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-- " A, zu, FZ A 4 ES or LN J # till Checking to see how the petition for a lower speed limit in Utica has grown, Judy MacSween (right) and her two sons Trevor, 7. and Travis, 5, lean over the counter at Utica's General Store. Store owner Sylvia Mooney shows them the latest results ---- more than 75 in just one week. See story for details. Residents work to reduce speed limit in Utica The people of Utica want some changes made, namely the speed limit through their little hamlet just west of Port Perry. The limit on Regional Road 21 through Utica is now posted at 80 km, but according to residents and the police who periodically set up radar, most motorist go through the village closet to 100 km or more. One officer parked outside the Utica Store for four mornings and ticketed more than 100 drivers. One motorist was clocked at 132 km. Judy MacSween, a young mother of two living in Utica, wants to see the speed limit lowered to 60. "If "that happens," she says, "maybe the drivers will stick to 80 km an hour instead of flying through over 100." She started a petition early last week, requesting the change, and already has more than 75 names. The petition is set up at the Utica General Store, under new owners, Sylvia and Keith Mooney. "The petition and the whole idea to lower the speed limit started when Clara Becz (former store owner) was in an accident, Mrs. MacSween said, referring to an ac- cident at Utica's main intersection about a month ago. With no reduction in speed, a fair- 'ly busy intersection, the entrance to a subdivision, a general store, the Utica Farm Equipment business and a community centre, the in- tersection is a busy one. "My main concern is with the school buses,' Mrs. MacSween said. Four buses stop within Utica every day, not including the Kindergarten bus. Mrs. MacSween is worried that some day, a truck or a car is going to come "barrelling over the hill" and slam into the back of a stopped school bus discharging children. She's not sure how to go about reducing the speed but she is receiv- ing assistance from Durham Regional Police and she's hoping the change will be made as soon as possible. Tuesday, March 11, 1986 Copy 35° - the Vol. 120 No. 15 Road department budget stretched to the limit A delegation of Township of- ficials led by Mayor Jerry Taylor will seek a meeting with the On- tario Transportation Minister to try to spring more subsidy dollars from provincial coffers for Scugog's roads department. For 1986, the province has an- nounced that Scugog's subsidy will be increased by just 2.75 per cent, or $23,000 more than the Township received last year in subsidies. Scugog Roads superintendent Ronn MacDonald said at Monday's council meeting that he had been hoping for a five per cent hike in the subsidy this year. He said the 2.75 percent hike will be eaten up in wages, fuel and insurance premium increases. Unless there are more dollars, .the Township will be hard pressed to keep up the current levels of road maintenance and winter control. The provincial government this year will contribute $749,000 to the Township in roads subsidy, about 52 per cent of the total budget. The other 48 per cent comes from local tax payers. Late last month, Mr. MacDonald met with MTC officials to discuss the 2.75 per cent subsidy hike. While they were sympathetic to the arguments that Scugog. needs more money, he was told a "political approach" may be the only way to get them. Township council agreed Mon- day that if Scugog is going to try and get more dollars, the delegation might as well go "'right to the top" at Queens Park and seek a meeting with the Minister of Transportation. Mayor Taylor will likely be ac- companied by administrator Earl Cuddie, Mr. MacDonald and mem- bers of the roads committee. Roads maintenance in Scugog presents problems which are not common to most other munic- palities this size. There are a large number of commuters who must have roads cleared of snow early in morning the mornings so they can get to work. There are numerous small and dead end roads in the cottage country around the lake which take longer to plow and are more dif- ficult to maintain. In total, Scugog has more than 250 miles of roads in the system. The tax base to generate more money for road maintenance is limited because of the lack of commercial and industrial assessment compared with other municipalities. Scugog has taken steps over the past few years to. try and trim operating costs such as doing its own equipment repairs, and "con- tracting out" certain aspects of road maintenance and winter con- trol. Now that's a mouthful of Coke. Barry isn't sure exactly how much Coke is in this giant bottle, but it is the largest one in his large collection of Coke memorabilia. He has been collecting Coke nostalgia for 20 years now, and his collection numbers 1500 pieces. See story on page 12. Festival Can Festival Days '86 possibly match the success of 1985's version of Port Perry's popular summer festival? Organizers think so, and they are doing everything in their power to make sure the Festival Days '86 will be even bigger and better. Some of the tentative activities scheduled for this year's Carribean Festival Days are: Wintario; monster truck Big, Bad and Boun- cy; Polka-Dot-Door; hot air balloon rides; helicopter rides; sexy man/woman contest; teen dances; Carribean steel band dance; clowns; magicians, craft show and barbecues. The list goes on. but the commit- tee say they just want to highlight some of the events now so people can make plans to attend during Carribean Festival Days, July 10, 11 and 12. The event has been given a Car- ribean theme this year so local mer- chants and the public can dress and decorate according to the theme. There will be prizes awarded to the businesses for their efforts, with the grand prize tentatively a trip for two to the Carribean. Heading up the activities on Thursday night, July 10, will be the televised version of Wintario which will run at Port Perry High School. There will also be a dance in the Festival Tent at the lakefront with music by the popular Diamond Reo Band. Other exciting events will be a "car crush" by a monster truck known as Big, Bad and Bouncy. The $200,000 truck sits on wheels close to Days takes on "'Carribean" theme six feet high and four feet wide and can generate 850 horsepower on high-octane aircraft fuel. The truck will be on display on Queen Street both Friday and Saturday and will do one demonstration, crushing five cars under its huge tires. There will also be a "Festival of Art on the Lake' take place and it is expected some 50 vendors show- (Turn to page 7) 1