RCMP Major Crimes unit and Forensic Investigation officers have been assisting Steinbach RCMP with the matter, noting similarities between the Sound Advice case and other major break-ins in Winnipeg and Selkirk. "One thing is for sure, it's a very brazen crime, especially when one considers the store is at Main Street and Highway 12—one of Steinbach major intersections...very brazen," the corporal said. Police are asking that the public be on the lookout for the stolen pick-up truck, which has 'Watchorn Electric' emblazoned on both sides of the box, just behind the cab. In addition, anyone who may have observed any suspicious activity at or near Sound Advice Electronics anytime after midnight (early last Thursday morning) are asked to call the Steinbach RCMP at 326-1234 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Carillon honored with three national awards The Carillon will be honored this spring with three national newspaper awards sponsored by the Canadian Community Newspapers Association. The newspaper will receive a first-place award for photography and two second-place awards, one each for feature and editorial writing.
The photo was printed in color on the front page of the Nov. 29 edition of The Carillon. Staff reporter Grant Burr's Oct. 11 account of the long and difficult road to recovery by Lloyd Barkman of Steinbach, who was stricken with the West Nile virus last summer, received a second place award in the feature writing category. Burr, a University of Winnipeg and Red River College graduate, joined the newspaper's reporting staff last year. An editorial by editor Peter Dyck in the Aug. 30 edition critical of a decision last year by the Canadian War Musuem was given a second-place standing in the editorial writing (national) category. The editorial said veteran's groups and their supporters should not be allowed to rewrite history or dictate to a neutral body like a museum, since Canadian participation in the scorched-earth bombing of Dresden in the drying days of World War II remains controversial to this day. The awards will be formally presented during Ink and Beyond, the joint convention of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Newspaper Association being held May 7-9 in Toronto. |
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It was that simple, final thought Harvey Secter left several local charities with last Thursday. 
A aerial photo of Steinbach taken from an unusual angle by local amateur photographer Shawna Hewson was judged to be the top entry in the feature photo category among the larger weekly newspapers across Canada.