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

High in the sky You bet Just what was Jack New Ion taking a picture of last Sunday For the answer see page Tight tourney thrills fans Only six goals separated the winners from the losers daring the annual Aurora House League Tournament last week Story and photos appear on pdge CM CAS wants home for unwed moms The York Region Childrens Aid Societys budget includes a proposal for a halfway house for unwed mothers Details appear in The Eras continuing series on unwed mothers on page Trustee blasts motherhood stance Georgina trustee Bill Laird thinks the York Region public school board should take more than a motherhood stand on the issue of students smoking aboard school buses Slory page DIRECTORY Athletic Billboard Business directory C2 Court news Editorials Topics of town B4 Zephyr A 6 IT HAPPENED IN YORK NEWMARKET An April Fools prank drew a summons from York Regional Police Thursday after a Bell Canada operator traced a bomb threat call At 1215 pm the 25- operator whose name has not been released received a call saying a bomb would explode in the Newmarket business office The operator kept the caller on the line long enough to make a trace A 12yearold juvenile has been summonsed on a charge of making alar ming phone calls WERE OPEN ON MONDAY The Eras business office will be closed Good Friday but open for business as usual Saturday and Easter Monday Saturday hours are 9 am to noon while Monday the office at Charles St will be open am to 5 pm Classified advertisements may be placed any time of the day by telephoning The Eras 24hour answering service at Region NEWMARKET York Regional Council approved about million in road con struction Thursday as part of the regions expenditure estimates The program includes about million for completion of the Queensville Sideroad from Sutton Rd to the Holland River 7m in including construction of a bridge over the river Also in the works is million for grading gravelling paving and construction of a grade separation on Davis Dr across the Canadian National Railway tracks Other projects planned for include paving Bayview Ave from Mulock Sideroad to Pearson St Newmarket at an estimated cost of grading and gravelling of Egypt from the YorkDurham boundary to Hwy at about and paving of Bloomington Sideroad from Hwy to Leslie St at about 200000 In conjunction with the reconstruction of from Baseline Rd to the region has budgeted to install storm and sanitary sewers and water mains About 240000 has been estimated for intersection improvements at Kennedy Rd and St John Sideroad in Whitchurch Stouffville Resurfacing of Queensville Sideroad from River Drive Park to St and Bathurst St from Queensville Sideroad to is estimated at while resurfacing of from to Cone 5 is estimated at about About 130000 is budgeted for resurfacing Stouffville from Woodbine Ave to Hwy and 84000 for resurfacing Woodbine Ave from Victoria Square to The region has included about 17 million for road protects in the southern portion of the region Including projects at Maple Sideroad Langstaff Islington Ave Bathurst St Dufferin St Weston and Warden Ave VOL NO PAGES Since I NEWMARKET AURORA KESWICK ONTARIO APRIL Wf 20 CENTS NEWMARKET Developer fined 1000 NEWMARKET An Aurora developer was fined 1500 in Newmarket Provincial Court last week following a conviction on charges laid under the Construction Safety Act Armando of Aurora Garden Homes Inc pleaded guilty to charges laid last August when Inspectors went to the Aurora site and discovered that workers were not using proper protection Crown evidence revealed that a safety inspector claimed hat guard rails had not been erected and hard hats were not being worn The company was first issued a warning and told to correct the situation but a return trip to the site by in spectors showed no im provement in conditions Although a work order was issued to stop construction until the matter was corrected work continued A special prosecuter for the Crown said that the situation at the Aurora site was somewhat serious He told the court that the orders had been ignored and the lack of safety precautions could very well have caused serious accidents Judge Parker in handing down a conviction reminded the Companys representative It is important to carry out orders in such PS W mm L- 4 C AS V- I i could i i tJ iLi i I tf l 1 fti I t T J A i i J J W v 1 i 1 ft j ft tJr A cases ft r i Two face police assault charg KESWICK Two York Regional Police officers were assaulted and damage totalling was done to a cruiser during an incident here Thursday Investigating an earlier incident in Jacksons Point police stopped a vehicle at the corner of Metro and the Fifth Cone at am During the investigation one officer was assaulted twice by one of the vehicles occupants while another rider assaulted a second officer While being transported to 32 Division one of the suspects kicked out the back window of the cruiser and did damage to a rear door Stephen Allan McNab 23 of Old Homestead Keswick has been charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer and mischief resulting in over 50 damage William George Pimigan 25 of Gormley Ave Toronto has been charged with assaulting a police officer and being intoxicated in a public place James E 24 of East Gwillimbury has been charged with impaired driving AT A e A EASTER AT Paul Patients at York County Hospital this coming Sunday are assured of a bright Easter thanks to Iris Morton Convenor of YCH volunteers for the Newmarket area Mrs Morton and her grand children decorated 280 Easter eggs last week The eggs which will decorate patients trays Easter Sunday were prepared over a weeklong period by Mrs Morten with some help from Gordon Payne 12 and Carolyn Payne VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AURORA Volunteers are needed to form a users com mittee to plot decisions on Newmarkets new Valley of the Cedars public school approved by the education ministry Board chairman and Newmarket trustee Craig Crlbar said the committee will work with the architect In designing the school and will include citizens as well as board representatives Interested citizens should write to Mr The York County Board of education Box Aurora By CAROL Era Staff Reporter NEWMARKET Although York Region unquestionably defeated King Township in the recent court battle over taxes the effects of the publicity surrounding the issue may cause financial ramifications to taxpayers from Georgina Township to Richmond Hill Financial barons now question whether York Region debentures are a good in vestment and their doubts could add thousands of dollars to the cost of borrowing money for regional projects The regions switchboard lit up last week after Toronto newspapers reported a King victory in the