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Block Parents elect their 1979 officers on Feb. 8 i ~ The Whitby Block Parent Central Committee will be electing its officers for 1979 Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Confe- rence Room Two at the municipal building. Any Block Parent inte- rested in a position on the executive is asked to attend. The Block Parent program is designed to protect child- ren from molesters bullies, or vicious dogs and to pro- vide a place for children to turn to when in need of responsible adult assistance when lost, sick or hurt. Anyone over the age of 18 can be a Block Parent. You do not have to be a parent yourself. Block Parents can be married, single, working 'I '11 w or at home to participate in the program. Applicants are screened by the police to exclude anyone who may have posed a danger to children in the past. Block Parents are issued a red and white sign which is placed in window visible to passers-by. The sign is displayed only when you are at home and should be removed when you are out, resting, ill or unable to hear the doorbell or a knock on your door. The Block Parent's res- ponsibility will be to provide emergency assistance to a child in trouble. This could involve contacting the police Ey John Congratulations are in order to Gord Hanna on his re-election as Chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the Durham Region. Gord, who recently finished his second term as President of the Whitby Chamber, is responsible for a group that advises individual Chambers in the region on matters of mutual concern, and forms a liason between the Chambers and both the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and the provincial and federal governments, not to mention the regional government. The ACCORD group, in concert with local Chambers, including Whitby, will be running a series of retail sales seminars beginning March 6, a Tuesday night, likely at Durham College. These seminars will cost $5 per business per night, or $20 for the four seminars planned. This will allow the retailer to bring as many of his employees as he or she desires, all for the $5 price per evening. The Whitby Chamber of Commerce will be responsible for staging the March 6 programme, titled "The First Step - In Store Selling." More information can be obtained at the Chamber of Commerce office, 668-4506. Brochures will be distributed to local retailers at a later date. This seminar provides an excellent opportunity for local merchants to refresh themselves on selling techniques, displays, customer relations and the like. It seems to work in well with the redevelopment plans in a sense thàt redevelop- ment should help externally, and seminars of this sort will be of benefit internally. The cost is certainly not prohibitive, and since the seminars will run from 7:30 p.m. until 9 p.m., it's not really a big chunk out of anyone's evening. So keep it in mind, and try to get as many of your employees out as possible. I'm giving my employees an equivalent amount of time off during the day of the seminar so that they might attend, as I feel that the benefits reaped from a seminar of this sort will far outweigh the cost of sending them there. While we're on the topic of the Chamber of Commerce, there are a number of ways in which the Chamber in Whitby is attempting to make itself more visible this year. One such way is through its Consumer Assistance committee. It has always been the role of the Chamber to act as a liason between consumers and businesses. In the past this committee has been called "Consumer Complaints," but that really didn't hit home, because we're not hoping to become a complaints department. What we hope to do is to advise and counsel people on matters relating to problems between the retailer and the customer. Let's take an example. Say a customer has a complaint about something she bought in my store, maybe the fact that a book she bought Jhere fell apart when she got home. The customer has the option of coming back to the store and exchanging it for another one, or if she doesn't feel that she has received satisfaction, registering a complaint with the Chamber of Commerce. What the Chamber would do is to send the customer a form asking her to list her complaint in writing and return it to the Chamber, in order to assure.that all parties concerned have the facts straight. The Chamber would then send this information to the retailer or business person, asking for a response, and in this way hopefully have the problem worked out to the best interests of all concerned. The Chamber also acts as an information clearing house on door-to-door solicitors for such things as advertising, for independent business people offering services such as paving and insulation, and the like. A person can phone the Chamber and ask for information about any of these people in a sense that were there any complaints against a certain company or service. The Chamber will check with the police and even with other Chambers to get accurate information, then pass this along to the consumer. The Chamber cannot recommend any company or service, but can pass along accurate informalion about this company or service to help the consumer in evaluating Qie service record of the group under question. This is but one of the many services of your Chamber. More about this organization next week. In fact, I'd be interested in doing columns on local services clubs or organizations which help the town in some way, and would like to receive submissions which I might use to this' purpose. or the child's parents. First Aid courses are available from St.- John Ambulance bu' are not mandatory. Block Parents are not expected to provide baby- sitting, food, drinks or toliet facilities. Block Parent programs are being developed and pre- sented in the school to ac- quaint children with how the program works. These include police visits, puppet shows, film strips, songs, coloring books and sheets, games and discussions. Parents can help too, by explaining the program to their children, ensuring that they are able to give their name, address and phone number to a Block Parent Sshould they need assistance. e,., The Children are taught to expect help whenever or wherever the sign is dis- played and to use Block Parent homes only in erner- gencies. Block Parent application forms are available through all elementary schools and from the Whitby and Brooklin Puble Libraries. These forms must be filled out in duplicate and returned to the nearest school or mailed to Whitby Block Parents, Box 233, Whitby, Ontario, LN 5S2. After your application has been screened by the police your Block Parent sign will be delivered. For more information, call Helen Clarke at 668-5430 or Sharon Spicer at 668-8429. Historical society elects its executive The Whitby Historical Society elected its executive for 1979 at its annual meeting Jan. 23 at Fairview Lodge. Margaret Kennedy was re- elected as president, past- president is Florence Heard, first vice-president is Sheila Cormack and second vice- president is Lianne Joyce. Recording secretary is Betty Weldon; publicity and corresponding secretary, Marilyn Felteau; public rel- ations secretary, Martha Ward; treasurer, Jack Grant; curator, Fred Cane; Newsletter editor, Mildred Pascoe; membership chair- man, Effie Wilson; program convenors, Kay Hutchings and Jean Ileard; and social convener, Anna Klaren. Directors are Terry Joyce, Brian Winter, Anna Klaren and Roy Smith. The annual meeting took the form of a pot luck supper, and concluded with a slide sho\ on African safaris by PARKING in Whitby there is ample parking to accommodate nearly two thousand vehicles. Most of the prime parking spots are located within the downtown shopping area, as indicated on the map, in convenient, safe and well maintained municipal park- ing lots, or in on-street parking. As well, local shopping plazas provide free park- ing for their customers. Discover Whitby. Parking is ample, inexpensive, and close to your favourite shopping areas. Watch for the green and white signs which indicate municipally owned lots. FRANCES ._ _ HENRY KINGM 2. KENT o o j CENTRE ST S CENTRE ST N BYRON~ST S BYRON ST N 3 BROCK ST S 4 CORNERS BROCK ST N 4.5. GREENEZ 6z 0L1L S OATHO o0 Li MlNICIPAI1PARKING L 1. TOWNE PLAZA 2. KENT BUILDING 3.SAFEWAY PLAZA 4.WHITBY PLAZA 5. A LTA PLAZA 6. ATHOL PLAZA 7.MARY BROCK BUILDING & HENRY BUILDALL Presented by the Board of Management for the Whitby Central Business District Improvement Area Committee. 7~. Downtown FFý-- ' ' i MIL- a WMTBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 31- 1979 PAr.Pý 0