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l uv,e News/3 RCMP corporal earns bravery medal Sports/13 Eagles get ready s* for weekend test CLARINGTON'S AWARD-WINNING NEWSPAPER SINCE 1854 to Canabiait Statesman Pressrun 22,150 December 11,2002 • 38 Pages • Optional 3 Week Delivery $5/$l Newsstand durham . „ k .com WHAT'S ON Sunday: Take the kids and get into the holiday spirit by listening to a festive concert for the whole family. The Clar- ington Concert Band will be performing its Christmas program program at Hampton United Church, Scugog Road in Hampton, on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. Director of music Barrie 1-Iodgins will conduct the band at this inaugural Christmas concert. Admission is $5 at the door. For more information, information, call 905-697-8956 or visit the band's Web site at www.geocitcs.com/clarington- concertband. Tuesday: The Ontario Christian Music Assembly (OMCA) holds its 42nd Annual Annual Christmas Concert Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m., at the Maranatha Christian Reformed Church, Hwy 2, East, Bow- manville. Featuring the large mixed choir, concert band, the Kooij Sisters, and organist Andre Knevel, with director Leendert Kooij. Adults $10, children under 12 are free. For tickets or more information call Henry Semplonius at (905) 623-7196. Tickets also available available at the door. INSIDE Wheels: Dodge performance fans may have been living by the Dodge slogan of "grabbing life by the horns" but _ earlier this pm&Â J year Chrysler Group executives and engineers engineers decided to grab life by the throttle with a new performance performance group and some of the most outrageous production vehicles ever developed by DaimlerChrysler Corp. INDEX Editorial Page 4 Classified 9 Sports 13 GIVE US A CALL General 905-579-4400 Distribution 905-579-4407 Death Notices 905-683-3005 Sincerely Yours 1-800-662-8423 General FAX 905-579-2238 Newsroom FAX 905-579-1809 Stroke of kindness St $1.8 billion IUÉ 1 ' • M-b s 'fc VMM w m JASON LIEBREGTS/ Statesman photo Graham Caracciolo paints letters on a truck that will deliver food and clothing for some of Ontario's poorest rural residents. Students, business team up for needy Used trailer will service poor in rural Ontario BY JACQUIE MclNNES Staff Writer DURHAM - An Oshavva business and a group of Bow- manville high school students have pooled their efforts to create a link to food and clothing for some of Ontario's poorest rural residents. A 48-foot trailer once used to haul auto parts should be on the road in the province's most northern northern communities from Sault Ste. Marie to Manitoulin Island within within the next few weeks delivering needed supplies, says Bob Burke, president of the Bowmanville area St. Vincent de Paul Society. "It started in June at the (St. Vincent de Paul) national confer ence," relates Mr. Burke. "We were identifying needs and nobody nobody was able to meet the needs of the rural areas as far as servicing servicing the poor for food and clothing." clothing." Adopting an idea from the Hatuilton-area St. Vincent conference conference that services the city's urban area by a mobile truck, Mr. Burke committed to getting 25 mobile units on the road throughout throughout Ontario. The idea is to have them travel throughout the countryside countryside providing donated food and clothing from a portable store in the trailer. Although the organization hopes to get provincial funding through the Trillium Foundation for the purchase of the tracks, Mr. Burke wanted to launch a pilot program to see how it would work before approaching the foundation. He took "the idea to Norm Mackic of Mackie Moving Systems. "1 told him my dream and lie gave me a trailer," that was surplus, says Mr. Burke. "Not only did he do that, he took the best of the trailers he had and his people spent a lot of time fixing fixing it up into A1 shape." With the trailer ready to go but with no identification on it, Mr. Burke determined he would need some other talents to create a sign for this store on wheels. This past summer, a number of high school students helped St. Vincent de Paul prepare for the opening of its downtown Bowmanville Bowmanville store by painting a mural in the shop. "They did a really good job. I was really impressed," says Mr. Burke. Hoping to reproduce those results, Mr. Burke approached approached students at St. Stephen's Secondary. School in Bowmanville. Not only did they agree to help but also the students have formed the first high school conference of St. Vincent de Paul in Ontario. The group ui students set to work to create a logo design design for the trailer that would easily easily identify the store for residents in the areas it will serve. "When this thing hits the highway you will not miss it," says Mr. Burke, who says the design design will serve as a prototype for the trailers that follow. "The students worked hundreds hundreds of hours on this. The nice thing about this project is it isn't costing the public a nickel. It's all volunteer." The program should be ready for delivery by the middle of next week, says Mr. Burke, noting Mr. Mackie has agreed to deliver the trailer to Elliott Lake. St. Vincent de Paul there is working with local businesses that will transport transport the trailer to the outlying communities a couple of times a week, Mr. Burke says. for schools BY JEANNE BENETEAU Staff