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Sports/12 Green Gaels series shorter Wheels/Insert Toyota Solara catches rays CLARINGTON'S AWARD-WINNING NEWSPAPER SINCE 1854 lilt Canadian Statesman Pressrun 24,150 Wednesdayjuly 14,2004 • 32 Pages • Optional 3 Week Delivery $5/$l Newsstand durhamregion .com Operation Smoke Break tobacco theft Police sweep rounds up 10 Durham residents BY JEFF MITCHELL iStaff writer ... DURHAM -- A multi-ju- •risdictional police investigation investigation into more than 140 breakups breakups and $1 million worth of ^stolen cigarettes has resulted "in the arrest 10 Durham Re- 'gion residents, who face 960 ^charges among them. \ Project Smoke Break broke ;up a GTA-wide break and 'enter ring specializing in cigarette cigarette thefts, according to 'Durham Regional Police, who beamed with Toronto cops and 'the Ministry of Finance to investigate investigate suspects. The 10 people rounded up in a sweep that began last Friday are be-, lieved to be responsible for 144 break-ins that netted thieves an estimated $1 million million worth of cigarettes, which were funnelled to the black market, police said. * "It was an organized criminal criminal network of individuals involved involved in break-ins," said Detective Detective Paul Edwards. ■ "It spanned the GTA." The thefts are believed to have occurred across a wide geographic area stretching from Halton Region to Cobourg and north to Peterborough, Peterborough, he said. The "highly-organized" network fanned out across the GTA, breaking into commercial commercial premises and often making making off with their haul of tobacco tobacco in stolen cars, police believe. Officers executing search warrants have recoyered $26,000 in cash, as well as stolen cigarettes and two stolen vehicles, say police, who estimated the value of ONTARIO'S • SERVICE • PARTS MON., WED., FRI. 7:30 am - 6:00 pm TUES. & THURS. 7:30 am - 8 pm SAT. 9 am - 4 pm ACCREDITED TEST & REPAIR FACILITY WHITBY OSHAWA Honda 300 THICKSON RD. S. WHITBY e 666-1772 honda www.honda 1 .com stolen property recovered at $10,000. Two men - Michael Macln- nis, 38, of Fallingbrook Street in Whitby and 26-year-old Karl Thomas Knight of Taunton Road East in Bow- manville, each face hundreds of charges in connection with the investigation, police said. They are charged with: • 144 counts of break and enter; • three counts of conspiracy conspiracy to commit an indictable offence; offence; • 145 counts of possession of break and enter tools; • 144 counts of wearing a 1 disguise while committing an indictable offence; • three counts of arson and three counts of endangering life; • six counts of flight from police; . • 10 counts of dangerous driving, and • numerous other theft-related theft-related charges. Some of the charges relate to chases after thefts, while the arson charges were laid after stolen cars were abandoned abandoned and torched, Det. Edwards1 Edwards 1 said. "There were a number of incidents where individuals were involved in high-speed pursuits," he said. Others charged in connection connection with Operation Smoke Break are: • Jeremy Wayne Brown, 27, of Ortono Avenue in Os- hawa, charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit commit an indictable offence and three counts of possession of property obtained by crime; • Tony Qaqish, 37, of Grandview Drive, Oshawa, conspiracy to commit and indictable indictable offence and two counts of possession of property property obtained by crime; • Philip Richardson, 32, of See GTA page 6 INDEX Editorial Page .4 Sports ............12, Classified 8 GIVE US A CALL General 905-579-4400 Distribution 905-579-4407 General FAX 1 905-579-2238 Newsroom FAX 905-579-1809 durhamregion .com COWAN PONTIAC BUICK GMC 166 King St. E. Bowmanville 905-623-3396 Walter Passarella/The Canadian Statesman Bob Pawlett of Newcastle spent about 300 hours carving his three-piece sea creature out of maple. Woodcarving has become Mr. Pawlett's hobby, and second business since he retired, but he's dismayed that his serpent creation has disappeared after spending just two weeks on his front lawn. BY SHELLEY JORDAN Staff writer NEWCASTLE -- At his age, Bob Pawlett suspects he will never be able to create another carving like the 15- foot sea serpent stolen from his front lawn Friday night. The 65-year-old wood- carver said he spent more than six months painstakingly sculpting the wood to fine detail, detail, complete with individual scales, teeth and extended red tongue, but the piece was stolen two weeks after he displayed displayed it on his front lawn. "This was a personal achievement," said Mr. Pawlett. "I would have passed it on to my family." Mr. Pawlett, who said he is so devastated he can barely sleep, never suspected anyone would be able to lift the solid maple sea serpent that was created in three sections., "The head alone weighs over 300 pounds" said Mr. Pawlett. ' He explained that a sculpted bear was stolen from his property a few years ago, but he had to use a tractor to deliver his most recent creation creation to the display area. "What people will do with it I don't know. It's so large, it must have taken three people to lift it," said Mr. Pawlett. Durham Regional Police Staff Sergeant Paul Malik said the carving was likely stolen between 1 and 7 a.m. , Saturday morning, and while See WOODCARVER page 7 among winners Money is like 'reward for hard work,' student says SHELLEY JORDAN Staff writer . • CLARINGTON -- Local students are among recipients of Millennium excellence awards that will help them pay for university university and college tuition. The five students from Bowmanville, Bowmanville, Port Hope and Cobourg won the award that recognizes recognizes community involvement, involvement, innovative thinking, demonstrated leadership abilities and academic achievement, through the Millennium Scholarship Scholarship Foundation. Nicole Penak, a St. Stephen's Secondary School student from Bowmanville, earned • a local one-time award valued at $4,000. Nicole, who was also school trustee, said she became an ef fective student by setting responsible responsible goals and being realistic about the amount of time she could afford to spend on outside activities, and her approach paid off. . "It (the scholarship) means that I can go to university which is a very wonderful thing that I've wanted it since I was really young," said Nicole. "I was more than ecstatic to receive the letter in the mail. It felt like I was being rewarded for all the hard work." Nicole's legacy as school trustee was to create an innovative innovative forum through which students students from six schools could communicate effectively ' with each other and the school board. Nicole has worked as a camp counsellor, and as stage manager in a number of school productions. productions. Her goal is to eventually study law, beginning with the Bachelor of Arts program at Queen's University in the fall. See TEEN page 7 Walter Passarella/The Canadian Statesman St. Stephen's Secondary School graduate Nicole Penak was awarded a Millenium Scholarship and plans to attending university this fall. Deift* to Comptm "COWANI V^AILIliHP ^2001 GMC YUKON SLP Just 38,000 km on this beautiful one owner vehicle. SJi|l under GM warranty.' Stk. 4-0606A m 2001 CMC EXT CAB 2WD V8, automatic, air, tilt, cruise, boxllner, 48,196 km. Slk, 4-0960A $21 ggg 2000 GMC REG CAB 4X4 1999 GMC REG CAB 4X4 V8, automatic, air, long box, bench seat, V8, automatic, tilt, cruise, long box, tut, cruise, boxllner. 65,250 km. 1 S.U4.0941A $14 ggg Slk. 4-0941A ^ g ggg