Story from Steve Petz.
In 1962, James Zitaruk was starting out and didn’t yet qualify for a car loan. He wanted a new Ford Fairlane. David went to Winnipeg, purchased, licensed, and insured James’ car in David’s name.
I had just returned from Hamilton.
We had a party at the Zitaruk house in Shellmouth. About 1:30 a.m., I was driving east of Shellmouth, near the Wagner home, where Marjorie and Arnie were living.I was driving David’s 1958 Chevrolet Implala. I don’t remember how it happened, but James and I had a head on collision. James had 3 or 4 people in his car, and I had one. We thought it would be best if there were fewer people there when we dealt with the RCMP. James, Larry Langford and I remained. Larry took all the beer out of James’ car and hid it 11 swaths over in a grain field.
We went to Marjorie and Arnie’s to call the police. It was probably two hours before we could get a hold of the police. It was daybreak before they got there to investigate the accident. They were really confused. Both cars were licensed and insured in David’s name. One in Manitoba and the other in Saskatchewan. James had a Manitoba drivers license. I had an Ontario driver’s license, driving a car licensed in Saskatchewan, and the accident happened in Manitoba.
Fortunately we had all the appropriate paperwork to prove a story that they probably would not believe.
We found out later that the reason it took so long to connect with the RCMP. The telephone operator was out necking with the RCMP officer.