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The letter did say the collision experience in the area was “less than ideal" -and mentioned the signing may be the cause of the Another request was sent in August of 1978 after complaints from the residents and later that month a letter came to the town from MTC saying they felt the highway in this area was “operating satisfactorily". He was referring to a memo from Works Commissioner Bernie Toporowski in April of 1977 stating MTC had agreed to assist the town in preparing a study of the traffic flow on High- way 7 in the vicinity of Doncrest and Rockwell Roads. In May of 1977 the regional traffic engineer for MTC was asked again by' the town to review the situation because of hazards for residents trying to merge with the existing traffic flow. John Birchall, Councillor for Ward 3, where the multi-fata] car collision occurred said “If the left turn lane had been there would those people be dead today?“ The axe falls on McConaghy The Richmond Hill Councillor expressed dismay that it had taken two years to get to the position where MTC would agree there was a problem, “but we still don‘t have action from government", he said. “It‘s almost criminal, the town recognized the problem back in 1977 and tried to get MTC to follow up.“ Four people died and one was seriously injured in a five-car pileup on Highway 7 just east of Bayview Avenue Saturday night. The fatalities occurred when two of the five vehicles hit head- on, but'Ontario Provincial Police Dead are Fitz and Kiarana Arthur and their 11-year-old daughter, Sandra, all of Scarâ€" borough, and the driver of one of the other vehicles, 22~year~old Christides Ballis, of Willowdale. Head-on smash kills foUr Was lack of left turn lane a factor, councillor wonders A Metrospan Community Newspaper Wednesday, March 14, Hockey fever hits Richmond Hill with a thump next week as the 12th annual Richmond Hill International Midget Tournament gets underway. Meetings of committee and council during the March School Break, March 19 to 23, are cancelled and any committee meetings necessary will be transferred to the week of March 26, at the call of the chairman. Thirty-two teams from Canada and the United States will participate in the week-long event. Details on Page 3-1. The Parks and Recreation Committee will hold a public meeting Monday, April 9 at the Richvale Com- munity Centre to present the master plan for parks and recreation facilities. The report is an elaboration of the policies contained in the revised Official Plan and provides objectives and policies to meet future needs for open space and recreation facilities and programs. Discussions begin at 7.30 p.m. Community Pulse The Master Plan Taking a Break Hockey fever Three died in this twisted wreckage Before the signs were erected a petition with 59 names was presented to the town engineering committee in October of 1978. collisions which had occurred. MTC said they would recommend larger signs. ' The petition said that residents of the area “live in constant fear" saying it was impossible to leave or enter these streets without “risking your life" 'and were asking for immediate action in view of the number of serious The regional traffic staff ob- served 10 individuals get off a Richmond Hill bus and then cross the street to go to ARC Industries. ARC Industries, operated‘ by the York Region Association for the Mentally Retarded, is on Edward Street just north of Elgin Mills Road. Requests for a traffic signal to help mentally retarded adults cross Elgin Mills Road in Rich~ mond Hill have been turned down by the Region of York. He is now listed in satisfactory condition. believe another car was sideswiped before the headâ€"on collision happened. One person survived the headâ€" on crash...eight-yearâ€"old Wayne Arthur was taken to York Central Hospital. Richmond Hill‘ suf- fering a broken leg and internal injuries. Two 0thél: vehicles involved were unable to avoid the pileup. ying it was impossible to leave enter these streets without isking your life“ .and were king for immediate action in 2w of the number of serious In November of 1978, Mr. Snow advised the town his ministry would look at options and get back to the municipality with his findings. accident to the intersection at Bayview and Highway 7, nor was it blamed on left turning traffic in the Doncrest-Rockwel] Roads area. ll'dlIlUU childre He a McDon York says ’no ’ to light 2‘0 help retarded adults THE RICHMOND HILL At this time the town wrote directly to the Minister of Transportation and Com- munications, James Snow telling him of the municipality‘s con- cerns about the numerous ac- cidents in the area and asking for corrective measures. personal injury accidents in the area. York Regional Police were called to assist OPP officers at the scene and traffic was detoured from Highway 7 for Mayor David Schiller said he had seen far too many reports like this one from the traffic department. A staff report admitted there probably was not enough time between cars passing to allow safe crossing of the street, but suggested other solutions rather than a traffic light. Phyllis Cannon, of QM. MacKillop Public School, com- mented on the apparent lack of parent concern after fewer than 40 people turned out to a well- publicized education forum at Aurora, February 22. No one else was seriously in- several hours jured in the accident, but the LENGT drivers of the other three vehicles Markham a were shaken up. firefighters wt They are James Riley Woods of R.R.1 King; Frank Mitchell of Danforth Road‘ Scarborough; and E. Marie Brittain of Rich- mond Hill. A Richmond