Living Today: Issues of modern living

THE ANTHRAX SCARE

The nation's pediatricians are urging parents to calm down.

Dr. Steve Berman of Denver, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told a news conference in San Francisco Monday that parents are deluging pediatricians with questions about the possibilities of their kids being infected with anthrax. He said the reality is that "their children face greater risks from riding in cars without safety restraints or going without measles immunizations than they do from something that might arrive in their mail at home."

Asked if parents should be instructed to discourage Halloween celebrations such as trick-or-treating, Berman said he thought it would be a mistake to cancel Halloween traditions. He added, however, the holiday offers "a good event for community building. Parents can get together and accompany children from house-to-house. That kind of activity builds community and in times of crisis community is needed."

Dr. David Schonfeld of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., agreed. "Trick-or-treat candy is not an effective delivery mode for bioterrorists," he told UPI. He said parents should concentrate on real risks -- such as being hit by a car while trick-or-treating.

The AAP is working with the Centers for Disease Control to crank out a new statement on risk, symptoms and treatment of anthrax in children. Berman said the statement would be available on the AAP website by the end of the week.

CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN

With some malls canceling Halloween festivities and many parents planning to restrict their children's trick-or-treating this year, Halloween might as well be going to Hell.

Actually, "it always does," said Ann Arema, the bookkeeper at the Hell Country Store in Hell, Mich., which bills itself as the nation's Halloween capital.

Arema said despite the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, the town is up for the annual celebration of All Hallows Eve.

"We've got a haunted house and a new store has opened, geared specifically for Halloween. We're up for it and so are the people who come here," she said.

Terrorism isn't scaring people away from Salem, Mass. In "Witch City," terror is a $30-million-a-year business. This year, however, the festivities have been tempered somewhat. While shocked and saddened by the atrocities of Sept. 11 and mindful of threats of more terrorist acts, Salem is heeding President Bush's call to all Americans to "go about their lives."

In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Halloween revelers will be able to take in all the haunted houses in style. Premier Transportation is offering "Fright Tours," which will transport thrill-seekers in stretch limousines and plush buses to all five haunted houses in the metropolitan area. The tour comes complete with witch's brew and cookies.

The Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla., is going all out for Halloween, hosting an $85 a person four-course dinner complete with Edgar Allan Poe in attendance (well, an actor playing him, anyway).

Elsewhere, the approach to Halloween is more subdued.

The Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. canceled planned activities at its 145 malls nationwide, saying celebrating Halloween could be seen as insensitive in light of the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that killed thousands.

The Taubman Co. -- which operates 31 malls in 13 states including Woodfield in suburban Chicago, one of the five largest malls in the country -- said about a third of its properties will host entertainment or other activities but all have decided against handing out candy or other food.

Other malls say they're planning to go through with Halloween activities, albeit with increased security in place.

AIRLINE SECURITY

United Airlines has completed installation of metal reinforcing security bars on all 611 of its aircraft.

The carrier said its employees worked 24 hours a day for more than two weeks to install the steel security bars on the inside of cockpit doors, completing the upgrades last weekend. The bars and locks vary on different aircraft but are designed to prohibit unauthorized entry people into the cockpit during flight.

The nation's second-largest airline said its fleet now meets or exceeds security changes ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

United also instituted additional security procedures but declined to discuss them.

AirTran Airways and Continental also have completed installation of metal cockpit door restraints on their fleets. Air Tran operates Boeing 717s and McDonnell Douglas jetliners, and Continental has 338 mostly Boeing aircraft.

Last week, American Airlines had fitted more than 250 American and TWA planes with cockpit security devices and the company expected to complete the job by early November. American has 712 aircraft and TWA, 167 planes.

Jet Blue, a bargain fare regional carrier, began installing bullet-resistant Kevlar-reinforced doors on its 18 Airbus 320 aircraft last week and mounted warning signs on the cockpit doors. The 2-year-old airline is considering putting closed-circuit security cameras in passenger cabins to increase protection for pilots and travelers.

ONLINE SHOPPING

A top Internet ratings group estimates U.S. online shoppers will spend nearly $10 billion during the upcoming holiday season -- a 43 percent increase over last year, despite the overall slowed growth of retail spending.

According to a Nielsen/NetRatings survey released Monday, online shoppers will spend a record $9.9 billion during this holiday season in 13 different e-commerce categories. Last year, they spent $6.9 billion.

The ratings group also said that more than 106 million people will shop online in December, up from the 85 million surfers that shopped online last December.

The estimates are based on historical online spending trends from the Nielsen/NetRatings and Harris Interactive regular eCommercePulse report, which surveys approximately 35,000 Internet users each month regarding their online shopping and buying behavior.

The survey measures dollar spending across 13 key product categories: auctions, books, music, video, clothing/apparel, computer hardware, computer software, electronics, fitness/sports equipment, flowers/gifts/cards, health/beauty, home/garden and toys.

According to the ratings group, the apparel category will see the highest amount of online spending this holiday season, with nearly $2.5 billion in revenues estimated for December and November.

Claiming the No.2 spot, the books, music and video category is estimated to generate $1.7 billion in online spending. In third place, online auctions are expected to peak at more than $1.3 billion for November and December.

At numbers four and five are toys, forecasting at generating more than $1.05 billion, and computer hardware, hitting an expected $9.73 million.

According to the National Retail Federation, total sales for this holiday season (including online and mail order shopping) are expected to increase by 2.5 to 3 percent over last year's (2000) total spending of $195 billion.