i 5 We'll let you decide There are a lot of things that you could make-up to put under this picture of Mayor Jerry Taylor as he tried bribing his donkey with a carrot. The Mayor was one of those participating in the donkey baseball game sponsored by the Port Perry Kinsmen Club last week at the ball park. So rather than us try to think of something funny or cute, we'll leave it to you. Send your caption to "The donkey and the Mayor", c/o The Port Perry Star. Within the next few weeks we will reprint the photo along with some of the suggested captions. Remember, keep 'em in good taste. [See more pictures of Donkey Baseball on page 8.] Where are all the kids at summer playground??? Where have all the child- ren gone? That's what the organizers of Scugog Township's summer playground prog- ram would like to know. The program, for young- sters from five up to about 14 years got underway in six communities around the Township last week, and in all but one, attendance is way down over last year. In fact, the attendance at playground the first week in Seagrave, Greenbank, Blackstock and Caesarea was so poor compared to last year, that Scugog council Monday discussed ways to promote the programs so that some of the playground leaders aren't faced with the possibility of being laid off. Council decided to take no action until the next regular meeting in two weeks time in the hope that by then, more children will have signed up for the activities which run through until the middle of next month. Attendance figures releas- ed at the council meeting Monday afternoon, show that in Greenbank, for example, playground attracted five to ten youngsters each day during the first week, as opposed to 20 children a year ago. In Blackstock, the atten- dance the first week aver- aged 17 kids, which is about half the number which turned out last year during the first week. In Seagrave, more than 40 children attended play- ground each day last year, while this year the average number is about 12. The situation is much the same in Caesarea. Although Scugog Island did not have a playground program last year, the attendance figures there so far are about the same as in the other communities. The situation is different in Port Perry, where numbers during the first week this year are slightly higher than they were a year ago. Councillor Richard Drew, who is a member of the Township's recreation committee said after Mon- day's meeting that there doesn't. appear to be any precise reason why the attendance is off this year. The cost of registration was increased from $3 to $5 per week this year, but councillor Drew said he didn't think this would have that much of an effect. Members of council voted unanimously to give the situation a couple more weeks to see if more kids start turning up for the program which runs from 9 to 4 each day with an hour off for lunch. Any parents interested in registering their youngsters in the programs can do so at the park in their respective communities where the play- ground activities are held. Vol.114 No. 34 Wednesday, July 16, 1980 32 Pages OMB clears way for IGA store expansion The Ontario Municipal Board has approved a zoning change which will allow Port Perry IGA to expand its store area and parking lot, but at least one resident of Mary Street says there may be an appeal to the OMB judgement. In a decision handed down Friday by the OMB, permis- sion was granted to Port Perry IGA and Beare Motors for a re-zoning of property on both. sides of John Street - from C6 "deferred commer- cial" to C3 "general com- mercial', along with a property fronting on the north side of Mary Street. The re-zoning will allow the IGA store to add about 4000 square feet of retail floor space in a new addition on the west side of the present store, add parking spaces on the east side of the store, and construct new loading platforms at the rear of the store with a truck driveway onto Mary Street. It is the truck driveway onto Mary Street through a property now owned by the IGA which caused nine other property owners on Mary Street to object to the re- zoning at an OMB hearing Building permits down in Scugog The Bloom is off the rose as far as building and con- struction in Scugog Town- ship is concerned. pe Figures released at the regular meeting of Scugog council Monday afternoon show that the value of build- ing permits issued in the Township during the first six months of 1980 is just slightly more than half the value for the same period last year. Comparative figures show that each month of 1980 so far except January is far behind the same month a year ago. The total value of building permits issued in the first six months of this year in Scugog is $2,334,750, a far cry from the $4,382, 554 value in the same period in 1979. Although the value for June of this year is $951,000, it is still nowhere close to the $1,187,684 issued last June. But the most dramatic statistics for this year are in the months of April and May. In April, the value of permits was $473,650 as opposed to $1.274 million the previous April. In May of this year the figure is $597,000 as opposed to $1.286 million the previous May. The value of building permits includes work on all new construction, houses, renovations, garages, addi- - tions, and farm buildings. It is obvious that high interest rates during the first few months of 1980 have been a factor in the dramatic decrease in construction in the Township. Even with mortgage and interest rates now settling back to levels several points below the peak of 17 per cent hit this spring, it seems very unlikely that the next six months of 1980 will be strong enough to bring this year's total up to the final value in 1979 which was $7,677,495. Members of council have known during the first six months that building in the Township was down consi- derably. However, they expressed surprise at the extent of the decline, when the figures were presented. The soft construction (Turn to page 10) into the matter held in Port Perry last May. Brian Callery, who lives on Mary Street and presented the arguments for the pro- perty owners at the hearing last May, told the Star Monday that he remains opposed to the truck drive- way onto Mary Street. He said he has had infor- mal discussions with some of the other property owners on Mary Street and said they also feel the same way. Mr. Callery said the Mary Street residents would like to hold a meeting this week to decide whether to launch an official appeal of the OMB on the re-zoning. Mr. Callery said that having delivery trucks, including tractor trailers, use Mary Street to get to the rear of the IGA store is not right. "If there was no other way for the trucks to make their deliveries, 1 guess we'd have to accept that,"' he said. But he repeated the argu- ments made at the hearing in May that the Mary Street residents feel the truck entranceway for deliveries to the store should come off John Street. At present, the truck load- ing platforms are on the west side of the store, in the area where the proposed addition is planned. Mr. Callery told the Star (Turn to page 10) Three dead, two seriously injured in flaming crash A flaming car crash Satur- day evening just west of Uxbridge has claimed the lives of three persons and sent two others to hospital in Toronto with serious injuries. A spokesman for Durham Regional Police said that as of Monday morning the victims had not yet been positively identified. The police spokesman did say that the accident occurr- ed about 9:20 p.m. when a car driven by Ted Harding of Scarborough went out of control on the Third Conces- sion near the Regional Road 8 intersection just west of Uxbridge. According to police. the car struck a tree. and immediately burst into flames. Harding was thrown clear, as was another passenger who has not been identified by police. Both were taken to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. Police have not been able to interview either of the survivors to find out how the accident happened. A police spokesman said that Harding was able to tell police that he had been cut off by another car. Police said the tree was about 65 feet from the edge of the road. The car, a 1973 Ford, was totally destroyed. on . | SL DRE "En *e te ww . hy STEN of ag Net e as se LY Tha ABST a