The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

\ i • SINCE 1854 • AMALGAMATED 1999 WITH CLARINGTON THIS WEEK • Pressrun 20,000 24 Pages Tuesday Dec. 21,1999 Optional 4 week delivery $5/$l newsstand The secret to 67 years together Friends and Neighbours, Page 7 Artwork aids shelter Entertainment, B5 Cardiac hospital patient transferred from Bowmanville to Scarborough and back to Bowmcmville Investigation launched into woman's death BY JACQUIE MclNNES Sta ff writer BOWMANVILLE - The death of a 71 -year-old Bowmanville Bowmanville woman is under investigation investigation at Lakcridgc Health Corporation. Gloria Goreski died at Lak- eridge Health Bowmanville Thursday following a frantic four-day search on the part of local doctors for a higher level of care in Toronto area hospitals. hospitals. "It's under investigation. We want to see what happened in this particular case," said Nancy Bennett, spokesman for Lakeridgc Health on Monday. Ms. Bennett said the hospital is not at liberty to comment on specific cases. Mrs. Goreski was admitted to Lakeridgc Health Bow- Kendal slated for volunteer-manned fire station All that's needed BY JACQUIE MclNNES Staff Writer KENDAL - Crucial minutes of emergency response time could be cut significantly for the northeast corner of Claring- ton. A long-awaited lire station in the Kendal area will soon be a reality. The municipality has purchased purchased the former Kendal Public Public School to refurbish for use as headquarters for a volunteer fire brigade. "When the Kendal school came up, we took the opportunity opportunity to determine if it is functional," functional," explains Fire Chief Michael Creighton. "It is, with some alterations." The department will now approach approach Clarington council for financing to make the changes the school requires to meet the needs of a part-time force. It will also need to purchase an additional pumper-tanker for the area. " "It could be a couple of years to make the appropriate modifications," estimates Chief Creighton. "Granted, council may set it as a priority and it could be operational in late 2000. We're looking at it as the sooner the better." Pcrhapç the biggest challenge challenge may be finding firefighters firefighters for the station, he notes. "We need to find 15 people who want to be volunteer firelighters. firelighters. It's going to take the most work because of the vastness of the area and the low population." population." While the department's policy policy is to take volunteers who live less than three kilometres from the station, for better response time, Chief Creighton thinks the department may have to expand expand the radius for the Kendal station. are the volunteers FIRE CHIEF MICHAEL CREIGHTON 'We need to find 15 people who want to be volunteer firefighters.' "The further away they live the longer it takes to get a truck on the road... but we may not have a choice." Currently, in the event of an emergency in the Kendal area, the response comes from the Orono or Newcastle fire stations stations which are also operated by a volunteer force. The cost of the fire station will not be made public until all documents on the deal are finalized finalized but "the municipality feels it was a really good deal," says Fred Horvath, Clarington's property manager. The school is 7,700 square feet and sits on 5.3 acres. The school was built in 1961 with an addition in 1968. It has four classrooms, a gymnasium, washroom facilities facilities and various storage rooms. The building has not been used for a number of years. rr ACCREDITED TEST & REPAIR FACILITY •An ollUliil mink of Hie I'rmlme of OiUnrlo used miller IImkv. WHITBY - OSHAWA 1110 DUNDAS. ST. E., WHITBY LOCAL (9115) TOR. LINK (905) 666-1772 686-1745 www.hondn1.com JJ Hi vxsBaatmmxacæîzæzxœ Inside S&t Statesman WHERE TO FIND IT Editorial Page A6 Sports B1 Entertainment B5 Classified B8 GIVE US A CALL General 623-3303 Distribution .. .579-4407 Death Notices .683-3005 Sincerely Yours 1-800-662-8423 Web site ciurhamnews.net statesmn@durham.net General FAX .. .623-6161 Newsroom FAX ,623-6161 manville on Sunday, Dec. 12 when it was decided she required required a cardiac catheterization to determine whether she required required further surgery, said Dr. Ron Van Hoof. There was no availability for the test until Thursday. When Mrs. Goreski arrived at Centenary Hospital, site of the Rouge Valley Health System System in Scarborough, it was de termined the grandmother of 22 children was too ill for staff to perform the test. "They sent her back...saying she was in heart failure and wanted us to sort that out and basically said to send her back when she was stable," said Dr. Van Hoof. "We're just a little community hospital, as you probably know. Not that we couldn't handle heart failure but this lady was previously healthy and we were trying to get her help." A spokesman for Centenary Hospital said it is the hospital's policy to return patients to their hospital of origin if they are not stable enough for the scheduled procedure. Centenary was on "critical care bypass" for most of Thursday, redirecting all ambulances, ambulances, even