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HOME DESTROYED IN SUNDAY BLAZE INSIDE I Toothbrush and towels she tackles tax Where is this lady going For the answer see page Have a heart take the test Its heart month and theres no better time to have your blood pressure checked than right now according to Era feature writer Alice A report on Heart Month activities appears on page Torchlight parade kicks off carnival A torchlight ride Friday at pm kicks off Heritage Winter Carnival For a full schedule of activities during the twoandahalf day carnival see page Teachers cool to junior kindergarten Yorks elementary teachers dont rate establishment of a junior kindergarten program as one of their top priorities For the reasons why see page An artist and his art Keith Faulkner is a unique pen and ink artist work will be on display later this month at the York Fine Art Gallery A look at the artist and his work is on page Newmarket bounced in mac attack Newmarket advanced to the finals of the Mc Donalds atom tournament before losing to For details see page Bl Readers write right or wrong Era readers are also writers and this week they a look at CB call names fundraising programs dogs and the topic of the week Newmarkets new water and sewage rates All this in letters to the editor on pages and DIRECTORY Athletic briefs B2 Billboard Classified Council new cI Editorials Entertainment AS High school news Mary McGonen Minor hockey Bl Views from Fairy Lake A4 rs start fund to help King fire victims KING TOWNSHIP Neigh bors have started a fund to aid a young couple who lost everything in a fire which destroyed their home here Sunday afternoon Larry and Maybeth were visiting friends when the blaze broke out in their Dear- borne St home about 3 pm Sunday not far from the site of a fire last fall which left two children dead in its wake Sundays fire gutted the house which the Pattons rented from Mr and Mrs Rick Lackey who live in a second house on the property All their possessions were destroyed neighbors com mented Also killed in the blaze were the familys two cats The Pattons had no in surance to cover their losses neighbors noted Donations of some immediate necessities have already been received King City Fire Chief Jack Hayles said both the King City and Aurora Fire Department fought the blaze for about three hours Sunday afternoon At that time they confined the fire to the interior of the house However the depart ments were called back to the scene early Monday morning where they battled renewed flames for another four hours he commented Flames were shooting through the windows of the frame when firemen arrived They confined the blaze to the inside and the shell still stands Chief Hayles said The Lackeys turned in the alarm after noticing smoke pouring from the building Firemen estimate the fire started under the floor there was no basement the chief said Although the department is not sure of the cause of the blaze no investigation is planned The Pattons stayed with relatives after the fire and are now looking for a place to live neighbors said VOL NO 46 PAGES Since NEWMARKET AURORA KESWICK ONTARIO FEBRUARY NEWMARKET CENTS OAAB services TORONTO The Ontario Municipal Board granted approval for the Keswick water and sewer project here last Tuesday Georgina Township Mayor George Burrows told The Era Monday township representatives had preliminary talks with provincial Environment Minister George Kerr in anticipation of a favourable decision and indicated Mr Kerr had said that funds should be available for con struction to start in early 1978 Mr Kerr gave the goahead for the township to begin planning and design of the system at the meeting It was anticipated that bylaw which demands that homes be hooked up to the system no later than twoyears after completion would be changed after the OMBs decision was deferred by an objection from Fred Dawson of Keswick on the grounds that his two properties had adequate water and septic systems However Mayor Burrows said the situation was analyzed and it was concluded that Mr Dawson would not have to hook into the system because his properly does not front or abut on a main The bylaw therefore will stand as originally written The sewer servicing is expected to cost just under million with 12 million coming from the province and another 700000 coming from the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation The water servicing will run up a bill of 12 million with the province footing 9 million of the cost Under the water servicing the individual home will be charged 30 cents per foot per year on frontage for hook up to the main and an extra 5 water charge per year The home owner will also be charged a per year user fee Sewer frontage rates will be the same as for water with connection rates being per year The user charge for sewers will be 133 percent of the See SEWERS pag A2 Watson race Sunday BRADFORD This Sunday approximately snowmobilers from across York Region will take a 100 mile round trip on Simcoe for the Ontario Society for Crippled Children The event is the third annual Watson Snowarama for Timmy which last year in York Region alone raised Riders will be making the trip from Varleys Marina to Bay with sponsors donating funds on a pledge-per- basis The event also gives snowmobilers the opportunity to show that in careful hands their vehicles can provide safe enjoyable winter recreation without needlessly damaging the environment General starting times for the event will be 730 to am with an official start at handled by John Craig Eaton chairman of Eatcns of Canada and Watson If anyone wishes to sponsor a rider in the event but doesnt know anyone entered pledge See 100MILE page Skate blitz aids arthritis AURORA Last year Vic raised in a iy skate sharpening blitz for the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society Saturday the owner of Vics Shoe Repair Yongc St South hopes to top in his third annual skate sharpening day In the activity raised The event will be held at Vics Shoe Repair on St on Saturday from am to 5 pm Sharpening will cost cents per pair with all proceeds going to the society Woman in theft of Era NEWMARKET Removal of a copy of The Era from a box in front of the post office on Main St resulted in charges being laid by the York Regional Police Wednesday At approximately 850 am Era circulation manager Mike Brewster observed a woman taking a paper from the box Further investigation by Detective Dan revealed the paper had not been paid for Edith Mae Stamper 28 of A Main St Newmarket has been charged with theft of properly worth less than Mr Brewster reports that in the week previous to the incident approximately copies of the paper have been removed from boxes