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Whltby Free Press, Wednesday, August 28, 1996, Page 3 Ranger radar CONSTABLE TERRY REEFER of the OPPs 'Highway Rangers' uses a new laser unit to chec ck speeds on the 401 from the Thickson Road bridge recently. Photo by Mark Reesor, Whltby Fr~ Prou Town By Mike Kowalsld Merchants who defy Whitby's temporary sien bya ar ezùgquickly thatthe own. is serlous about enfqorcingit. Lest Tusfy a crew of six Ton employees confis- By Mike Kowalsi Ateenagepsychiatric patient whodisappeared frthe Whitby Mental Health Centre is back home with lus family. Wessley~ Ford of Lynhurst Court in Toronto was found by Durham Regionai Police last Friday, four days after he was reported missing from the hospital. Police discovered the 13- year-old boy among a group of youths. after t eha beeîn caiied te investigate a disturbance at - the Five Points Mail in north Osh- awa. Wessiey, ýwho suffers froni aneimulsive disorder, was trndover te lus' mother Lisa and police have no further interést in the matter, Staff Sergeat Sandy Ryrie said Mondfay. However, Ford teld the- Fre. Press that she intends te, contact heaith centre officiais to determine how her son was ablete leave the hospital on lus own accord. New school FROM PAE 1 surplus lands created by construction of the Whitby Mental Health Centre. Anxious to have the school built in time for an envisioned September 1995 opening, the board decided te purchase the Taunton- Brock site from local buin Piesan Mike Volpe i 1993.1 By then, Volpe had aban- doned bis plans for a con-1 vention centre and banquetj hall.on.the corner. confiscates cated a number of tempor- arysige wichhad lbeen oreouwtid. the shop- ping plaza on the northeast corner of Dundas Street and Garrard Road. After measuring the dis- tance from the sidiewalk to the signe the workers determined that the signs were on municipal property and loaded the signe onto two trucks. Although at leait on. merchant had hie sign returned, a local sign rentai company owner not -only lost- his property, but was Wv en a bil, to cover the .own's expnees in remov- ing the sign. Active Mobile Signe of Oshawa owes the muni ,- paijity $322, but an angry Ed Leader has no intention "MI'next step is te go te smair ciaims court,» said Leader. "Now that the sign's been pulled down, I can put in a dlaim for loss of income,» he said.i By removing the. sign which advertised Leader's client -- By Design Kitchen & Bath - the Town has shown that it will continue with the clampdown on iM&e gal signe that bean July 1. Except 'for A 30-day period te promote a new business opening or reloca- tion, or te advertise events held by service clubs and non-profit. organizatiôns, mobile signe are now geerally prohibited in Aithough the bylaw, which was adopedby Town council last summer after years in the makin, tok effeet Feb. 1, the dead_ lin. for compliance was1 twice extendd by council1 te give merchants time te adhere te the new rules. Fines up te $5,000 can be imposed on repeat offen- Leader,1 whose five Wbitby clients have recel- ved eîght tickets.te date, bad earlier refused te pay the $75' fines until the Town responds te bis argu- ment, that the byiaw la con- trary to the Ontario Muni- cplAct. According te Leader, the act states tha no b iaw that prohibits or rgates siga or, other avriing devices, applies to a sign or advertiing device that it Iawfuliy erected or dis- played on the day the bylaw comes inte forcé. . Since all of bis clients' sa' werei place prior te F'eb. 1, oedr contenda lhat the bylaw doeïs not "9îile ho ýwas content te, wait -for the Townis rom- According te Ford, Wess- ley had earned certain Wpr- V ileges" during his one- weeK stay and was allowed te ride off on his bicycle as part of bis reward. Hospital staff made no attempt te step, Wessiey and ho was not reported missing until airnost two hours ater, Pord said. "The truth of the matter. le, I did think this was a secure facility,» she said. «I would not have put him out there if I thought otherwise.» Stressing that she had no desire te criticize boapital staff unfairly, Ford deciined specific comment until she had obtained more informa- tion on the incident. .Wessiey had gone mis- sing several times in the past, but neyer for this, legh of time. "My main focus is getting my son the services he needEa, said Ford. «UM ately, Wessley bas te b. accountabie for his behaviour, but there was a strong chance that this could appn," she said. «I intend te, follow-up my concerns -and Fm sorry that w. had this problem.» Wessley -was staying at the hospital until ho could enter a specialized cul- dren's treatment program in Toronto this weeèk, said Ford, wýho preferred not te disclose where he etayed during his absence. "Fi-x extremely grateful te the police in flnding him. andI apprcate the sup- port of the. public and media,» she addéd. Margaret Kuchmak, the heaith centre's acting adminietrater, was not available for comment. ilJgaiigns ponse, last week's action bas Leader fuming. "I caritae it (sign) down in 15 minutes, but they had two trucks, six guys and took two hours that's in- credible,» he saiA. Ini addition, Leader said he will be charged asetorYe feeof $5Opr day utilhe pays the invoice. A -spokesperson for the Town's byiaw enforcement division could not be rea- ched for comment Monday. Tim McKe co-owner of By Design Kiehen & Bath, said the sign, was 15 ft. from the sidewalk anid not within municipalitys 14-ft. aliowance,, but his argu- ment foul on deaf earu. «'I didn't see any sur- veyors, I saw tbree guys with a tape measure,» said McKee. «W. knew the byiaw wouid come into, play al along -so, we.gave it a full extra foot te -make sure we didn't stop on anyone's tees.» Aithough Town officiais insist that; ail businessea with illegal signs will b. targetted, McKe laskepti- cal. He dlaims that sonie of the larger businessea, such as he 11comarues, are wIbeyr picking on the liteguys first» he said, "because if they picked on the big guys fist, they wiii get squashed.» Peter Lapoussis, owner of Signs Now, had lus 30-inch alspinner» sign(wbich spins in the wid)returned Lo him by the 'Town. Lapoussis was not char- ged since his. sign fell within the 30-day period te advertise a new business. "I cari.see their (councii's) Linti trymg toclean up advertise?h le asked. 'Tii (McKee) received a lot cf business froni the sign and now he bas te reort te other measures which are not as effective.» Lapolussis said ho cari se. "both sides cf the issue but feels that the Town may have <gene te an extreme» With the bylaw. "Some big signs, Mek four by eights, are a littie bit of anesore and shouid b. restictd t certain areas,» he said. «But some exceptions shouid b., made for sand- wich boards, spinner sii s...they shouidnt abol- is tem completeiy.» Mayor Tom Edwards la on vacation this week and not available for comment. Regional ,councilior. and deputy-mayor Gerry Emm couid not b. reached for INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT RETIREMENT PLANNING TAX /-ESTATE STRATEGIES CALL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE PROFIÉSSIONAL, CONSULTATION 666-8245 -,FORTUNE FIl N A< N CI1A L DERBIE MORGAN dS t, the, LE1BOUR DeIy WEKID the offices of the WjITBYFREE PRESS5 WLL BE CL03ED on Nody, 5eptember Z Peudhiu for o vurtlshg ud.ComhigEveots wU be, ftidy ut 4pnm Il For blanket coverage of ALL die homes and/or businesses in Whfb * OR to selected areas only, call the Whiby Free Press - 668-6111. If you did nUea I dcistribution, give us a cal. ZAa *DundasCentre/ Pringle Creek Guardian Drugs (select) *Village of Brooklin Homes (select) *One Hour Moto-Photo (sélect) Plic e fin missing patient from hospital