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Boy diesIn go-kart The first fatality in 16 years took the life of a 10-year-old child at Family Kartways Saturday mor- ning. Durham Regional Police said that Darren Bess of 226. Layton Avé., Scarborough died on arrival atf Oshawa General Hospital of head injuries sustained in the accident. Police said the. child was with his parent at 10 a.m. when a short distance from where he startëd, he went off the track, flinped the go-kart over. Police do ,lot bëlieve, at this time, that there was anything mechanically wrong with the vehicle. "I don't think (there was anything wrong) but we haven't examined i't yet," said Dét. Sgt. Brown. He'al1sid'that the:go- karts-are designed nôt to go any faster that 22 miles per Michael hour. CONTROVERSY Family Kartways has been .the subject of contro- versy of late .when it's owners decided to expand its facilities. The facility, already the largest in North America, .:eceived permission to ex- pand from Whitby Town Council on July 23. The permission, however, was. subject to niinistry of the enyironment approval. The*' approval for the expansion came after town- hiréd consultants .could not find any "grave difficulties" with a study done by the track's owners. The study. said that while the track would be brought closer' to neighbouring homes there would not be an increase in noise levels. Àlthough he gave recom- mendation ~for approval to council for the expansion ,without a report from the ministry, town planning di- rector Bob Short said, "there is really no sense to objec- ting to it." The debate over the expan- sion began when Family Kartways laid a new asphalt track without council appro- val. When neighbours started to complain, council turned down an application by the track's owners to allow the new section to operate. LEGALITIES "There are no regula- tion, to my knowledge" governing the operations of a go-kart track, Det. Sgt. Brown said, - There isà4tso no law saying how old serxyeone has to be to operate ode, he said. The oly laws that mighit apply are municipal by-laws concerning licencing and business practises he said. Blvd. accident complait investigated BY MICHAEL KNELL FREE PRESS STAFF Tragedy has struck th West Lynde community o Whitby. A July 27 car acc dent claimed the life o Robert Milledge of 14 Ga Court. Milledge, 33, a Metr Toronto police officer, die of brain damage and schock injuries that he sustained i] e accident, at 10:45 a.m. July 30. Milledge and his wife Gayle, were passengers in car driven by a friend Charles Dale, 26, of 42 Charl Tupper Dr., in West Hill. According to Durham Regional Police, Dale wac travelling west on Michae Blvd. at the intersection o Cardiff Court. Dale, who was probably driving too fast, struck a parked car, bounced off and struck another, also parked, car, police said. Dale and his wife, Marilyn, 27 sustained minor injuries and were treated and relea- sed at Oshawa General Hos- pitai. Mrs. Milledge received injuries of a more serious nature, and was taken for further treatment to Toron- to's Sunnybrook Hospital and released. COMPLAINTS This type of accident is a common problem that police face. This accident, how- ever, has produced a mild controversy after a letter was published in the Free Press, in our Aug. 1 edition. The letter was from Mrs. Margaret Boyce, the presi- dent of the West Lynde Com- munity Associationiî e In the letter,, Boyce said,, Df '"Where is Whitby's Police i- force or mir share of it?". )f Boyce also stated that it il took 22 minutes f'or the police to arrive at tlje scene, that it o0 tooàk an additional five minu- dtes for help to arrive: from :,the Whitby'Pire'Department n to.free the victims with "the jaws of live" and then called for two ambulances, one of -.whichBoyce said, "1arrived at13 a.m., when it was al e ver." ec-Boyce aiso went on the state that, "because the a police station is closed at s night, we have to wait for î 'cars from Oshawa, because ,f Our liospital is closed ar niglit, these two victims had r to be transported, along witli Wo tw with minor injuries,' Ieiglit miles througli 16 sets of traffic liglits to an overcrow- ded'hosuital." Boyce contents that "if there had been a stop sign at Bell" the accident would not have occured. "Even a drunl< would have i to slow down," she said in a lateir interview. On the issue of stop signs, Boyce saidtliat ber organiza- tion "offered to pay for them if they'll put tliem in."' (Tlie 'they'ý being Whitby Town Colncil) Boyce laid the blame for theentire situation on regi- onal government. ",&Reional government is theproblem ,"'she said. "We' are complainmig about the lack ofpolice survieliance." " The region .trims. things down to a bare minimum." RESPONCES On the basis of Boyce's complaints, the Free Press conducted an investigation into the response times and logistic circumstances sur- rounding the accident. Deputy Chief Ken Young, the head of the operations branch of the Durham Regi- onal Police Force said that the time .the accident occu- red has not been firmly esta- blished, however, he could specify the time period bet- ween the time police recei- ved the call for service and the time of police arrival at the scene. Police received the call for service at 12:02 a.m., on the Saturday'morning and upon the information they recei- ved, they immediately dis- patched an ambulance, Young said. Police --received another call that told them witnesses could not remove the victims from the back seat of, what was later established to be, Dale's car, so the Whitby Fire Department was called and dispatched to the scene, he said. The time was now 12:03 a.m. At 12:04 a.m., P/C Bill Temple was re-routed from another call, and from his location at Garden Street and Hwy.2 he went to Michael Blvd, Young said. Temple, who works out of Oshawa's -17 Division, arri- ved at the scene at 12:07 a.m., five minutes after the CONT'D ON PAGE 2 Peter Perry 1978 This years winner of the Peter Perry Award, honoring Whitby's most outstanding citizen of 1978 is Whitby's "Mr. Theatre", Bert Heaver. Heaver is shown here with his wife Eve holding the award. Story and photo on page 8. Free Press Photo by Rob Lyon Church sponsors J 0refugees Whitby's St. Mark's United Church will sponsor a family of Vietnamese boat people. The Centre Street church came to the decision two weeks ago after a church board meeting. The board will apply for a family of four or for a husband and wife and up to three children as well as an additional family member with wage.earning potential at the Ministry of Immigra- tion's office in Oshawa. The application should not face any difficulties because the board will be working with the United Church of Canada,,said Ted Bazeley, a member of the board. The church has an agree- ment with the government which cuts time and saves a government investigation because it will have already been done. A spokeman for St. Mark's said that thy should be ready for the fàïy by the end of September. Bazeley urges those per- sons and organizations consi- dering sponsoring a refugee family to "take a little time and think about what your getting into - it's a serious undertaking." Bazeley said that initial Letter o Durham Regional Council has sent a letter of commen- dation 'to the staff of Whitby's Fairview Lodge for their action during the recent outbreak of salmo- nella poisoning that contri- buted to the deaths of two elderly residents early last month and found.in 20 other residents and members of staff. Regional Chairman Walter financial support will last for ~only one year and that the church will -rovide counsel- ling and moral support after that. "You can't hold every- thing together for a year and then with a sign of relief, let go." f thanks Beath read the letter to council at their last meeting in July, cong5atulating. the Lodge for their handling of the situation despite staff shortages because of those off sick with the ailment. Beath criticized the media for not reporting accurately on the incident, but retracted when he could not specify press inaccuracies for the council. R E PR ES S.,