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

Roard wants school at ~ Fairgrounds The Durham Board of Education has agreed to buy a seven acre site at the Port Perry Fairgrounds which will be the location of a new public school. Meeting Monday night in Oshawa, the Board indicated a preference for a parcel of land fronting on Simcoe Street in the southeast area of the Fairgrounds. Just how much the Board will pay for the land was not made public. Scugog trustee Joyce Kelly told the Star Monday evening, board of- ficials want to "negotiate further" with the Township over the price and the exact location of the sie. She added that the Board would like to "'tie up all the loose strings" within the next 30 days. She said that in her opinion, the action taken by the Board Monday evening "most certainly" means a new school will be built at the Fairgrounds location. Board officials have been negotiating with the Township for the site over the past couple of weeks. Construction of a new public school in Port Perry is the number one priority for the Durham Board this year to help alleviate a serious over-crowding situation at the public schools here and in Prince Albert. Two weeks ago, in a meeting with Township councillors, Durham Board chairman Ruth Lafarga said if the Fairgrounds location can be secured, the Board would begin con- _ struction early this fall and have the new Kindergarten to grade six school open in time for the students in September 1987. With the purchase of the Fairgrounds site now a virtual cer- tainty, the 1986 Fair this Labour Day weekend will be the last at the pre- sent location. Plans are already be- ing made to move the Port Perry Fair to a new home near the Scugog Arena on the north side of Regional Road 8. Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor said he was pleased with the fact the Board and the municipality are close to cementing the deal for the new school site. "People have been waiting a long time for a new school in Port Perry," he said. And he said the Township is now in the process of trying to figure out what to do with the remainder of the 23 acres of land at the Fairground. He suggested that council would like to see the municipality sell the 16 acres for residential development. "We will be looking at several op- tions," he stated, but ruled out the possibility the remaining land would be turned into a park. The Durham Board won't ya until April whether the request for grant money from the provincial government has been approved. However, Board officials expect the grants for construction will be approved. An architect has been re- tained to design the new school, and the Board is prepared to spend its own money to get the construction underway this fall. Decision soon District Court Judge John Hoolihan has reserved judgement until this Wednesday (Feb. 26) on the case of former Epsom resident John Begin, 46, charged with criminal negligence in the deaths of his two young children. Four days of testimony in District court in Whitby concluded last week with the final summations by pro- secutor Ed Bradley and defense lawyer Bruce Affleck. Mr. Begin, who now lives in Oshawa, has pleaded not guilty to the criminal negligence charges which stem from a fire at his Epsom residence on January 29, 1984 which This Issue Editorials ....................4 Letters ..........c.cceeneeeen ld Armories Visit .............9 Killing Line ..............10 Sports .......................20 Classified ..................26 Real Estate ...............29 in Begin trial Business Directory ....34 Q ) claimed six year old Jeffrey Begin and his three year old brother Michael. The cause of death for both children in the early morning fire was smoke inhalation. , Testimony given during the trial last week indicated that the Scugog Fire department was first alerted just before 3:00 A.M. the morning of January 29. The department was told to see if a house at 103 Union Ave. in Port Perry was on fire. A se- cond call, this one from a male per- son .who sounded drunk, also directed the department to the Union Avenue address. - Scugog Fire captain Bill Harrison told the court the department arriv- ed at Union Avenue and found no fire. While checking at Union Avenue, the Scugog department heard on their radio that Uxbridge department was responding to a fire call in Epsom. Capt. Harrison testified it was just after 3:00 A.M. when the Scugog department arrived at the Begin home in Epsom. The Uxbridge department had brought the fire under control. One of the boys was found in an up-stairs room, the other in the hall outside the bedroom. Testimony later in the trial from Durham Police Det. Reg Webster indicated that Begin had been drink- ing heavily the day of the fire. Det. Webster testified that Begin may have consumed as many as 18 bottles of beer that day. According to further testimony, Begin arrived home that night, found his wife had (Turn to page 3) Vol. 120. No. 13 Tuesday, February 25, 1986 Copy 35* Wide-eyed and ready for action, this young lad from the Port Perry Beaver Pack takes aim through the sights of a military machine gun. The Beavers were guests at Oshawa Armories last week for a tour of the facility. More photos, story on page 9. CHS and Epsom get vote of confidence chools will remain open It looks like two of Scugog's smallest schools will remain open, thanks to a vote of confidence from the Durham Board of Education's Property and Transportation committee. Last Wednesday, February 19th, the committee agreed to keep Cart- wright High School open, at least for the next five years without review. Epsom Public School was promised not to be reviewed until attendance drops below Board-rated capacity Nearly 40 supporters from both schools showed up at the Oshawa meeting and while Cartwright peo- ple "got exactly'what they wanted," according to Trustee Joyce Kelly, Epsom supporters weren't 0 happy. Trustee Debbie Tredway, who has been an avid supporter of Epsom School for some time, said "We were a little disappointed," with the results of the meeting. The Epsom School Accommoda- tion Committee, of which Ms. Tred- way is a member, was asking for 10 years without review, and new bus boundaries (which would increase enrollment). Neither recommenda- tion was approved. The boundaries recommendation will be looked at again in an April meeting when costs have been work- ed out. As for the 10 year guarantee, Ms. Tredway said the committee just "couldn't go for it" The committee's recommenda- tions were presented to the full Board on Monday, February 24th, for almost certain approval.