ABOUT MY FRIEND TOM KENNEDY &
COMPLEMENTARY&COMMUNITY CURRENCY
============================================================

Community Currency Concept Comes To Tamworth by Dominik Wisniewski
Staff Reporter
============

One Tamworth, Ontario, resident is on a crusade to make community currency
part of everyday life in his village. The retired school teacher has
dedicated himself to educating the community about the movement, which he
hopes to see incorporated in rural eastern Ontario.

Tom Kennedy, an advocate of community currency, says that the Internet has
helped him track the movement around the world. "During my teaching career
I had been doing a lot of research on what's called the community currency
movement," explained Kennedy.

"It's local and it's global, because it's happening locally and on
a much bigger scale."Kennedy has created 'Tamworth Hours', which feature a
picture of a business or building of renown in Tamworth on the front, and
rural community scenes on the back. "The currency we are working with is
called a time currency," he said. "It's not hard to work with when you just
equate dollars and time. He noted that this year, it dawned on him that
Tamworth would be an ideal place to launch a local project. "The people in
Tamworth are actually quite enthusiastic about this," he said. "They are
saying: If this can help rebuild our town, we're excited about
that.'"

Kennedy pointed out that, as long as the town agrees to pass the
currency around, everyone would benefit. "They gain more business and
people learn to shop locally," he said. "You kind of rejuvenate these towns
that are north of Highway 401, which are in decline because people have
been spending their money with the big stores instead."

Kennedy said that on a trip to New York, he had the opportunity to see a
community that uses this type of currency. "They have been doing this in
Ithaca, NY, since 1991," he said. "They just walk around with federal
American dollars in one pocket and Ithaca Time dollars in the other
pocket."

The Tamworth Hours notes have a value of $12 for each hour. "The one hour
of time is measured to be what's ! called basic labour, unskilled labour or
student labour," he added. "It's just a really good number to work with and
it is certainly more than minimum wage." Kennedy said he would like to see
residents pay for the cost of goods with Canadian cash, and pay for a
percentage of the labour with community currency.

"All we are doing is taking barter to a little different level of
sophistication. with 21st century high-tech tools," he said. "It's amazing,
people say to me, 'You know what that's just like, it's just like Canadian
Tire money.'"He explained that this is a good analogy, but said the idea
of community currency is nothing new.

"When I did the research on this, (Ifound out that)
back in the 1930s after the depression, local communities created
their own pieces of currency," said
Kennedy. "They called it scrip and they did this in townsin Ontario, Quebec,
Alberta, Saskatchewan and parts of America." He pointed out that ideally,
he would like to have a database online, where people can go to find out
who will accept Tamworth Hours in the area.

"I would expect that we would be able to trade electronically at some
point," he added.After the initial printing of the currency, Kennedy said
that he is pleased with the amount of support he has received from
businesses and local farmers. "The farmers are very supportive of it
because they are really hurting these days," he noted. "The mad cow fiasco
hurt the market."He pointed out that in situations like this, the idea of a
local currency is ideal. "Money is funny," he said. "

All it is is a piece of paper that we pass around and put a value on it. If
you can get what you want, and they can get what they want, everybody's
happy."When questioned about the way Revenue Canada views the practice,
Kennedy said that the government does not police it in situations where
community money is traded incidentally."Revenue Canada made a bulletin in
the 1980s, and they called it 'barter money,'" Kennedy added. "There's
millions of dollars that changes hands at garage sales every year and they
can't police that." He admitted that he encourages businesses to track it
as business currency, but said he will continue pushing the envelope."We
are willing to do that, but we. (will also) say, 'If we are earning time
currency in business, then we want to pay that portion of tax with this
currency too,'' he noted.

"That will be an interesting pushing-of-the-envelope."Kennedy is
enthusiastic about Tamworth Hours and says he will continue to encourage
other communities to join in. "There are some towns along the 401, like
Peterborough and Kitchener, which have a similar system called a
LETSystem," he said. "So, as you can see, we are not the only ones doing
it. But we are the only ones doing it in this part of rural Ontario."
Kennedy said he hopes to meet with Township of Stone Mills council members
early next year to further explain how they can support community currency
in Tamworth. "I've told them a! little bit about the project and they are
certainly
interested," he added.
=====================================================

Website: www.napaneebeaver.com

Note: Time-traders sign a promissory note thereby issuing themselves
Tamworth Hours which are a usuryfree time currency. Local residents are
invited to contact the local office of The UsuryFree Network for complete
details on how to obtain Tamworth Hours.
Tel: 1.613.379.5131 Email: usuryfree@iglide.net

Tommy-Usury: Free otherwise known as 'Tom-Joseph: Kennedy
www.cyberclass.net