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ER Weer The Durham Public Works dont ioont was busy last t Wednesday night and Thursday morning repairing a broken valve that caused the business section of Port Perry to be without water for about 12 hours. Valve bursts, water off for 12 hours The business section of Port Perry was without water for abour 12 hours on Thursday morning when a 4 water valve on Perry Streel burst. - Peter Crawford of the Durham Public Works Department, said they were informed of the trouble about 5 p.m., Wednesday. An emergency crew was sent out and it managed to locate the valve that was causing the problems, later # that evening. pr---- The broken valve was on the east side of Perry Street, just south of Queen Street. Once the crew located the problem, they went from door to door warning resid- ents of an area bounded by Queen, Casimir, Lilla and Water Streets that their water would be turned off. 18 die on area roads this year Althouth the area patrolled ® by the Whitby Provincial Police has almost been cut in half this year, the number of accidents and fatalities has decreased only slightly. Up tg December 1 this year, 18 people have been killed in the Whitby detach- ment coverage area, which includes 20 miles of Highway 401. That compares with 22 killed last year at this time, when the provincial police patrolled a large area now under the jurisdiction of Durham Regional Police. There had been 1230 accid- ents up to December 1 this year, while last year the figure, at this time, was 1585. "I guess one of the main reasons for the large number of accidents is an increase in the amount of traffic," Con- stable Wayne Nethery, accident prevention officer, said. There has been a slight decrease in the number of policemen working out of the Whitby detachment since the Regional Police force came # into existence, although the traffic on Highway 401 is constantly increasing, according to Constable Nethery. are on The water was shut off around midnight and waler service 'was restored about | neon on Thursday. Mr. Crawford said the valve Uiat'broke was old and that part of the 1975 budget will be used to replace some of the older equipment. Several basements in the area were flooded because of the leak. - MacDonald defends Scugog township People who say that reg- ional government isn't work- ing, should take a look at the Township of Scugog, accord- ing to Roads Superintendent Ron MacDonald. Mr. MacDonald told the STAR the township of Scu- gog stands out as an example of efficiency in the new region. "Our people are doing a darn good job," Mr. Mac- Donald said. "And we are 'staying within our budget despite inflation." Mr. MacDonald said people should take a look at the roads in municipalities around them and compare them to what the Scugog Roads are. like. ] "Our boys, working on the roads, are just excellent," Mr. MacDonald said. "They a 24-hour-call all winter and they don't get an extra cent for it." "And the boys settled for $1.00 an hour less than anybody else on our borders in the region," he said. "With our new settlement, we will have parity with the others until April 1, when they will get another increase. Mr. MacDonald said that as far as he was concerned, the Scugog employees should make as much money as the other road employees in the region. Under the 1975 salary sche- dule the Road employees have accepted, a road fore- man receives $5.45 an hour, a grader operator $5.00 an hour, a truck driver $4.70 an hour, a full time labourer $4.00 an hour and a part time labourer $3.50 an hour. Mr. MacDonald said they deserve every cent they get. The township of Scugog has about 300 miles of road and the township of Ux- bridge has about 200 miles, he said. The Roads Superintendent in Uxbridge received $14,000 last year while Mr. MacDon- "ald was paid $12,000. The Uxbridge Road Super- intendent has three foremen lo help him, whereas Mr. MacDonald only has one foreman and an assistant. Mr. MacDonald also point- cd out that the Whitby Roads Superintendent receives $19,000 a year. For at least ten months a (continued on page 19) No racing now--parents hope forever Bill Davidson won't be _sidecar racing for a while now because it is winter. If his parents have their way. this layoff will be permanent. Although, Eleanor and Jim Davidson of R.R.4, Port Perry. follow their son's molorcyele racing exploits with keen interest, they haven't seen Bill and his partner, Greg Cox, race their sidecar. That, despite