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. for every 828 people in the region. Vol. 133 Number 14 PORT PERRY - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1999 More police officers to be hired in region By Chris Hall Port Perry Star Durham's Police Services Board has approved a plan that proposes to-steadily increase the number of officers on patrol over the next five years. At a special meeting last Thursday, the board put forth a plan to hire officers to keep pace with Durham's increas- ing population. "What the chief (Kevin McAlpine) wants to do is to increase the staff back to the reasonable numbers it used to be at," said Insp. Chuck Mercier, head of 26 Division in Port erry. "The region has grown, and our numbers have remained constant. Compared to the people living here, our numbers have gone down," he said. "We're now 'policing more peo- ple... quite a larger population than we were five years ago." According to the Region's statistics, Durham's popula- tion in 1993 was 447,270; the population in 1998 was 480,300. The new staffing plan calls for a ratio of one cop for every 750 people by 2002. At the present time, there is one officer That formula, however, does not promise that there will be more officers in North Durham, said Insp. Mercier. "Right now we have a pretty good ratio for our popula- tion. We have 57 officers and for the number of people we have, that is adequate," he said. "If our population here increases in the next five years, then we will be considered; the deployment of officers will be calculated on a year-to-year basis. If we need more Please turn to page 10 Woman's health care odyssey finally ends By Chris Hall ort Perry Star After almost two months of being transferred from one hospital to another across the province, a Port Perry mother and her newborn son are close to return- ing home together. It took trips to four different hospitals and a num- ber of helicopter flights, but Jill McMullen finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy -- Andrew James Donald -- on Feb. 12 after experiencing a number of complica- tions. Now, the 31-year-old mother of two is looking for- ward to reuniting her young family. "I'm doing well and the baby is good too," she said last Friday from Toronto's Womens' College Hospital, one day before she was scheduled to leave a hospital Please turn to page 10 \ dg NY \ TIRE _ PORT PERRY LJ SPECIAL BUY 1/2 PRICE YX EEA idgnigh Sn 99-1205 reg. 79.99 54-3675 reg. 39.99 46-0074 45-2158 I TT , N Ca al le die a prs ir mas ata ol EEA RUS <0 7, " PLY TOD CE UY ea a SPECIAL BUY