About 500 peuple turned up at the Progressive Conser- vative picnic at Fantasyland Park Saturday to see Ontario Premier Bill Davis, but Mr. Davis did not show up. Premier Davis was expect- ed to be the star attraction among a number of provincial cabinet ministers who were to make an appearance at the picnic, but in the end, only two cabinet ministers showed Bob Harris, a field organi- party explained that there was -a question of whether the. picnic would even go on be- cause of threats of bad weather until noon. After 2 p.m. the skies cleared and it was a beautiful day. Mr. Harris explained that Mr. Davis had to attend the Brampton Fair in his own riding the same day, and when it was expected the Whitby picnic could be ra - ed out, his office decided he Brampton. However, said Mr. Harris, Mr. Davis said he would visit Durham West riding in the near future and gave his' appologies. The only provincial cabinet ministers to make it to the picnic were Agricultural Minister Bill Newman, who hurried over from Beaverton after opening a fair there,and Secretary of Social Services Margaret Birch, who made an recent bout with the flu. On the local level, a number of political figures attended, including \Mayor i Gartshore of Whitby, Mayor George Ashe of Pickering, Mayor Garnet Rickard of Newcastle,Region- al Chairman Walter Beath, Oshawa Councillor John Aker, and Whitby Councillors Gerry Emm, Bob Carson and Dr. Ken Hobbs. Also attend- ing were Federal Conservative MPD AIrrn I .,renP and former Federal member and Labor Minister in the Diefen- baker government, Mike Starr. 1The Claremont Citizens Band provided musicfor the afternoon, and played "Hail to the Chief" in honor of John Diefenbaker's 81st birthday Saturday. Mr. Newman made a brief speech, pointing out that Prime Minister Trudeau and the country are in trouble and theC onservatives "have Preie WllamDais ais ohoaa gode ppictnic u a golden opportunity to put this country right in the next federal election". Mr. Newman said he was in favor of the free enterprise system and did not want state controls in the province or the country. In a lighter vein, a number of local politicians entered the annual knobby knees contest, with Mayor Gart- shore taking second prize and Regional Chairman Beath commie third. Jzrfor the povnia'CIhud spend the day at effort to attenu uespite a ii -&miid u al T' INSIDE EDITORIALS...............PAGE 4 HISTORICAL WHITBY, KALNINS ON, POTPOURRI..............PAGE 5 BROOKLIN BYLINES.........PAGE 6 CORRIDOR CAPERS, WORDS FROM WEST LYNDE... PAGE 7 COMING EVENTS.................PAGE-12 SPORTS....................PAGE 13 Vol. 6, No. 38 Wednesday, September 22, 1976 20 Pages BUSINESS.................. PAGE 15 ENTERTAINMENT............PAGE 19 Lady misses out on $10,000 prize "With Wintario we all win". At least, that is what the Wintario people say in their commercials. Doris Junkin of 850Green Street in Whitby isn't so sure after a recent experience at the Wintario offices in Toronto. Mrs. Junkin claims to have held ticket nuinber 12658490 for the Thursday, September 16, Wintario bonus draw. Holding that ticket should Croven Ltd. will appeal Last week the manage- ment and employees of Croven Ltd., an electronic components manufacturer, agreed jointly to launch an appeal of an AIB rollback on their latest contract. A union spokesman s-.id the AIB cut 5½ per cent from the first year of a two-year agreement sent June Il for consideration. The cutback means an increase of only eight per cent in the first year, while the second year, not seriously cut back re- mains at about six per cent, the spokesman said. About 150Croven employ- ees are affected. have entitled lier to SI10,000 but, when she went to cash it in, she received quite a shock. Mrs. Junkin claims that, when she went to the office to cash her ticket on the Friday following the draw, a Wintario employee said "This ticket has been tampered with. There are no duplicates". The last half of that statenent meant that some- one had already collected the SI0,000 prize for that ticket number. "I was just stunned", says Mrs. Junkin. "1 just froze just like I got an electric shock". She does not know what happened to her ticket while she was in that state of shock. "I don't know whether she (the Wintario employee) t3ok it or not". When asked if the Wintario people have taken any action on the matter since that day, Mrs. Junkin replied "There has been nothing done". The Free Press instigated an investigation into the matter through MPP Charles Godfrey. An ongoing discussion about the