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LIL "A Family Tradition for 131 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, March 18, 1997 -7 IL _ETTERS Island Road is a roller coaster To the Editor: Every paper I have read recently says taxes are on the rise. Have you ever been on a roller coaster ride? Try the Island Road; you don't even have to pay. At first the car goes over several dips and bumps, just a little taste of what is to come. Then the fun starts: you hit a part of the road that tips the car sideways - you feel like the car is going to turn over. Further down the road you manage to hold on tight to the steering wheel while you are trying to get over the shock of being thrown out of your seat, then you hit another bump and dip. More is better, To the Editor: Is a week off school too much for some of our younger boys around town? Three of them ran away after throwing snowballs and kicking the door of a Queen Street store under active renovation. When pursued and then staying at a safe distance they swore very rudely at the lady who was valiantly trying to smarten them up as a mother would her own wayward children. Part of this disrespectful exchange indicated working parents in one case and the challenge that they couldn't be punished anyway because they are too young and there was nothing we could do about their behavior. So much for some of our youth who prowl our streets by day without adult constraints or any positive sense of their own purpose and just ripe More fun: "Demara Road." Maybe 20 pot holes, large at that. Unfortunately if you don't know they are there your tires are either slit or damaged. You can avoid them only you could better do this, if you drive in the ditch or in the middle of the road and swerve to miss oncoming traffic. It is fun, all right. So take a Sunday drive and hope some of our tax dollars go to fixing the roads, so you can avoid the roller coaster on the road and only have the roller coaster ride in the amusement parks. Sylvia Jones, Scugog Island less is a mess for crime. Not in Port Perry? Oh yeah! The comment came up afterward that youngsters like these could conceivably seek revenge somehow and get away with it. It has happened many times. Check the daily papers. Furthermore comes the question of so much (too much?) loose time off from classroom restraints now that many parents are out of the parenting picture too long at this critical time of a child's life. Too many holidays for our young society's health? Obviously many kids can't handle it. Perhaps the school year should be longer? The phrase "use them or lose them" should become the modern watchword in public education. In this case more is better. Less is a mess. Owen R. Neill, Port Perry THE CHANGING FACE OF DOWNTOWN PORT PERRY REELS ee 13 Justwhenit finally appears there's reason for some optimism "in the community... what with the real _ estate market booming... interest rates at g come some indica- sy'in the Port Perry busi- | can't recall since Canadian Tire and DOW: Red & White food store moved "off Queen St. back in the 1970s, seeing such a large exodus of businesses from the main street in such a short time. Over the past few weeks we've seen a number of stores close there doors, and indications point to a few more either clos- ing or moving in the near future. Along Queen St. stores which have closed re-cently, or are soon to close, -include The Linen Corner, lvy League, Daphne's Clothing, Pentland Jewellers and For Heaven's Sake. Moving to new "locations are Everlasting Memories, Jayson Callan Music and Charm and Elegance. it These, along with recently opened busi- "nesses like Bruce's Bagels and Bites, The ~ Crafters Showplace and others which will soon fill vacated stores in the downtown core, are providing an injection of new life and a new look to the street. While it's disheartening to see local 'mom and pop' type stores close their doors after years of service to the com- munity... it's equally encouraging to see "Random Jottings by J. Peter Hvidsten an influx of young entrepreneurs who are willing to expend their time, energy and money to fulfill their dreams of operating their own business. We wish all the new businesses much success in the years to come. ATAXING QUESTION There are two things we can be sure of in life and that's taxes and tax increases. * While that may not be altogether a true . statement, Scugog Township ratepayers, after three years of 'zero increases', should brace themselves for an increase in property taxes this year. Increased taxes for the coming year - were almost inevitable. With so many provincial and federal cuts to communi- ties and school boards over the past cou- ple of years, it was unrealistic to expect the politicians to hold the line on taxes and continue to provide adequate service to its citizens. There comes a time when trying to attain a zero tax increase is impossible without damaging the infrastructure and services needed to keep the community operating at a decent level. You can bet raising taxes during an election year was not a political choice... but a political reality which had to be faced. So we'll all be digging a little deeper this year as municipal, regional and school trustees ask us to pay a little more to protect the services we've come to expect and enjoy. - It's the price we must pay to reap our demands. By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star Defense lawyer Cindy Wasser says police arrested and charged the wrong man in the Port Perry bank robbery and shootings that wounded five people. Ms. Wasser is representing Mitchiel McArthur, 44, who with his 31 year old brother Angus is on trial for 34 charges stemming from the