i j Whltby Free Press. eeisdy, February 21.1996, Paoe 21 won't change Moon power AttentonBallai Scouts. Queen DeMi of lb. Negaverse has been spotted headlng ta ealthl, t's Up b Sallor Moon, ao Mercury, Sallor Mars, Salloi Juie and Sallai Venus bo save us fo hoeAng dl oui energy dirained and lie silver moon crysta taen Io the dark aide. Only the Sallor Scouts can stop themn frorn havlng t"er nerious way wlli the piat eartb. Wil lie heip of Luna and Arternis, taling cats from the MoanKIgngdonv (whlch 1150f was destroyed tby the Negaverse>, Salai Moon will keep us sale from those enegy-sucklng destroyers of lie world. No, 1 hae not yet botaly lost IL I arn reterding bo lie huge TV hilt Sa«o Mooe. Go b arry eleTmtay school yard et recees and you MIl hear sral girls playing out lie miles of eecb of the scouts and 'dustlngu tie bad guys wll elther mnoon dust ai Ice bubbles. Last Christms you couldntl find the dolls on tie sheives forilove nm money. The rnalnstrear media reported liatheme were no realy bot oys bast year. Hah, liey should have seede li eedlng frenzy at Toys R Us when a crate 0f thase doils was unpacked a week before lie big day. Total chaos. Not bo mention that lie toyltsmal girls ai realy want is lie $30 wand used bo send lie Negaverse into obliMon. Vos, hi Japanese cartoon Is a hlt~ at Ieast around oui bouse, and lie phrase *Moon power' is heard wili regulIlt. 1 have watched this praarnwllidmiegirls and lie trulhIis l'd raiioe see them watch Anlmanlaoe. We do restrctthe type of programs they - watch ùid put limits on lie amnount of TV they consume. 1 wait niy datJghters b be educalled TV viewers, so we talk tolidmnaboutlihe ads -aid lhe techniques liat commercials use on children. The chlld ln lie ad Is ~wysa Iblitiader liai i the ft audience (role modal), liere Is sound, music aid lie toy 15 shown In settings very différent froni your chid bedroorn. Furlier, on ads lie y pertormis activities liat just don't happen Mben you, taiçe It out of lie boy. Anybody triai to get a Barbie b push lie 1Ibo carniage that was sucb a big teffi lis past December? In our case Elizabei hasn't usai it since Christmas Day. She learned a very valuable lesson about lie differenoe between wanting and having. 50 1 have had a bIt of a diemma about lhis prograrn. We bannai Power Rangers and saine olier farnllar shows, but #i" can watch this one. Why? Weil, a couple of reasons. Flrst, whle lie bardiles can get pretty ugly, nobody gets hurt ie Ballai Scouts biow dust oai sc bubbles Ib send liem backito tloir nasty vold. Soa f It cornes bo acting out, no one Is galng bo get kbcled ln thie sbmnach, just bubbled. The raies ae not negative and 1 notice .liat ail lie girls who have wandered'lirougb oui portais are big tlie show. Why? Simple. ln tlis show, lie girls are centrai. liey set lie bS., liey are lie heomes and lie boys are mnore in lie backgound lia on any cher show on television. The girls love that, which Is why iore are flot that many maie fans îof Salo Mbon. Sorny daughters get bo watch It In fact my Wo. consultants fori lis BybgIk, KowaJskI Residents of. a north Whltby subdivision wlll have te contend with busestravelling, along their street for a whilè longer. Town council's operations, committee has recommnended that Whitby Transit buses serving the Woodlands community near Taunton Road and Brock Street adhere te the currnt route. SDespite receiving a petition from Valleywood Drive residents upset with buses using their street as a turnaround point, commlttee members Monday refused te alter a route change implemented by Transit staff oniy two months ago. Affer a lengthy discussion which featured both a spirited defence of Whitby Transit operators' driving habits and criticism of the subdivision deveboper, committee feit the residents' demanda were not practical since the entire issue could be resolved by the summer. Representing a delegation of Valleywood Drive homeowners, Bruce Gallagher pleaded with committee te change a bus route that took effect in December. Gallagher claimed the buses, sometimes, travelling faster than the 5-kiometre-per-hour speed limit, posed a threat te children and pedestrians forced te walk on the road due te a lack of sidewalks in the partially-constructed subdivision. Since there are still several vacant lots'in the development, the sidewalks "stop and start"ln a sporadic fashion, Oallagher explalned. Gallagher sald residents accept the fact that they will have to endure "dodging construction vehicles" a while longer, but they should not have -te contend wlth buses that "do on occasion go at fast speeds." Although they appreciate Whitby Transit .wrvicîng the community, residents object te, ffusing our street, the speed and frequency" of buses, h. said. Galiagher suggested a compromise by having the buses use the street only during peak -srod. Ridership will only increase after people become used te buses operafing on a consistent and fixed schedule, said counicilbor Joe Drwnm, noting low ridership is te be expected ln new areas. "rm pleased you're not against having somne buses on your street. There are people Who corne here who don't want it period," he told residents. Gallagher stressed that residents will only accept buses on an interim basis. Once the two portions of Whitburn Street are joined, Valleywood homneowners expect the buses te b. off their street, he said. According te a public works department report, the new Woodliands route emanated from, a Shepherd-gets bis flag day Itfs nat tue exact day he had suggested, but Durham riding MP Alex Shepherd is pleased about the recent proclamation of national flag day designated as Feb. 15. "I arn, pleased the Prime Minuster sees merit in this.'It's time we *focused on tue symbols that can unit. us as opposed te the issues that are divisive." sava Shepherd. Last October, Shepherd introduoed a private members bili te proclaim the third Monday cf February (it would have been Feb. 19 for 1996) as national fiag day. He says it's now citizens, sehools, municipal and provincial goveraments who should celebrate the. national symbol. .OPSEU may sfrike