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Whltby Fros Prose, bdAebisy, ýà 13199aPge7 Invention Convention projects, according te local rules here, must be roup -efforts: group ideas, group problem- solv ing group -presentation. Which often means that even if it works, it might not stand up. Dads find t hat especially frustratmng. What'sworse is dealing with thegruiteaio requredte ompetsthe project without causing World War III. What do You do if Robert and Sally steal your idea? If your two -Partners haven't spoken te you or each other for two weeks and it's due temorrow? If Danny keeps borrwing the batteries for your Meccano motor __ and the motor - te mse how long they run before -they die?' This year, as far 'as I can tel], the invention must be a soutontea cOMMon, everYday problem. At our house that translates inte the obvious: a treadmill for a rat. Strange, that, how it escaped my notice that the world desperately needs a rat-sized moterized'treadmill. I might have seen the need fbr.a miniature stationary bicycle.But rm only a.father. Cornme think cf it, I arn siifl not sure why adult-sized treadmills have motors. If itfs exeitise you're after, why not p>rovide al the poe oref h a-sized»m'achine is sométhing else. Neooly must our 1-year-old engineer build it,- de-buîLg it and display it, she also mustconvince Fudgiel (the rat) te use I E4very year at thistUme the same raging fever sitrikesth Swan household. The inflition fiom great heights. The challenge sent to drive parents nuts. This means only one thing. No, flot income tax, though that, too, lumbers our way. Rather, the annual grade- school Invention Convention.* For those unschooled in educational newspeak, the Invention Convention has replaced its pedestrian predecessor, the Science Fair. Now, the Science Fair had enjoyed an honourable history. Many'budding scientiets first demonstrated their talents by mounting displays on bristol board backdrops. So did many parents. Over the years, thé Science'Fair presented an opportumity for school-aged children.,to tackle the problems of science. For parents, it presented even more challenge. "' Àfter. a quarter cenitury of fairsas both teacher and parent, Ive seen or doneiît ail. Fileéd burned-out lighitbulbs with water and clocked their freezing trne. Grew slimy green mould from leftover lunches. Proved that hot water frezes faster dhan old (it doesn't). That the law of gravity doesn't workÎ (that has te do with a ketchup bottie which siquirted upwards. Don't ask). Always, of course, brilliant children conceived brilliant Fiei demonstrations, designed. them with genius,. and displayed with professionalism.1Forparents of-children of, aeaeabiity;',thsmeant-living down : the stigma of knowing that Dad,- his experiment cunningly c onstructed at one aye em the nightý before, displayed on wobbly -cardboard, was beaten by an 11-year-old with pre-acne. That is a chalenge. But t.hose days are gone. Long iye :the Invention Convention, stunningly designed by educaters te take the parent out of Science Fair. This way, the educaters say, we see what the children can do. Right. Làast year, the inventer in our house worked as part of a team te invent a yarn-winder. You know: something that takes the yarn firom a baIl, and winds it around two sticks lbr reasons thât only knitters -rnight understand. Powered by a Meccano moter with 'one millionth of a horsepower, it had one quality that always eluded me as a Science Fair father: it worked. Such subtleties prove more challenging for parents., Science Fair projects, usually being solo efforts, could be patched here, bolted there, supported where it won't be noticed. (Ha). With Our FeetUP by Bill Swan No parents, please DIVERAT WHTY RARFBOU, C. 1920 It must have been vew oeld for tht. divor at Whitby Harbour, as lce can b. moen at the night side'cf this pictwre. In the background ia the Whitby Mental Health Centre, thon known as the Ontario Hospital, which opened in 1919. At right are the Watson grain elevators, butlt in the 1840a and demolished*in 1926. WhitIw Ammhves Photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednosday, March 12, 1986 edition of the WB1TBY FIEE PRESS 0 A numberodcompany bas appliod tobuilda$7 million 112-room hotel at Brock Street and Highway 401. 0 Town Council bas voted to prooeod with a $2.6 million expansion of froquois Park, and plans for another recreation complex north of Rossland Boad. 0 Aifreda Martin of Sunnycrest Retirement Villa celebrated her lOOth birthday last weok. 0 The Town of Whitby will have to pay $95,000 for lighting on the expanded Thickson Road even though It is a rogional, rosd. 35 YEARS AGO, from the Thursday, March 9, 1961 odition of the. WBUJBY WERKLY NEWS " A Junior Gardon Club In Whitby ia seeking members. " The Canadian Opera Company will perform Orpheus in the Underworld for th. first timer in Whitby at Henry Street High School on March 11. " Residents cf Whitby Township will b. tosted for tuberculosis. " Marshall Wick cf Whitby Township has beon named student gover nment prosident at Gallaudet College, the world's only college for the doaf. 100YBARSAGO froîn the Friday, March 13, 1896 edition of the " The Town Lino School at Almonds bas organized, a literary society. " A severe- storm bas blocked aIl communication by road or rail between Whitby and Part Perry. *Mrs. Lewis Houck, wîfe cof a late grain merchant-,cf Whitby, diod at, her residence, "Homewood" on March 9, agedl 68. e.John Waugh ie, the newý principal of the Whitby Collegiate Institut. TERZ~.