Writer CLARINGTON - The long-awaited Rozanski report on a provincial funding formula formula reflects what school boards across the province have been saying all along, says the Catholic school board's director director of education. Mike Langlois says Ontario schools need more money, and if Mordechai Rozanski's recommended recommended $1.8 billion transfusion transfusion comes through, it could help revive cash-strapped school boards across the province. Yesterday, Mr. Rozanski, the University of Guelph president president appointed by the Province in the spring to review review the funding formula, released released his review of the way Ontario funds its school system. system. The current formula has been in place since 1998 when school boards were stripped of their power to levy taxes. Since then, all school funding has been doled out by the Province. Highlights of the recommendations recommendations include: • $1.08 billion to update funding formula benchmarks to 2002 levels. The existing levels, which determine everything everything from teacher salaries to classroom supplies, were established established in 1998. • Other proposed investments, investments, including school repair and special education will bring the total to $1.8 billion. Of the recommended $1.8 billion, Mr. Rozanski says $150 million should be earmarked earmarked for special education and transportation during the current school year. In addition, addition, the report recommended the government provide money for teacher salary negotiations, negotiations, although there was no dollar amount attached. See CASH page 6 Fresh image could cost big bucks durham v. - :; .com ONTARIO'S DRIVE CLEAN • SERVICE • PARTS • NEW & USED SALES & LEASING EXTENDED SERVICE HOURS MON., TUES., THURS., FRli 7:30 - 6:00 WED. - 7:30-9:00 SAT.-9:00-1:00 ACCREDITED TEST' & REPAIR FACILITY ♦An ollkltil murk of I la* I'nivInccoF Ontario used miller licence. Whitby - Oshawa Honda 1110 DUNDAS. ST. E. WHITBY LOCAL (90S) 666-1772 Honda www.hontln1.com Municipality could pay thousands to change signage BY JACQUIE MclNNES Staff Writer CLARINGTON - Claring- ton taxpayers could be paying thousands of dollars for the right to change the municipality's municipality's welcome signs on provincial provincial highways. The municipality wants to freshen up its image for visitors coining into Claringlon but it could cost almost $10,000 to buy out an existing contract before before it can pul in new signs, even though they will Ire in exactly exactly the same location ns the current ones. In 1996, the Province outsourced outsourced tourism signs on provincial highways to Canadian Canadian TODS (Tourism Oriented Directional Signage) Limited. John Mutton: Clarington being held lor 'ransom.' In June 2000 Clarington signed a live-year contract for three signs, one depicting, sunflowers, sunflowers, another with sailboats and a third featuring a jazz hand, to welcome motorists along Hwy. 401 and Hwy. 35/115 into Clnr- ington. The signs cost $1,700 each to manufacture and an ad ditional $1,200 per year, per sign, as a rental Ice. Now, the municipality would like to change the signs to give a more business-oriented business-oriented flavour to its welcome into Clarington. To do that, the Woodbridgc- based company wants the municipality municipality to pay $5,100 for the creation of the new signs, with design artwork provided by the municipality. As well, it would charge an additional $3,600 for installation of the signs. Despite Despite those charges, TODS representative representative Sandy Samson says in order to change the existing signs the municipality will also have to buy out the remaining three years of its contract for the rental fee - a total of $9,300 - if it wants to put new signs in those locations. The total cost for the buy-out, manufacturing and installation would he $21,600. Then, the municipality municipality would have lo enter into a new contract fur the rental Ice of $1,200 per year per sign for another five-year contract with the first-year payment to be made up-front. "I can't believe we have to buy out the contract," said an astonished Councillor Jane Rowe at a recent general purpose purpose and administration committee committee meeting. Mayor John Mutton agreed the cost was a "ransom" adding, "We all want to change the signs but we are all con cerned about the outrageous cost." But Mr. Samson says it was the responsibility of the municipality municipality to know what it was getting getting into when it signed for the service in 2000. "Once you enter into a contract contract for an area profile sign we arc guaranteeing availability of that sign and they're guarantec- See CHANGING page 6 Rx for Norwalk virus: bed rest and plenty of fluids DURHAM - After forcing the closure of hospital emergency rooms across the Greater Toronto Area, the Norwalk virus may he beginning to take hold in Durham Region, officials are warning. The Region's Health Department Department is advising numerous cases of vomiting and diarrhea consistent consistent with the virus have been reported reported in area schools, day cares and hospitals. Since doctors claim the virus usually resolves itself without medical attention, they are asking those suffering from vomiting and diarrhea not visit emergency rooms and medical clinics to prevent prevent the spread of the virus. 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