courts Had that been fact it would have crippled the region and left it unable to collect taxes except at the whim of the municipality However the ruling of the Divisional Court in the Supreme Court of Ontario clearly upheld Yorks position that taxes must be paid in the times and the amounts specified in the regions bylaw Last September King remitted only those taxes due in the Sept installment which had been collected from local ratepayers The region was forced to the courts to get the rest of the money to which it was entitled One of the calls to Edward Oakes regional solicitor was from the office of Manning Bruce Macdonald and Macintosh a reknown firm of lawyers which gives its legal stamp of approval to regional debentures That firm had received calls from financiers wondering what the hell is going on up there Mr Oakes said If York cant collect its taxes debentureholders wonder if they can recover their investments At least one investor has stated he will no longer risk his money in York Region deben tures Mr said The cost of borrowing is high and a 3 million debenture recently negotiated will cost 65 million to repay over the 20year term at interest rates of per cent for the first five years per cent for the second five years and per cent for the remainder of the term Most investors will continue to buy the regions debentures but the market is highly com petitive and for the increased risk money moguls will probably demand a higher rate of return The next issue of regional debentures will not go on sale until sometime this summer however and Treasurer John Hlynski remains hopeful that the problem will have passed by then Mr blasted the King mayor Thursday for releasing a completely erroneous im pression of the court battle Anyone who raises questions about the financial stability of an organization like this should think very hard and Ion before they do so said Its most unfortunate for the 200000 people who live in York and have been so misled commented Garfield Wright Yorks chairman Mayor Britnell was not available for comment Monday although last week she insisted the King position was upheld allowing the township to pay its regional taxes as it collects them from ratepayers After hearing the mayors comments officials from other municipalities began wondering whether they too could withhold uncollected taxes from the region But the decision of the court leaves no doubt that under legislation taxes must be paid on the dates and in the amounts specified in the regions bylaw Kings taxes ought to have been paid at the time mentioned in the said bylaw according to the court ruling We think the legislation is clear and feel that having made the aforesaid declaration that the funds will be paid Since this was Kings first offence the court refused to issue a mandamus order opting instead for a declaration ALFSTONG TO SPEAK Liberal member of the provincial legislature for York Centre riding will be guest speaker during the York North Provincial Liberal Association here April 13 at the Newmarket Community Centre beginning at pm School board policy cuts spring signups NEWMARKET Spring registrations for the towns recreation programs have been badly hurt by a school board policy which allays cancellation of recreation programs in the schools without sufficient notice for alternative locations to be found parks and recreation commissioner Dan Shannon said last week I know many of our programs aregoing to be low in registrations this spring because people are just fed up with being cancelled he told town councils parks and recreation committee last Wednesday The committee decided to invite York County School board chairman Craig Cribar the towns trustee to its next meeting to discuss the problem Members put another topic on the agenda for that meeting too maintenance of school playgrounds which recreation programs share with the schools Merchants eye core plan By CAROL CORLEY Era Staff Reporter i AURORA Thomas McCammon searched for just the right town in which to open his handcrafted pine furniture store When he saw the former Scanlon Bakery building on St he knew he was home It took gallons of white paint and hours of labor to cover the existing purple walls and restore the building to its potential but gradually the Crafts of the Pioneers took shape Mr is excited about the possibility of redeveloping Auroras downtown core and sees the proposal as a chance to revitalize the town and make it attractive to shoppers from around the area Every building in Aurora could be stripped back to its original concept he said The Aurora and District Historical Society and Endow Aurora are jointly sponsoring a meeting April at pm at the Aurora Community Centre as a first step to redevelop- ment A massive program could begin as early as next spring Mayor George said Merchants and citizens are invited to hear Mayor Timpson and representatives of the provincial government and Heritage Canada speak about alternatives and financial assistance Aurora is ideally suited for specialty shops said Mr McCammon referring to NiagaraontheLake where people come from miles to shop because of the atmosphere The same thing can happen in Aurora he said but only with the cooperation of merchants The town will fall apart and end up giving Upper- Canada Mall and other shopping centres he said Theres no question about it Contrary to Newmarkets vital Main St Auroras downtown area has steadily declined according to 14-year- resident Sid One by one the old established downtown businesses either shut up shop or moved elsewhere Mr notes in a letter to The Era The text of Mr Brittons letter appears on page Gord Sale of Sico said there is very little shopping or browsing in downtown Aurora and said most Yonge St customers come to town for a specific purpose and leave as soon as their purchase is made He would like to see Aurora take on a personality such as Yorkville or old Quebec City which would encourage people to walk around and spend time in the area For instance there could be store fronts facing Yonge St a and other stores facing the parking lots The boutique at mosphere could be emphasized with walkways benches globe lights and gardens Mr Sale suggested In contrast Lee of ACM Income Tax Service said it is inevitable that the downtown core evolve into a service area with banks and offices There is no way town Aurora can compete with shopping plazas and to survive it must offer a different commodity to the public she said For such businesses redevelopment would make little difference Some merchants were reluctant to discuss their thoughts about redevelopment Others expressed little hope that anything would happen Although Bill Thompson of Thompsons Furniture said he was discouraged about many aspects of the downtown core see MERCHANTS page AS