Vol. 15, No. 19 Wednesday, May 8, 1985 28 Pages It s tfirst week in May and for Whitby that means the beginning of the local baseball season. The Whitby Minor Baseball Association will kick-off its 1985 season this Saturday at 10 a.m. when the traditional parade will be held. The parade will begin at Kinsmen Park on Walnut St., go south on Brock St. and east on Trent St. before stop- ping at Peel Park North. The marshalls of this year's parade will be Rod and Alex Fillier, long time members of the W.M.B.A.; West Ward Coun. Joe Bugelli; Whitby Fire Chief Ed Crouch; and, Supt. Dick Bodley of the Durham Regional Police Force. These gentlemen will also have the honor of throwing out the first pitch. In addition to a bake sale, which will be held by the W.M.B.A. Ladies' Auxiliary at Peel Park, the day will also be devoted to annual Mayor's Cup Tour- nament between Ajax and Whitby. Whitby is looking to bring the cup home af- ter losing it to Ajax last year. The t-ball, tyke, peewee and bantam divisions will play at Peel Park beginning at 12:30 p.m. The midget and junior divisions will play at the Iroquois Park Complex. The W.M.B.A. is also looking for umpires for the houseleague. Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to call Stu Mace at 666- 2017. Free Press Stat Photo A smiling George Ashe (centre) Is seen here with Conservative member of the Ontario Legislature for his two major opponents, NDP candidate Don Durham West. Stewart (left) and Liberal candidate Brian Evans The 52-year old Pickering resident currently sdrves (right) at his victory party held ln the Ajax Community as Minister of Energy in the cabinet of Premier Frarik Centre afterwinning last Thursday's election. Miller. Ashe doesn't know what role he will play in Ashe returned for a fourth terrn as the Progressive the next administration. Ashe is re-elected George Ashe has been re-elected to his fourth tern as the Progressive Conservative MPP for Durham West. Shortly after the polls closed last Thursday it became obvious that the Minister of Energy was successful in his bid for re-election despite a strong showing by Liberal candidate Brian Evans. Ashe was returned to Queen's Park with a vote of 18,684. Evans came second with 14,348. However, Ashe's 1981 plurality of 9,583 was cut in half by the Grits to 4,336. While he was ob- viously pleased that he was re-elected, Ashe was disturbed by his party's relatively poor showing. Under Premier Frank Miller, the Tories went from 70 seats to 52 in the Legislature, just four more than those now held by the Liberals un- der David Peterson. Before beginning to explain his own party's performance, Ashe took time to congratulate both Evans and NDP standardbearer Don Stewart for waging an excellent campaign. "My local opponents put on an excellent campaign," he said, "I don't think that there's ever been a better cam- paign in Durham West." The 52-year old Pickering resident ad- mitted that both the separate school funding issue and the "peek-a- boo" campaign of Premier Miller hurt the Tories. • "I think that if there was any one single issue that we got tarnished with it was the separate school funding," Ashe said adding that it was the issue he had to deal with most often when talking to his con- stituents. Part of the respon- sibility for the party's relatively poor showing, Ashe maintains, belongs to the central campaign committee. Miller, he said, is a warm, affable person who responds well to and is generally liked by the people he meets. The central campaign organizers, Ashe claimed, should have taken advantage of that from the time the writ was handed down. Hiding the premier from the press and the public during the first three weeks of the cam- paign did nothing to help the government's cause. Voters in Ontario saw Miller "to little, too late," he added. "The central campaign has to take some of the respon- sibility." Ashe also admitted that if former Premier Bill Davis was still at the helm, the party might have fared better. Davis, he said, could have turned the separate school issue in- to a cause more accep- table to the voters. Davis was "very popular" with the or- dinary voter who really didn't get the chance to see the real Frank Miller in this campaign. As far as his local campaign is concerned, Ashe said "we did everything just about right" although he was obviously disappointed at the loss of his plurality. 56% turn out to cast ballot Just over 56 per cent of the voters in Durham West turned out to vote in last Thursday's provincial election, returning officer Shirley Pike said Monday mor- ning. Pike said that of the 75,778 eligible voters in the riding, which in- cludes the towns of Whitby, Ajax and Pickering, 42,726 cast their ballots for a turn- out of 56.4 per cent. The returning officer noted that in the 1981 election, Durham West had just over 58,000 eligible voters and a turn-out of about 57 per cent. Pike said that 61 voters declined their ballots, 50 were handed in unmarked and 177 were rejected for various reasons in- cluding two X's being marked on one ballot. Libertarian candidate Eugene Gmitrowicz earned 911 votes while New Democratic Party standardbearer Don Stewart received 8,495. Taking second place in the Durham West election was Liberal candidate Brian Evans with 14,348. Returned to office for a fourth term was Progressive Conser- vative George Ashe with 18,684 votes. Two injured severely m car accident Two Whitby residents suffered severe injuries in the early hours of Sunday morning when their van struck the bridge abuttment over the Lynde Creek. According to a spokesman for the Durham Regional Police Force, the vehicle was eastbound on Victoria St. W. when the driver lost control and struck the abut- tment on the southside of the bridge crossing the Lynde Creek. The driver of the van, Anna Latham, 18, of 108 Victoria St. W. suffered a broken leg and arm. She was taken to the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital and later tran- sfered to the Oshawa and General Hospital. Her passenger, Linda Wenzel, 29, of 910 King St., Whitby suffered from severe head, ab- dominal and internal in- juries. She was taken to the Ajax-Pickering General Hospital where she was reported to be in critical condition Monday morning. Police said that the accident is still under investigation and that no charges have been laid. Woman, 18, abducted and assaulted Police are on the look- out for a man who ab- ducted a 18-year old Whitby woman late Monday evening. According to a spokesman for the Durham Regional Police Force, the Brock St. S. woman was walking south of Brock St. in the vicinity of the Safeway Plaza when a man came up behind her, thrust a knife to her ribs and forced her into a nearby vehicle, after tying her hands behind her back. Police said that the suspect then drove her to what appears to have been a remote part of southern Whitby. The spokesman added that the victim was forced into the vehicle with her head under the dash- board and was unable to tell police exactly where she was taken. The suspect then at- tempted to sexually assualt her but was dissuaded from doing so. He then forced her back into his vehicle, described as a red Dat- sun pick-up truck and took her to another location when he forced her to take off her clothes. The victim managed to call police from the industrial mall at 2001 Thickson Rd. S. Police described the suspect as a white male, 5-foot 6-inches tall, medium brown hair with a full beard. He was wearing blue jeans at the time of the in- cident. Baseball season to open Saturday t'. fit i - ft L