WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1987, PAGEi 19 ROCKY to help Police teach safety CONSTABLES Nancy Dillon and Peter Bramma pose with ROCKY, the Durham Regional Police Force's newest recruit. The community services division of Durham Regional Police_ bas a new recruit to help promote safety. -ROCKY. It is a blue and yellow robot standing 5'4" tall with the ability to talk and move. ROCKY, is an acronym for Rotarians of Oshawa Caring about Kids and You. It was donated to the police department in 1986 by the Rotary Club of Oshawa. The community services department will start bringing it to schools this February. Besides the ability to talk, and listen, ROCKY is equipped with a videotape recorder, built-in television and cassette player. It can also be hooked up to other monitors. Constable Jerry Dionne said ROCKY is the first Canadian- made robot to be used for police community work. "It is a teaching aid. The kids can identify with the robot," said Dionne. ROCKY will only visit schools which have easy access. 'A specially built trailer was also built to transport ROCKY to and from his engagements. Dionne said ROCKY will be used, at first, to promote bike safety. "Then we will expand his use, if possible," added Dionne. He said the first schools to which the officers will take ROCKY will not only be a trial run for the robot but also for the officers. It took the four officers of the safety division of community services about six hours a day during one week to learn to work with the newest member of their force. The officers, Dionne, Nancy Dillon, Peter Wraight and Peter Bramma, travel to schools in the region to promote safety, running a topic which runs the amit from bikes to streetproofing. The four also train students to be safety patrollers and during the year check on them periodically. In May, they take one safety patroller to Ottawa for the Canadian Automobile Association's national safety patrol jamboree. Dionne said that trip is a reward for a patroller "showing that bit extra." In July they hold a safety patrol camp at Camp Samac to train next year's school patrol captains and every year in June, they hold the Durham Region Jamboree at the Civic Auditorium for the over 1,600 patrollers in the region. They also train adult guards that the town hires for certain in- tersections. As well as their work in com- munity services, the four and two other officers in the crime prevention division, are trained to be "normal police officers." ROCKY should begin his trips to schools in February. Deputy tospeak Dr. Bernard Shapiro, deputy minister of education, will be at the Holiday Inn, Oshawa, Thursday, Feb. 12 to address . Affirmative Action officers from boards of education across the province. Dr. Shapiro will address the issue of "Women and Education in the 90's." The provincial Employment Equity Networking Conference is being co-hosted by Durham' Board of Education, Durham Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board and Northumberland- Newcastle Board of Education. Gary Tushingham, director of education of Northumberland-New- castle Board of Education, will also address the group on the subject of "Excellence and Equity." As well as workshops for the delegates on equity issues, the conference will also feature speakers, Liz Neville, Toronto, on "Employment Equity and Part-time Issues" and Zanana Akande, on "Superwoman: Multi- ple Roles." Contact Kathleen Moorcroft or Barb Ritchie, Durham Board of Education, 576- 4600 (ext. 204 or 222) for more information. Real nice friendship' for Big, Little Sisters They'll bake, swim, play games, watch TV or movies and attend special events. Sometimes they "just do nothing" - but they do it together as Big and Little Sisters. "It's a really nice friendship," says Karen Hiscox, 35, Big Sister to Sherri Toutant, 11. "It's not babysitting or anything like that." The two Whitby residents, matched three years ago, make up one of 69- matches in the Big Sisters organization for Newcastle, Oshawa and Whitby (NOW). "We are matched by our interests and our personalities - things in common," says Hiscox. "I don't have any brothers or sisters, so it's nice to have a friend," says Toutant. "If I have something bothering me, I can talk to her." Hiscox, a mother of two - Jason, 16, and Steven, 9 - says the Big and Little Sister relationship makes no particular demands on time or commitment. "We always seem to have the time," she says. "But if you want to see someone, you find the time." Little Sisters, from age 7 to 17, may come from any background and both one and two- parent families, but mostly from single- parent, mother-led families. Potential Big Sisters, women over 18, are screened to determine which Little Sister is a good match. Support group meetings, which Hiscox recalls as "very enjoyable," are held for first-year Big Sisters. Hiscox and Toutant planned to attend one of the activities to be held during Big Sister Week, Feb. 8 to 14. Events in- cluded a "beach party" on Sunday and Valen- tine party on Wed- nesday. Crupizza of Whitby is donating $1.50 per pizza for every delivery made during all of February, to Big Sisters. A bowlathon is also held annually to raise funds for events. An annual To the Editor: It is a sad and unac- ceptable fact that every year thousands of dogs suffer through long and. harsh Canadian winters with inadequate shelter or no shelter at all. These dogs cannot ob- tain shelter and are for- ced to endure terrible weather conditions. Tremendous cold spells, vicious blizzards and freezing rai cen prove fatal for even the bar- Christmas get-together is a nice time, say the Whitby Sister tandem. Hiscox has also had the opportunity to com- pare the local Big Sisters organization with that of a neigh- boring region - her "real" younger sister is executive director for York Region Big Sisters. "A girl cared for today - is a woman caring tomorrow" is the Big Sisters motto. "It's just sharing and caring, that's all," agrees Hiscox, to a nod and a big smile her Lit- tle Sister who adds that her favorite moments are "when we have teas together." diest of dogs. Most of us would not even consider being out in these elements, even for a short period of time, so how can we ex- pect dogs to live in these conditions? What kind of existence is this anyway? While winter em- phasizes the need for adequate shelter, "out- door" dogs also need adequate housing the LITTLE SISTER SHERRY TOUTANT AND BIU SISTER KAREN HISCOX House is ransacked A Brooklin woman returned to her home on Saturday night to find it had been ransacked. Kimberly Stannel returned to her Brooklin home at 9:45 p.m. to find the living room had been ransacked with drawers emptied and records thrown around the room. Durham Regional Police report that 10 minutes later four males were spotted walking around the home, staring in the windows, with what ap- peared to be axe han- dies, in their hands. Police ·are in- vestigating the incident. rest of the year to protect them from the intense heat of the sun as well as the rain. Under the Criminal Code of Canada all dogs are, by law, required to have "adequate" shelter. A doghouse should be large enough for the dog to stand up, sit down, turn around and stretch out comfor- tably to the fullest ex- tent of its limbs. It should be insulated, have an interior win- dbreak, exterior door flap and be elevated six inches off thefground, facing away from the prevaiing winds. These are the minimum stan- dards the Ontario Humane Society has set regarding a doghouse. Realizing that not ai dogs are indoor dogs, the Ontario Humane Society has published a pamphlet detailing how to construct an "ideal" doghouse. Copies of this pamphlet can be ob- tained by simply con- tacting the Ontario Hurmane Society at 620 Yonge St., Newmarket, Ont. L3Y 4V8. Sincerely, N. Glenn Perrett Director, Humane Education Ontario Humane Society LETTER TO THE EDITOR Make proper dog shelters 1