the fact Bill P2RT § PERRY TAR Second Section Volume 109 -- PORT PERRY, ONTARIO, Wednesday, Dec. 11 , 1974 High interest rates slow area real estate sales High interest rates are slowing down real estate sales in the Port Perry area. That was one point that, three local realtors, contact- ed by the STAR, agreed on. "People are just afraid to make a move with the high interest rate," according to George Stone of George Stone Realty. "Then there is also fear of recession, high unemployment and the pro- vincial land speculation tax." Howard Forder of Forder Realty said **You.don't see the sold signs going up like vou used to." He said that with the prime interest rate at 11 and three- quarters per cent, it makes it almost impossible" for a young couple to be able to~ afford even a down payment on a house. Mr. Forder said that they used to be able to get a mortgage on 90 to 95 per cent of the purchase price, but now they do well to get a mortgage on 75 per cent of purchase price. Down payments of $5,000 lo $8,000 used to be accept- able. he said, but now a larger down payment is required. "And with second mort- gage rates of 14, 15 and 16 per cent, we don't advise people to take them," he said. Morley Bruce of Scugog and Greg won the Canadian and North American Sidecar Championship in late August at Mossport. "We were chicken," Mrs. Davidson said. "We only followed them on the map. My husband, Jim, told Bill that if he wanted to pile himself up. we wanted to hear about it, not see it." Sidecar racing is one of the most spectacular and at times dangerous sport today. There is a driver and a Although it is not everybody's idea of a pleasant way of spending a summer afternoon, Bill Davidson "-spent quite a few afternoons this past summer Realty said that a lot of people are buying building lots now and looking forward to the future when they can afford to build on them. Both Stone and Forder Realty report good sales for the month of November. Bul things had' been slow for a Large salary few months before that. Mr. Stone said that Sep- tember and October of this year were very slow for house sales. Mr. Bruce reports that houses, in a subdivision he is selling, in Pontypool, are (continued on page 18) increases in new township schedule Some people received large increases in salary under a new Township administrative setup recent- ly approved for township employees. One of the largest in- creases in salary went to the new clerk, Doreen Van Camp. Her salary jumped from $8,000 a year last year lo $11,000 a year starting January 1. Miss Van Camp's salary will be raised again on July 1 to $12,000 per year. Miss Van Camp was deputy-clerk until clerk- administrator Neil Brodie suddenly resigned last month. Mr. Brodie was making $15,000 a year. Victor Malcolm, who is cousin of Mayor Lawrence Malcolm, was treasurer under the old set-up and received $11.500 a year. sidecar rider, and the side- car rider must lean with the turns, and this often involves leaning far out over the side of the car, or leaning all over the driver. Bill. who is 23, first be- came interested in sidecar racing in May when his friend, Greg Cox, bought a 903 cc, Z-1 powered Frid- diman Sidecar outfit that had won the North American Championship for the past lwo years. Under the new arrange- ment, Mr. V. Malcolm is deputy-clerk with no inc- rease in salary. Alex Thomson was deputy- treasurer under the old set- up and received $11,500. He has moved up to treasurer at a salary of $11,500. He will receive a $500 raise in July. Dorothy Robertson was formerly assistant-deputy treasurer for $8,000 a year. She is now deputy-treasurer and will receive $10,000 a year starting January 1 and" then will move to $11,500 a year on July 1. Roads Superintendent, Ron MacDonald received a $3.000 a year raise to $15,000 a year while Assistant Roads Superintendent, Merlin Sug- gitt, also received a $3,000 a year raise to $14,000. Mr. Cox had been racing motorcycles since 1973 but Bill had never raced before. After a test run at the old Harewood race track, they entered their first race and finished second. From there things got better and the season cul- minated with a very exciting Mossport Race in which the Cox-Davidson team took the lead of the final corner and hung on to win the race and (continued on page 19) hanging over the edge of a sidecar as his partner, Greg Cox steered their outfit around various tracks at high speeds. ra oo - a i ny -. Lh SERRE > - wien Di Ea ry re