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

Share the Olympic Flame Vol. 122 No. 4 & -- Sess The look on Norm Ball's face says it all! Wav- Flame high in the historic Olympic Torch Relay. ing and grinning, he proudly bears the Olympic See story for details. Although some members of the Port Perry Minor Hockey executive are not too happy about it, President Don Steele says it's unlikely the organization will formally protest a ruling which bumped Port Perry from a B centre to BB hockey centre. Mr. Steele told the Star last week, the executive has been informed verbally that the Ontario Minor Hockey Association has already decided on the re-designation. He said that while some people in the local organization may not like the ruling, it would be pointless to - try to get the OMHA to change its mind. The OMHA, he said, has been talking about making Port Perry a BB hockey centre for a vearlor S0. Once the decision is made, it won't be changed. The designation from B to BB by the OMHA will not have any impact on the majority of youngsters who play in the local House League system. Where it will have an effect is at playoff time for the representative or all-Star teams within the Minor Hockey system in Port Perry. Those teams in the all-Ontario playoff structure will now have to face other BB towns, rather than B centres. And Mr. Steele said there is no question that the level of competi- tion is tougher at the BB level. "My feeling generally is that most of our (rep) teams are capable of competing at this (BB) level, but some are going to find it tough,' he ll said. The OMHA rates communities on a letter basis using several factors such as population, number of players registered in the system, and the success the teams have en- joyed in OMHA playoffs in the past. Port Perry now has about 430 youngsters registered in hockey (house league and rep teams) but Mr. Steele said this figure might be somewhat mis-leading. Other towns for example, only registér their rep team players with the OMHA, while the house league or recreation teams have no OMHA connection. In Uxbridge, the house league is run by a local service club, not the Minor Hockey organization. The fact that Port Perry has been "bumped up' a notch to BB didn't Norm Ball does Scugog proud! Even the bright sunshine that poured down Monday afternoon wasn't as dazzling as the smile on Norm Ball's face. The 44 year old Port Perry carpet installer had a grin as wide as a country mile, as he proudly carried the Olympic Torch past a small crowd of cheering spectators. Norm was one of 7,000 Canadians chosen, by lottery, to carry the Olympic Flame from the east coast, to the west coast, and back to Calgary to officially open the 1988 Winter Games. Not that Norm ran the entire distance! Like the other tor- chbearers, he covered one kilometre after picking it up from one runner and before passing it on to another. Norm's chance to "Share the Flame' came on Monday, December 21st, on Highway 115, ap- proximately 7 kilometres north of Highway 2 (near Orono). Proudly wearing his official red and white sweatsuit, as well as sunglasses (to help shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight), he bore the Olympic torch high in the air, grinning and waving at a noisy en- thusiastic crowd at the side of busy Highway 115. The scene was a hectic, infectious- ly happy one, with onlookers shar- ing words of excitement and drivers of cars and trucks slowing to wave and honk their horns. Norm, flanked on either side by two equally happy Honourary Escorts, ran his kilometre in the midst of a caravan that started out with an OPP cruiser, followed by a Torchbearer motorhome, a. lead ar, a media truck (filled with snap- ping cameras and video cameras), Norm and his escorts, a Trail motorhome (the command post), a (Turn to page 37) Planner likes Conway project concept, but urges slow approach Scugog Township's planning con- sultant John McDermott likes the concept of the Conway Development proposal, but he suggested the coun- cil opt for a *'go slow' approach in approving the project on the north side of Highway 7A in Port Perry. Mr. McDermott and Township councillors spent nearly two hours Monday morning discussing the pro- posed project in general terms. The initial plans submitted by Ot- ter Financial Corp. of Toronto call for an indoor shopping mall of some 50,000 square feet of retail floor space, plus a 100 unit seniors retire- ment apartment building and 90 condominiums in four buildings. During the discussion with coun- cil, Mr. McDermott referred to the project as "a significant and wor- thwhile" one for this community, but he warned there are numerous come as much of a surprise to Mr. Steele. In fact, he said he's been ex- pecting the move for some time. He said personally he would prefer to see the local rep teams competing in OMHA playoffs at the higher level, and he said that getting bumped up to BB shows that the OMHA recognizes that the Port Perry system is developing highly competitive teams and players. He said the BB ruling may pre- sent some problems for teams entering tournaments over the next couple of months. Some tournament organizers don't want to see BB cen- tres sending teams to compete against those from CC or lower communities. Once the OMHA playoff rounds technical and planning matters that must be addressed before council even considers giving the project "approval in principle." The project, he said 'needs to be carefully examined to ensure it's done right and tastefully." Mr. McDermott promised council that he will work on a full report of the project from the planning point of view and should be ready to give that report to the municipality by the end of January. The developers want to build the mall, apartments and condos on about ten acres of land where the Conway Restaurant, Take-out and Car Wash are now located.. Mr. McDermott told council that from a planning point of view, he has "'concerns' about the density of the buildings and the number of (Turn to page 34) Port Perry rated BB hockey centre begin, Mr. Steele said it appears that the Port Perry rep teams like- ly will be facing Stouffville in the first round, which is a BB centre, as well. That may not apply to the Novice team here, however, as the playoff structure for that age level differs from the older age groups. In another un-related issue con- cerning minor hockey, Mr. Steele said the local organization has no choice but to abide by the recent Human Rights ruling which allows girls to try out for any hockey team. "It's the law. Both the OMHA and CAHA have accepted the ruling and so do we," he stated. The case involved Justine Blaney, 14, who was prohibited two years (Turn to page 2)