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No. 15 Vol. 130 PORT PERRY, ONTARIO - TUESDAY, MARCH >, 199% will shut down this month By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star Time has run out for Scugog's Agriculture Employment Services office. Operations are winding down at the Water St. office, as manager Rolly Coy prepares for the shutdown later this month. The service, which has linked local farmers and labor- ers here for 21 years, was ordered phased out by federal Finance Minister Paul Martin last spring. "We are in the final stages of clearing out," Mr. Coy said last week. "We are definitely slated to close here before the end of March." With the AES office -- it has been funded since its inception in 1974 by Canada Employment and Immigration -- will go staff who have for years provided a link between Scugog and the federal offices in Oshawa. Fortunately, Mr.Coy said, a computerized job bank kiosk that had been at the AES office was moved Turnto Page 10 Members of 'Port Perry High School S rugby squad huddle up In 'a scrum at practice last week, as they prepare for their '96 tour to the United Kingdom. They left yesterday (March 4) for London England, and will spend two weeks playing. in England, Scotland and Wales. The from the Set shiny | venture. Businesses bought advertising space in 'brochures that . : during the tour. 1siness community with this year's hard times By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star The ongoing strike by Ontario's unionized public servants is proving to be a lot more than an inconvenience for Murray McLaughlin, owner of Pineridge Packers near Port Perry. Among the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) workers who hit the bricks in a dispute with OPSEU strike means for packer the provincial government last week were the province's meat inspectors, who clear Mr. McLaughlin's product. "I have no meat inspector here, so I can't work," he said Friday morning. "It (the strike) has refused me my right to make a living." He said his five workers also face layoffs if the strike Turnto Page 3 Ne Long winter drains budget By Kelly Lown Port Perry Star The long winter has taken its toll on Scugog's roads budget, according to Roads Superinten- dent Ronn MacDonald. The 1996 budget has been hit fairly heavily by the freezing rain and snow storms to hit the area this winter. The township must sand and salt the road- ways when there is an inch to two inches of snow on the roads and the cost of the chemicals takes a bite out of the budget. This year the sanders have been called on more than usual to tend to the roadways. It can be just as expensive, if not more so, to have one inch of snow on the roads than six inch- es. The township must salt and sand anything Pontiacs - Buicks - GMC Trucks - & Goodwill Used Cars & Trucks Li under two inches of snow, while they plow the heavier amount without the cost of the chemi- cals. So far this year the township has restocked its sand domes twice, something Mr. MacDonald said has not been done since 1987. The amount of sand and salt used is also due to early snowfall in November of 1995 that put the township'sroad budget in jeopardy last year. The township contracts sanders to begin work on November 14, but this year's heavy, early snow had sanders on the road Nov. 4, two weeks earlier than the previous winter. Mr. MacDonald has been keeping track of the weather for years and says the last time the No- vember snowfall was still on the ground in April was in 1969. PONTIAC BUICK LIMITED 10 Vanedward Drive, Port Perry 985-8474