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Keep drug store open: petition By MARK REESOR Free Press Staff Writer A loyal customer has col- lected almost 200-names on a petition calling on Shoppers Drug Mart not to close its downtown Whitby store. Louise Pàlmer says she collected 159 signatures in four hours Monday from customers for her petition, which states "the under- signed will boycott all Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Ontario if this store is closed." She's been shopping there ever since she moved to Whitby 18-years ago and says she goes there, "not because it's Shoppers but because of the people... "All the people in here are really good and it makes me really angry that they (Shoppers) can come See PHARMACY Page 2 JUDI LONGFIELD . . . wins Whitby-Ajax riding Free Press Photo by Mark Reesor AND THE WINNER IS: Tracy Wick is this year's Brooklin Spring Fair Ambassador, beating ou ten other contestants for the honour. Micheline Robichaud and Jennie Flanders were runner-ups. Council to appoint west ward member Monday's federal elec- tion result in Whitby-Ajax riding will mean a new face on Town council. Council will have to ap- point someone to replace departing west ward repre- sentative Judi Longfield who won the newly-created riding for the Liberal party. According to the Ontario Municipal Act, council has 45 days to name a replace- ment after it officially de- clares the seat vacant. Since Longfield was ac- claimed as west ward coun- cillor in the 1994 municipal election, there is no appar- ent successor waiting in the wings. But whoever receives council's nod will only serve for a short period of time since the current term expires Nov. 30, two weeks after the Nov. 10 municipal election. Dogs would be kept on leash By MARK REESOR Free -Press Staff Writer Barring a change of heart by council Monday night, dogs will not be running free - at least not legally - in Palmerston Park. About fifty area residents crowded. into a committee room at town hall to speak to the issue Monday night, wIth-I l-bt àFrandfliL dset~agirist-a pôopàsál tôde- ignate an off-leash zone in the park where dogs could run unrestricted. Operations committee didn't disappoint them; they ap- plauded loudly as members voted unanimously to pass a motion by regional councillor Joe Drumm turning dowi the request, submitted by the Palmerston I rk Pet Association. The off-leash area would spell no end of problems for the area, residents told committee members Drumm, centre ward councillor Shirley Scott and chairman/east ward councillor Dennis Fox. Dogs unleashed will lower property values and present a safety hazard to children playing in the area, in back- t yards bordering the park and at Palmerston Public School, Janice Reid said. An increase in traffic by dog owners attracted to the area would aggravate already existing congestion and parking problems, said Reid, a self-confessed dog owner and lover who collected 40-names on a petition oppos- ing the zone. More dogs will mean "incessant barking," worsen al- ready unsanitary conditions in the park, threaten local wildlife and may even prompt lawsuits if peopleare bit- ten and decide to sue the town, she warned. Why not enforce the present leash and poop-and- scoop bylaws before considering changing them, asked Paul Johnston. "You can go to any park and you've to watch where you walk; there's dog crap from one end of Whitby to another... "We need to have you people tell these people to put this (proposal) in the recycle bin and forget it." Non- sense, argued Sharon Graham, who submitted a Se OG n Pge 2 Fudge FREE Cake DGE B Supreme Layers of Cake and rget ORANGE B af rq loi soft Serve côverecf urcAase of e, y een witti Hot Fudge, 10 or shee t ca Wh, 2pecf rop 2!ng;-, VIL imm Letters. We get letters See letters, Page 8 Brooklin man walks The Link See story Page 5 Psych sale date passes* See story Page 3 Tough laws praised See editorial Page 6