incidents that began Perry Plaza. With the last of the Crown evidence in this trial presented last Friday morning, Ms. Wasser opened her defense that same day with an address to the jury of six men and six women in which she said "I will point areas of doubt (in the Crown evidence) and opportunities police had to plant evidence. "No (police) officer will admit that they are framing him (Mitchiel McArthur) but that does not mean it did not happen," Wasser told the jury. She went on to say that police had con- trol over evidence, and suggested that as three of the five people wounded by gun- fire that evening were police officers, a "motive for framing Mitchiel McArthur exists." ONE OF THE KEY pieces of the testimony of Durham Police detective bound red Camaro make a u-turn on Simcoe Street within eye-shot of a police road-block at about 8:50 PM the night of the robbery. Det. Kimmerly noted the Camaro licence number TEY 600, and later that the evening of October 20, 1994 at the Port Crown evidence presented at the trial was David Kimmerly who said he saw a south- night, police traced the car to its owner Mitchiel McArthur, who was arrested at 8:00 the next morning at a Kingston apartment where he lived with his fiance. In her address to the jury last Friday, Wasser pointed out that another witness said he also saw a red Camaro make a u- turn on Simcoe Street, but it was at least 20 minutes before the time given by Kimmerly. Wasser also noted that other witnesses have told the trial they saw a red Camaro leave the parking lot at Port Perry Hospital at 9:00 PM that evening. - THE DEFENSE contends there was another red Camaro in Port Perry that night, Wasser said. : She went on to suggest that when police learned of the Camaro and researched (the licence number) they came up with her cli- ent's name who they knew was on parole for bank robbery. She said testimony given by eyewit- nesses during the trial is not reliable. She noted testimony which put two men who appear to be the accused at the Bank of Montreal branch the morning of the rob- bery. In fact, she went on, the morning of the robbery her client was in Kingston meeting with his parole officer. "Somebody who looks a lot like Mitchiel McArthur was at the bank (that morning) but it was not him," she said. Wasser told the jury she will not be call- ing her client to the witness stand in this trial. "He does not know what happened (in Port Perry) that night." Also last Friday, the defense team of Wasser and Peter Zaduk, who represents Angus McArthur, called their first witness in this lengthy trial that began in mid- January and has been sitting almost non- stop ever since. Dr. Roderick Lindsay is a Queens University psychology professor and spe- cialist in the field of eyewitness identifica- tion evidence in criminal trials. He has published some 38 articles on the topic, lectured at academic conferences, taught at the Ontario Police College and given defense evididence at criminal trials. In response to a question from Wasser, Dr. Lindsay said eyewitness error is a "major source (50 per cent) of wrongful convictions." And he said there are many reasons why this happens such as distance, light- ing conditions, and remembering faces out of context. "Some people will identify (from a police photo) the wrong person because there are just enough similarities," he said. AS FOR PHOTO LINE-UPS (where witnesses are shown a series of photos and asked to pick out the suspect they saw) he said there is research evidence to show that people believe the correct photo must be in the line-up because police would not go through the exercise if it were not there. Prof. Lindsay said he has recommended to police forces that the person showing a witness a photo line-up should not know who the suspect is as they can influence a decision, even in very subtle ways when the witness sees the right photo such as by a deep breath, eye movement or a slight tilt of the head. At this trial, three witnesses have tes- tified they saw Mitchiel McArthur at three different locations in Port Perry the even- ing of the robbery and shootings. And during their testimony, the three Defense says police arrested wrong man witnesses pointed to the accused in court as the man they saw the night of Oct. 20, 1994. Dr. Lindsay said the fact witnesses point out an accused in a court room is of no significance as this is to be expected if they have already identified an accused in a photo line-up. As for whether witnesses see photos of the accused in a newspaper or on TV, the professor said "this could be a serious pro- blem," especially if the (news) photo iden- tifics the person as a suspect. Seeing media photos, said Dr. Lindsay, likely makes a witness more confident of the identification they themselves have made. In reponse to a question from prosecu- tor Michael Hill, Prof. Lindsay said that if photos in a line-up are shown to a witness sequentially (one after another rather than all at one time) if the suspect is not in one of the photos, "most often the witness will select nobody." The problem, he went on, comes with what's called relative judgement. A wit- ness will select a photo that most closely resembles who they saw, even ifit is the wrong person. SEEING A SUSPECT in the course of a "significant event" usually helps a witness to remember more accu- rately what was seen, up to a point, said the professor. If a person feels seriously threatened during an event, the ability to process all information is reduced. "If a person feels threatened they have better things to do than worry about the colour of a (suspect's) jacket. They are try- ing to figure out how to stay alive or get safely away from that situation," he said.