Whitby Free Press, 9 Mar 1977, p. 1

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UPSIDE DOWN WORLD The world is upside down for four-year-old Reta Marie LePage, of Oshawa, who does a headstand at the Durham Region YMCA annual meeting Friday. Assisting her is Y instructor Kathleen Jackson. Free Press Photo whitby 1 11 - puy 1% - 1 il fnquest 'has an aura ofmystery The jury was toid that and that Laine was kept jurfirs that tLie situation was 'îrightening.~.and 'one that An inquest into the death of a mental retardate from the Durham Centre for the Developientally Handi- capped continues today, amid an aura of mystery. Testimony was given Thursday that 23-year-old Harry Laine was found dead in the Whitby harbor marsh last July 12, with marks inflicted on his body after death. Dr. John Hilsdon Smith, a pathologist, said an autopsy revealed that death came from drowning, but. marks on the buttocks occurred afterdeathand were consistent with pressure exerted by the weight of a body lying face upwards. The body was found lying face down. in three feet of water near the Whitby Yacht Club, the inquest was told. Crown Attorney Bruce Affleck said Laine's death had "an aura of mystery that we have been unable to resolve". The jury was told that shortly before he disappeared, Laine had been involved in a minor scuffle with a patient from the Whitby Psychiatric -ospital. Dr. Paul Caron, program director of the Durham Centre, said the residents of the centre often mingled with WPH patients, and Laine had been involved in five minor altercations in late June. Dr. Caron said Laine had no suicidal tendencies, and Dr. Hilsdon said there were no marks or signs on Laine's body to suggest he had been held face down in the water or that a sexual assault had occurred. Under close cross examina- tion Dr. Caron admitted that Laine could have picked up on the grounds by a homosexual and abused. A counsellor at one of the hospital's cottages testified that he had seen this done to Laine by another Durham Centre patieuit in July 1975, 'o'ce of the County Town) Wedinesapav. March 9, 1977 16 Pages and that' Laine was kept under observation, and the .other man reprimanded "since he was the aggressor". Mr. Affleck told the jurors that the situation was "frightening...and 'one that should not be tolerated in a mental institution". Highway 401 through Whitby, Ajax and Pickering will be placed on the provincial list of areas to be considered for noise barriers, providing certain conditions are met, says Ontario Transportation Minister James Snow. Provincial policy enables the Ministry of Transporta- tion and Communications to construct noise barriers through existing residential areas during the construction of new freeways or during the reconstruction of existing major freeways such as Highway 401 through Oshawa on a priority basis depending on budget allocations, says Noise barriers considered Mr. Snow. This is conditional upon a residential area adjacent to a freeway experiencing a high noise level, and the noise barrier having a significant effect on noise, he said. The setting of priorities for the construction of barriers in all areas across the province is currentlv under way; the priority being based upon such variables as the number of homes, current noise levels, predicted reductiôn of noise- levels, and the cost of the barrier, Mr. Snow says. When priorities are available a probable construction year can be established based upon normal budget con- straints. I j rA'JL J YMCA REPORT. ............... IN MY OPINIONi CORRIDOR CAPERS............ BROOK LIN BYLINES........... HISTORICAL WHITBY, POTPOURRI.. .......... MACEDONIAN VILLAGE..... HUMANE SOCIETY. .... SPORTS.................... PAGE 5 PAGE 6 PAGE 6 PAGE7 PAGE> 8 PAGE 9 PAGES 10 & i Residents want delay of sewer bill payments After a second stormy b public meeting over water o and sewer bills Sunday, 'si Councillor Joe Drumm has promised to ask the Whitby g' town council to petition the M region to put a three-month w moratorium on payment of n water and sewer bills until o the current billing problems can be straightened out. r Councillor Drumm, who p chaired the meeting, said he c would bring the motion to 0 council, after Durham West r MPP Dr. Charles Godfrey s suggested that the public i meeting might wish to put i forth a motion that the P region stop collection of the sewer bills until the current problems are investigated. After listening to numerous complaints about individual bills, Regional Councillor Gerry Emm admitted "therer is a serious problem as relates to billing". He saîd a numberr of bills of over $200 were a mistake, but also noted that a number of people had noj problems with the bills. 