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ON . rg ar , Fi Lake Scugog claims life of young scuba diver On January 9, three scuba divers from Newmarket were hired to help salvage two cars that had gone through the ice of Lake Scugog. While working on the second car, one of the divers, 26-year old Glenn Payne failed to come to the surface after his life-line had slipped loose. Port Perry Star -editor, John B. McClelland was covering operation. He was on the scene at the time of the ac- cident and during the initial search for the missing diver. See page 9 for an account of his observations. the salvage Vol.113 No. 10 Divers to continue search for friend A private search of Lake Scugog is expected to con- tinue later this week for the body of Glenn Payne, a 26-year old scuba diver who lost his life January 9 under the ice about 200 yards off Seven Mile Island. A spokesman for Durham Regional Police said Monday that two friends of Payne's from the Toronto area searched without success Saturday afternoon, and were hampered by poor weather conditions. Using a grid system, the two divers went over the area where Payne disap- peared while working to salvage two automobiles that had gone through the ice January 6. d The search area will be 32 Pages ; Wednesday, January 17, 1979 expanded when the divers return later this week, and they will attempt to use a magnatometer, a metal detecting device that scans the surface of the ice and homes in on any steel or metal objects under the water. Poor weather conditions ruled out the use of the magnatometer during the search on Saturday. While the Durham Police are not officially involved in this private search for the 7 % tax Durham Region council has set a target of ,10.1 per cent as the maximum in- crease for the Regional tax levy in 1979, and has in- structed all departments to limit their spending this year to just a three per cent increase over 1978. The target recommen- dations for the 1979 budget were approved last week by Regional council, although several councillors said the figure of 10.1 per cent is too high, and demanded that it be pared back when the actual budget is struck this spring. If the target figure of 10.1 per cent is met this year, it body, the police investiga- tion is still on "but has reached no conclusions at this time and will not be completed until the body is recovered. A coroner's inquest into the incident will be called when the body is recovered. Payne, a father of two children, was working with another diver January 9 in about ten feet of water when his life line slipped from his waist and he failed to return (Turn to page 2) target set forDurham will mean an extra $1.7 million levied against tax payers in the eight regional municipalities. Last year the eight municipalities paid a total of $17 million as their share of Durham's $66 million gross operating budget. The remainder of those revenues came from charges for water, sewer and garbage disposal and from provincial grants, If the 10.1 per cent target is met, the actual impact on the average ratepayer in Durham will be seven per cent, taking into account the growth in total assessment. This would mean an increase (Turn to page 3) Cabinet denies Rush severance The land zoning struggle between Agincourt business- man Carl J. Rush and Scugog Township took a surprise turn in favour of the municipality last week when the provincial Cabinet denied a severance for Mr. Rush on the 10-acre building lot in the northwest corner of - the Township. at wi * ~ " p . Fo am Scugog mayor Jerry Taylor and regional council- lor Reg Rose learned of the Cabinet decision last Wed- nesday morning, but the Cabinet made the actual ruling on December 20, just two days after the Township council had reluctantly passed an amendment to the zoning by-law to allow con- A fire Thursday afternoon completely destroyed a wooden garage on the farm of Ray Vivian, south of Manchester. At times, flames threatened a large barn struction of a house on the 10-acre lot. On learning of the decision last week, both Taylor and Rose said they were pleased with the ruling. "I'm satisfied that the Cabinet is abiding by our land severance policy," said Taylor. "But it is unfor- tunate that we had to spend Could have beenworse so much money fighting the re-zoning on the property." The Cabinet denial of the severance may be the final chapter in a strange and complex series of events that started more than three years ago when Mr. Rush sought to sever the 10-acre - lot-from an existing farm at the corner of Regional Road aearby, but fortunately the only damage to the barn was scorched paint. Cause of the fire is not known. £2 BUR arn nv o BEATE § py 2 5 25 WER id 23 and Concession 12. When contacted last week about the latest Cabinet decision, Mr. Rush declined to comment until he had been officially notified of the ruling. However, he did say that "onie has to respect the decision of the government." The Cabinet denial of the severance appeal by Mr. Rush upholds a ruling handed down September 21, 1978, by the Ontario Munici- pal Board which said that the severance would be "contrary to the planning guidelines and policies set by the Durham Region for agricultural land." The OMB ruling, which in turn upheld an earlier denial of the severance by the Durham Land Division Committee in February, 1978, also said that "the OMB is not convinced that the public interest can be served in this situation or that it is necessary." In his efforts to secure the building lot, Mr. Rush had made two formal appeals to the Cabinet; the first to get a re-zoning and official plan amendment; and the second to get the severance ap- proved. On the re-zoning and official plan amendment, the Cabinet on January 26, 1978, ruled in favour of Mr. Rush and ordered Scugog Town- ship to pass the necessary zoning change, and Durham Region to amend its official plan. Durham Regional council complied with this Cabinet (Turn to page 6) Official Plan change sought A public meeting was held Monday night in Port Perry to examine proposals for two separate amendments to the Durham Region Official Plan which, if approved, would allow development of 186 homes on the fringes of Port Perry and a new mar- ina on the west shore of Lake Scugog, just north of the community. Amendments to the Dur- ham Plan are needed before the developments can pro- ceed as both are on land now designated as agricultural. FERRARO HABA. | YUE AREA a po ER SADT) VTS RL The first development pro- posal is on 225 acres just north of Port Perry known as the Cawker Ranch property, and John Mould, a Toronto consultant working for the property owners told the meeting that the plan calls for 88 estate type residential lots, each about 1.6 acres in size. The property is partly in Concession 7, east of Dur- ham Road 2. The second part of this proposal calls for a new marina on 76 acres (Turn to page 3) ¥ AT pS To , - NE a --_ ~) Si ~ A ------ ne a v = =r v Co SH - TR ~ Sn - in > x