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truck driver pleads guilty in fatal crash weekender december s 1986 p3 by kevin hann a mississauga man has been convicted on six charges stem ming from a fatal pickering crash which claimed the lives of four markham area residents last january richard john mcmerty 29 of sheridan park pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm he has also been found guilty of failing to provide police with a breath sample to determine the amount of alcohol in his blood recounting preliminary hear ing testimony crown attorney ed bradley told whitby district court this past wednesday the transport cab mr mcmerty was driving a 1984 mack ran two stop signs before slamming into the side of a 1984 toyota minivan car rying five people the second stop sign at brock rd and finch ave where the collision occurred was an oversized one killed in the crash were driver thomas henry gerrard 42 daughter sheri lynn 15 renata maria grunert 40 and daughter rena 16 judy gerrard wife of the driver spent eight days in hos pital with rib injuries and burns mr mcmerty escaped with a minor cut to his hand a mr bradley said john and dar- lene walton were headed to ajax the night of the accident travell ing east on finch ave when they saw a white mack transport roll past a stop sign at rosefield rd and finch ave s the truck entered the west bound lane and travelled east for approximately 250 metres before pulling to the south soft shoulder near valley farm rd the wal- tons did not witness the accident the two teenagers killed in the crash were members of the mar kham aquatic club participating in a swim meet at pickering re creation complex that day all five occupants were returning home when the accident occurred around 945 pm as the van came to the in tersection of brock rd and finch ave it became evident the truck was not going to stop said mr bradley the truck slammed into the drivers side and both vehicles ended up at the northeast corner of the intersection the truck land ed in a ditch the van was literally ripped open by the truck which sus tained heavy damage said mr bradley durham regional police const able jamie grant arrived at the accident scene at 952 pm there were four people spread around the van i found mr ger rard who was still alive at the time breathing he said i went to check the other three we had to lift up the side of the van to get at mrs grunert only her legs were visible after assisting rescue opera tions by ambulance and fire crews for eight to nine minutes mr grant located a man hunched over at the rear of the transport he confronted him and deter mined he was the driver when questioned about the accident mr grant said mr mcmerty re plied just leave me alone i just pulled two bodies out cant you see im upset when asked a second time mr grant said mr mcmerty re sponded leave me alone dont you have any morals mr grant testified he detected alcohol on mr mcmertys breath and that his eyes were slightly glassy he then called for a road- side alert breathalyzer machine to be brought to the scene when the machine arrived mr grant said he explained its use several times to mr mcmerty who when asked to blow into the machine only pretended to blow after several attempts mr grant said he demonstrated the machine by blowing himself then handed the machine to mr mcmerty again after mr mcmerty failed to produce a sam ple mr grant warned him hed be arrested for refusing to comply mr grant said mr mcmerty answered look i smoke for a living i cant blow like you at 1019 pm mr grant arrested mr mcmerty who when asked whether he understood his rights did not respond on the witness stand mr mcmerty married with one child said he smoked more than two packs of cigarettes a day and had trouble catching breath after the ed and clatidefte alrotfk have you seen eight reindeer and a sleigh wandering around here accident he charged the officer was rushing him and berating him with abusive language mr grant denied the accusations between noon and 1 pm that day mr mcmerty said lie had ab out three beers at a friends house in scarborough he later visited a coworkers house in pickering but did not consume any alcohol there after the crash mr mcmerty went straight to the other vehicle it was quite a mess i went to the drivers side and got out one person he recalled i was bent over and just wanted to get myself together it seemed like grant was asking questions too quickly said mr mcmerty it was just push push push i told him cant you see what just happened here defence lawyer doug wright contended mr mcmertys inabil ity to follow through on mr grants instructions might be attributed somewhat to the vio lent impact mr mcmerty said his head hit the windshield and that he was thrown to the passen ger side breaking the stickshift as he tumbled it was a tragic and physically violent accident said mr wright in his summation it would be most unusual if mcmer ty were not upset its almost un thinkable any person would not be upset judge wec colter found mr mcmerty guilty for failing to pro vide a breath sample to police hes been remanded out of cus tody and will be sentenced on all six convictions in whitby district court on friday jan 9 at 10 am according to provisions in the canadian criminal code a per son convicted of dangerous driv ing causing death faces a max imum of 14 years imprisonment on each count for dangerous driving causing bodily harm the maximum sent ence is 10 years in jail both con victions carry a 10year restric tion from driving christmas 0ft union ville kiwanis club and the salvation army are teaming up to help the needy this christmas the bubbles manned by kiwa- nians will be on display at markville shopping centre shown here left to right are lt rick embree dennis robbins jim tabber- nor and louise embree sjoerd witteveen teachers to vote on a final offer york regions catholic teachers will vote on the school boards final offer thus setting the stage for possible strike ac tion the vote is the next move for the york unit of the ontario english teachers association oecta if teachers reject the offer they are in a legal position to strike negotiations between oecta and the york region roman catholic school board bf oke down last month when the teachers negotiating team rejected the boards final offer marshall jarvis president of oectas york chapter declined comment until he has met with his executive the teachers say their demands for more lesson preparation time and smaller class sizes are not being met by the board but in an advertisement pub lished in the economist and sun and stouffville tribune on wednesday the board states that money is the issue and not pupil- teacher ratios and preparation time school board chairman celeste pelliccione said the board has made a strong commitment to reducing class sizes and has agreed to the pupilteacher ratio exactly she suggested that future con cerns of teachers could be ex pressed at a liaison committee with each side represented id like to encourage them to make their presentations at the liaison committee said mrs pelliccione i dont think every thing has to be dealt with through contract negotiations mr jarvis said teachers will make a formal response to the boards advertisement on mon day the teachers have been with out a contract since last aug 31 minimum lot size proposal has developers up in arms a whitchurchstouffville plan ning proposal that would increase lot sizes for suburban residential subdivisions to a minimum of two acres was criticized by wouldbe developers at a public meeting dec 2 at present the minimum lot size is 30000 square feet or two people per acre while the new twoacre mini mum decision isnt yet law the town has adopted it as an unoffi cial policy mayor fran sainsbury in formed the latcham hall audi ence that environmental con cerns plus too high a density in certain areas had prompted the move developers however argued that in the case of estate residen tial a oneacre lot would be suffi cient to accommodate a 4000 square foot home as well as adequate landscaping they argued that by expanding the minimum to two acres the houses would not be affordable and growth would be discour aged francis and rosalbino cairo proponents of a 12lot estate re sidential subdivision on the north west corner of hwy 47 and the bloomington road lincolnvil- le claimed the environment can support smaller lots the prop erties would be serviced by indi vidual drilled wells and septic tanks i think we should stick to our guns said councillor wilf morley councillor jim sanders went a step further claiming that in light of well water problems at ballan- trae the lincolnville proposal shouldnt even be considered mayor sainsbury said troubles experienced at ballantrae were due to old technology new de velopment she stated such as the one proposed for lincolnville would be the beneficiary of up dated facilities because of objections town planners agreed to delay imple mentation of the resolution until further review renee chong