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Vol. 119 No. 2 Tuesday, Dec. 11, 1984 40 pages Fox in town could be rabid Residents of Port Perry are being warned that a possible rabid fox may be on the loose in the community. Annemieke Smith, assistant animal control officer for Scugog and Uxbridge Townships, told the Star Monday there were two sightings of a fox last week inside the Port Perry boundar- ies. According to Ms. Smith, one sighting took place December 5 near Queen Street and the second the following evening near Port Perry High School. "We don't know if the fox is rabid, but it is not normal behavior for a fox to be so close to homes," she said. "Anyone who sees a fox should be very cautious and not try to approach it or feed it," she stressed. Ms. Smith said any- one sighting a fox in an urban area should phone the animal con- trol officer 'at 1-640-1987 or the Durham Police. Last Friday after- Dump cover not harmful Excavated material from a west Toronto train yard that is being used as a "cover" for the Scugog Landfill Site is perfectly safe, according to a spokes- man for the Durham Region Works Depart- ment. Jack McCorkell, director of operations for the Works Depart- ment told the Star last week that although the excavated material may have diesel and oil drippings in it, the Ministry of the Environ- ment did extensive test- ing and found it safe for dumping at the Landfill site on Durham Road 8, west of Port Perry. Mr. McCorkell said about 15,000 cu. yards is being trucked from the GO Station in Mimico to the Scugog dump to be used as a cover. The Region needs material at the dump as a cover each day and Mr. McCorkell esti- mates that the Durham is saving about $30,000 which it would normally have to pay to have cover trucked and dumped at the site. "We are happy to take the material once the Ministry of the Environ- ment said it was safe," he told the Star. Last week, the Star received enquiries from a local resident who wanted to know what kind of material is being dumped at the Scugog landfill site. noon, a fox was shot and killed by Durham Police officers after it was spotted running with a dog on Concession 3, east of Highway 12. The fox is being tested for rabies through the Health of Animals branch in Bowmanville and the results are expected to be known this week. Ms. Smith told the Star that in the past two months, there have been five confirmed cases of rabid animals in Ux- bridge Township, but none so far in Scugog. The five animals included two skunks and two foxes killed close to downtown Uxbridge and a small puppy in the Goodwood area. The puppy was injured and brought into a home at Goodwood. When it was found to be rabid, 57 people who attended a house party and came in contact with the puppy had to take the anti-rabies shots. Just areal ham A face only a mother could love, right? Seven year old Jeff Postma of Epsom Public School was covered with the white stuff Fri- day morning, and obligingly posed for the Task Force ponders Lake Scugog weed problem Star photographer ---- who mistakenly ask- ed Jeff to make a face. Which he did. The rest is history. For more snow photos, see inside. There are no easy solutions Finding a solution to the weed problems in Lake Scugog could be a difficult and complex undertaking. That was the con- census reached 'by members of the newly formed Lake Scugog Task Force who met for the first time December 5 in the Township coun- cil chambers. There is no easy and simple solution to this problem it is very complex and requires a lot of thought and input. We can't just snap our fingers and have the weeds go away over- night," said lan Mac- Nab, Task Force mem- ber and director of the Kawartha Conserva- tion Authority. The initial meeting, which lasted about two hours, was not expected to come up with any concrete plan of action for getting rid of the weeds which have been a serious problem in the lake over the past two summers. However, technical experts from the Min- istry of the Environ- ment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Parks Canada (the fed- eral agency which con- trols the navigational channels in the Trent- Severn system) agreed to meet again January 30 and come up with some suggestions at that time. The meeting last Wed- nesday evening, chaired by Scugog Township mayor Jerry Taylor was mostly a round-table discussion of the prob- lem in general terms. However, Robert Shaw with the provincial En- vironment Ministry, made it clear that wide-spread chemical spraying is not the solution. He called spraying with chemicals a "band- aid approach,' and said it 1s impossible for anyone to say how much of the lake can be safely sprayed. Keith Sherman, also with the Environment Ministry, told the meet- ing that widespread spraying may get rid of the weeds, but at the same time create ser- ious ecological prob- lems for the lake. Weeds killed by chem- icals sink to the bottom and start to decompose. That process takes ox- Water and sewer rates will be going up five per cent in Durham Region in 1985. Durham Region coun- cil approved the new rate structure with vir- tually no debate at the meeting December 6. For an average water and sewer customer in the Region using 50,000 ygen out of tra water which would '.ave ser- ious effects on fish in the lake. Biologist Cheryl Lewis, with the Ministry of Water rate up gallons of water per year, the new rates will add $2.51 to each quar- terly bill. The average quarterly bill will now be $53.06. There are about 60,000 water and sewer cus- tomers in the Region, and it will cost Durham slightly more than $31 million to operate the Natural Resources, also cautioned about wide spread chemical spray- ing. "There would be some (Turn to page 3) system in 1985. In 1984, the Region wound up with a surplus of $500,000 for the water system and $1.3 million for the sewer system and both these amounts have been applied to the 1985 operating budget in an effort to keep the rate (Turn to page 6)