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James Publishing 25th Shop the Rest Buy from the Best! 25 la Aumran Aemran Report COMPANY LIMITED rr Printing Professionals Since 1854 Telephone: 623-3303 62 King St, West Bowmanville Loster -- "It's a Boy McCullough -- "It's a Boy" Your lucid General Motors dealer . for the past 25 years, -- 25th1 166 King SI. E. I, Telephone 623-3396 V» Bowmanville's Movers for 50 Years. Telephone 623-4433 --■IMIUOTtWHW awB--w--w PITCHING IN -- Ivan Porter, the Site Supervisor for the Fifth Wheel Truck Stop Franchise, congratulates congratulates Tim Powers, of Tim's Fifth Wheel in Bowmanville, for coordinating an effort to help take supplies into eastern Ontario, Powers says truckers going cast have consented to haul much-needed supplies free-of-charge if they have the space in their trucks. Wednesday, January 14, 1998 144th Year Issue 2 70ç? + 5<? G.S.T. = 750 Power Rates Frozen by Lorraine Manfredo Staff Writer The Clarington Hydro Electric Commission has voted to freeze rates for customers in 1998. This is the fifth year in a row that residential and commercial customers in CHEC's jurisdiction of Bowmanville, Orono, and Newcastle heard the good news. "1993 was the last time ■ we had a rate increase," said CHEC Manager David Clark. "And there were three years when we had a decrease in the last five years." In fact, the Commission is projecting stable rates for the next five years, although Clark points out that this is contingent contingent on Ontario Hydro not increasing wholesale rales. A capital budget of $2,747,000 was approved at Thursday's commission meeting. The budget would have been $5,000 more, but the commission, on a motion by Suzanne Elston, voted to scrap a $5,000 expenditure set aside for new boardroom furniture. The 1998 capital budget budget is almost double what the CHEC has forecast for any of the years in its five year forecast to 2002. This "bit of a blip" is due to a few large projects to be undertaken in 1998, including underground cable replacement in the Waverley Road area costing costing $650,000, and replacement replacement of a substation transformer transformer at Spry Avc., where there have been Continued on page 3 One Haggis to Go! To promote their upcoming Robbie Burns Night at the Baseline Community Centre on January 24th, the Purple Hill Orange Lodge arranged for the delivery of one haggis, plus delicious roast beef dinners to The Statesman offices at noon on Monday. Pipers Jerry Taylor and Bill Sinclair are pictured above, along with Doug Delaney and John Westover who are carrying the traditional Scottish delicacy into our lunchroom with all the pomp and ceremony it deserves. Robbie Burns, of course, is Scotland's best-loved poet and also the author of the famous "Address to the Haggis" which is recited at gatherings around the world on Robbie Burns Day. School District Buys New Headquarters yThe newly-amalgamated school boards of Northumberland/Clarington and Peterborough are planning planning yet another amalgamation. This time, it's the board's administrative headquarters which will be consolidated at a single site in Peterborough. District School Board No.14 announced last Friday that it will renovate approximately 75,000 square feet of office and warehouse space to create the new headquarters. headquarters. The cost of the building is $1.75 million. However, the Board expects to save money through the consolida tion of Five District Board building sites into a single location. In a meeting January 9th, the Board announced a conditional conditional agreement to purchase the Outboard Marine Corporation's office and warehouse facility. The five acre site is located in the Major Bennett Industrial Park, at the junctions of Highway 28, the 115 Highway and the Hwy. 7 bypass. It is 58 kilometres from Bowmanville. "The prime objectives of the consolidation are to reduce the number of building sites from five to one, eliminate duplication and obtain the best value for taxpayers' taxpayers' dollars," said Board Chairperson Judi Armstrong. Continued on page 3 Help is on the Way by Laura J. Richards Staff Writer The power is still out in many communities communities in eastern Ontario, including Cornwall, where items being collected at Tim's Fifth Wheel in Bowmanville are heading. Tim Powers is coordinating the drive for flashlights and batteries, candles, warm blankets, and kerosene or propane generators for those who are still without power following last week's ice storms in eastern Ontario and Quebec. Powers told The Statesman the drive for these items began with a request from a trucker who wanted to do something. something. "He contacted the 5th Wheel Franchise on Saturday, and we put up Continued on page 3 by Laura J. Richards Staff Writer - "A once quiet and safe neighbourhood; is now damaged and violated by your conduct." -Mr. Justice Sam Murphy Coulson Donald