Shoe Swap event a roaring success
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From left, Toni Klein, Dawn Alstad, Vanessa Klein, Lynda Mason, Kathryn Vennard, and Joyce Leach stand in front of the shoes on offer during the She Shoe Swaps charity sale event last Saturday at the Mall at Piccadilly. Howard Vangool photo.
Forty-six women stormed the doors as they opened at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning for the third annual She Shoe Swaps, a one-day blitz of donated new and gently-used shoes, boots and bags, held in memory of the late Rosemarie Vennard. This year’s sale raised an impressive $4272, and this year there was a purse raffle that featured a Prada Bag won by Karla Dodds and 5 Coach purses won by Lynda Stepura, Lauren Koch, Cheryl Young, Kari Wilkinson and Fiona Harris. The donation of good quality and desirable items coming from as far away as Edmonton helped make the sale phenomenal. Irene Ramsay, a satisfied shopper at the first and second sales of She Shoe Swaps, passed away last year; but in a touching gesture, she had asked her daughters to make sure her dancing shoes made it back to the sale for this year. She Shoe Swaps is truly charity at home, with 100% of proceeds divided between two local charities: 50% goes to the S.A.F.E. Society (Women’s Shelter) and 50% to the Shuswap Community Foundation - Rosemarie’s Fund, established to do good things in the Shuswap, as Rosemarie loved the community. Visit www.sheshoeswaps.com for more information, and stay tuned for next year’s event!
What I like & dislike about Baja California III
Okay, okay, I’ll write one more article what I like and dislike about Baja California. Remember, this series is aimed at snowbirds and younger folks who want to buy prime winter vacation property while it’s still inexpensive. If you’re bored by the topic, just flip the page to Sidewalk Stupor Intended. One of the Baja features I like best is the cash economy. You’ll be paying for everything with Mexican currency in 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500-peso denominations. A peso is worth about nine cents, so these are roughly equivalent to 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50-dollar bills. Canadian dollars can be changed into pesos at the airport in Los Cabos, or you can use your plastic to withdraw pesos from a Mexican ATM. If you have a Mexican bank account as I have, you can transfer money to it from a Vancouver currency exchange like FIRMA and get a better rate. Since almost everyone pays cash for everything, the Mexican government has difficulty collecting taxes. Mexico has an income tax system and a sales tax similar to ours, but folks in the Baja easily avoid paying these taxes by dealing in cash. Mexican governments don’t have a lot of money to spend. As a result, there hasn’t been a Canada-style explosion of government bureaucracy and government rules and regulations. In terms of government “services,” the Baja resembles Canada circa 1959. This leaves people with opportunities to start businesses or build things without a lot
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of interference. Here’s one small example: Last year I decided to install a septic tank on my property overlooking the ocean. Now, imagine for a moment what you’d go through to put in a septic tank overlooking Shuswap Lake: six months of applications, environmental assessments, reviews, permits, and inspections, not to mention $25,000 in costs. Here’s how I did it in the Baja: I stopped a backhoe operator and got him to excavate a hole for $50 cash. I had the local building supply store deliver the sand, gravel, cement, and blocks for $400 cash. I hired three Mexican masons on Monday to build it for $250 each and promised each of them a bonus of $100 if they finished it by Friday. The tank was done Friday, and the cost was just $1,500. You can build a house pretty much the same way. The Mexican government’s lack of income means a lack of services. Only the main roads in the Baja are paved. I have to drive three kilometres down a gravel road to get to my house. In Salmon Arm I drive on pavement right to garage door. Which would you prefer: Pay $4,000 a year in property taxes and get pavement to your door, or pay $60 a year and drive on some gravel? It’s not that there aren’t rules and regulations in the Baja. There are. Mexican governments have passed just as many rules and regulations as Canadian governments. It’s that the Mexican govern-
Friday, May 16, 2014 Lakeshore News A7
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Carol Creasy • 250-835-8587 Kia Canada Advertising CORRECTION NOTICE Please note the following correction to the Kia Canada newspaper insert advertisement which is planned to arrive in your local newspaper between May 12 to 31, 2014. The advertised price for the 2014 Rondo included a 6-speed automatic transmission in error. The correct feature is a 6-speed manual transmission. Please note that the disclaimer below the offer indicated that the price is based on 2014 Rondo LX MT (RN551E). We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
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mallarkey by Ron Adams
ment doesn’t yet have the legions of bureaucrats to enforce them. That will change, of course. Which brings me to the one feature of Mexican government that you’ve probably heard about: corruption. What we define as corruption exists in the Baja, and it can be annoying when the police stop you for an alleged infraction and demand you pay a hundred dollar fine on the spot. But bribery has a positive side. Government employees are underpaid, so if you need a permit or a license, you can often accelerate the process by paying a modest ”propina” or tip. In Canada it would be called a bribe and you or the recipient risk prosecution for offering it, but in Mexico and many other countries, these tips are a covert but accepted business practice. They get things done. Think of the bureaucratic torture that Walmart went through to get permission to build an uninspiring box store in Salmon Arm. If members of local government accepted propinas, you would have been shopping in the Salmon Arm Walmart ten years ago. Okay, okay, that’s enough malarkey for now. Next week it’s back to Daron. If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at raon61@gmail. com.
Stop by the Lakeshore News office at 161 Hudson Ave. NE Salmon Arm, BC
Mall Arkey Investments This Week Where the serious invest their money There is little change to our shop-for-the-best interest rates this week. Have you bought your TFSA yet? Do you need travel or mortgage insurance? Pile your money in a wheelbarrow and bring it on in. You want to make Mall Arkey happy, don’t you?
Savings Account Cashable GIC 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years
1.55% 1.20% 2.10% 2.20% 2.25% 2.40% 2.60%
No change No change No change No change No change No change Down .05%
Mall Arkey FINANCIAL LTD.
Centenoka Park Mall • 250-832-5000 Email: daron@mallarkey.ca Website: www.mallarky.com
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