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Away in a Manger Jim and Tracey Vaughan-Evans rehearse their role in the Living Nativity which will be presented by St. Paul's United Church tonight (Wednesday, December 18th) and also on Thursday and Friday. The program includes carolsinging carolsinging and a re-enactment of the nativity by volunteers from St. Paul's. The program, which takes place outdoors outdoors -- rain or shine -- begins at 7:30 p.m. and lasts about 20 minutes. Now in its 13th year, the living nativity nativity gives Bowmr-""Hp and area residents a chance to pause in the bus true meaning of on the Newcastle Resident Joins Who's Who Stray Cat Loses a Leg But Finds a Of Canadian / ■. v , 7 New Friend Women L A / And Home P.3 ISL r Clarington's Community Newspaper Since 1854 A James Publishing Community Newspaper There Is A Grinch! Thieves Hit Salvation Army Does anyone know its Christmas? The Family Services unit of the Bowmanville Salvation Army was hit by thieves on Thursday night, Dec. 12. Missing are a 286 AST computer, computer, with monitor, hard drive and printer, a brand new fax machine, a typewriter and tape deck. Isabelle Jones told The Canadian Statesman on Tuesday, Dec. 15, when she arrived to work at 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13, "the doors were still locked." She noted the culprits, whoever they are, "must have locked up the place when they left." When she got past the front door of the Family Services Building on Church Street, she did not see anything amiss until she opened the locked door to her office. "My office had been trashed," she said. Desk drawers had been opened, gone through and papers were thrown about. Jones stated clients of the Continued on Page 12 Wednesday, December 18, 1996 142nd Year Issue 51 7iH + G.S.T. = 75tf Decked Out for Christmas Dr. Emily Stowe Public School senior kindergarten students, Shannon and Mitchell, get ready on Thursday afternoon, Dec. 12, for their big debut on stage in the production of 'A Tremendous Christmastime.' Shannon, Mitchell and other students depicted festive festive garlands in the musical. Students and School Officials Meet Over B.S.P.S. Vandalism ./ Students were so outraged oyer the removal of bathroom doors at the Bowmanville Senior Public School that they threatened threatened to walk out on Monday. The protest was called off, however, after the Superintendent of Schools Chuck Kennedy, and principal Hilary Walt agreed to meet with students this Wednesday, Dec. 18, to try to resolve the problem of vandalism at the school. School officials say they are just trying to cope with vandalism vandalism in the washrooms, including smoking, fires and walls smeared with feces. Parents are calling the measures measures "extreme" and many who wouldn't normally support a student student walk-out were sympathizing sympathizing with their kids. "Removing the doors is a violation violation of their right to privacy," says Tamar ah Ross-Petrie who has two daughters at BSPS. As a nurse, Ross-Petrie fears many kids will choose to "hold it," running the risk of urinary infection rather than use a wash room with no door. The school board should be able to come up with better solutions, solutions, she says. She adds it's not fair that all the students should suffer for the acts of a few. "You cannot risk their psycho-social psycho-social development by humiliating them." Prior to removing the doors, the school had tried restricting washroom access and mandatory teacher escorts, but while teachers teachers were escorting students they had to leave their classes unsupervised. unsupervised. Ms Ross-Petrie suggests the school adopt a Crime Stoppers program at the school, where acts of vandalism can be reported reported anonymously. ion Bocks i^kfcit^c^ pJqp A 31-year-old Courtice woman and her elderly parents were victims of an early morning home invasion on Dec. 12. The Bundle Road resident was awakened around 4:15 a.m. after hearing hearing voices in her backyard. A short time later, the front door window of the residence was smashed and two males entered, one armed with a club or bat. The woman had time to call 911 before the two suspects confronted her and demanded money. After taking cash from her purse, they fled. At approximately 6:15 a.m. Durham Regional Police responded to a call in Oshawa from a 31-year-old cab driver robbed at knifepoint by two men matching the description of the home invasion suspects. The driver had picked up the two males and female from the Hwy. 2 and Rundle Road area of Courtice. The taxi driver told police the three ran towards an apartment building building at 300 Gibb Street. Several police entered the building and conducted a floor-by-floor search, locating the three suspects hiding on the roof. Charged with break and enter, possession of dangerous weapons and armed robbery are a 25-year-old ex-Oshawa man now living in Windsor, a 24-year-old woman from Oshawa, and a 23-year-old man from Courtice. by Laura J. Richards Staff Reporter Durham's regional councillors have voted 20-8 in favor of backing workfare programs in their communities. Last Wednesday, December 11th, regional councillors spent nearly four hours considering the merits of the controversial provincial program. program. They heard from speakers both for and against the concept of able- bodied welfare recipients working for their benefits. Durham Regional Police administered 118 roadside breath tests in the third week of the Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (R.I.D.E.) program. program. Regional police report that, for the week ending December 15, a total of 17 drivers were given 12-hour suspensions. Six people were charged with driving with over 80 mgs. of blood alcohol and one person was charged with refusing a breath test. During the same time period, 10 more impaired drivers were arrested and charged by officers on regular patrols. After three weeks of the R.I.D.E. program, police have stopped a total of 18,635 vehicles. During the past week, the Durham Regional Police Service set up R.I.D.E. spot checks in Pickering, Ajax, Oshawa, Bowmanville, Scugog and Uxbridge. Regional councillors discovered tire so-called mandatory program would have