The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist sun tribune 30000 copies vol 2 no 38 a metroland community newspaper saturday september 20 1986 44 pages 25 cents dragsters drive for speed strip in markham by robert donnelly each weekend sometimes as many as 150 spectators gather to watch their favorite musclecars thunder down markham roads at three times the posted speed limit its 130 am sunday and two camaros are lining up side by side on a quartermile stretch of war den ave south of major macken zie drive there is the wail of 200 horse power engines and the rumble of dual exhausts difficult to ignore especially if you happen to live in the farmhouse across the road there is the acrid smell of burn ing rubber in the air as drivers with one foot on the brake and the gas pedal pressed firmly to the metal warm up the tires to im prove traction and acceleration out of the hole and there is the stealthy approach of two york regional police squad cars before the smoke has a chance to clear the crowd has already scattered the police make no attempt to apprehend the felons the road warriors regroup at machos burgers on victoria park ave south of stceles to de cide upon an alternative location such as 14th ave mccowan rd or even hwy 404 to settle claims as to who has the fastest car wherever the cops arent thats where we go to race says markham resident jeff catlin a collector for a scarborough credit company by day he hangs up his suit and tie and dons a pair of jeans a tshirt and a jetblack satin jacket at night if you meet me during the day and then you turn around and meet me at night you might not recognize me he said his machine is a dark purple 1970 dodge swinger with mag wheels rally rims dual hood scoops a dual exhaust and a bored out 340 cubic inch six- cylinder powerplant sopping up 8500 of his hard earned bucks for repairs to the engine and trans mission i had the car about two days and then i blew the engine and the tranny so i completely rebuilt it it goes pretty good now its 3 am and a group of fine- tuned machines are cruising steeles ave in search of an empty stretch of pavement to lay some rubber two friends are itching to find out whose car has the fastest straightline acceleration they start at the lights at mcni- coll ave and barrel up mccowan rd toward steeles ave at 90 mph pete in his 1972 babyblue dodge duster surges ahead to a certain victory over his friend jeff catlin in the purple dodge swinger the race is over in less than 15 seconds mr catlin and his fellow street racers and the fans who crowd the shoulders of the road do share however a common interest with many members of the york re gional police they can be counted amongst the more than 2000 signatories of a petition in favor of eliminating street racing altogether by build ing a bonafide drag strip in mar kham s industrial area one of york regions finest who requested anonymity stated that more than 90 per cent of the officers would support a local drag strip just for the fact that you get them off the street law enforcement procedures such as speeding tickets are in effective he says and are useless as deterents since the racing has continued unabated for years also a charge of racing which involves a loss of six points and a hefty fine is difficult to prove in the courts he adds the racing paraphernalia alone is not enough to substanti ate the charge he explains you almost need a confession just ask mike if the legal sys tem has curtailed his speedy ways speeding tickets and an up coming trial for having illegally wide tires may have the 19-year- old worried enough to change the color of his nitrousoxide brea thing vega from orange to royal blue to elude police but it hasnt slowed him down none the apprentice mechanic can still do the quartermile in under 13 seconds closer to 12 if he hits the trigger and fires up the nilr- contd on page 3 the sound of peace orchard park public school students in stouffvillc took part in the international day of peace rally at the towns bell tower visible from left steven uren 10 philip pridham 10 darrin zellcr 11 and lisa wisnicwski 10 pcalcd the bells and sang a song for peace a slight hitch developed and the mechan ism in the bell tower didnt work at the appointed time tuesday noon so the students rang their own bells all the more vigorously sjoerd wittevecn whats inside ed shroeter hes a play wright18 directory comment p4 entertainment p17 sports p22 to 23 church page p24 to 25 childrens page p26 real estate p27 to 35 classified p36 to 43