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20 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 9, 1986 ound'N'Abou PICKERING A Mississauga truck driver who went through a stop sign and killed four people in Pickering last winter was found guilty of dangerous driving in Whitby District Court last week. Richard McMerty, 29, pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driv- ing causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was also convicted of a sixth charge, to which he had pleaded not guilty; refusing to provide a breath sample. McMerty was remanded ou! of custody by Judge William Coulter un- til January 9th for sentencing. Prosecutor Ed Bradley told the court the accused was eastbound on Finch Avenue in a tractor cab on January 18, when he ran a stop sign at Brock Road and struck a northbound van broadside. ~The collision threw the van into the east ditch killing the driver, Thomas Gerrard, 42, of Unionville; his 15 year old daughter Sheri Lynn; Renata Grunert, 40, of Markham and her daughter Rena, 16. The crash also sent Sheri's mother, Judy Gerrard, to hospital with a number of injuries. The victims of the accident were returning home from a swim meet in Pickering where the teenagers were representing the Markham Aquatic Club when the crash occurred at about 9:45 p.m. OSHAWA Oshawa General Hospital should co-ordinate all ambulance emergen- cy care in Durham actording to the region's district health council. The council has decided to back the hospital's proposal that it be designated as a base hospital by the Ministry of Health. The council has also endorsed a request that Oshawa Ambulance Service be officially recognized as a Paramedic service and be funded as such. Oshawa has been served by a Paramedic service since 1979 through a program set up and directed by the hospital. : As the base hospital for the region, OGH would have emergency doc- tors on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year, to authorize special- ly trained ambulance attendants such as paramedics to perform medical acts via telephone or radio link. The hospital now trains Oshawa's paramedics and under the new system would provide these services for all ambulance attendants. WHITBY Whitby, and its neighbouring municipality of Pickering, have been in- cluded in a $1.6 million provincial government study designed to identify hazardous contaminents in 40 major municipal sewage treatment plants. Results of the study will be used to establish regulations for the monitor- ing of toxic contaminents and to address the need for a stringent sewer- use control program said Environment Minister Jim Bradley at last week's annual meeting of the Association of Municipal Engineers. Samples taken daily from sewage and sludge waste streams for one- week periods, during this winter and next summer will be analyzed by the ministry of environment for more than 100 contaminents, including diox- (ins, PCBs, heavy metals and volatile organics according to Bradley. Jack McCorkell, director of operations for Durham Region, said MOE personnel have already inspected the two regional plants to be used in the study -- Pringle Creek in Whitby, and the York-Durham plant in Pickering. ' REGION Area farmers will be given the opportunity to host students from foreign countries as part of the 1987 Ontario Agricultural Exchange Program. Under the program, Ontario students will be matched and placed in countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan and Denmark and vice versa. The. deadline for both farmers and students is December 15. Skilled young people will be given the chance to experience rural life by living and working on foreign farms for up to a year. Organized educa- tional and cultural activities will augment the practical farm employment. Inquiries can be directed to the Ontario Agricultural Exchange, Guelph Agricultural Centre, P.O. Box 1030 Guelph N1H 6N1 or call 519-823-5700. - BEAVERTON Faulty wiring is being blamed for a fire which gutted the Royal Cana- dian Legion, Branch 135 in Beaverton on November 28, causing some $125,000 in damage. Brock Township Fire Chief Robert Graham said investigation indicates the fire broke out in wiring behind the bar area at the concrete building, which had originally been built as a bowling alley. He stated the fire was raging by the time the fire department arrived on the scene at about 2 a.m., adding there was no one in the building at the time. There were no injuries among the 22 firefighters who battled the blaze for up to six hours. Be Dennss J Hogan ann Hearing Hearing Ad Consultant id Centre ¢f Port Perry Dr E Mueller's Office 24 Water St S Plaza, Port Perry. Ontario LOB INO ' and - Jon's Auto Repairs Complete Automotive Air Conditioning Service General Repairs to All Makes La reimmie D.0.T. Automotive wm = } rashes 985-3003 985-9192 (& Dump Truck) Inspection Centre 985-8249 To prepare for the upcoming winter months, the Kawartha Region Conservation Authority has embarked on an improvement pro- gram for the cross country ski trails at the Ken Reid Conservation Area. Improvements will take the form of removing trees, straightening and smoothing out the trails in areas where problems are known to occur. The material removed will not be wasted. The cedar posts will be us- ed for further developments at the area and the other material will be cut, piled and used a firewood, or chipped up and placed back on the North Pole Special delivery Hey Kids, don't forget to mail your letter to Santa in the library's "special delivery service to the North Pole" mail box. Please remember to put your last name & address on it so Santa doesn't miss you. Ho ho ho. Remember to make us a home made snowflake in your favorite col- our, so you can enter the If Snowflakes fell in Colours contest. We would like to remind everyone of our holiday hours. Dec. 24 open 2-5 p.m. Closed Dec. 25 & 26. Open Dec. 27-10-4 p.m. Open Dec. 31 - 2-5 p.m. Closed Jan. 1. Look forward to your visit at your library! trails. These improvements should allow for a more enjoyable experience for the visitors at the Ken Reid Conser- vation Area whether they are novice or experienced skiers. The Kawar- tha Region Conservation Authority Ski trails get a touch-up would like to see more novice skiers using the area in the years ahead. For more information on *'Skiing the Reid" contact T.J. Sherin at the Kawartha Region Conserva.ion Authority, Box 819, Fenelon Falls KOM 1NO - 887-3112. Viewpoint (From page 16) They face increasing folks, that's not a misprint, itis pressure to improve bottom-line really billions. performance, and promotions The beauty of promotion lies offer a tempting advantage: short-term sales increases. Get in -- make the fast buck -- and get out. Now to be fair, I shouldn't place all the attention on the Meow Mix folks. They aren't the only ones who have gone in for this type of crazy promotion work. It just happened that their Meow Off tickled my fancy. Companies pump money into a wide range of promotional ac- tivities. Pepto-Bismal sponsors chili cook-offs, while Ralston Purina holds a Lucky Dog Look- a-like contest for canines and their masters. American Tourister will soon have a new corporate mascot - a talking gorilla. Coupons, contests and cents- off promotions are also prolifer- ing. A.C. Nielson's coupon- tracking unit reports the distribution of 179.8 billion coupons last year. You read it in a quick payoff. Corporate sponsored chili cook-offs in the States have yielded an estimated 126 million column in- ches of press copy. That's a heck of a lot of free publicity. And when you consider the small amount it costs the com- panies to pay for and buy prizes for these cook-offs as compared with all that free mentioning of their brand name, it is almost like being free. Remember the Choo Chili Cook-off? Great publicity at a cheap cost. So there you have it. And it all boils down to the fact as said before that we are being bam- boozled by the ad men. And another fact is that we let them do it to us. I'm just as guilty as the next guy and although I know that all these fancy pro- mos ultimately mean higher prices at the checkout counter, I swallow their bait every time, and probably always will. OPTION # OPTION # OPTION # Buy before year-end and save big on New Holland hay and forage equipment. Choose from three cost-saving options! 0% Annual Percentage Rate for 30 months. 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