The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

12 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday. July S, 2000 ^ BASIC BLACK ARTHUR BLACK SEE YOU LATER, ELEVATOR Is there an elevator in your life? There's one in mine. Otis. Every morning when I go to work I stand before Otis and summon him like Royalty. "Stop here" I command with an imperial punch of my index finger. "Now". Occasionally he does, but mostly he's a no-show. Otis is a public servant of sulky, sullen disposition. If Otis was a Grade Five student his report card would read "Does not take direction well." Funny things, elevators. 1 am ancient enough to remember remember when the boxy beasts came with actual human operators. operators. Perky widows or wizened wizened gents, most often, complete complete with quasi-military uniforms uniforms and white gloves. They perched on wooden stools and operated a polished brass door handle and a bronzed grill that fanned across the doorway between floors. "Second floor" they would intone five thousand times a day, "linens, woolens, notions, ladies lingerie, foundation foundation garments." Or something something like that, depending on the building their elevator graced. The elevator operators are gone now, to that limboland that is home to the ghosts of telephone operators, stenographers stenographers and other sundry trades that have been subsumed by robots. ' Point is, riding an elevator used to be a humanizing humanizing experience. A chance to chew the fat with Old Eddie or Sweet Heloise, who you saw a couple or six times a day and whose life history you had a handle on. And who knew yours. And now? Well, riding an elevator nowadays is...something is...something else. A kind of suspended suspended animation in which certain behavioural gestures are de rigeur. You don't look directly at the other passengers; Rather you lift your eyes heavenwards heavenwards to give the impression you are thinking great thoughts. The hands, if empty, are crossed over the nether regions. Talk - if any - is excruciatingly small. "Some weather, eh?" "Thank goodness it's Friday." There are things one could do, of course, to enliven the thousands of elevator rides one is condemned to endure in one's lifetime. One could get on first on the ground floor, wait for the car to fill up, then burst into The Maple Leaf Forever, briskly punching punching out the rhythm on the floor buttons. One could, in a crowd of fellow travelers, open one's briefcase or purse, peer in and shout "Getting enough air in there?" - One could, when arriving at one's floor, leap at the doors and attempt to claw them apart - then smile shamefaced when they open on their own. One could do any or all of these things and more, but one won't - because one is Canadian. Canadians don't do such things. Which may help explain a recent press release from a company called ENN. ENN stands for -- (you may want to sit down for this) - Elevator News Network. The name says it all. ENN is dedicated dedicated to electrifying the elevators elevators of this country. So far they've hot-wired more than 500 elevators in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Hot wired for what? Why to carry newscasts, of course. Programming includes (I'm reading from the press release) "the latest local news,, business, sports, market ' updates, ferry schedules, marine reports, ski conditions, weather and traffic information..." information..." ENN is sure this is going to be a big hit with elevator riders because, as an ENN spokesman says "It helps them pass the time and lets them catch up on current events." , Oh yeah. The one thing. I've been looking for to round out my life experience is up to the minute details on earthquakes earthquakes in Chile, bombs in , Belfast, market upheavals in Tokyo, insurrection in Africa. Massacres, floods, plagues, plots and primaries during my commute from Main to Floor Three. Sorry, ENN. No offense, Otis. But this is where I get 6ff. recycle RECYCLE SUBSCRIBE TO THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES $25.00 a year. MASARU KARATE CLUB I» CLASSES MONDAY, TUESDAY & THURSDAY EVENINGS FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT RICK JONES EMAIL: rick.teruko@sympatico.ca TELEPHONE: (905) 786-2793 FAX: (905) 786-1031 COLLISION REPAIR PROFESSIONALS Fred Devries Proprietor FRED'S AUTOBODY LTD. Estimates • Repairs • Restorations 163 Baseline Road, Unit 1 Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3L4 Tel: (905) 623-6353 Fax: (905) 623-3913 1 Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board s Budget Meetings not only individuals. Please give generously. KAWARTHA PINE RIDGE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD Budget meetings at the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board will resume July 6. The Board's Budget Committee will meet Thursday, July 6, from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. arid 6:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. to receive budget analyses and recommendations recommendations from administration. The Committee will meet again from 9 a.nt - noon on Friday, July 7, tb debate the 2000-2001 school year budget and decide upon recommendations to go to the Board. Kawartha Pine Ridge (KPR) is currently the 12th lowest funded school board in the province. The following illustrates some of the challenges and possible,actions the Board faces as it copes with the province's new funding formula Government Funding Envelope • KPR has 85 elementary schools with 79 principals but will receive funding for 72 principals next year. • KPR bad 320 educational assistants (EAs) in 1998/99 but will . receive funding for 267 next year. • KPR had 193 secretaries but will receive funding for 171 next year. • KPR spent $100 per elementary pupil on school supplies but will receive funding for $75 per pupil next year. • KPR spent $130 per high school pupil on school supplies but will receive funding for $ 100 per pupil next year. • KPR had 86 high school Special Education teachers and will have 72 next year. • KPR had 180 elementary Special Education teachers and will have 133 next year. • KPR had 276 custodians and may have 255 next year. • KPR had 46 teacher consultants but may have 27 next year. • KPR had 22 library technicians but receives funding for none. • Bill 74's requirement for high school teachers to teach 6.5 credits per day may result in 39 fewer teachers next. year. What it Means KPR facing pressure to reduce principals. A possible reduction of 53 EAs over 3 years. Possibly 22 fewer , secretaries next year. KPR may reduce funding per pupil to $96. KPR may reduce funding per pupil to $121. KPR still spending • Sl.M more than funding envelope by taking from other envelopes. Possibly 21 fewer custodians next year. Possibly 19 fewer consultants next year. KPR may maintain 11 next year. Possibly 39 fewer high school teachers. A special Board meeting has been tentatively scheduled for Monday, July 10, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., for trustees to offer final approval of the budget. These Budget Committee meetings,are open to the public and all interested students, staff, parents, school councils and community members are encouraged to come and discuss these highlights with us. All meetings will take place at the board's Education Centre, 1994 Fisher Dr., Peterborough. Bob Willsher Chairperson, Budget Committee Catharine Tozer Chairperson of the Board www.kidney.ca Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board