Victoriavle -Farce at Vandalism Mansions? 2 Courthouse 10 'n page 14 pag2-page 0pBrookli Paradle Camival By Mike Kowalski An attempt will be made at booeting the fortunes of downtown Whitby merchants this Christmas season. Town council Monday unanimouely endorsed a proposai to hold a "Winter* Carnival Weekend" ini conjunction with the. Santa Claus parade on Dec. 2. Modelled on the County Town Carmival which was resurrected to much succesa, last sumnmer, thie winter version is being viewed as a way of allowing merchants, to capitalize on the. 7,000 or so peope who watch the. parade ini and around the. downtown cor.. Despite fears that it may b. perceived as tax dollars being used to subsidize private. business, couneil approved sp.ncling up to $15,000 to fund the event whicii will commence the Friday eveig prior to the. parade. SHowever, council was steadfast in maintaining that this will b. a one-shot deal and that future endeavours must be the. responsibility of the. merchants themselves. hIfaict, more than one councillor warned downtown merchants to seize thiis initiative and participate to the fullest or risk losing councils support on other matters. A grim Mayor Tom Edwards made no apologies for calling the. special meeting of council to deal with an issue he termed critical to tiie very survival of many downtown businesses. With the. fate of the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA,) stili in lixnbo, Edwards bemoaned the loas of Christmas activities traclitionally undertaken by the. DBIA and predicted "dire consequences unless council stepped into the breach. "If we don't do something now, many of these merchants won't be with us ini the new year," suid Edwards. "Unless council takes a lead role, a number of merchants who are struggling te get by won't b. in business," h. said. Edwards said -several store owners came to him in recent months seelring help from council. After discussing the problem with Town staff, a number of options were put forward, Edwards said, witi the. possibility ofiholding an event ini tandem witi the. Santa Claus parade being favoured. The cost of the. Town's portion cf the winter carmivai wouid corne from funds originaily set aside in the. marketing and economic development department's budget for a tradê mission te China, Edwards said. Tii. money is availabi. because the. China tripiias been deferred until 1996 at the. earliest. In outlining the.proposed activities, marketing director Peter LeBel told council thiat thi. Jaycees annual parade would serve as the "fcatalyst" te tth. day's events. "Tii. focus is the Santa Claus parade. That bnings people down and we want te keep them there," said LeBel. According te LeBel, the. carnival will kick off the night before with a tre. lighting ceremony in front of tii. Brock Street fine hall. A 25-foot tre. has already been donated te tthe Town, h. said. The. following day will feature several indoor and outdoor activities after the. parade iias flnished, LeBel said. Possible events could include a pancake breakfast, petting zoo, hors. and carrnage rides, ice scupture exhibition, seniors' craft show, sugar siiack demonstration and teffe. tasting, dog cart rides and chldren's contes3ta. Since such a short time is left to organize it, the. Town will have to pick up cosa that were absorbed by service clubs and otiier organizations -which participated in the. summer carmival, LeBel said. He'estimated that $4,500 miay b. needed for this purpose. Other costs in the. proposed budget include the. following: * $5,500 for staff time and labour costa; * $2,100 for street lamp Christmas lights and wreatiis; * $1,000 for entertainment; * $1,000 for advertising, * $900 for a promotional banner and the. tre. lighting. Although h. supported the. tree lighting and decorations, councillor Dennis Fox was concerned about what te tel merchants ini other parts ofWhiMtby wiio may seek similar assistance. SEE PAGE 13 Champions lose pael6 McDonald s in* ýstyle ST. MA1THEW students,, from Iefl, Justin Honkawa, Anna Rawn, Daniel- Vicente, Jordan Harasinski -and Mark Ward seutle into a limo for a. luxunious* ride to - McDonald'sl Harasinski won the ride, cour- .Quick implementation cf recent truck safety recommendations wil ii.lp prevent more higiiway fatalities, says tue sister of a Whitby woman kiiled by a runaway tire. Tiieresa Worona is urging Ontaxie Transportation Minister AI Paliadini te mcv. swiftly on a coroner's jury's demanda for sweeping. changes to miles governing tue province'a truckîng industry. More than 30Oproposals aimed at making drivers, mechanics and owners more accountable for tue safety cf their vehiclea were recommended by the. Mississauga jury last week. ii. jury had spent tue previeus montu probing the. almost identical deathe cf Worona's sister Angela, 31, and James "L)rrell, 31, cf Mississagua who were kIlled in separate truck tire accidents .arlier this year. Altuough Palladifm iias prenised an industry crackdown and tougiier regulations within six tesy of Star Limiousine, and the free lunch, provfided by McDonald's, by sellingchoco- late -in the -school'fundraising campalign,' which netted more tha'n*$1 3,000. Photo by MSmdc Rora, Whltby Fre. ros menthe, the. 27-year-old Whitby resident remains te be convinced. After d.voting countless heurs on the issue since her sister was killed whil, driving on H1ighway 401 last January, Worona is cynical about any government's intentions. Ail tiire. cf Ontario's major politicial parties have held office but failed te act on a 1983 study whicii called for many pf the same recommendations espoused by the Mississauga jury, ah. notes. "At the present time there's ne hammer," said Worona during an interview at her parents' Dymond Drive home laat Thursday. "Until h. (Palladini) bringa it down, nething will happen," ah. said. "He's3 just using it as a threat right now and this is an industry that deflnitely needa policing." Worona was planning te meet witii botii Palladini and Durham Centre MPP Jim Flahierty this week te discusa the jurys5 recommendations. m Te latter has alse agreed te present in the. legisature later this montii, a 30,000-name petition'demanding teugiier truck safet.y laws. The names were coflected by the. Woronas, their friends, relatives and complete strangers, prier te, satisfled tii. family's wish for a thorough investigation. TIm thrilled with the. necem- mendations," ah. said.> "I was surprised at the. jury's ability in the. course of a montii te come up witii recommendations agreeing witii wiat w, look.d at in nine menthe. nit was good te s..e what came eut during the. inquest. The OPP, Crown attorney and coroner brought eut a lot of information." Worona, wio had legal standing at the inquest, noted that 15 cf the 17 recommendatione whicii ah. sub- mitt.d, were adopted in on. form or another by the jury. "It shows that. w. wer. net far off and it was reassun.ng te se. it SEE PAGE 12