some element of choice. Elizabeth Roy, representing the Ministry of Community and Social Services, told councillors that taking part in the program is mandatory. But, a client has a choice in the areas in which he or she will participate. The choices are: training, employment placement, and community participation. So far, workfare programs are "up and running" in 14 sites throughout throughout Ontario. She said the programs are "running smoothly." As Roy put it: "The client takes the shortest route to employment." Among the eight people who spoke on the subject of the Ontario Works community participation component were Rev. Mervyn Russell of Orono/Kirby United Churches, Rev. Glen Eagle of Claremont, and Rev. Canon Bruce Mutch. Rev. Mutch told regional councillors, "Canada is known as a caring and compassionate country. The authorities are cutting down the system and moving towards a new dark age, with Ontario leading the way." Rev. Mutch stated that workfare, until this year, was considered "illegal" "illegal" in Ontario, "but the act covering it was rescinded in April." There will be many problems, he stated, and among them will be the "poisoning of human relationships between the recipients and caseworker," caseworker," Rev. Mutch warned. Durham resident Dan Belfry told councillors that when a person is on welfare they simply can't afford to look for work because everything costs money -- from bus tokens to clothing. Continued on Page 12 Clarington Place Cinemas Open A REELY BIG SHOW-Clarington Mayor Diane Harare snips through a reel of film on Friday, December 13th, to officially open the Clarington Place Cinemas in Bowmanville. The brand new 11-screen multiplex is located on Hwy. 2, west of Regional Road 57. Pictured above with the Mayor (centre) arc theatre employee Matt Black; Clarington Place Ltd. President Glenn Willson; Vice-President of Marketing and Communication Marci Davies; and employee Erin Gunter. by Lorraine Manfredo Staff Reporter The grand opening reception for the new 11-screen Cineplex Odeon in Bowmanville got underway on Friday, December 13th, with a Filmcutting Filmcutting ceremony. Clarington Mayor Diane Harare had the honor of snipping through the celluloid stretched between two large reels to officially open Clarington Place Cinemas, located on Hwy. Two, just west of Regional Road 57. Mayor Harare said the community was fortunate to have the new cinemas cinemas locate in Bowmanville. "We're excited," she told the gathering of about 200. "Our community community needed this." She congratulated the Cineplex team on a "beautiful building" and thanked those who worked so hard to bring the theatre to town. Glenn Willson, president of Clarington Place Ltd., and a resident of Clarington, was a key player in making the movie-house a reality. Willson bought the property on Hwy. Two ten years ago and a few years later started the ball rolling with Cineplex in a bid to bring in some of the amenities found in other towns. I fell this was a way to put into this town what I missed having here, he said. Continued on Page 12 CHRISTMAS SCHEDULES -- Since Christmas arrives exactly one week from today, we will be publishing our Statesman and Independent editions early next week. Look for The Statesman on Monday, December 23, and The Independent on December 24. This means any advertising (both display and classified) should be in our hands by noon on Friday, December 20th, at the latest. Also, news releases, community correspondence and any other material for the papers which are printed before Christmas must be submitted no later than this Friday, December 20th. The plans call for many of us to work Saturday in order to assemble all of the material needed for next week's editions. It's not easy when Christmas falls in the middle middle of a week. However, this sort of thing happens but once a year. ****** TOUGH BREAK FOR BLACKSTOCK -- Our readers will, no doubt, be saddened over the news that the Blackstock Fairgrounds lost its grandstand in a fire late Saturday afternoon. This is a significant significant loss for the Fair Board, since a considerable amount of equipment equipment was stored inside and the grandstand itself was a focal point of the many events at the fairgrounds. The blaze is believed to have been deliberately set. The grandstand was built in the 1930s. Hi * *:{:** CLOWN OVERLOOKED -- We failed to identify the clown whose photo appeared on the front of The Statesman last week. It was Pinky the Clown who was at the Rotary Club Christmas party for children. Pinky was doing a fantastic job, creating balloon toys and animals for everyone. ****** FREE PARKING --You can park free of charge in downtown Bowmanville from now until Christmas. That's the reason why the meters are bagged and decorated. This pre-Christmas present is from the merchants of downtown Bowmanville and the Municipality of Clarington. ****** PHOTOS GALORE -- It's not just the post office and retail stores that feel the effects of the Christmas rush. We notice it at The Statesman too. A very large number of photos have been taken over the last few weeks due to the Christmas activities around the town, plus all the regular news. Space does not permit us to publish them as soon as we'd like. Please bear with us. As long as the photo turned out, it should appear in the upcoming editions of The Statesman or our sister paper, The Independent. We hope we can get caught up in the editions between now and early January. The Stork Market Report \ Doxtater - Hancock - Johnson - Wilson - Totals for 1996 It's a Boy! It's a Boy! It's a Girl! It's a Boy! Boys 86 Girls 88 See Page 9, Section Two X t kKuauiuuiu i HEsso) s P ec l alisls in Heating and v ✓ Air Conditioning SALES-SERVICE* INST 350 Lake Road, Bowmanville 623-5516 m Shop the Rest Buy from the Best! "fil nsttr [Aamtat; Your local General Motoru dealer for the pant 25 yearn, _ 166 King St, E. f 25th " Tolophono 623-3396 L/d presents Automotive Rustproofing from $49.99 T/io no iv Clain, Clour Odorless Solution lor metal protection. Hwy. 2, Bowmanville 623-5000 Bowmanvllle's Movers for 50 Years. Telephone 623-4433 James Publishing COMPANY LIMITED Printing Professionals Since 1854 Tolophono: 623-3303 62 King St. Wost Bowmanvillo