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News/3 Women join forces for education CLARINGTON'S AWARD-WINNING NEWSPAPER SINCE 1854 Community/5 Poster child for Law Day WHAT'S ON Friday: The Durham Region Astronomical Association is inviting local residents to spend a little time looking at the stars at two upcoming events. Astronomy in the Park will be held Friday, March 7 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Garnet B. Rickard Recreation Complex, Complex, 2440 King St. W. The moon, Jupiter and Saturn will be well-positioned for viewing through telescopes. Solar observing observing at the Maple Syrup Festival will be available at Purple Woods Conservation Area on Saturday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Purple Woods is five minute's north of Oshawa, at the intersection of Sirncoe Street and Coates Road. Saturday: Anyone who'd like to revisit Christmas to kick off March break is welcome to join the St. Elizabeth school community for a festive movie Saturday. The school's parent council presents 'The Santa Clause 2' Saturday, March 8 at 2 p.m. at the school, 610 Long- worth Ave., in Bowmanville. Refreshments will be available. The cost to attend is $2 per person, person, with proceeds to the school. All are welcome. For more information, call Annette Bate at 905-697-0527. INSIDE Wheels: If you like the New Beetle, you're going to fall madly in love with its fun-in- t h e - s u n convertible convertible sibling. And if Volkswagen has its way, you'll be seeing plenty of these models zipping around town and country. INDEX Editorial Page 4 Classified 11 Sports 15 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 durhamregioiu.com "SX • SERVICE .•PARTS • NEW & USED SALES & LEASING EXTENDED SERVICE HOURS MON., TUES., THURS., FRI. 7:30 ■ 6:00 WED. - 7:30-9:00 SAT.-9:00-1:00 ACCREDITED 'VEST & REPAIR FACILITY •Ail ullli'liil murk uHliv 1'rmlmv of (hiltirloiiM'd under llcviuv. Whitby - Oshawa o n o <G 1110 DUNDAS. ST. E. WHITBY I.OCA I. (W51 666-1772 www.liomlni.com Buses grind to a halt JASON LIEBREGTS/ Statesman photo Oshawa Transit Commission workers picket outside City Hall in Oshawa on Monday after a strike put a hold on public transit. » Thousands forced to cope as Oshawa Transit drivers, staff go on strike BY MARTIN DERBYSHIRE Staff Writer OSHAWA - City bus drivers and oilier Oshawa Transit Commission Commission (OTC) workers walked off the job Monday, leaving more than 10,000 riders without a way around the city. "I'm shocked, I've been standing here for 15 minutes wondering where the bus is," said Brian McCray, who rode Oshawa Transit downtown from his north-end home only to find out lie was stranded when workers walked. "I guess I'll have to take a cab back home." While the Oshawa Transit adult fare is $2 per ride, City Wide Taxi Treasurer Don Cross- man said the average cab ride in the City costs $8. With so many transit users looking for a ride, veteran Oshawa Oshawa taxi driver John Keir said he expects business to be brisk as long as the strike continues. In fact, over the first 24 hours of the strike, City Wide lias been busier than ever and was an average average one hour behind on all its calls due to volume, said Mr. Crossman. The transit strike began shortly shortly after a union-imposed noon Monday deadline for a tentative agreement came and went and talks between the commission and the Canadian Auto Workers local 222 transit unit broke down. The union snid it would not strand passengers across the city, dropping them at their destinations destinations and leaving the buses there. Oshawa Transit serves more than 10,000 passengers daily including including cross-boundary service in Whitby and Clarington. The commission says it carried just under three million riders last year. Picket lines began forming at City Hall, the OTC garage on Farewell Street and other locations locations throughout the afternoon Monday and continued in full force Tuesday. Transit employees, who have not seen any wage increase over the last two years except for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), were looking for an eight-per cent increase over three years plus COLA. : . COLA worked out to be approximately approximately 76 cents per hour, or a 3.4 per cent increase, over the last two years. But City officials speculate COLA could reach more than five per cent this year alone. City of Oshawa documents show Oshawa Transit operators and mechanics are currently the third-highest paid in the province, behind only the TTC in Toronto and GO Transit. The av erage Oshawa bus driver earns $22.25 per hour and mechanics make an average of $25.90. : Municipalities with higher populations and ridership like Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton Hamilton and London all pay transit workers less than Oshawa. Closer to home, Whitby Transit Transit operators and mechanics make $ 18.39 per hour and $21.63 respectively, while the combined Ajax and Pickering service pays drivers $19.98 per hour and me- See TRANSIT page 8 Police calls on the rise Growth in Clarington reason for increase, says Inspector BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer CLARINGTON - Durham Regional Police in Clarington responded to 30 per cent more calls for service last year than they did in 1998. But there has been a similar increase in the number of officers officers assigned to the area to respond respond to those calls, says DRP Inspector Tom Cameron of the Clarington Community Office. In 1999, 47 officers worked out of the Clarington office. By April, Insp. Cameron says the office will be home to 67 police officers. The increase in calls is "tied into growth in the municipality," municipality," explains Insp. Cameron. According to police statistics, statistics, robberies in Clarington were up 125 pèr cent last year over 2001, from 12 to 27, insp. Cameron told Clarington council's general purpose and administration committee Monday. But the majority of the increase was tied to teens, as opposed to random street muggings, says Insp. Cameron. Crimes' involving fraud are also up, by 79 per cent. "Most of these are cheque frauds, false pretences involving involving cheques," notes the inspector. inspector. See ROBBERY page 8 Kirby ski hill accident under investigation Emergency workers at Kirby Ski Hill assist skiers who were left stranded in a lift on Sunday alter a cable snapped. Cable snapped, leaving skiers stranded on a chairlift for up to an hour BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer KIRBY - The investigation continues into what caused a ski lift cable to snap, injuring two people and briefly trapping more than 75 skiers on the lift at the Oshawa Ski Club in Kirby Sunday. Inspectors with the Technical Technical Standards and Safety Authority Authority (TSSA) continued their investigation Tuesday into the accident, which left a nine- ycar-old Fori Hope girl with a broken leg and a ski hill employee employee with a head gash requiring requiring stitches. 'flic accident happened just after 11 a.m. Sunday, when a counterweight cable on the Standard Chairlift snapped, causing the lower at the loading area to fall about six feet to a 45-degree angle, says Linda Schaffer, office manager at Oshawa Oshawa Ski Club. The Fori Hope girl was standing in the loading area of the lift, and was "grazed by the tower coming down," says Ms. SelmlTer. The girl, who suffered a broken femur, was taken to Lakeridge Health Oshawa, then transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children. Hill staff, along with Clarington Clarington Hmergency Services, worked quickly to rescue the skiers trapped on the lift, says Ms, Schaffer, noting ski club staff are well-trained to deal with such an event. "Usually, you train and train and train, and never put it into play," she says. "There was no panic at all. They (staff) break out into teams and the teams gather at each chair going up," she explains, explains, lulling teams then throw a rope up to the trapped skiers and slipped a T-bar-like device "under the person's bum. Then, they are manually pulleyed down." Whitby resident Ron Small was on the chairlift when the accident happened. "We were in the middle of the chairlift and 1 don't know what happened - wc dropped," lie says. "Wc were about 35 feet in the air and we dropped half that distance in a second ... Wc bounced, and after a couple or three bounces, it settled." Mr. Small agrees there was no panic among the stranded BOWMANVILLE - Police arc investigating a home-invasion home-invasion attack in which a man was chased from his residence by several intruders, hunted down, assaulted on the street and thrown through a neighbour's window. The incident happened just before midnight Sunday on Hlgin Street, Durham Regional Police said. The victim, IS, ran out a hack door alter six or seven skiers, and that the situation was well-handled. "There were certain ways to do it (rescue the skiers) and they knew how to do it. They got us down really pretty quickly," quickly," he says, noting he, his wife Jennifer and daughter Holly, 7, were on the ground within 40 minutes, while son Jonathan, 11, was among the last to be lowered. I-Ic was down within an hour of the accident. The chairlift had been inspected inspected by TSSA in December. See ACCIDENT page 8 men forced their way into his home. He was chased down the street by his assailants, beaten outside a nearby residence and thrown into a glass window, police police said. Neighbours seared away the attackers, who apparently lied in three vehicles, police said, The victim was taken to Lakeridge Health Bowmanville and treated for cuts. No motive is known and the investigation is continuing. Gang beats man after home invasion Chev Olds & Chev Trucks IIWV.H2 HI / U / MOV (V. NICHOLS -101 2728 COURTICE RD,, HWY. #2, C0URT1CE 905-436-2222 TORONTO LINE 905-427-4444 rovnloholsmotors@gmcenada.com THINK THE NEW DESIGN or easy TO GET into: «JP 13SI»pV0V0lW&ir LOOK WHAT OUR ACCOUNTANTS HAVE DONE. DIUVL-AV/AY WITHOUT PAYING LZ1A3ÎÎ ♦♦ m Moimi/tiMonu 1ICLUDU tlKJOHT LdANd Total Payment Payment Duo* S81B 88011 SOltt 81,000 8IIH 81,000 88,600 8178 82,600 OUT l# Months paymsnt Iron on virtunlly nil now h or CHEVROLET Oldumobilo BODY & PAINT SHOP roiomuu