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iililiill llilplllii iiiiiiiiiiiisiii S:i::;&5S:K^'^.!5 : Æ:ïx'SÏ*:::ÿ:::S'S:*::rf:SîK^^SÆ^^U- 1 H^^?S!i liisiiiieiiiii WEW|I§S8 lilll!ï||ll lllgl SS#:### X'EigXivEvivïgv Xv v! !yV-XX; iiüiiii WY'~. Hli 1 RONO Volume 66, Number 3 Orono Town Hall GST Included Wednesday, January 23, 2002 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, StarkviUe and Tyrone since 1937 A good snow cover finally gave Grandpa Boekee the conditions needed to hook up the sleigh, and give horsemanship lessons to grandsons Matt and Chris. The group was spotted near their home along the 4th Concession. Police feel the two 'smash and grab' incidents reported early Thursday morning may be related. Responding to an alarm ffdrn the OLCO Gas Station at 216 King Street West in Newcastle at 4:43 a.m., police found the front window of the business was smashed but only partially broken» No entry was gained to the prem ises however the video surveillance surveillance tape shows that ; three males exited a van pulled up in front of the building. building. The males looked around for a moment, then one of them smashed the front window window with a tire iron. For some unknown reason, the white teenage males all wear- . •ing dark coats and pants, one wearing a toque, and two with baseball caps, got back into the van and left the property. At 5:25 a.m. the same morning, polipe responded to an alarm at Easton's Esgb on Hwy 115/35. Upon arrival police found the premises had been entered through a window window at the rear of the büilding and the cash register had been removed. Culprits fled, the scene before police arrived. Emergency exit now a priority Concern over the safety of children attending Clarke High and The Pines has led the Clarke High School Council to address the issue of an alternate exit off the school property. Though this matter had been . discussed many times over tire years, "September 11 ■ really drove home the need to have a planned, strategy to get people off the- property if there is an incident on 115," stated High School Principal Ms. Foy. , "When they ,'(MTO) built the barrier down Highway il 5, they literally 'sealed us • ■ ■ tiff with no emergency exit," ' stated School Council Chair Kaye MeOustra. -Clarke High School and The Pines Senior Public School are situated on . the northbouhd lanes ,of Hwy. 115/35, a divided 400 series Highway, between Newcastle and Orono. When the .High School was built in. the 1960's, the Highway did not have a barrier separating the northbound and southbound lanes. You çould come ou] of the school driveway and go north or south, says Kawartha Pine Ridge School Board Trustee Boh Willsher. "You , don't have to be an expert to see there is a problem," stated .Willsher in a phone interview with The times last week. "As a parent, do you wait till there is a death or a serious incident before you lobby for a change?" When a propane leak at the gas ■ station adjacent to the school closed the northbound lanes of the' Highway about 10 years ago, students had to evacuate the area on foot .through ti)e field to the east . and 'north of the schools. The Ministry of Transportation MTO created the problem in 1984 when they upgraded the '115/3 5 to a 400 series highway and built' the barrier down the middle said Willsher. Tie is looking to the MTO for a solution to the safety issue caused by their actions. Willsher further stated that the School Board is not in the business of building roads, they will build drive- continued page 3) Application a waste of time, says Mayor - Mayor Mutton accused the owner of a 23 acre property in north Bowmanville of wasting wasting everyone's time with their application to amend the Clarington Official Plan. Mr. Herb Lewis, co-owner of the property at the north east corner of Liberty Street and-1, Concession ' 3, attended Monday's public meeting in support of his application. The applicant is trying to replace the Community Park designation on the property with an Urban Residential designation. The property is designated in Clafington's .Official Plan as a future com- , 1 muflity park, servicing 1 the • north east*Bowmanville community. community. j . The' are^ is outside of Clarington's urban boundaries boundaries and -according to Planning Director David Croome, would not be consid ered for residential develop- ' merit'd 11 after the year 2016. "The landowners are not interested in holding on to the land for municipal future use," stated consultant Brycè Jordan who was representing the property owners at Monday's public meeting. If the Municipality doesn't want to purchase the land, the owners owners feel the municipality should allow them to sell it , for development. Mayor Mutton told Mr. Lewis and his consultant from G.M. Sernas arid'Associations at Monday's public meeting that their absolutely ridiculous ridiculous application was a total ' abu'se of the public meeting , system. "The real intent of .this application is to inflate the value of the property and force the municipality's hand to .buy it right now," stated . (continued -page 7) ,