Italian history, culture experienced

By KEN FURBER
Advance Reporter

Fifteen Melville high school students got a taste of Italian history and culture last month.
MCS teacher Perry Ostapowich helped organize and chaperone the 10-day educational trip through Italy, including stops in Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento, from Feb. 11 to 20.
Ostapowich says the MCS group teamed up with 15 Grade 10-to-12 students and teachers from Kamsack for the tour of many historic and tourist highlights in the European country. He says the trip, which was a first for MCS, was intended to be a blend of education and life experience.
“Yorkton Regional has been going for a number of years,” the MCS history teacher told The Advance during an interview Thursday. “We talked to them about what we could expect.”
Although he was as prepared for the trip as he possibly could be, Ostapowich admits he was surprised by one aspect of the tour he wasn’t expecting.
“One thing I was very impressed with was a lot of people commented how well the kids from MCS behaved. That says something about the community and the children. We’re hoping to make this, if not an annual trip, every second year and just another educational opportunity at MCS.”
After landing in Italy, the students began their tour in Rome where they visited several world-famous historical sites including the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Arch of Constantine, Vatican and Sistine Chapel.
After leaving Rome, the tour stopped at several tourist and historic sites including the Amalfi Coast on the Mediterranean, Pompeii, Naples, Florence and Venice, where it ended.
Students learned about the trip during an announcement at the school in June. Although the opportunity was made available through MCS, participant Alyssa Nixon says that’s where the school’s involvement ended. Students and their parents were responsible for raising the $3,500 fee for the trip themselves. But she says it was an opportunity she didn’t want to miss.
“You never know if you’ll have a chance to do it again – an incredible experience.”
Student Jacky Huang says the trip was fascinating and the people friendly and accommodating. Huang was especially surprised by one man he encountered in Rome.
“I liked the people I met in Italy. They were all friendly, but one made my day. A street vendor smiled at me and said ‘you like spaghetti like me’ and patted my stomach.”
Nixon was also impressed with how well the ancient architecture stood the test of time.
“It was just amazing how all the (buildings) they built so long ago and they were still standing. They were almost like new. The technology they had was (so advanced for the time) that they could build something so massive and strong.”
Besides the mummified bodies covered in ash where they fell after Mount Vesuvius erupted and engulfed Pompeii, Dylan Breland says he was impressed to find the remnants of what passed for fast-food outlets in ancient times.
“They had an open store front with a counter with pots for food behind it. You came up, paid your money, got food and kept on walking down the sidewalk.”
Nixon says the students surprised local residents bundled up against the plus-10-degree weather when they shed shoes and dipped their feet in the Mediterranean at the Malfi Coast. However, she says that surprise turned to shock when a couple of the Saskatchewan-hardened crew jumped into the sea.
After the first couple of days in Italy, Nixon says students learned to wear a small Canadian Pin or flag on their clothes to let local residents know where they were from.
“They’d ask and then they’d get all excited when the found out we were Canadian.”

First budget target at 5%

By KEN FURBER
Advance Reporter

Melville officials are sharpening their axes in preparation to hack as much as $1 million from council’s 2010 budget “wish list”.
Council learned during its first budget meeting of 2010 Thursday if it moves ahead with all projects identified as priorities this year the city’s books will be more than $1 million in the red. While that is a hike of about 17 per cent of overall expenses, it would result in a tax hike of 37.76 per cent to cover it.
However, council members suggested they weren’t going to attempt to pass that off to city taxpayers. Instead they passed the budget back to city managers with instructions to whittle it down to no more than a five per cent hike. After that council will go through the proposed budget line by line and chop even more out of it in an attempt to get to a zero increase.
“I don’t think anyone is too excited with a 17.32 per cent increase,” Mayor Walter Streelasky told council. “Should we set a target and say to our management team, ‘see if you can bring it into the five-per-cent range’?”
Streelasky told council Yorkton had recently completed its budget with a 3.7 per cent hike and other cities were looking at similar or smaller increases.
Council’s reaction was highlighted by news it learned during the recent Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) convention. During the convention, delegates heard Melville has the highest tax rate of any city in Saskatchewan. It also has an exceptionally low assessment value for cities. The value of residential, industrial and commercial assessments the city bases its taxation on are less than half of those of other Saskatchewan communities its size.
To maintain the standard of community programs and facilities Melville residents enjoy, council has been forced to hike taxes the last several years.
But it’s not the traditional expenses, which are in council’s cross hairs in this budget. Council had hoped to complete several capital projects, which it believes are necessary to prepare Melville to deal with demands caused by an increase in the number of residents caused by such new projects as the province’s decision to move its share of AgriStability administration to Melville.
In fact, the list of new capital expenses council was considering completing this year accounts for almost $100,000 more than what the total predicted shortfall would be.
If it goes ahead with all projects listed, total expenses would increase $1.05 million from $6.06 million in 2009 to $7.1 million this year. The total estimated cost of the new projects is about $1,140,000.
Topping the wish list are $635,000 for the fire hall expansion project, $250,000 for the purchase of what is known as the Chudyk Property and $100,000 for new pool decking and piping.
No matter how worthy the wish list projects are, Coun. Mike Fisher argued city ratepayers can’t shoulder a massive tax hike to pay for them.
“I think it’s self evident we can’t go back to our residents and ask for a 17 per cent increase (in expenses). Listening at SUMA, just about everybody is between two and five per cent. We’re already taxed too heavily. We have to say maybe five per cent and reduce that when we go line by line.”
Council’s next budget meeting is set for 7 p.m. March 23 at city hall.

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FUTURE MEETS PAST – MCS Grade 10, 11 and 12 students and their chaperones visit the Roman Coliseum, built in 72 AD, during their 10-day trip to Italy during the winter break last month. From left, are, Tressa Nielsen, Danielle Lewis, Devin Schick, Andrea Nielsen, Jessica Orr and Leigha Gerhardt.