Call the world at Internet Café Weekend e-mail available at high school A thousand spirited Whistlerites can't be wrong. Beginning Feb. 7, public weekend e-mail access is available at Whistler's secondary school computer lab for a small fee, thanks to a Spirit Day survey that showed a need for a public e-mail link. Called the Internet Café, computers are available for anyone who wants to send or receive e-mails. Hours are Saturdays 2-5 p.m., and Sundays 6:30-9:30 p.m. The high school has programs or classes using the computers at other times. The computers were linked to the Internet on a three-way plug-in, including the Whistler Public Library and the Whistler Employment Centre, last year thanks to a $30,000 grant from Industry Canada. But more than just being a computer link line, Internet Café also offers a chance to meet others in between clambering the climbing wall at the school or pressing the artistic muse into the pottery shop. Tables and chairs with volunteers from the student's youth program will offer a real — not virtual — café setting, complete with coffee and muffins at a reasonable charge. As for e-mail access, the rate is $3 cash for a half-hour. Mailers can use the Hot-mail free Internet program to have a mailbox to receive e-mail. "We'd like the high school's community centre facility be more of a social place," says Ele Clarke, a Howe Sound school board trustee. The high school and community centre is located across from the Alpine Meadows main entrance, just north of the Meadow Park Sports centre. Both north- and south-bound buses can drop you off.. Not sure about using the Internet or e-mail? No sweat: there's a whole mob of high school students who will be on hand to offer advice. For more information call Parks and Recreation at 938-3133 and ask for the high school.
