WIIITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17,1I985, PAGE 9 jLocal cancer society wants to raise $50,000 April is Cancer month and the Whitby branch of the Canadian Cancer Society is currently conducting Uts annual fund raising campaign. According to residen- tial campaign chair- man, Margaret Horton, some 650 or so, can- vassers will be knocking on every door in the town seeking support. Unlike previous years, this month's drive was not kicked off by a daffodil sale. Hor- ton said that the poor condition in which the flowers arrived in Whit- by last year caused the branch to forgo the event. This year's goal is $50,000, down somewhat frorn last year's $63,000. Horton noted that the difference is because of the daffodil sale. The branch will also be holding two special events during the cam- paign including the now traditional Great Ride for Cancer which will be held April 27 and a cut- a-thon to be held at Elegance Hair Design in downtown Whitby April 29. Anyone interested in participating in the Great Ride for Cancer can pick-up their registration and sponsor forms at any bank in the town or by calling Jan Koke at 668-6622. Horton also said that local businesses will be canvassed by. letter asking for their support. Contract let for Scott St. w ork A Toronto construc- tion firm has been awarded the contract to instaîl new storm sewers reconstruct Sc- ott St. by Whitby Town Council. Craftwood Construc- tion Co. Ltd. will rebuild about 310 metres of Sc- ott St. south of Manning Rd. for $133,710. The projeet will be funded jointly by the Town of Whitby and the Ministry of Transpor- tation and Com- munications. The town will pick-up about $88,642 of the cost wîth the provincial gover- nment paying the remainder. According to G.M. By Tony Car/son Some days, to read the newspaper i15 10 wonder wheth- er you've stepped through the looking glass and found your- self, like Alice, in a world of confusion and unreality. ITEM: Some scîtool board workers in Toronto say they were offered too much in con- tract talks. The rive workers want less than the 4-I1/2 per cent raise the board proposed. A 55-cent-an-hour increase is sufftcient, they Sa,1 rather titan the 76 cents offered. Curious. ITEM: In a national referen- dum in Switzerland, that in- dustrious nation's citiLens re- ject a proposai for an extra week's vacation for workers older titan 40. Voters in 14 of the country's 24 cantons (states) oppose the idea which would have încreased\the man- datory annual vacation to Oive weeks from four for those employees. Curiouser. ITEM: Alberta's unionized electricians agree 10 a three- year basic wage freeze in a pact which includes a clause allow- ing the basic wage to be eut on certain jobs. The eontract also provides for renegotiations if the province's economy im- proves and that, if a deadlock arises on a new wage rate, the union will forfeit its right 10 strike and agree to binding arbitration. Curiouser and curiauser. There's an ever-growing trickle of stories such as these cropping up in the press in re- cent months, bits of evidence that suggest the world is changing. Semnas and Associates Ltd., the consulting engineer for the project, "the contract work in- cludes the installation of storm sewers, manholes and catchbasins, road excavation, provision of granular road base material and hot laid asphaît, concrete curbs and gutters, topsoiling and sodding of boulevards and the in- stallation of sidewalks on Scott St. " Once the contract is formally signed, the work will take about eight weeks to com- plete. The Town of Whitby had budgetted $180000 for the work. On their way out, il would seem, arc the days whcn jobs were plentiful enough so that workcrs could push for every cent and cvery day off they could gel. SlowIy, the realization is dawning that compromise and flcxibility arce1the keys to a new world which is emerging. This ncw feeling of living within the realities of the day is reflccted in other statisties, es- pecially one whichi shows that Canadian workers settled for average wagc increases of 3.6 per cent last ycar, almost 20 per cent below the annual inflation rate of 4.4 per cent. That's also well below thc 1983 average of' 4.7 per cent and marks the third straiglit year the average lias declirîed. There is much to be said for the reasonableness of the peo- pIe who are accepting these ratses. We %vif] be reading more stories like this in the eoming days, weeks and months as we move more fully into a ime when our ability to adapt in the workplace, and do it quickly, will become an essential tool of whatever trade we practise. But while Alice found strange and at imes dangerous creatures in her trip to Won- derland, we need not fear the coming change. For every turbulent period of rapid change in man's his- tory, from the Agricultural Revolution on down, bas pro- duced more opportunities, cre- ated more jobs, than it bas made obsolete. Some people just adjust to the direction in which the wind is blowing more quickly. CFIR atle a ,vc /1/-pýr r Waterbeds Bedroom Furniture - Bedding Accessonies *j- .ê....,,.,dS 0. A C y 45 Jl 1 111STORES WEMAKEITEASYTOSAY Y$ CoastToCoast 244 Brock St S., Whitby 683-3278R 420 King St W., Oshawa 686-1063, 239 Station St, Ajax 686-1276 MONFRI 10-9 SAT 106 Mai nstream Cnd Curiauser and curiouser