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It appears the problem with the advertising on Richmond Hill Iown buses was only a lack of communication among the company responsible for the advertising. the town and Travelways, who operate the buses. Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Schiller looks like he’s doing a bit of birdwatching here. Not so. He’s officially opening the 1979 season of the Richmond Hill Slo-Pitch League at the Town Park Sunday night. It takes a while for the ball to get there. That’s why they call it slo-pitch. (Photo by P. C. Brickell). In March of this year a firm called National Transit Cards, operated by Frank Brouwer. was awarded a. contract granting exclusive rights for advertising on the five Richmond Hill Transit buses. National Transit is l0 pay the town $6,200 for these sole rights for two years and all ads/must meel certain standards. Recently the town received calls from business people in the area who have bought ads on the buses. complaining their ads were never placed on the bus or if present the ad was of poor quality. Bus advertising problems caused by communication breakdown, they say Advertising was to be displayed on the sides and rear 0f the five buses as well as inside above lhe windows. Recently. ads have appeared inside and out of the largest bus, the new “()rion“. bul only some brackelé have been added 10 the small Mercedes-Benz buses, Transil (‘oâ€"ordinator for the town, Bud Newton, said National Transit Cards has met lhe ‘requiremenls of the agreemenl with the municipality. but the town is concerned about the complaints communin “I told Mr. Brouwer, if I was an advertiser I would be very disgruntled." he said. in one of his many meetings about lhis problem. Mr. Brouwer told The Liberal. the: the reason the ads are not up yet of 1 is because the local firm he has lV asked to install the brackets or re“ frames has not been able to get he the co-operation of the town to get Al all the buses in the same location inS| at the sametime to make one trip ll for the installation. , wit Blitz undegwa Motorists beware â€" there have been 17 deaths as a result of traffic accidents on the roads of York Region this year and York police plan to spare no mercy for the speeding or impaired driver from here on in. “Right now we have a disastrous situation here," said Chief Crawford. “Our traffic Chief Bruce Crawford said as of Monday. his department launched a campaign to strictly enforce all traffic regulations. He announced a blitz of 24-hour- aday vehicle and driver spot checks. including a stepup of the roadside breath analyses â€" now also a 24-hour-a-day operation. "Disastrous situation" as 17 die on York roads from Ihe business Mr. Newton replied to The Liberal by saying Mr. Brouwer has been informed. four of the five buses are in the Travelways garage on Doncaster Avenue in Thornhill every night between 6:30 am. and 8:15 pm. “We have'had nothing but trouble from Richmond Hill." saidAMr. Brouwer. The fifth bus. a town operated “peak hour service" bus is always in the town maintenance yard each day between 8 am. and 4:15 p.m.. said Mr. Newton, and Mr. Brouwer was advised of this fact when he first tendered for the contract. Advertising inside lhe buses is of two different types. explained Mr. Brouwer. the positive ads. like a prinl, will be installed on lhe small buses â€" when the frames are installed. and negative signs, 10 be lit from behind. are already in place on the Orion bus. Upon inspection. ads on the Orion bus were unclear and of poor quality. Mr. Bi‘ouwer said Monday he had sent a letter to Travelways advising the light bar should be activated at all times. But. this turned out to be only because the light bar behind the signs was not turned on and dust from the many trips through Yonge Street re-construction had adhered itself to the plastic covering. Vice-President of Travelways. Ken Needler said Tuesday this letter had not yet been received and stressed advertising on these buses istotally between the town and the outside contractor and Travelways would do anything they could to ensure effectiveness of the advertising. Mrr Needler said when the bus returned to the garage last night he would look into the problemr Al press time the results of this inspection were not known. lle suggested the only problem wilh the lights being on at all record has never been this bad â€" 17 fatalities so far this year and only four for the same period a year ago. It's the worst four months York has ever had.