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4 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, January 13, 2010 BALLOT Continued from front page Monday's council meeting, to be discussed at the January 25th meeting of council. Councillor Gord Robinson asked for a referendum question to be placed on the ballot for the October 25th municipal election. Robinson wants to poll Clarington residents on the question of whether or not the position of the Regional chair should be elected at large or by the 28 Regional councillors at the beginning of the term of office, as is currently the practice. Former Clarington Mayor John Mutton is currently on a crusade to change the method of how the Regional Chair is elected. Mutton has made it known that he is interested in replacing the current chair of the Region of Durham. Councillor Adrian Foster introduced a Notice of Motion requesting a report on the current practice of the legal services proved to the Municipality of Clarington. He requested that Municipal CAO Frank Wu and the Municipal Solicitor, Dennis Hefferon write this report. All the 'Notices of Motion' introduced at Monday's meeting were approved by council members. Two arrested for debit card scam Investigators from DRPS Major Crime Fraud Unit have arrested two males in connection with a debit card scam investigation. On January 4th, 2010, at approximately 9:45 p.m., two males entered the Subway sandwich location on Highway 35/115 in Newcastle. One male suspect distracted the store employee while the second suspect took the store's debit card terminal pinpad, leaving behind a similar looking one ­ a decoy ­ in its place. On January 5th, 2010, the store owner realized his debit card terminal pinpad was not working properly and reviewed the surveillance video from the night prior, in which he observed the suspects swapping out his pinpad with their decoy. As the victim was notifying police of the incident, he observed both suspects entering the store, likely to remove the decoy pinpad and replace it with the store's legitimate pinpad (modified to allow the capture of debit card data and PINs). The store owner recognized the suspects and gave chase. One suspect was arrested by a K-9 officer at the scene after fleeing the store, while the second suspect escaped. Members of the Fraud Unit became involved and located the suspect's rental vehicle in Toronto. A search warrant was subsequently executed at the Toronto address and the second suspect was taken into custody. Evidence relating to this offence and numerous others was seized from the residence. Sonam Norbu, age 21 of Birchcliffe Avenue in Toronto, and Tenzsin Gatsok, age 21 of Quest Circle in Missisauga, are charged with: Attempt Fraud Over $5,000; Theft Under $5,000; Conspiracy to Commit an Indictable Offence; Possess Property Obtained by Crime Under $5,000; Forgery of a Credit Card x2; Unlawful Possession of Credit Card Data x2 and Mischief to Data. Both accused were held for bail hearings. Anyone with information on this incident or similar incidents is asked to contact D/Cst. Jay Shaddick (x5281) or D/Cst. Mark Stone (x5283) of the Major Crime Fraud Unit at 1-888-579-1520. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800222-TIPS (8477) and tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000. Ontario weather review Call December normal for almost all Ontarians as both temperatures and precipitation were close to normal values in most locations. The month started off with relatively mild temperatures. Then, after the first snowstorm, around December 9, temperatures dropped significantly. Some northern locations, such as Chapleau, Dryden, Geraldton, Kapuskasing, Kenora, Pickle Lake, Moosonee, Red Lake, and Sioux Lookout, recorded many consecutive days with mean temperatures below 20°C. Despite this cold snap, the mean temperatures for the month were within normal values. Temperatures in southern locations also remained within seasonal values. The Greater Toronto Area, Trenton, Waterloo, Wiarton, and Windsor recorded mean temperatures above zero for a few days. In terms of precipitation, this month brought both liquid and frozen precipitation. Elliot Lake, Toronto, and Trenton received more rainfall than normal. Chapleau, Elliot Lake, Hamilton, London, and Toronto recorded less snowfall than normal. Muskoka, however, received twice as much snowfall compared to normal, breaking the record for most snow of 194.6 centimetres, established in 1985. Overall, most Ontario sites recorded total precipitation amounts within normal values. Northern locations were slightly drier than normal. Earlton broke the previous mark for least total precipitation by 7 millimetres. Some southern locations, such as Peterborough, Toronto, and Trenton, were wetter than normal by differences of 25 to 55 millimetres from normal values. Severe Weather November's quiet weather pattern gave way to more excitement this past month. A vigorous storm system that moved up from the American southwest on December 9 delivered a mixed bag of weather to much of the province. Temperatures in southwestern Ontario climbed well above zero and resulted in most of the precipitation from the storm falling as rain. Some lightning was also reported. The precipitation began as snow in much of south central Ontario and areas near Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, but changed over to a sloppy mix of snow and rain or outright rain in some areas. That changeover kept the total snow amounts low. In central, eastern and northeastern Ontario, where temperatures stayed below the freezing mark, the precipitation remained as snow and provided 15 to 25 centimetres in some areas. The northwest and areas north of Lake Superior avoided the worst of the December 9 storm system. What followed in behind it was most noteworthy. As the storm system pulled off into Quebec late on December 9, it began to draw in bitterly cold temperatures from the Prairies into northwestern Ontario and areas north of Lake Superior. Daytime highs from December 9 to 11 struggled to reach -18°C to -20°C in some places. Even though the north is used to cold winter temperatures, these values were about 10 degrees colder than seasonal normals. November's unseasonable warmth resulted in water temperatures on the Great Lakes being warmer than normal in December. These warmerthan-normal lake temperatures combined with the very cold arctic air flooding down late on December 9 to provide the ideal setup for significant lake effect snow. For much of December 10 and 11, a series of snow squalls developed in the flow from the northwest off Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. One particularly intense and persistent snow squall moved inland south of Parry Sound through the Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Minden areas, resulting in record-setting snowfalls in some of these communities. At its most intense, this snow squall penetrated hundreds of kilometres inland, bringing snow to areas south of Ottawa. By the time the snow squall weakened during the morning hours of December 12, Minden had received an estimated 120 centimetres of snow. This event resulted in the creation of new records for the Minden area for one-day and two-day snowfalls, as well as the snowiest month recorded at that observation site since continuous snow observations began back in the 1950s. Environment Canada Do you think you have a drinking problem? We can help! ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS www.aaoshawa.org 905-728-1020