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Ef)e Canabtatt talesman • SINCE 1854 • AMALGAMATED 1999 WITH CLARINGTON THIS WEEK • Press run 21,900 32 Pages Wednesday March 14, 2001 In the ring against drugs Sports, page 9 U'J Optional 4 week delivery $5/$l newsstand Small is big with the new Mini Wheels pullout All aboard for transit-needs survey Bus project to roll in Clarington . FRANK WU 'Number one will be to (letermine if there would be the riclership.' BY JACQUIE McINNES Stuff Writer BOWMANVILLE - Bow- manville and Courtice could be on the buses sooner than later, depending on the outcome of a public interest survey and feasibility feasibility study on bringing Oshavva Transit buses into Clarington. Following preliminary talks between the municipality and Oshawa Transit earlier this year, Clarington council has decided to pursue the possibility of a service-purchase service-purchase agreement with the Oshawa transit provider. "It was something the mayor and councillors found when we were out campaigning that there was a desire for it," says Ward 2 Councillor Don MacArthur. "It is the only community this size that doesn't have one," he says. "We've heard from the public they want transit," agrees Mayor John Mutton. "We're making sure via a survey that it's worthwhile worthwhile bringing it in. I think it is." The first order of business will be to detennine if there is enough of a need, says Clarington's Chief Administrative Officer, Frank Wu. "Number one will be to determine if there would be the ridership. Until you ask the people people you really don't know," he says. In the past there have been residents inquiring about transit; however, he points out, "You can't gauge that as public opinion. opinion. The most responsible way, and the first step, is to find out." Council has directed staff to conduct a public interest survey and feasibility study on bringing the transit into Clarington. As well, it has authorized further discussions with the Oshawa Transit Commission, which will now map out some options and associated costs for various routes. Oshawa Transit General Manager Manager Bob Goody says the public survey will pinpoint the areas where the service will get the best response. "We want to see if we can get a flavour of where we can meet the needs. There is development development all over Bow- manville," says Mr. Goody, who notes it wouldn't be reasonable to try to service all areas because the bus operator couldn't provide a high enough level of service to be successful that way. The survey will be done in partnership! between the municipality municipality and Oshawa Transit, Mr. Goody says. He estimates it will take three to four months to complete complete the questionnaire, distribute it, analyze it and prepare a report for council to consider. For Bowmanvillc, the routes being considered would be north- south routes that could link up with the existing GO Transit, says Mr. Wu. In Courtice, which is more spread out along east- west lines, there could be consideration consideration of east-west routes in the north and south ends, he says. Ward 1 Councillor Jane Rowe says council will have to look closely at the cost of the service before determining if it is possible possible to bring the buses in. Still, she says she can see the benefits. "I think a lot of people would benefit in the Courtice area," says Coun. Rowe. "It certainly would reach out to a lot of people," she • See TRANSIT page 2 Police checks are teachers' union BY JENNIFER STONE ; Staff Writer •; The head of the local secondary secondary school teachers' union ■says a new policy requiring all school staff to submit to a mandatory police check is "insulting" "insulting" to educators. j Minister of Education Janet Ecker announced Monday all school board staff who have contact contact with children will require a criminal background check. The new Provincial policy is to begin in September, and will be phased in between this fall and August 2003. But to some extent, local school employees are already following the practice. "A police record check is a condition for all new employees," employees," says Greg Kidd, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board spokesman. He says the former Northumberland-Clar- ington and Peterborough County boards of education, which amalgamated in 1997 to form KPR, "had. this practice in place since the mid-1990s." Likewise, the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board has required all new staff, as a condition of employment, employment, to submit a recent police police check since 1997, says director director of education Mike Langlois. Howevçr, under the new policy, policy, all employees -- not only those hired since the boards implemented implemented the local guidelines - will have to submit to the check. "We recognize that the vast A.J. CROEN/ Statesman jilioto EDUCATION