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WHJTBYFR£EPRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVJ?,MER~ 15, 1989, PAGE 5 M __ two weeks now my car?s battery bas been dead. Tired -of boster cables and parking on blils, Monday I go te the tire store. "I need a battery." "Whatidnd?" "Your cheapest." "F'ifty mmne ninety nine. But I don't recominend it. Not strong enough. First cold morning, uh-uh." "What's next?" "Seventy-nine ninety ine." "O0kay."1 "Corne back in haif an *hour. Go pay now and you can pick it up later." Great. With a id te pick up from school in forty- five minutes. Means a twety-minute trip home, then a quick return. So be it. 'An hour later the batteiy if fully cbarged, ready te go. At home again, I park the nome of the car in the gaaeand open its mouth, so it yawns, and then like a dntiat I poke and prod with pincera and screwdrivers and pliera, undo the grounded terminais firet (it's egative, rernember that, negative ground. After two weeks ocf utangled booster cables such chants have a strange mystical meann" Read my book, My ShockdIng ie as ABattey, or lgtes Old and Groumde for Life.) I fiddle with the anchor boitea ad lift the dead batteiy free. Okay. Slap the lifing bondies on the mew one, up we go, iright in place, just right. Negative pole ground. Got it. Just lap this anchor plate ini place. Well, weil, well, what have we? This bar, that's supposed te go over the tep of the batteiry, the e bol te corne Up onleach sd adyou tightem them and the battery is locked in position for another iglýt years. Only it dom't fit. WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan (3ustomer servic Phone the store. What battery shave I bave? Computer keys. cick in the background. The saine sies of questins Year. Model. Make. Etc. Clerk spews out a numbr. "lil check and phone back." 1 check. Wrong number. Some dumb clerk. I phone again. "Puit the right one on charge. Ill be right in te pick it up." "Can't do tbat. Supposed te wait until youlre here." 'TM coming in with a hungr four-year-old, supper's late already. I would appreciate your having it ready." Haif an hour later I wa]k into the stor. Erin and I bave carried the battery down the biU. I may go tbrough life shopping only in stores located on his. I hoist the battery on the glass counter and wait. Ten minutes. Pasenerasociato el snublbed" on Via issue somesefforts tslobbytforerai ]By Trudie Zavadovie Canada's bighways and Cana- dians na y be anything but care- frpe as t he federal government stands firmn in its commitment to cut Via Rail services and appears to snub attempta to negotiate a solution. "Talking to the federal govern- ment is like talking to a brick *wall," says Dave Lester, execu- -tive director of provincial co- ordination of the Passenger Asso- ciation. "We've been snubbed by the federal government. "They bave refused to isten to and consider a report put together by the transportation committee, an ail party commit- tee which la asking for a one- year moratorium on the Via cuts in order to come up witb alterna- tives. "To snub that la undemocra- tic, " says Lester. "They (the federal governinent) seem very obstinant. Do it their way or no way. » Lester, who works in Toronto, moved from Markbam to Port Perry a year ago. His decision to move was based on th£ 1984 campaign promise by tbe Conser- vatives tbat "if you use the train, well keep it." Witbout the train, Lester faces four hours commuting daily. Witbin the next montb Lester and bis family wilI bave to face the prospect of moving. "If we move it will have cost me a bouse. We (hie, bis wife and two children) will be forced to live in an apartment. The transition will cost him about $30,000. "The Conservatives made a significant promise in 1984 and I expect them to live up to it,'" says the passenger association spokesman Paul Paguelo. "My concern is that we're quickly running ut of time. A lot of people hgave very significant deci- sions to make that can't be deci- ded on at two weeks' notice. "IVst'she federal government's responsibility to find a solution. lThey've got to come up with a solution or tbey're not going to be Careless driving charge laid A Whitby man bas been char- ged with careless driving after a collision on Wentwortb St. E. on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 8. Durham Regional Police say a vebicledrîven by a Whitby man and another vehicle driven by a Markham resident were both westbound on Wentwortb St. E., around 3:45 p.m. A third vebicle eut in front of tbe Whitby driver, causin ghum to run into the car drivenbyl the Markham man. There were no injuries as a result of the incident. However, police say there was extensive damage to both vebicles. A REALESTATE AGENTS DREAM! $529ffO 55 Baldwin St. Broldin, Ont. Phone: 6558444 Tor. 427-1263 Immaculae 3284 sq. ft. breck & cedar on 11/4 park-like acres, exclusive hamiet flavour nf living, commutible, Beckernuan kitchen, central air, cent ai vac, insuite with 6 jets whirlpool bath, lantastic foyer, 19 ceilings in family room, 2 ireplaces, harciwood floors & extras too numerous to mention. Please cali Brian & JackieWright, 655-8444 or 427-1263. forgiven. Ross Stevenson and Bill Domm have been very supportive and active around the issues. The ball's in Bouchard's court. "We're going nowhere fast right now.-" MP Ross Stevenson continues his efforts on behaîf of rail tran- sit. "My whole thrust is to get the federal and provincial government together at the minister or deputy minister level," says Stevenson. "We must adjust our attack a little but keep pre'ssing for the same thimg. If there's mot something officiai next week, the following week I willp ut (the issue) on public record in the house. Stevenson, along, with many others, bad hoped that the first ministers' conference would bring viable solutions. "Ail we got were more , eneral state- ments about Via,' says Steven- son. 7herp will be major upheavals for individual familles but not for whole communities. MPP Sam Cureatz has made servioe. "I have been talking with Ross Stevenson and have written and made-,inquiries. I have to confess, however, I have enough on my plate. I wish I could do more but Ihave to wait for initiatives." Cureatz, who uses the GO sys- tem says, "Driving is getting horrendous. Mass transportation is the way we have to go. "If Via is going down, everyone should be putting together a concerted effort." SOFA SALE With Pre-Christmas Deliver* Discover our storewide upholstery sale (with over 1000 gorgeous fabrics to choose from) *instock products only ~INTERIORS~ ~our past part of your future. ;inghlgcy Of 57Brock Street North, Whitby 686-1123 (3 blocks north of Hwy. 2) Mon. - Wed. 10-6, Thurs. & Fni. 10-9, Saturday 10-5:30 _Aso in Mississauga. -F ~ -- - 'Wron battiy, say when a clerk finally appears. Ten minutes later "Nope, that's the same battery as the one Ive just charged. That's the one all right." "But it dôesnt fit.", 'That's the one for your car. You1l have te alter, the platform."i 'But if it doesn't fit how can it be the one for my car?" "la it high enough?" 'That'a not the poit. I didn't ask for a battery closeat te one like mine. I need one that fits into my car. Ia that asking too much?" i can give you a refund." <This part bas taken haif an hour. ",Take this te the front and theyl give you a refund."' First clerk: "Sorr, I can't take that here. Youl1 have te take that teo ustomer Service and theyfl give you avoucher. Then you corne back here and 17il give you your refund." "But 1've already. .." There are fifteen people i the whole store -- I idd you not -- and eleven of us are now lined up for Custemer Service, an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Forty minutes. I timed it on my four level pacer stepwatch. Forty minutes in lime. With a hungry four-year-old. At the counter I get the voucher in one minute, and return te the tirot clark. "Fm back." "Not- very busy tenight." "You're mot," 1Isay, 'but Customner Service Sur is." SEE PAGE 21