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page 6, Saturdày, June 14 WHITBYFE§s editorial page Creating Futures: Computers, jobs and college grads The job of outfitting Durham College for the next century was begun in earnest last month with the launching of a $12-million fund raising campaign. That fund, Creating Futures, already tipped the scales at $5-million when the launch went public, thanks mainly to behind-the-scenes work of Presi- dent Gary Polonski, the Board of Governors and staff members involved in the campaign. A peek at today's job market, coupled with govern- ment down-sizing, make the campaign essential. As noted elsewhere in today's edition, the market for College graduates is improving this year. Highest de- mand (surprise, surprise) is for those who have speci- ality computer training. How significant is that demand? The college won't know for sure until the annual report from the Col- lege Career Centre. But without waiting for official figures, a look at the past is a good indication. Graphic Design, for instance, which has been train- ing students on Macintosh computers for ten years now, maintained an average job rate of more than 80% in the past five years, when the college (and col- lege system average) was about 70 %. Those were lean years indeed. The hints are the lean years are ending - at least for those equipped for it. That's where the College fund-raising is essential. The Computer Design program, for example, has been squeezing training out of computers that have aged faster than developments in computer graphics. More complex programs need faster, bigger comput- ers, and faster bigger computers cry for more com- plex programs. Founding president Gordon Willey loved to boast that he could teach a student more by instructing in how to build an oscilloscope rather than buying one. Thirty years ago, that was true. With today's gallop- ing computer market only the cutting edge prepares you for the cutting edge. You can't learn to use the power of a Pentium by practicing on a Commodore 64. It gets worse. Prices in computer technology can turn yesterday's brilliant purchasing decision into a joke. But at the same time that appropriate training re- quires expensive state-of-the-art machines, funding from the province of Ontario, for example, dried up. Well, you can down-size staffing, and you can down-size funding, but you can't as easily down-size the needs. The funds must be found somewhere, or our children will stew in the juices of mediocrity. That's why the College fund-raising is so important. Corporations can't do it alone. Individual dona- tions are essential. Think of them as bricks and mor- tar to build our community for our children. As' today's graduates receive their diplomas, it is appro- priate to their families, to the whole community, to consider what can be given back. We won't see the resuits until some tomorrow. But that tomorrow is important - we're ail going to live there. A Perspective on election year Town tabloid didn't cost taxpayers one red (or blue) cent Sometime in the next few days, you may receive at your doorstep a publication called: The Whitby Perspective. This is a four-page, glossy, color tabloid-size publication published by the Town of Whitby. As a communication vehicle, it seems harmless enough. After all, any corporation with a $26-million budget should be able to afford $9,000 to communicate with shareholders. Town councillors will be quick to point out that $9,000 is not cor- rect. In fact, the publication did cost $9,000 to write, layout, print and deliver. But none of that came from tax dollars. We should all feel relieved about that. Shouldn't we? Surely no one would feel uncom- fortable that this feel-good-about- our-town publication is financed by developers and other corpora- tions who do business with the town. Surely, also, no one would feel uncomfortable knowing that two of these corporations helped finance election campaigns of four current members of council. One corporation is in the process of ap- pealing the town's official plan to the Ontario Municipal Board. It is a curious world. We're also convinced that no one would feel there might be any con- nection between The Whitby Per- spective and the fact that municipal elections are coming up Sit. Heel. Stay. Stay! After a fair amount of heat and a few glimmerings of light, the debate over an off-the-leash dog run has been nixed. The dogs lost. It may.be late now for us to jump into the debate. Which we will refrain from doing, except to praise council. The arguments can be beguil- ing, but council never blinked on this one. We can't blame the dogs for current infractions of stoop-and-scoop laws. A visit to town parks will turn up plenty of evidence that current laws are ignored, to the peril of those who use the parks, espe- cially children. A good call. Thank you. in November. You will be com- forted to know that the second edition of The Perspective is not planned until October -just in case there were any facts about the town you didn't understand. We realize that this may sound, much like Richard Nixon's Check- ers speech. Nobody will have the Free Press to kick around any- more. One parting thought: Two years ago, this council saved tax- payers almost $30,000 (about $10,000 each year for three years) by signing an advertising deal with another regional newspaper. Part of the reason for doing so was cost: the competition had under- cut the Free Press bid. Okay, com- petition is fair business, although that contract alone would have been significant help to the Free Press. The successful bidder promised editorial support for the Town in many endeavors. That support has been so strong that the Town now publishes its own (or the developers own) Perspec- tive on news. The optics, as they say, are not good. We would have loved to have been around this Fall to add some spice to the elec- tion campaign. Publisher: Doug Anderson Editor: Bill Swan Production by: Xavier & Associates Published every Saturday by 1220501 Ontario inc. 900 Hopkins St., Box 206, Whitby, Ontario LIN 5S 1 Phone 668-61 Il Fax 668-0594 pe - MEMBER OF: CNA Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association I The on/y Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycled content using vegetable-based inks. Ail written material, illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the expressed permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to the Whitby Free Press. The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashbum & Myrtle as well as numerous public and commercial outlets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax and Pickering. 28,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $36 + GST Outside Canada $85 + GST 1 f , y 1