1 About 250 people attended the meeting at Anderson Collegiate, compared to 400 at the meeting the previous Sunday at R. A. Hutchison Schooi. Councillor Drumm announ- ced that the town has formed a comm-ittee of Mayor Jim Gartshore and Regional Councillors Gerry Emm and Joy Thompson, plus two re- presentatives from each ward to look into the billing problems. Both Councillors Emm and Thompson repeat- edly said they would person- ally investigate bis, and a number of residents handed in their bills at the meeting. Councillor Thompson said she and Councillor Emm had een working 16 hours a day n the water-and sewer bills nce the first public meeting. Councillor Thompson sug- ested the biggest error was iade by the residents who iere comparingbills, "because obody uses the same amount f water". She also informed the esidents that a landiord can put up rent only eight per cent to cover sewer bills, and over that, he has to pay the est himself. She informed swimming pool owners that t will take six to eight weeks to process an appeal for a pool. Durham West MPP Dr. Charles Godfrey read a letter he and the other Durham Region MPPs had sent to Ontario Premier William Davis, asking for provincial money to assist in fundîng sewers and water in the region (see editorial page) and stated he had not yet received an answer. "I can't tell you if you will get the money' he said. "We were promiseâ start-up funds and as far as I'm concerned the nub is still to get the money from McKeough. The region is their (the provincial govern- ment's) baby and by golly they've got to pay for it" Residentsnoted that there were many mathematical errors in the bills, from a few cents to several dollars. In response to questions about the service charge they were told that it covers water storage, fire hydrant system, purchase and repairs of water meters, and billingand reading meters are only a minor portion of this cost, One resident noted that the region has a tremendous debt, and he asked how the Flames leap from the wind in the Otter Creek subdivision in an $18,000 blaze early 1 heaters in the basement. of ti council was planning to pay it. He added further that with the water and sewer bills being as high as they are, people would not be able to- afford homes in Whitby. Councillor Emm said the $4 million to sewer the Corridor could have been liquidated by putting in the kind of housing the provincial government wants "but I don't to see a lot of the type of housing we don't want, to get us out of debt overnight". He added also that he wanted to see industry where houses might otherwise go. One resident pointed out that for consumption of 104,000 gallons of water in MORE FLAMES IN THE NIGHT Iows of an unoccupied house out of the ground, are believed to have contributed to the , which bumed to the ground cause of the fire. Two propane tanks exploded during the rhursday morning. Propane fire. he house. used to keep frost Photo by Eric Hudson Halton Region the bilI is Halton Region the bill is $97.79 with no service charge, and in Durham Region $220.92 with,. a service charge. This represents a 400 per cent increase in the service charge and a 120 per cent increase in the total charges. Dr. Godfrey said he could. not answer why this was so. Although many residents said the Durham Region rates were a great "rip-off", Councillor Emm said the charges in Durham are lower than in the Region of PeeLn Free Press Columnist Norm Mealing said public outery in Peel resulted in a 15 per cent reduction in rates there, r1e saia rne region snoula re-exainine its principle of billing and there should be a referendum of the people on whether to keep the Durham Region. He also asked the regional representatives to make "a committment to review the region and if necessary abandon the thing": Councillor Thompson said that after reviewing a number of bills, she found that the average user came out only a little over or a little under their 1975 bills. Councillor Enim said that in comparison for January and February; this year, all his calculations but one were lower than the bills, but one person pointed out that there is greater water consumption in the sumner. "I'm obviously shocked at these mistakes in these water bills", declared Dr. Godfrey. "What is happening with other accounting in the region?" One ' resident suggested that for every person who has an over- charged bill there is probably someone who is under- charged. Again the question was posed: "What are we going to do", but there was no answer except the *motion Councillor Drumm said he would- make, to have the region hold off collecting any paynientsfor three months. lu l% a% , " - " - JLJLI e- àýmiu,, »I y ILF JL 0 Vol. 7, IN0. lu 1

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