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PRESS Vol. 14, No. 50Wednesday, December 12, 1984 24 Pages Retarded are being sent back to institutions, Evans claims Tossing the rock Bob Attersley bs seen here trying his luck on the curling rink at last week's Attersley Tire Bonspiel held by the Whtby Curling Club. Sore 20 clubs fron across tls part of the province took part in the 20th annual bonspiel which was won by a rink from the Oshawa Curling Club. The team members were,,Peg Phipps, Skip; Biddy Mep- stead, vice; Vicki Monks, second; and, Olga Thompson leadm The Whitby Curling Club rink skipped by Heather Miller came in sixth in the event. Other tean men- bers were Mary Lynn Mackay, vice; Pat Plummer, second and, Carole Speilen, lead. Sweeping for Attersley in the above photo are Betty Hollinger and Ev Bonetta (centre) of the Whitby Curling Club. Free Press Staff Photo The provincial gove nmen t uplans to close J institutions that provic care for the mentall retarded - including th' Durham Centre for th Developmentaily -Han dicapped in Whitby will save them over $6 million a year, accor ding to Brian Evans, th man who will contesi the next provincial elec tion for the -Durhaur West Libera Association. Evans said that ac cording to a cabinet document written in 1982j the cost of operating the 10 centres is $66 million a Year. When al of them are closed, the government will spend only $3.4 million, on the care f their m'entally retarded residents. "My concern, in all this, is that the provin- cial, government has more of a committment to budget cuttings and 'beds' than to in- dividuals," Evans said. The Whitby lawyer also claims that of the 70 residents of the Start Centre in St. Thomas, 54 went to other in- stitutions - 38. of them went to the larger "mega" institutions. He also claims that ministry officials have admitted to him that "the closing of the St. Lawrence Centre (in Brockville) was a mess and was done too quickly and without enough preparation." "I am also advised by one of the parents that 18 months after the closing in Brockville, he local association 'for the mentally retar- led) still hasn't eceived any additional unds," Evans added. The candidate elieves that the Brock- ille closigig was ville clos~ng~ was t (j d r fi b vi Cross cycling A competitor ein the National Cross Cycle championship is seen here surmounting an obstacle in the two-kilometer course.The event was held at Heber Downs Conservation Area last week and saw Whitby resident Doug Powell take first place in the junior division. Cross cycling is traditionally a European sport but is becoming popular in Canada. Some 22 racers competed in this year's finals from ail over Canada but Ontario fared the best winning in al three divisions. Free Press.Staff Photo' r- "hurried non- 10 systematic and resulted le in a mad search for Y beds." le The experience of .e other institutions such - as Durham Centre has -led Evans to believe 2 that the government's 7- daim that they are e returning these men- pt tally handicapped -peole to the om- munity isn't all its l cracked up to be. "Clearly, if my in- -formation is correct, t they are not de- Iinstitutionalizing but they are re- institutionalizing."r Evans says that it costs thesMinistry 0f Community and Social Services - who operate Durham Centre - $42,0oo a year per resident to care for them.However, the Metropolitan Toron- to Association for the Mentally Retarded is only given a budget of $6,000 per resident to care for them. "If this information is correct, we're going to need immediate massive funding of the local association," he .said., When Durham Centre closes in May, 1986, responsibiility for its residents will largely fail on the Whitby-Ajax- Pickering Association for the Mentally Retar- ded. Evans also wants to know how the gover- nment will determine 1 who is to live in the community and who will be sent to other, larger institutions. "Who is to decide who is to live in the com- munity and who isn't?" he said, "And given the government's conduct and lack of candor on r the other closings can p their assurances now be 1 Recycling coultdmr savofe42 se - P-U- For recreation.... Other areas also m need of facilities The $4.3 million plan to extend the Iroquois Park Recreation Com- plex should not prevent the town from providing improved recreational fadiities in otherparts of Whitby, Coun. Ross Batten said. Batten told Whitby Town Council at its meeting Monday night that he wants to be assured that the recreational needs of other parts of town are not ignored because of Iroquois. However, he admitted that it is "not feasible to build another facility in a location that is more reasonable." The north ward coun- cillor told his collegues that he was never happy about the location of the complex, at Victoria and Henry St.s, because it is out of the way for most Whitby residents. Batten did note that there is "a definite lack of recreation facilities which have to be provided. " "I would hope that spending the money at Iroquois Park would not neglect other areas,"he added. Like other members of council, Batten was pleased that the expan- sion will be done without an increase in taxes and without borrowing. <The expansion plan will be financed through reserve funds and gran- ts from senior levels of government. 1Coun. , Marcel Brunelle urged-the operations committee to consider the needs of recreational organiza- tions in town before going ahead with the project. "This is something we can all be proud of," he said. Coun. Joe Drumm pointed out that when Iroquois was built, Whitby's population was >nly 25,000. Since that :ime, no other major 'ecreation facility has >een built and the own's population has eached 40,000. The operations com- nittee will be holding )ublic meetings broughout the coming ear to determine what inds of services the ex- anded Iroquois com- lex should provide. The final recommen- ations will come before ouncil in the fall of 1985 ith construction eginning in 1986. The plans currently .11 for the im- -ovement of the com- ex's pool, which was cently re-named in nor of Anne Otten- ite, a second ice pad, martial arts and fit- ss room, an indeor nning track, a multi- rpose room and iiiii