MINISTER JANET ECKER Criminal background checks for school staff 'an additional tool' for safety. majority of teachers and school staff have earned and deserve the respect of their students," says Ms. Ecker. "However, mandate- CLARINGTON - Clarington's senior Municipal Bylaw En- He was at this abandoned home to post a property standards ry criminal background checks forcement Officer, Lett Creamer, says it helps to have a sense of order. With 222 square miles in Clarington, there's a lot of will provide school boards with humour in his job, since people aren't always glad to see him. ground to cover for municipal bylaw officers. an additional tool to assist them in creating more secure learning f I ^ •I t 1 i 1 | ZEEosa:^ Tickets please, er... no thank you ondary School Teachers' Federa- t1 don, calls the mandatory police The good, the bad, and the ugly about being a bylaw oliicer checks for long-time employees ° ACCREDITED TEST & REPAIR FACILITY •An official murk of the Province of Ontario used initier licence. WHITBY - OSHAWA HONDA 1110 DUNDAS, ST. E., WHITBY LOCAL (905) TOIL LINE (905) 666-1772 686-1745 . www.honda1.com a "cheap shot. "Personally, I've taught for 25 BY JACQUIE McINNES years and I find it rather insult- Staff Writer CLARINGTON - Nothing ' See EMPLOYEES page 2 says aggravation like returning to your car to see a stiff yellow T piece of paper flapping behind XnSlUv your windshield wiper. It's like Mil . you've entered a game of cap- fttotrtmfln ture the fla S y° u didn't know ^ you were playing and the other WHERE TO FIND IT ^"1 '"*>* ta J™* Editorial Page 6 But if you think it's a drag Sports 9 to have the bylaw officer pay a niaccifiPii 19 visit to your car, or your front rule lie A PAII door, just try to imagine life GIVE Uo A GALL f rom the other side. General 623-3303 True, they have the power, Distribution . . .579-4407 but with that comes a whole Death Notices ■ * lca P '* llsc - says Len 1-905- 683-3005 ^'"enior municipal law Sincerely Yours enforcement officer (MLEO) 1-800-662-8423 for the municipality of Clar- Web site durhamnews.net in s ton suggests it isn't as much i Mr ii hnhhitt fun as one m, S ht unngine to JUul.DODDlII m j n 0 t| 1cr people's days for a ©durhamnews.net i; v j ngi FAX 623-6161 "We've had people ball up the ticket and throw it at us," he relates, adding slyly, the officer officer has the original copy of the ticket. "You can arrest somebody for just about any charge in the book and they'll go with you, ho problem. But give them a parking ticket and they go ballistic." Harassment definitely goes with the territory. In fact, Officer Officer Creamer's staff refused to be interviewed. for this story because they were concerned their safety may be compromised compromised if their names were used in the paper. Overreaction? Consider this tale from the trenches. Every few months' the department will get a call about a car left in a no-parking zone. When an officer arrives at the car, a familiar familiar routine follows. The car owner is known to the department; department; he is the same person who's called in the complaint. The man jumps out and begins verbally abusing the officer. Ironically, the offender, a doctor doctor by profession, doesn't even live in this municipality, says Officer Creamer. As a rule, Officer Creamer doesn't hand out parking tickets tickets anymore. He's too busy dealing with property standard issues and administration for the growing municipality. With 222 square miles, Clarington has a lot of ground to cover and it can be a lonely day that comes with little thanks for a job well done. "As a police officer it's a very different mindset," relates Officer Creamer, a former London, Ontario police constable. constable. "You lend to deal with a problem once and it's finished. 1-Iere, we have a property (issue) that's been ongoing since 1992-93. There are people people out there who know how to manipulate the system," he says. "The way the courts arc set up doesn't help either. A conviction can take six to eight months." If it is delayed too long, the case is tossed out. Even the people who make the call to complain in the first place aren't always happy customers, customers, he relates. "Often people people are frustrated. It gets beyond beyond the breaking point. Often simply getting the problem resolved resolved takes far longer than the complainant hoped for." And then there are the 'he-says-she- says' cases, where the complaints complaints volley back and forth over the fence like a game of table tennis. "It becomes a neighbour war. One complains about cars in the backyard, the other one complains about the neighbour's neighbour's dogs. You get caught in the middle. It's a method for getting back at the neighbour." The officer is then left to explain, explain, "we don't care who complained in the first place, you left yourself open (by vio-; See THE page 2 ■