Vol. 130 No. 24 COPY 65¢ 61¢=4¢GsT) JEFF MITCHELL : PORT PERRY STAR Reflections of a career Bob Prentice, who this past week marked his 25th course of a quarter-century in business, and said he's anniversary as a barber in Port Perry, is reflected over looking forward to barbering for another 25 years here. and again in the mirrors at his Queen St. shop. He's seen We've got a feature story on Bob and his years in Trustees settle for a slight increase By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star The Durham Board of Education has slashed more than $15 million from its oper- ations, and arrived at a budget that requires a 2.74 per cent hike to taxpayers for 1996. The total budget for this year is $361.4 million; that's down $5 million from last year, but includes the cost of capital projects, including two new schools and two additions to existing, schools that were undertaken previously. The hike means ratepayers in Scugog who support the pub- lic system will shell out an additional $47 in taxes this year. The budget process -- carried out by trustees under the gun because of provincial cutbacks and demands from residents that costs be held in line -- was - a troubling one for Scugog rep Bobbie Drew. "The province has forced us _ to go at this process with a meat-axe," said Mrs. Drew many changes in Port Perry and its people over the business here on page 18 of today's Star. Turnto Page9 Opponents square off at OMB hearing By Kelly Lown Port Perry Star A decision will come soon on the fate of a small Blackstock park, after a group of residents took Scugog Township Council tothe OMB last week. Fred Ford, Thomas Ansell and Paul and Donna McKenna, among others, are fighting a township decision to sell oft parkland in the north end of the If You Thought You Couldn't Afford A 1996 GMC Sierra hamlet to create three residen- tial building lots. Along line of consultants, en- gineers and township staff told the Ontario Municipal Board all necessary studies were done and they were satisfied with the conclusions. The proceeds from the sale of 'the lots was to be used for up- Turnto Page 14 then think again! See Page 17 For Details New Life Centre is 'booming' By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star It wasn't a sound you could hear, but there was a boom at Community Memorial Hospital last month -- a baby boom. No fewer than 29 babies were born during April at the Port Perry hospital's New Life Centre, an all-time record. The boom averaged to almost a baby a day being born in the centre. "It was extremely steady in April, and we did have a couple of days where we had two almost simultaneously," said Rae Robson, chief nursing officer at Community Memorial. "It was a very, very busy month." x4 At times extra staff were called in to deal with the high number of births. Typically just one nurse is assigned to the obstetrics ward, but the brisk business dictated higher staffing levels by times, said Mrs. Robson. It wasn't until the end of the month that people in the department were able to lok back and realize that a record may have been set. A check revealed that the next-busiest month occurred several years ago, when 24 Turnto Page 15 PONTIAC BUICK LIMITED 10 Vanedward Drive, Port Perry 985-847