those with criti cally ill patients, said Maria Milanetti, the hospital spokesman. The same day, 20 of 25 hospitals hospitals were redirecting ambulances ambulances away from their emergency emergency rooms. Lakeridgc Health sites have also felt the pressure of emergency emergency ward overload, says Ms. See HOSPITAL page A2 Kids unhurt after man barricades them in home A big bear hug for a friend COURTICE - Tyler Krttck had a furry friend in a bear hug during the school concert at Dr. Emily Stowe Public School, Courtice. The children were singing 'Teddy Bear Christinas' as part of the concert, concert, which also featured skits. Chad Dean Saunders, 25, of Birchfield Drive in Courtice, Courtice, is changed with two counts of threatening, assault and breach of probation. He appeared in court Monday Monday for a bail hearing. Courtice to get new high school by 2002 Population growth bumps up construction date BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer JASON LIEBREGTS/. Statesman photo COURTICE • Three infants infants escaped unharmed after a man barricaded the children and hicnself in a Courtice home Sunday evening, ; prompting the heavily-armed Tactical Support Unit (TSU) of Durham Regional Police to respond. According to Sergeant Mike Closs of the Durham Regional Police Claringtom Community Office, a Birchfield Birchfield Drive woman phoned police at about 7:30 p.m., and said she had been dragged out of bed, thrown onto the , a;\d locked out of the house. Three children, aged two years, one year and four weeks, remained in the home. At that point, the department's department's TSU was deployed. "Once we get into a barricaded barricaded person situation, we call in a negotiator and the Tactical (Support) Unit," explains explains Sgt. Closs. "As soon as the tactical unit got there, he came outside." The children were unharmed unharmed in the hour-long incident, incident, and a number of knives were seized from the residence. residence. 'The major growth within the Clarington area will come from Courtice.' Glynn Livesay Chairman, Mother Teresa School parent council BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer Courtice Catholic secondary students will have a new school sooner than was expected. The Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Clarington Catholic District School Board has voted overwhelmingly overwhelmingly to bump construction of a new school from 2005 to 2002 in the board's long-term financial financial forecast. The school will take some pressure off St. Stephen's Secondary Secondary School in Bowmanville, which opened last year. Though the Ministry of Education Education rated capacity of the school was originally 825 students, students, with new ministry regulations regulations for class size, the capacity capacity dropped to 637, Glynn Livesay, chairman of Mother Teresa School in Courtice's parent council told trustees at a recent meeting. The current population at Clarington's only Catholic secondary school is 889 students, with 14 portables housing the overflow, said Ruth Ciraulo, of the St. Stephen's parents' council, who was also on hand for the meeting. "We're at the point where the quality of secondary education education of our students is going to get very tricky to maintain" without a new school being built, added Ms. Ciraulo. The Courtice area is also challenged by extremely rapid growth, said Mr. Livesay, adding last year, Courtice had twice as many housing starts as Bowmanville, "The major growth within the Clarington area will come from Courtice, just based on the number of housing starts," he told trustees. Though the board had originally, originally, in its long-term forecast, planned to build a secondary school in Courtice in time for the 2005 school year, trustees were unanimous in their decision decision to bump the process by three years, "The evidence is quite clear that it's time we proceed proceed with a new secondary school in Courtice and I support support it wholeheartedly," said Clarington trustee Caroline Burke. The school will hold a similar number of students 'as St. Stephen's. "It will be 635 pupil places, but we would look at a program that we could add to a modular concept," said Ray Rigby, Superintendent Superintendent of Business. A new facility could mean keeping more students in the Catholic system past elementary elementary school, said Mr. Livesay. "We have a lot of people that strongly believe we can obtain 100 per cent retention (of students students in the system after elementary elementary school) as long as the board provides a school that mirrors programs at (the already already existing public) Courtice Secondary School," he said. m ,11001)220 (. fi t I'uxj i 200 KING ST. E., BOWMANVILLE wi,. AW AW \ 7 , * ttv,. ^865° : • ORDER YOUR GIFT CERTIFICATES TODAY. available in $5 AMOUNTS HP * 1 * 5 Tify 2 Medium Pizzas 2 Fresh Toppings 12 Chicken wings v 2 1L Cokes 6 Cheezzie Bread 2 Dipping Sauces ZyjJt/lHi&a Z&lfi'SSTddte/e Zwl ,v ■ .Silt-;- y We can cater your next Group Event: Kids Christmas Parties, School Pizza Days, Fundraising Ivontt, Birthday Partial, Office Parties