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Time for some metal Heavy metal is coming to Perth, and I’m not talking about a new industry. The Perth Metal Meltdown 2008 will expand on its 2003 predecessor, which took place at Code’s Mill on the Park. This year’s version will take place on Friday, July 18 at the Perth Legion Hall, and is open to all ages. Toronto metal band Anvil will again headline the Meltdown. Anvil has been around for many years, and if you want to know more about them, try to get your hands on a documentary that was showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and the recent Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. I haven’t seen Anvil! The Story of Anvil yet, but I’m hoping it will be on the documentary network sometime. Having seen these guys more than once, and interviewed Lips, the singer, for the last Meltdown, the documentary couldn’t be anything but entertaining. Local and Ottawa-area bands are also on the bill for the Meltdown, with Joe Thrasher (full disclosure: my husband is the singer) playing at and helping organize the Meltdown. Other bands taking the stage include Drillpoint, Aggressor, Ritual (the Carleton Place version), How It All Ends and Endemise. Although the show isn’t affiliated with the Stewart Park Festival, it is happening on the same weekend, and could give some people an alternative to the lighter side of music. It should be fun! You can pick up tickets at Shadowfax , the Gore Street Flea Market, Lanark Variety in Lanark village or by heading to the website and buying through PayPal at www.ourhost.ca/pmm/ main.htm. Rediscover local history The Lanark and District Museum in Lanark village will open for the season next Saturday, May 17, with an official opening tea on Saturday, May 31. Museum staff is looking for materials and information on the K&P Railway for an upcoming display. The volunteers also would like to hear from you if you have any information, photos, artifacts or books about the H.M.C.S. Lanark, which sailed during the Second World War. For more information or to offer your volunteer services, call Larry McPhee at 613-259-2616 or stop in at the museum on George Street in Lanark. The museum will be open every weekend through the summer, from 1 to 4 p.m., and will close after Thanksgiving weekend. Start shredding If you want to shred your personal papers, Shred-It will give you that chance on Saturday, June 7. The paper-shredding company will bring its truck to the Herriott Street municipal parking lot from 10 a.m. to noon. You can bring up to eight "banker boxes" to be shredded. The event is free, so start collecting your private documents that you want to be destroyed. You don’t even have to worry about taking out paper clips or staples, since they’ll be removed by magnets in the recycling process. Last year, the company shredded 125 cubic feet, or about 3,125 pounds, of paper. Rate your restaurant SurveyDining.com can give restaurants a good way to judge customers’ responses to their dining experiences – and it’s based in Perth. David Sigler, the founder and chief executive officer of the business, started the online service to analyze responses to survey questions about experiences in restaurants. The service costs restaurants $49 a month, and restaurateurs receive weekly loyalty-trend reports and real-time customer alerts if a disappointing rating comes in, or a customer requests contact on a specific issue. The company offers branded table tent-cards and receipt reminders featuring an invitation to take a three-minute survey, in return for a discount or bonus – such as a free entrée or dessert. Customers can rate server attentiveness, food variety, style and decor, value for money, wait times and other factors. Check out SurveyDining.com for more information. Raising taxes I see in the Lanark paper that Lanark Highlands Township councillors have agreed to raise their salaries, at the same time hitting us Highlands residents with a 5.5 per cent tax increase and a "one-time" increase of seven per cent to replenish the reserves – in addition to an increase of almost six per cent in the county levy. I don’t think the councillors are crazy, but I do think they just might be out of touch with the general public. I don’t know anyone who feels the mayor needs a $4,000 pay increase, bringing his part-time salary higher than almost any other mayor in the county. It was nice to see that three councillors did vote against the budget – but it wasn’t enough. And then there’s the reserves. I think reserves are a great idea – if you can afford them. If you have to add seven per cent to the levy, well then, the reserves will just have to be diminished. Besides, every other municipality was hit hard by the insane amount of snow this winter. I don’t see them adding an extra levy to their tax bills. People with a home assessed at $100,000 will be paying almost $140 extra this year in taxes. Sure, if you spread that out over 12 months, it’s not a huge amount. But if you’re already paying more than $1,600 in taxes a year, that starts to seem a little unfair. |