“ During the period from May 19 to 28 six people have died in various traffic mishaps. On May 19, Larry Easterbrook, 22. of Etobicoke was seriously injured when his car flipped over nine times as he was travelling on 19th Ave. at the 5th Concession in Markham. He died in hospital two days later as a result of massive head injuries. A twp-car colliéion at 14th Ave. and the 10th Concession in Markham injured two people and Plant Manager Bruce Humâ€" phreys said it is unlikely the company would be allowed to expand without additional costs to protect the residential en- vironmenl‘ and he‘s not sure the company is ready to assume the additional expenses. By RON WALLACE Liberal Editor A major industrial firm may move out of Richmond Hill if a proposed residential subdivision is built north of Crosby Avenue. Ronald's Printing. with frontage on Yonge Street and 18 acres of land extending east to Ihe railway tracks, would be the neighbor of the subdivision. Already. architects have plans showing the Ronald's plant to double in size in the next 15 years, with a huge warehouse planned for construclion later this year. The 91-unit subdivision. a proposal by W. A. Stephenson Holding (‘ompany Limited. would consist of 21 single family lots and 35 semi-detached lots. of that number‘ 16 semiâ€" detached lots (or 32 residences) limes might be glare in the evening hours for the driver._ Mr. Brouwer also indicated to The Liberal he had run into many problems with the business communin in Richmond Hill. “There must not be too many successful people there.“ he said. because he had had difficulty selling the ads. A Metrospan Community Newspaper However, all ads have now been sold. inside and out. he said. allowing 15 per cent of the display space available to remain vacant for the town or community organization to use for social events or messages; ‘ The official count in the federal election in York North gave the riding to Progressive Conâ€" servative John Gamble by a 7,021 vole margin over incumbent Barney Danson. Thevcounl taken on Friday showed John Gamble P(' -. 29.0“ Barney Danson ’ Lib -. 21,990 Bruce Searlo NDP- . , . . . 7,5!" Dan Davidson Lln - . . , . . 430 Neil Katzman Ind -....281I Paul Ilerman M-L â€" . . . . . 4t; More than 81.4 per cent of the eligible voters turned out, 59,348 in total, to elect a Progressive Conservative for York North for the first time in 17 years. A spokesman for returning officer Joanne White said that three deputy returning officers had put their offical statements inside the sealed ballot boxes. were n'ot final lintil the official count was taken on Friday. The results for three polls could not be obtained until the seals could legally be broken and the E/ec tion v0 te final/y official killed passenger Marion Graham, 98, of Kingston Rd. in Pickering on May 21. That happened near Cedar Grove. Neil Watson. 30, of King, was killed when the tractor he was riding on (which was being towed) rolled over on him May 22 as he headed for a grass-cutting job in Richmond Hill. The ac- cident occurred on Bathurst St. just north of Elgin Mills Rd. On May 21, Gary Montgomery. 23, of Rexdale, died instantly when his car first hit a telephone pole and then a tree after he lost control on Bathurst St. south of Poplar Banks Rd. in King. Two Richmond Hill passengers were would back onto the land owned by Ronald‘s Printing. If the residences are approved, environmental regulations would force the printing company to install additional equipment at additional costs. “It seems strange that the Town would approve a residential subdivision at the risk of losing this plant," said John Hissink. viceâ€"president and general manager of Ronald‘s. “We employ 350 people, most of lhem from Richmond Hill. and we pay some $5 million a year in salaries," he said. general manager of Ronald‘s. “We employ 350 people, most of them from Richmond Hill. and we pay some $5 million a year in salaries," he said. Mr. Humphreys said anyone who moved into the subdivision. if it is approved. would be sub- jected to the noise of the printing plant 24 hours a day. seven days a week. Mr. Duffy said a public meeting. slated for the council chambers next Tuesday night. would likely bring all the problems out into the open. The meeting is to consider an official plan amendment. designating the property from ‘industrial‘ to ‘residential'. Everyone in town must be The company is hesitant to do hat. Mr. Humphreys said. Striking workers of local 847 of the Teamsters Union are still waiting for the company to agree to their demands. Fiflytwo workers went on strike six weeks ago against Stran-Steel Building Systems on Industrial Road asking for inâ€" creased wages and benefits. May 16 the Department of Labor called a meeting with Westeel Rosco. the parent company, and union represen- latives. The proposal that came out of the meeting was rejected by the membership at a recent meeting in Richmond Hilli Keith Coutlee, business agent for local 847, said Workers Would like wages and benefits com- parable with Westeel Rosco, but official count made on Friday Ihree days after the e_lec}ion. ‘ Adding to the confusion. the returning office staff stopped answering calls on its publicized Ielephone line about 12:15 am. Wednesday morning. Since then, callers have received either no answer or a recorded message from Bell Canada stating that the number is out of service. > The impression was left with party workers that the office was closed when the staff was ac- tually busy cleaning up. Al that 'lime. lhére were still nine polls out of 311 to be heard from . The final result had not been received in the chief returning officer‘s headquarters in Ottawa as of Monday either. It was supposed to arrive sometime this week in the mail. (For background on the winner and losers in last Tuesday‘s vole. see page A3. ) also hurt In two incidents where the victims were not driving cars. 19- year-old George Leethorn of K_eswick was killed when his motorcycle was sideswiped on May 26; George Dawson, 66, of King City was struck from behind as he rode his bicycle northbound on Keele St. He died almost five hours later‘ after being tran~ sferred to Sunnybrook Medical Centre. 7 nine-day period accounted for more than one-third of the number of traffic deaths this year a i‘r‘ln 1973 we developed a similar poor record and we took steps to Workers reject latest proposal Stran-Stee/ “We don‘t want to upset anyone." he said, “but those people wouldn't be very happy if they moved in then found out our expansion plans would put us right in their back yards." notified about the planned amendment, Mr. Duffy said, and that was done in newspaper advertising last week. If that hurdle is passed. then another meeting on rezoning within 400 feet of the proposed change would be notified. Next Tuesday‘s meeting, which is open to the public. begins at 7.30 pm. “i expect lots of input at that manta." " Mr nun" maid Meanwhile, Al Duffy. Chairâ€" man nf the town's planning committee. is a bi! surprised by Ronald‘s intentions. “I tend to agree with the subdivision.“ he said, “because we haven‘t heard anything about expansion from Ronald's." THE RICHMOND HILL management have said em- ployees did not get the benefits “over night". but through many negotiations with the union. Mr. Coutlee said he felt the company had it “pretty soft" for years at Stranâ€"Steel. so now niembers would stay out until they got what they wanted. "IVâ€"s not like we’ are asking for back pay," he said. “we just want them to start now." Stran-Sleel in Richmond Hill manufactures pre-engineered steel shells of buildings and the plant has been idle for six weeks of the construction season. The Region of York won’t provide a supplementary kin- dergarten program at McConaghy School next Sep- tember. The department, expects to save $8,000 by not providing the program for 2_5 chilfiren. Health and social services chairman Margaret Britnell said it was the first of several tough decisions that the Region will have to make in its day care program. ri’fiie provincial government has only approved a five per cent increase in the budget. No to program at McConaghy This was $48,000 short of the $1,143,000 that the Region had asked for. The Region operates day care centres in Thornhill, Richmond Hill. Newmarket and Georgina, and must meet provincial standards on staff ratios. There is no allowance for ex- pansion although the waiting list for the Thornhill Centre is three times the enrollment. . McConaghy will become a temporary separate school next year and it is not known for certain yet if the space would have been available to continue operating the supplementary kindergarten program there. Wednesday, May 30, 1979 Mayor David Schiller did not want council to make a final decision until the separate school board‘s leasing arrangements were complete. improve safety on our roads," said chief Crawford. “Then, people said we were harassing them but the program worked well because we were able to reduce the number of deaths on the road by 60 per cent in one year." That fact and the increasing disregard for the rules of the road prompted the chief to have his men tighten up their en- forcemenl. “The statistics are most un- characteristic for York. The public can scream all it wants about stricter enforcement, but it worked once and it'll work again,“ he said. If that Hurdle is passed. then another meeting on rezoning would be held. and everyone Dr. Tom Bolton, Assistant Director of the observatory sent a letter to Mayor Dave Schiller calling the problem to the at- tention of the town, citing specific examples and asking the matter be looked into. The assistant director said the observatory had asked where possible, residents be asked to control the color of the light, lights be shielded to direct the light downward. and lights be turned out whenever possible. Lights from developments in Richmond Hill are causing some concern to the