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HAPPY NEW YEAR 1984 leaves us home and family during the holiday season. This Morris look-a-like orange tabby male is approximately one year old Family Finder You'd look sad too if you didn't havea and looking for a home. If you'd like to adopt this affectionate, cuddly fellow, just five the folks at the Uxbridge-Scugog Townships Animal Shelter-a call at 852- 7295. 1984 IN REVIEW JANUARY 1984 First baby to be born at the Community Memorial Hospital in 1984 was a little boy, born to Rick and Sherrie Grieveson on January 3rd. The same day, but a few hours later a second baby was born, this time to Wendy and Don Hockley, and it was a little girl. Only eight minutes later, a third baby was born to Kathy and Neil McLaughlin of Blackstock. She is a little sister for brother Alex. Scugog Township Council made one exception to the rule of not removing snow from the town's sidewalks. Parents living alongside 7A will have the snow removed by Van Camp Contracting. A fire at the Myrtle Station destroyed the Kurz Food Plant, causing an estimated $800,000 damage. By a very slim margin, Durham Region Council voted to allow Regional staff to proceed with the purchase of new computer systems at a cost of about $750,000. Durham Region Police winter snowmobile patrols on Lake Scugog and the cottage country was started. Two of- in good shape Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor says he is confid- ent the Township coun- * ¢il will be able to hold the 1985 tax hike to under five per cent. In a year-end inter- view with the Star last Friday afternoon, the Mayor said that a local tax increase of "three or four per cent' is not an unrealistic target for the council when it gets around to striking a budget in March or April. Coupled with the fact that Durham Region council has also set a target of five per cent or less for the Regional tax hike, that should be welcome news for pro- perty owners. However, the overall impact on property tax- es won't be known until the Durham Board of Education sets its 1985 budget. Slightly more Bantam, than 50 per cent of the total tax bill goes for education, with the Region and the local municipality taking about 25 per cent each. Mayor Taylor, who is a member of the Regional council, said Durham right now is "in pretty good financial shape" and there are no major capital expend- itures for large water or sewer projects planned for 1985. He also said that Scugog Township is improving its overall financial position each 'year with the addition of (Turn to page 2) Christmas sales please retailers While there were gloomy reports in some parts of Canada that retail sales were "soft" over the Christmas sea- son, this was not the case for merchants in Port Perry. A survey by the Star last week of several store owners revealed Midget sweep the gold It was a clean sweep for Port Perry teams in the Bantam-Midget hockey tournament held last week at the Scugog Arena. The Bantams and the Midgets captured gold medals in their respec- tive divisions with the Bantams dominated their opponents in the. final game en route to a 7-1 victory. They won their two previous games by shut-out scores of 1-0 and 3-0. It was not quite the same story for the Eagles in the Midget division as they had to come up with a fine effort to defeat Stouff- ville 5-2 in the final to take the gold. This was a hard-hitting match with the outcome in doubt until well into the final period. Our congratulations to both local teams for the victories. See the sports pages in this issue of the Star for details. that Christmas shopp- ers were spending their money this year, and in many instances, mer- chants reported a hefty hike in volume over the previous December. Most merchants inter- viewed by the Star said they noticed a definite pattern in the Christmas shopping this year. A lot of people seemed to be doing some shopping in October and November. There was a "lull" during the first two weeks in December, and then business really took off in the final few days before Christmas. And it wasn't all just last minute shopping for little items, either. And the merchants surveyed said there was an apparent drop in credit card purchases with more people pre- ferring to pay for their Christmas gifts by cash or by cheque. Most merchants told the Star the strong sales performance in Dec- ember was a reflection (Turn to page 6) en ficers patrolling the lake, shoreline and enforcing such things as helmets, licences, insurance etc. The bodies of three snowmobilers were recovered by Ontario Provincial Police from the waters beneath the ice of Rice Lake, about 35 miles east of Port Perry. Marilyn Hutchinson was honoured by Marg and Jim Lawrence on the occasion of her 25 years service to Bruton's Drug Store. Durham Region council has given full council support. to an Official Plan Amendment for a new manufacturing plant to be operated by Tokai Canada Limited, a Japanese firm, constructed in the south-west corner of Uxbridge Township. Despite near perfect weather and trail conditions, the numbers of riders and pledges in the Port Perry Snowarama fell $10,000 short of the target for 1984. FEBRUARY Durham Region council has agreed with a staff report which says 'No Passing" signs are not needed on a stretch on Regional Road 2, south of Seagrave where four people lost their lives in a two-car accident in October 1981. Durham Region councillors agreed to shoot for a three per cent hike in property taxes, but some councillors are not optimistic that the target can be met. February is Heart Month in Canada, and here in Port Perry, a door-to-door canvass by some 69 volunteers got underway. Growth in Port Perry business community is possible, but local merchants must start working together; according to a consultant who has been working with local businesses over the past three months. The Big Brothers Association raised $2,500 from Bowl- 'ng Competitions in Port Perry and Uxbridge. Utica posted a 5-0 victory to clinch first place in the Port Perry Broomball League and won a trip to the Regional finals in the Elite Division. : (Turn to page 3) J