Trustees must ratify offer Site chosen for new school The Durham Board of Education will announce August 31 the location of a site for a new élementary school in Port Perry. A Board spokesperson told the Star Monday the Board has made an offer to purchase a piece of land in Port Perry and that offer has been accepted. The spokesperson said no further details would be made public until after trustees meet August 31 to ratify the agreement. The Star has learned through other sources that the site chosen for the school is on the west side of Sim- coe Street, about one-quarter mile north of the intersection with Durham Road 8. The Board of Education has been looking for a site for a new elemen- tary school in Port Perry for almost two years and that search has centered around the area in nor- thwest Port Perry where there has been a substantial number of new homes built and more on the draw- ing board. Both elementary schools serving the Port Perry-Prince Albert areas are now at maximum capacity with more than 20 portables in use. If the trustees ratify the purchase agreement for the new site at the August 31 meeting, the Board has until October to submit a proposal for construction costs to the provin- cial government. It is expected that construction of the new school could get underway in the spring of 1988, but it is not likely the school would be ready for students by September Police divers find body of youngster Durham Region Police divers have recovered the body of a ten- year old Richmond Hill youth who drowned Saturday evening at a Bi- ble camp on the Talbot River in Brock Township. A Police spokesman said the "youth, who had a history of serious heart problems, was attending the -Fairhaven Bible Conference over the weekend when he went for a bike ride after supper Saturday evening. When he failed to return a search was carried out and resumed again Sunday morning. The youth's bicy- cle was spotted that morning in about ten feet of water in the Talbot River. Police divers found the body of Jeremy Ramdeen a short while later. A police spokesman said it ap- pears the youngster drove his bicy- cle down an embankment into the river. An autopsy has been ordered. The youngster had had four heart operations and the police spokesman said he may have suf- fered some kind of a seizure while in the water. The Bible camp is located on Highway 48 in Brock Township, just east of Highway 12. Here's a fish story that Neil McDermott would just as soon "forget. The Port Perry man was fishing with friends on Lake Ontario Sun- day afternoon when he hooked and boated a monstrous Chinook salmon which tipped the old Toledo at 39 pounds. In the Toronto Star Salmon Der- by now going on, that fish would have been big enough for the week- ly grand prize, a Ford Bronco, and would have been the second largest fish entered in the Derby to date. But as fate would have it, Neil did not have a $20 Salmon Derby ticket, a ticket that must be purchased at least 24 hours before a fish is entered. Last year, Neil had a ticket, fish- ed several times and didn't hook anything worth entering. Needless to say, he felt a little sick Eagles reach finals The Port Perry XL Eagles are on their way to the Ontario Amateur Softball Association (OASA) In- termediate C championship tourna- ment in mid-September. The Eagles won the right to repre- sent their zone with a clean sweep of Claremont Legion last week by scores of 3-1 in Claremont and 4-1 last Friday in front of an ap- (Turn to page 7) about ishing out on a big prize just because he neglected to buy a ticket. We understand that Neil's 39 pound monster Chinook is headed for a date with the taxidermist and he has plans to call it "Bronco" for the truck that never was. Oh, well, there's always next year, Neil. The Durham Region Police have unveiled their latest piece of equipment, a $90,000 Mobile Command Vehicle complete with sophisticated electronic radio and communica of that year. The pending announcement on the new school site brings to an official close the heated and controversial issue of expropriation of seven acres of Fairgrounds property. Vol. 121 No. 39 The Board had wanted a chunk of the existing Fairgrounds as a school site and this spring launched ex- propriation procedures to get it. But the Board hastened its search for an alternate site this summer in Tuesday, August 25, 1987 the wake of a consultants report which said the cost of relocating the Fairgrounds would be in the $1.5 million range and the School Board could be faced with paying these costs. Copy 50¢ 40 Pages Mobile command to help police at crime scenes Inspector Bob Brown - disasters. The newest piece of hardware for the Durham Region Police was of- ficially unveiled at a press con- ference at Division 18 in Whitby last Friday morning. It's a $90,000 Mobile Command Vehicle equipped with a sophisticated communications system which will allow police to operate efficiently right at the scene of a major crime or serious natural or man-made disaster. Durham Police Chief Jon Jenkins said last week that getting the 31-foot Mobile Command Vehicle has been "a high priority" for the force over the.past several years. He said the nature of police work is changing to such an extent that the vehicle is "an absolute necessi- ty if we are to fulfill the (policing) requirements in Durham Region." Chief Jenkins noted the increase tions equipment. It will be used as the nerve cen- tre at the scene of serious crimes like hostage taking or in the event of natural or man-made in the past few years of hostage tak- ing incidents in homes, incidents where heavily armed people have barricaded themselves in buildings forcing an often long stand-off with police. In some cases, the Chief said the police have been forced to take over nearby homes as a command cen- tre, sometimes for up to 24 hours. "People have been very co- operative with us in allowing the use of their homes and businesses and we're grateful," he said. But with a 'Mobile Command Vehicle such as: "the one unveiled last week, the force won't have to use private homes as a command centre in emergency situations. The vehicle can serve as the com- "mand centre in remote areas in cases of serious crime and also disasters such as floods, hurricanes, even a nuclear mishap at one of the two generating plants located within Durham Region. And Chief Jenkins said that if the need comes up, the force will take the vehicle outside the boundaries of Durham to assist in crime or disaster situations. The radio and telephone equip- ment in the vehicle allows it to be us- ed as the nerve centre for fire departments and other emergency services like the ambulances, he stated. Inspector Bob Brown, who has been on the "front line" comman- ding police officers in several emergency situations, designed the vehicle. All the electrical equipment (TV, VCR, computer, etc.) are run off a separate generator and a repeater antenna allows the vehicle to be pressed into service in even the remotest areas of the Region, north of the Ridges. The aluminum body (which is not bullet-proof) and interior were con- structed by P.K. Welding of Oshawa. The $90,000 price tag was paid from two sources: The federal emergency planning program and Ontario Hydro's Community . npact Fund from the Darlington Nuclear Station now under construction. The vehicle will be based at Divi- sion 18 on Rossland Road in Whitby. EE EE EEE EEE LI Yt »%