Monday PROM PAGE 1 "(W.) wlll b., frankly, struggling te take care of basic needs of our patients." Management staff would take up some cf the slack but programns such as socal work, psychobogy, recreation and occupational therapy "would simply not b. availabie because those staff are not considered te b.e essential." A Whitby Jafi spokersperson Sludge faciitty FR OM PAGE 5' and that's not forthcoxning." Gilbert also suggested tuat Region staff have "delayed"' submitting the'ý environmiental aswssment report bocause it does not put forward a strong argument in favour cf the proposai. H. added that members cf the public warking committeewere not invited -to participate when local officiaIs met witu Ontario Ministry cf N4aturel Resources staff te discuse the report.1 "From my perspective I'm stili involved and the end gae should b. played.eut," said Gilbert. I stilI think itfs inappropriate te put it down by the lake, next te a class two marsh ... it should'b. up country. I still think that's where is should b.." Environmentalist Margaret Carney, a representative cf tue Thickson's Woods. Heritage Foundation, was not availabie for comment. Last summer, Carney expressed concern about the fecility's new location, dlaiming it endangers the surouningarea even more than tue previous site. would not comment on a contingency plan because cf security concerns. Gates says tue union is going over the essentiai services agreements it signed with management at the two institutions and "veriIyinË them." About 20 per cent of the union's 65,000 workers have been designated essential; local -figures weren't available. "What we're looking at is taking them to weekend staffing levels," she says, "and management that wiii b. qualified te do the jobs will b. doing them." Local services that would b. affected by a strike would aise include snowplowing and maintenance on provincial highways such as the 401, probation, -parole and socal services and the. court system. "It wouidn't be business as normai for tue government," adds 'Gates. "People dan't realize tue scope cf tue work don. by people who are employed by tue Ontario public service." consultant's study of the entire transit system last year. Previously, passengers were required to cross Brock Street (Highway 12) te catch a bus. Now buses enter the neighbourhood via 1'imber Miii Avenue, Vaileywood and Whitburn. However, the loop through the subdlvison ls oniy temporary, the report notes. Buses wili travel on Whitburn from Rossland te Brock once the two sections conrlect. The report, states the current route las'the best alternative. Travelling north on Valleywood from Timber Miii wouid require a right turn onte Taunten Road which ls not feasible due te hlgh traffic volumes and speeds ln excess of 80 kibomnetres per hour. Travelling farther north would also resultin extra distance on the route which cannot be acconunodated under the present schedule, the report adds. Drunim said Town officiais have received "very few complaints" about speeding drivers, while cour>cillor Gerry Emmn said the most- urgent problem is the developer - Whitby Cardens hIc. - not completing the sidewalks. Whitby Gardiens does not want te. build sidewalks in front of empty lots only te have heavy construction equipment pass over the walks when building commences. As for accusations that hIMtby Transit drivers lean on the, gas pedai more than necessary, tuis brought a sharp rebuke from one of the drivers lni question. Dave WIchall, an employee of Trentway-Wagar which operates the buses for the. munlcipality, challenged commnenta attributed to Valleywood Drive homeowner Joe Carbone lni another newspaper. Wichali, who drives tue 8 aam. to noon shlft on the Woodlands route, reject.d Carbone daim cf buses "fylng aiong" at- 60 or 70 dilometres par heur even If children are on the side of the road. "A lot of drivers were offended by it," he sald. "We're not a bunch of monsters out- there. We're professional drivers and we ail care ... some of us are parents and grandparents teo." Wiha] Iinslsted Whltby Transit drivers never exceed 50 ibometres per hour and said residents should b. more conoerned about their own neighbours' driving habits. Public works director Wayne Hancock says the problem should b. rectified as plans oeil for Whitburn te b. connected by tihe end of June. Hancock said ie staff will aise continue te press the developer ta complet. the sidewa]k construction as well. Gallagher sald he ls content ta "sit back" for now and "se. what happens.0 Bus route Your Financial'Health Derek Dutka Should you borrow to buy an RRSP? lIn most cases, borrowing money is what gets mosi; people into trouble. However, borrowing for your RRSP could b. one notable exception. Let s take a look at an example: Ainount borrowed ........................000.lpo Plus' Return for one year (10 per cent) ..........$100 Loan payinent (eight per cent) .........*1,043 Equals Net investment gain of..................... $57 Plus Income tax benefit (40 per cent rate) . $400 Equals Total benefits of borrowing ........... $457 So the answer in this case is yes, it does pay te borrow for your RRSP. In fact, you can even pay more interest on your loanthan you will earn on your investment, and the RRSP tax savings will stili bring you out on top. If you borrowed $ 1,000 per year for 30 years te contribute te your RRSP'and it grew by 10 per cent annually, your RRSP would b. worth $164,494. The cost to, you would have been $30,000 plus Intereat. Incldentally, even If the boan rate was 12 per cent, the total intereet paid over the 30 years would have been *1»95.60 (assume each $1.000 boan was amortlzed over.one yeaýr>. 0f course, It Is even a better Idea te pay off the loan as fast as possible te reduce your intereet costs even more. Then start a monthly contribution directly inte your RRSP and you woiuldn't have any interest charges at ail. Always get professional ptdvice before borrowlng money. Cal your financial planner oay te find'out what's best in your situation. Derele Dutl«z je an independent financial pionner with Financial Concept Group in Oshawa.