Hill elementary teacher has received up to a dozen obnoxious, anonymous phone calls as the result of her views in a letter printed in last week‘s Liberal. Mrs. Cannon has been teaching for 15 years. has experience in "primary diagnostic classes in special education and last fall bublished a paper on drug therapy and the hyperactive child. She can’t understand the reason for the negative .backlash she received. “They give reasons for not doing what is requested and then make all kinds of suggestions to other jurisdictions about what they could do to alleviate the problem." “I expected reaction to the letter but not the nasty sort of calls I’ve been getting,“ said Mrs. Cannon. “Besides ob- scenities l was told I don‘t know how to handle children and that they shouldn’t be exposed to me." “My biggest concern is that it _won't have any bad effects on the After letter printed Teacher gets a dozen obnoxious phone calls 1979 20 C Police did not attribute the accident to the intersection at Bayview and Highway 7, nor was it blamed on left turning traffic in the Doncrest-Rockwell Roads area, , ‘ An OPP survey on high ac- cident areas shows this stretch of road from Bayview Avenue to Doncrest and Rockwell Roads to be one of the safer areas for number and severity of acâ€" cidents. Constable Michael Norton of the Oak Ridges OPP‘ the in- vestigating officer. said, “It was one of the hardest impacts I have seen”. v It also suggested that police could come into ARC Industries to give a safety talk to the em- ployees since one was observed walking onto Elgin Mills Road three times forcing traffic to slow before he actually crossed the street. Then he forced it to stop. Mrs. Arthur and her daughter were pronounced dead on arrival at York Central Hospital. The main suggestion was that Richmond Hill divert its buses at The region in this case suggested police or a “responâ€" sible adult" could be on duty to help the mentally retarded cross the street since they all arrive at about the same time. Two tow trucks, Vwinches. porta-power and the K-12 were all needed to pry the bodies from the twisted wreckage. Coroner, Dr. Robert Seaver of Markham. was called and he pronounced both drivers dead at the scene. - LENGTHY RESCUE Markham and Richmond Hill firefighters were called to assist in rescue operations, because the drivers of the two destroyed vehicles were trapped in their cars. Engineering Administrator, Bud Newton said one of the two remaining Mercedes-Benz buses, which has approximately 150,000 miles on it. is becoming too costly to maintain. Only four months have passed since Richmond Hill put its first larger-size bus in service, and already there is a need for another. She made it clear her feelings were directed to the people of York Region at large and towards education in general. She said the principal, Doug McElhinney, considered her letter as an independent opinion, especially since she has three of her own children in the system. “Through the parent school or any of the children. Maybe my response to the meeting just came at the wrong time.” ‘en ts Already the town needs a new bus 28 pages By STEVE PEARLSTEIN Liberal Staff Writer ' M.L. McConaghy Public School opened in March, 1915, with an enrollment of 200 students and this June 30 will be the last day some 233 pupils will have to answer the bell there. ‘ Both moves, though necessary according to the vote, left a bad taste in most of the trustees’ mouths, Only three trustees, Beverley Breslow, Margaret McDonald and John Denison, voted against closing McConaghy, which was one of three recommendations. Along with its decision to close the old school. the York Board of Education also approved “its intent“ to close Jefferson Public School on the same date in 1980. Surprisingly, after two years of work by the Richmond Hill Study Committee and board staff research of the implications of shifting student enrollments and the utilization of pupil places, few questions were asked by any of the trustees Monday night. “The reason I support this recommendation is I can find no other way to solve the enrollment problem in our area. I don’t believe it was an exercise in which we as a board can be proud Richmond Hill Trustee Bill Monroe, who has made no bones about favoring the closing of McConaghy all along, stated his case succinctly and even moved the recommendation. June Armstrong, a Richmond Hill trustee who previously couldn’t agree with school closings based only on better utilization of space, appeared to give up altogether. . . . closing a school is a very sad thing. The school has roots and a history and I believe in those things.“ Engineering committee chairman Ron Moran said there had been considerable discussion of the situation in the committee before the recommendation was adopted. None of the three intersections in the area had enough traffic to warrant lights, but the staff report recommended monitoring of the Elgin Mills and Newkirk Road intersection. Mayor Schiller said this was like “tossing a bone". peak times to go into ARC Industries. This would only take two or three extra minutes. The town's share is 25 per cent of the total cost of $70,780.55 with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications subsidizing the balance. Last Monday council approved Mr. Newton’s recommendation to purchase a new 31-passenger “Orion” bus, the same as the one now used on the Oak Ridges to Richvale run. grapevine, I’ve heard many of the parents were sorrjy they missed the forum. Advance notice of it went out, but I guess many people weren’t aware it was happening.” she said. While all the callers refused to