David Dunlap Observatory. Light gets scattered on dust and water in the sky, said Dr. Bolton. and causes a bright haze which comes down the telescope lube along with star light, in- terfering with astrological ob- servation. Dr. Bolton said he had noticed Light pollution . bugging telescope Not only does the observatory ask the town and developers to take steps to minimize the light, “but we take steps to improve our equipment," he said. Last year, said Dr. Bolton, the observatory spent $100,000 on new equipment. Although the different kinds and colors of lights as well as the numbers and intensity of these lights cause problems at David Dunlap Observatory, assistant director. Tom Bolton says im- proved equipment works to subtract these sky lights from the telescopes. So far. technology has been able to keep up with technology. Lights won ’1‘ cause observatory to move Performer i// Gerry Crack is responsible for yet another first for the Rich- mond Hill Curtain Club. More than a week ago, Mr. Crack, one of the main per« formers in the Curtain Club’s current production. “The "walked" the absent Mr. Crack’s part of Dr. Monague for the cast at rehearsal, and next day came down with similar symptoms. As a result Mr. Solloway has not yet seen the finished production. More than a week ago, Mr. Crack, one of the main per- formers in the Curtain Club’s current production. “The Haunting of Hill House", came down with an undetermined illness showing itself in a fever of 103. degrees. When the fever had not lifted by Thursday morning. the president and executive of the Curtain Club made the formidable decision not to open Friday night. so all ticket holders had to be reached â€" immediately. Carol Moore, one of the callers, as well as being another of the main performers, said she was delighted by the response, saying there was definitely no anger shown by anyone. Ticket holders were told of the decision to cancel, advised of the reason, apologies extended and offered a special show on Sunday. Four Curtain Club members spent about three hours notifying the 100 subscribers who usually book first night. Mr. Crack, recovered and back to work Monday, told The Lib- eral, amateur theatre groups rarely have understudies, mainly because there are not enough people in the club and also because “who would like to learn all those lines and not get to go on?" This is the first time in the 25- year life of the club a play has not gone on. said Mr. Crack, who has been with the group all but one of its years, so he said he felt the club was not taking a “long-odd gamble” by not having un- derstudies. On the Wednesday before the show, the director, Ron Solloway. Theatre play postponed *** 20 Cents “Inexpecl lots of input at that meeting," Mr. Duffy said. in the last several months some areas do not have controlled light. and it was his un- derstanding the town had put light control clauses into site plan agreements to be signed before building. The mayor said there was little problem where site plan agreements had been signed, the town must only request com- pliance. but it a light was in- stalled without a permit the town must “attempt to persuade the owner to co-operate“. Mayor Dave Schiller said Councillor John Birchall, within whose ward the observatory is located. had looked into the problem before the letter was received from Dr. Bolton, Mayor Schiller was confident those involved would respect the wishes of the observatory to curb the light pollution. *‘k‘k Dr. Bolton said he did not think lights Would be the limiting factor to research work at David Dunlap. “It v'vould be the obsolecence of the telescope," he said. Some research projects have been moved to darker sites as far back as ten years ago, he added. The asslstént director said it is unlikely other kinds of work Would ever be stopped. It was more difficult with the increase of light in the sky. he said. but not impossiblg. V "The observatory will have a very long life span in Richmond Hill." he predicted, “well into the twenty-first century." I “They were petrified the rest of the cast would get it," said Mr. Crack. The play, about a house with a ghostly reputation which had proven to consume people if they had any tendency to be psychically receptive, will play again tonight, May 30, through to Sunday of this week and from Thursday to Saturday of the following week But, Saturday, May 26, for- mally became the first night of the play â€" with the full cas_t._ About the play Mr. Crack said he felt it went off well and he encouraged people to come out to see the lighting and sound effects which he felt were better than anything the club had attempted before. "For UTickets call Madge Nicholson at 884-3703. “So far, the audience seems to be thoroughly enjoying it and has been gripped by it," he said. GERRY CRACK 26 pages