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

Clarington Community/A7 Area author keeps it local Durham Daily News EVERY WEEKDAY AT NOON videodurhamregion.com Buses run, transit talks stand still Union won't vote on Region's 'final' offer 1 BY ERIN HATFIELD Staff Writer DURHAM - Contract talks have stalled, but regional transit service is expected to continue for the time being. Durham Region Transit (DRT) tabled a final offer Friday, halting halting negotiations with the Canadian Canadian AutoWorkers (CAW) union local 222. The chairman of the DRT branch of CAW local 222, John Johnson, said CAW will hold an information meeting this Sunday Sunday and will not vote on the tabled offer at that time. • ■ "We are not voting on it because it is too far apart from where we want it to be," Mr. Johnson said. He said the union wants to set more dates for bargaining but. right now all talks have stalled. Garth Johns, Durham Region's commissioner of human resources, resources, confirmed the Region had laid down what he said will be its final offer. "We are not going to spend any more time bargaining," he said. ■ "We think we have made, what most people would consider, a more than generous offer." However Mr. Johns said there are areas of the negotiations negotiations on which the two sides remain miles apart. "We have been more than reasonable," he said. Officially, Mr. Johns said DRT will wait to hear back from CAW before there will be an indication of what will happen next. "I don't envision any Garth Johns disruption in service," service," Mr. Johns said. "It should be business as usual for the next little while." Negotiations to hammer out a collective collective agreement for most- DRT workers, excluding . those in Whitby, began on May 23. Both parties came to the bargaining table with extensive proposals after local transit systems merged to create DRT on Jan. 1. A government-appointed conciliator conciliator was called in and a no- board report was requested on June 7. It meant workers could have been locked out on July 17, however that did not occur. Services in Pickering, Ajax, Oshawa and Clarington will be suspended in the event of a work disruption. Celia Klemenz / Metrolarid Durham Region Media Group Clarington emergency crews prepare to leave the site of a downed vintage de HavUland Tiger Moth bi-plane which crash-landed in a farmer s field north of the take-off airstrip. The two people on board were treated by ambulance attendants at the site for minor injuries injuries and released. Witnesses stated the plane appeared to be having trouble gaining altitude after taking off from Hawkefield airstrip Thc O--- 7 aident was also attended by Clarington Em^gency and For more on this story WATCH VIDEO durtiamreglon.oom Board assessing plane crash CLARINGTON - The Transportation. Transportation. Safety Board of Canada Canada is still assessing the crash of a small plane near Orono on Sunday morning. The , Clarington, Fire Department Department was called to the scene, on Concession 7, between Darling- ton-Clarke Townline and Les- kard roads, around 10:30 a.m., and found a 1942 Tiger Moth on its roof in a field. Police say the two-seater biplane biplane had just taken off from a privatè airstrip, Hawkfield, when the pilot experienced engine trouble and attempted an emergency emergency landings It's believed the wings got tangled in the wheat, and the plane flipped. The pilot, a 43-year-old Toron- r.» ySQ<. W .. -®- j ONTARIO'S SERVICE j •PARTS Clarington puts on Province on to resident with over 25 years flying experience, and his copilot, copilot, an 82-year-old West Hill resident, both received minor cuts and bruises and did not need medical attention. Police say the plane was dam aged beyond repair. The investigation is now in the hands of the Transportation Safety Board. "It's still being assessed as to what level of investigation it will receive," said John Cottereau. Dart-time r refighter retires Divisional Chief hangs up the helmet after 27 years BY JENNIFER STONE Staff Writer COURTICE - Pat Drumm didn't quite know what he was getting himself into when he raised his hand during a community community meeting in 1978. It was then that the local fire department went to Courtice, to talk about the possibility of building a fire station there. "It was before the Courtice'fire station,was even a hole in tire ground" said Mr. Dmmm. "Back then, it was all farmland out here." But, growth was imminent-and the fire department needed to keep pace. "They said, for us to do this ... we need your input and support support and we need 15 people to become volunteer firefighters to open the station up," recalled Mr. Drumm. He raised his hand and was soon contacted to see if he was still interested. He was. "At that time, there were two full-time firefighters in Bow- manville, and the fire chief, Jim Hayman," said Mr. Drumm. "Between the three of them, they trained the 15 of us from the ground up." In June, 1979, the Courtice fire station opened, with Mr. Drumm among the ranks of the part-time firefighters. Almost exactly 27 years later, on June 30, 2006, Mr. Drumm ended his firefighting career, choosing to retire from the ranks, Dressure 401 inter MON., WED., FRI. 7:30 am - 6:00 pm TUES. & THURS. 7:30 am - 8:00 pm SAT. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm ACCREDITED TEST & REPAIR FACILITY WHITBY OSHAWA 1 Honda | 300 THICKSON RD. S. WHITBY 1-866 240-6192 ï-ïoxvto/v ! www.honde1.com ' 'Time is of the essence,' says Mayor BY JENNIFER STDNE Staff Writer CLARINGTON - Thc only thing slower than Bowman- villc's 401 interchanges at rush hour arc answers on thc situation situation coming from thc Province, says Clarington's mayor. Clarington staff wrote to thc Ministry a few months ago, to ask when work could begin to improve traffic flow at the Waverley and Liberty exits. Now, Mayor John Mutton has followed up at the political level, sending a letter earlier this month to Transportation Minister Minister Donna Cansficld, asking that she help expedite thc process. "It's really important that the minister recognize it as a priority priority and give some direction to Ministry staff," said Mayor Mutton, noting it's a fairly easy fix. "It's as simple as switching a few stop signs around," he said. es ' lit April, the Ministry had indicated indicated it was initiating a prelimi- ' nary design study to determine the needs of Hwy. 401 from Courtice Road cast to the Durham Durham boundary. But, since then, there's been little movement. It's not a matter of doing.major work, including , adding interchanges, he said. "It's inexpensive and we've provided the engineering solution. solution. It's not going to require' a lot of time or money from them," noted Mayor Mutton, The Ministry did not return calls Tuesday. See PART-TIME, page 4 ro One making more accessible BOWMANVILLE - Work being done along Baseline Road in Bowmanville should make hydro lines ' more accessible, • thereby improving reliability to customers, says a Hydro One spokesman. Work began' this week in the Baseline and Green roads area of Bowmanville, with work on the project expected to take about four weeks, said Dave Page, first line manager with Hydro One's Bowmanville Service Centre. "We have a section of line just south of there that goes through the field and bush," he said. "We're bringing it out to the road." ' That should make it easier for workers to get to in the event of a problem, thus improving overall reliability, said Mr. Page. Thc work may cause some power disruptions to Wilmot Creek and some businesses, but those outages should be a maximum maximum of four hours and will occur only after notification has been given to affected customers, he said. The work is part of ongoing system upgrades by Hydro One, which delivers power to parts of Clarington. Chev& Chev Trucks HWY. #2 " V HOY 13 NICHOLS 2728 COURTICE RD., HWY. #2, COURTICE 905-436-2222 1-866-885-8822 roynlcho lsmotOfs@omcanada.com 3 DAYS ONLY! TtM&Juya&MEJuyæ OVER 250 NEW & USED VENCLESPRKEDTOSEU. SEE TODAY'S WHEELS SECTION FOR MORE DETALS Ht I h' ,i>,ku-Mv),y.j ..N,»ti.%'Wï; siuv'A;: M îV\ : üK'., '■, : ^ ' j