without being paid for The focal point of Newmarket Theatre Cen tres upcoming production of is a stained glass window an exact replica of the stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral where was murdered in the century por- CoatM Photo by Milne stands In front of the window constructed by Mrs Milne The play will run March and at the old Town Hall Tickets are available at the door or by calling Bob Sinclair at Curtain time is pm Police chief denies spot checks rigid NEWMARKET York Regional Police Chief Bruce Crawford has denied charges that officers are being ordered to implement a traffic en forcement program described by one police commissioner as rigid as heir While confirming that the force has launched regular spot checks Chief Crawford said Monday he could not discuss the number of officers assigned to the program Reports that officers are not being allowed any discretion in laying of traffic charges were described as not at all trite by the police chief In addition to the spot checks officers are under strict orders to charge everyone that moves and walks police commissioner Ray Twinney of Newmarket said Sunday Two police commissioners have differing views on the spot check program According to reports two men have been assigned full time to the program which in cludes checking for seat belt infractions impaired drivers and unsafe vehicles Mr isnt happy about the program Its a poor way to deploy men he argued Gladys Rolling who in her former capacity as East Gwillimbury mayor criticized the high number of radar units on regional roads defended the spot checks If there are impaired drivers on the road theyre going to be a menace to other people See page A fund has been started at the Bank of Montreal in Aurora to aid the couple and donations will be accepted in the name of Chuck Mead and Ralph Pear son Mr is on employee of Metro Conveyor in Aurora Firemen estimate damage to building and contents at 15000 convicted of Aurora murder TORONTO Following more than eight hours of deliberation over a twoday period an Ontario Supreme Court jury last Wednesday convicted Shcnton of noncapital murder in the death of Heather Giles of Aurora Whorms who sat through two weeks of testimony showed no sign of emotion when the jury foreman gave Mr Thomas justice the verdict The accuseds wife who had awaited the results with defence counsel was also im passive on hearing the words guilty It had been a long night for The jury filed out at pm on Tuesday afternoon and at almost midnight had not returned It was Wednesday morning before the court learned that a verdict had been reached charged shortly after the May murder will be sentenced Feb 24 at am Following their guilty verdict the jury was again asked to retire by Justice to consider sentence and returned about minutes later to recommend that Whorms not be considered for parole before a 10year period in prison Justice has requested a presentence report before handing down his decision and defence counsel Leonard Miller told the court that he will be submitting a psychiatric evaluation The morning before the See page A2 March 0 NEWMARKET Organizing for the annual Community Panorama Show here will start March 10 the municipal recreation depart ment announced last week The show is designed to give recreation programs and community groups a chance to demonstrate their activities on stage or through exhibits The recreation department has already mailed application forms to groups it thinks would be interested in participating and inviting them to attend a March meeting at the Community Centre Deadline for submission of the application form is Feb The show is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Sat April at Huron Heights Secondary School The school will open at 9 am for erection of displays and the show opens at noon The stage portion of the show will run from 130 to pm The show has been switched from its traditional evening time slot to the afternoon because it conflicted with Stanley Cup playoffs last year By ROD Era Staff Reporter KING CITY Sherry may have hit upon a way for Kings residents and people throughout the region to keep burglars out of their house It doesnt take locks or bolted doors or guard dogs The solution involves an engraving pen your social insurance or drivers license number and a few small stickers Its called Operation Iden tification and it may be keeping professional thieves out of Mrs home that is located in an area that has had seven breakins in the past months who is president of the Ki Association first heard aoout the plan three years ago on the program Marketplace Items of value in the home are engraved with the owners social in surance number or drivers license number which if stolen makes them easily identifiable as stolen property According to Mrs much stolen property recovered cannot be properly identified by the owner and either results in charges being dropped or the articles being sold at auction by the authorities The next step in the plan is to place a small sticker on various windows in the home stating that the owner has joined Operation Identification and that all items of value on the home have been engraved for easy identification by police Mrs said that a professional thief would think twice about stealing from a home in which valuables are engraved because of the easy identification and because marked articles would be harder to fence According to Mrs tests performed in a city of in the United States bear out the success of the plan Over half the population engraved articles in their homes and did not experience one breakin during an entire year The previous rate for breakins had been per month In the homes where articles were not engraved breakins tripled over the same period The same results were recorded in a suburb of Ottawa where breakins a month were cut down to zero Notes taken from the police major occurrence report regarding the recent rash of breakins in King Township would tend to suggest the thief or thieves consistently remove fine houseware such as crystal and silver furs and other expensive clothing small appliances and jewelry The notes also indicate that the thieves have a flair for entering the homes through rear doors especially of the sliding glass variety In some cases the panels have been forced while in at least one instance the entire stationary section of the door has been removed Police however have stated they see no similarities among the incidents According to Mrs Inksetter a real estate agent for one of the most recent victims believes he almost stumbled across the thieves at work According to Mrs Inksetter the agent drove past the house and saw a man in a small blue foreign car looking See ID page