validity of the ticket may lead to further and more detailed investigation by experts. MAN SHOOTS SELF Funeral Director Harry Town and Durham Regional Police officers remove the body of a 47-year-old Brooklin man who shot himself in bis car in front of the Sportsman's Corner Thursday at 10 a.m. Police report the man, a voluntary patient at the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital, walked into the sporting goods store and purchased a .30.30 Winchester rifle and a box of shells and rushed out without bothering to take his receipt. He then returrned and asked the store owner to show him how to load the ammunition clip. The owner showed him, police said, and he went out to his car and committed suicide. The owner, Harold Augustus, suspicious of the man's actions, followed him outside to get the car's licence number, and saw him shoot himself. Dead is Roger Aubrey Crouter, a factory worker in Whitby who was separated from his wife and three children. Although he lived at the psychiatric hospital, he was free to come and go at will. Free Press Photo By BLAKE PURDY Staff Writer Approximately 25 people - merchants and professionals - who do business in the down- town core of Whitby met on Monday to discuss rejuvena- tion of the area. Those in attendance at the meetingtheard Linda Russell, President of the Whitby Downtown Business : and Professional Association, out- line a proposal for revitaliz- ing the area. Mrs. Russell described the Business Improvement District Plan, one, of a number of government assist- ed prograrms recommended by the province as a result of a 1975 study. According to Mrs. Russell, under the plan "every business- person both pays for and receives the benefits of the work of a co-operative association". Designation of an area as a Business Improvement District is a many-step pro- cess, according to Mrs. Russell. InR short, the designation is obtained if people repre- senting less than one-third of the area's business assessment have objected and if town council and the Ontario Municipal Board give their approval. aIt will take action from ,the apathetic or negative to prevent designation", says Mrs1 Russell. "Under a tradi- tional voluntary association, it is the negative and apathetic that doom potential accom- plishments by their non- suppcort". When the designation is obtained, the plan provides that, through a benefitting assessment funding system, those most benefitting - the business people - pay a specialsself-imposed surtax on their regular business tax. This is done on a percentage levy basis. This money is collected by the Town and returned directly to the association. A board of management, composed of business people and town councillors, draws up a budget for the coming year, subject to approval by f r-l. 4 rirt +Plan iq nt n t n Goals include the improve town council A sub-committee has been established to investigate the potential monies which could be raised for rehabili- tating the downtown area. The sub-committee will report its findings to the Downtown Action Committee in the near future. A very important public meeting will be heid on October 19 to determine the degree of accep tance of the plan by the business people and to establish boundaries for the rejuvenation. We will publish further details as they become available. Mrs. Russell is approach- ing the plan with cautious optiniism. "The Business Improve- e ment District iran is no ant end in itself", she says. "4t is only a beginning". "By merely becoming designated a B.ID., all of the problems of the district will not miraculously fade away", says Mrs. Russell. "If the desired end is the rehabilitation of the district, the B.I.D. legislation is merely a tool, or an enabling mechanism, leftain the hands of the local people to use as, they see fit". "The decision to go ahead and become a Business Improvement District is not enough", she says.l"Goals must beclearly laid out before money is spent on a few far-fetched, inadequate or unrealistic ideas". ment, beautification and maintehance of municipally owned lands, buildings and structures in the area, beyond that which is ordinarily provided by the municipality; and the pro- motion of the area as a business or shopping district. WDBPA Treasurer Bob Catton, who has been- striving foi downtown rede- velopment for 16 years but has "got absolutely nowhere", summed up the feelings of those in attendance at the meeting. "We all have to work to- gether", says Mr. Catton. "We are all working for the same cause. We are working for Whitby". 1 -