Woolner, 22, was found guilty of kidnapping, forcible confinement and the sexual assault of a four-year-old Clarington girl in October 1996. He pleaded guilty to the three charges after entering the Whitby Courthouse General Division Monday afternoon. afternoon. He was sentenced to five and one-half years in jail, in addition to the time he already served in custody. Woolner is to spend an unspecified amount of the time at the Northern Treatment Centre in Sault Ste. Marie for substance abuse. Woolner has a history of solvent abuse, the court was told by his attorney, Bob Kimball. The time served in total for the three offences under the Criminal Code will be eight years, including the amount of time spent in custody since his arrest. The accused was sentenced to four years lor sexual assault, one year for kidnapping and six months for forcible confinement. confinement. (Although Woolner has only been in custody for 15 months, the judge treated his time behind bars as two days for every single day. Thus, Woolner is said to have spent two and one-half years in jail.) The charges were laid in the morning around 9 o'clock on Oct. 9., 1996, following a search for a four- year-old girl who was discovered missing from her home just after 3 a.m. Mr. Justice Sam Murphy told the court on Monday afternoon, Jan. 12, "the initial reaction is to have you locked up and throw away the key." But, that is not how the courts are to administer justice. Looking at Woolner, Justice Murphy said the guilty plea shows "remorse" for his actions, and "it saves the parents having to testify of nightmarish events." The incident was one that "shocked the community of- Clarington and there has been a cry-out for denunciation," denunciation," he said. During her remarks to the judge, Lori-Annc Turner, the Crown Attorney, stated the crimes against the young- stèr were, in fact, pre-meditated. It was learned during the preliminary hearing that a teddy bear belonging to a neighbour to the family had been stolen from the back seat of their vehicle prior to the event. The same teddy bear was found in the shed Where Woolner was discovered with the kidnapped youngster. Turner told the court when Woolner was found in the shed "he was shirtless" and the young girl had her shirt on, but was "naked from the waist down." John Duncan, the Goodyear employee who had found the youngster, "took off his jacket and wrapped it around Continued on page 3 marnmnsKmoaxaBBaanaasBa msm HELP FOR STORM VICTIMS -- Dozens of folks from Clarington arc assisting our neighbours in eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, these days. Among those helping, that we're aware of, arc staff of the public works departments, Clarington Hydro and rural hydro. Last Friday, our presses were working some extra hours in order to print several Napancc area community papers whose presses were knocked out by the storm. There's still an urgent need for generators generators and Durham MPAlcx Shepherd is among those spearheading the effort to collect them for farm communities where they can be ■ used to pump water and power milking equipment. Call Alex Shepherd's office at 721-7570 if you can help. RED CROSS CLINIC -- There's a new time and place for the Bowmanville Red Cross blood donor clinic. It's tomorrow (Thursday, January 15th) at Rchoboth Church. Hours arc from 12:30 p.m. - 7:30 p, m ; New donors arc always welcome. The need has been made even greater by the disastrous storm in eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. The majority of regular blood donor clinics in the Montreal area will not be operating for some time. So that means donors from outside the disaster area will be of even greater importance. importance. THANKS FOR THE LUNCHES -- To give James Publishing staff a taste of an authentic Robbie Burns Night banquet, organizers of the upcoming January 24th dinner and dance sent us complimentary roast beef dinners, complete with a haggis on Monday. The Haggis, escorted escorted with pipers and two haggis-carriers decked out in lull Scottish regalia certainly brightened our normal lunch hour around here. It's going to be tough going back to the brown-bags the rest of the week. If you want tickets to Robbie Burns Night, just call 623-2405 or 623- 3521 and the volunteers organizing the evening will help you out. BOARD OF TRADE GETTING STARTED -- We direct your attention to an ad in this edition which announces the organizational meeting for the new Clarington Board of Trade. The meeting is January 21st at the Garnet Rickard Recreation Complex at 7 p.m. MISSED HIS NAME -- We note that the name of Bruce Mcdonald should have appeared in last week's picture of the Bowmanville Legion's New Year's Levee. He was also one of the volunteers who helped to put the event together and, although his face was in the photo, his name was not. Our apologies for this oversight. SPORTS pg. 6 <7IT*