identify themselves, most asked Mrs. Cannon if she, in fact, taught their children. She plans to keep her phone off the hook for a few nights and take her prin- cipal's advice: “Hang in there." Mr. Zackheim said Wendy‘s is an adult hamburger operation. not totally geared to children. He also said Wendy‘s likes to be as close tc McDonald's as possible. The site will have greater parking facilities and additional landscaping and fencing, as requested by the town. Mr. Zackheim, acting for Triumphant Holdings Ltd, owner of the property, which is now occupied by a rent-all business and the former site of A&W Restaurants, said the owner will demolish the existing building and begin construction of the new restaurant within the month, hoping to be open for business three to four months later. The restaurant is proposed to seat 92 people as well as have a convenience window, typical to Wendy’s, for take out orders. Melvin Zackheim, the biggest developer of Wendy‘s Old Fashioned Hamburgers in Canada, now has town planning staff and committee of adjustment approval and will very soon present plans to construct a standard prototype Wendy’s, right across the street from McDonald‘s. McDonald‘s and Wendy’s. the two b_ig hamburger chains in North America. are going to battle it out in Richmond Hill. Wendy ’3 would locate across from McDonald ’3 She said she was glad the board will bring forth a clear policy for the procedure of closing a school and changing boundaries. NOTICE OF MOTION She was referring to a notice of motion (to be debated March 26) submitted by Vice-chair- man Dorothy Zajac asking that the 'Planning' and Building committee establish a task force to develop a procedure which will be followed in producing reports and recommendations to the board about boundary changes, school organizational changes or closings. Later, she admitted she was emotionally drained by the whole experience and felt the board's current procedure for such proposals is a sham. She, too‘ looks forward to the proposed new policy. The other Richmond Hill Trustee. Beverley Breslow, who spent time on the ‘study com- mittee as g representative of the Ross Doan parents group, was vigorously opposed to closing McConaghy right up the final vote. u . . in all good conscience, I can‘t support the staff recom- mendation to close M. L. McConaghy. I have been involved in the process and I can only say I'm glad I‘ll be able to be a parent of this new process coming to the board. I feel it will resolve much of the muddle and problems we‘ve had to, face in this situation.“ She agreed there must have been a way to reduce the number of empty pupil places in Rich- mond Hill but claimed she still had to ask the question that kept coming out over the last year: “If a school or schools in Richmond Hill have to close, why look at just McConaghy." Martin Langhammer, 13, a Grade 8 student at Roselawn School: demonstrates a method he developed to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen at the Area 3 Science Fair held at Crosby Heights Senior Public School last week. A complete list of results, plus additional photos, will appear in next week’s Liberal. (Liberal photo by Bruce Hogg) Signs, often a problem in Richmond Hill because of size and height restrictions, presented no problem to the Wendy‘s representative. “We will adhere to ‘Whatever the local requirements are," he said. The representative for Wendy‘s said when the restaurant is in full operation it would employ 64 full time'people, 99 per cent of whom would be students Working shifts during business hours which are 10:30 am. until 10 pm. But he did say that two weeks ago Wendy’s surpassed McDonald‘s as number one growing company in the fast food market in North America. ' Wendy‘s Old Fashioned Hamburgers began in the United States. Two years ago they came to Canada and so far have opened 23 restaurants. “Within two years we expect to have 400," said Mr. Zackheim enthusiastically” “No one can meet McDonald‘s head on,” he said. “But”, said Mr. Zahkheim, “We are not after the same market." Wendy's acknowledges McDonald’s as the first of the hamburger giants, he said, and recognizes they have prime locations. “We met many people in the community and at the board who were truly concerned and that’s reassuring. I‘m disappointed we weren‘t given more grandfather clauses in the board’s notice to close the school, like kids who are enrolled in a program now be allowed to continue until they graduate.“ he said. Jim Monkman‘ chairman of the McConaghy Association, though not surprised by the board’s decision to close a school where his wife taught for 10 years and his kids are a third generation to attend it. said he learned a lot from the experience. During abreak he peppered Bill Monroe with questions about what will happen to his children’s extra-curricular activities ~â€" guitar lessons and ballet and jazz dancing are all in close proximity to the school. ' MAYBE THIS JUNE The dissension of enough trustees resulted in the board approving its intention to close Jefferson on June 30. 1980 but if the majority of parents are in agreement, it could be closed this June“ Director Sam Chapman made it clear. however, that if staff reports revealed new in- formation. that “intent',’ could always be changed by the trustees. The problem is that any school scheduled for closing must be given aryearr's notice. according to the board’s current positiofi paper. Staff picked up on that suggestion because the third proposal was to close Jefferson Public School this! June also, if parents agree. 7 If they didn‘t, the idea was to wait a year and then lower the boom.