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Hospital campaign laurnched By MIKE JOHNSTON Whitby General hospital board members want to mobilize every citizen of Whitby in an effort to acquire provincial funding for more active care beds and an ob- stetries ward. "An injustice has been done to the people of Whitby who live in a rapidly growing community with a hospital that is being left too small to serve its population," says Bill Wallace, board chairman. In August, the then Minister of Health Murray Elston allocated the hospital 36 chronic care beds but failed to approve 43 acute (short term) care beds the hospital had requested. The hospital now has 65 active treatment beds serving a Strike possible at Lear Siegler Lear Siegler workers voted 100 per cent on Sunday to go on strike if contract demands are not met. The company and Canadian Auto Workers Local 222, which represen- ts the 360. employees, are negotiating a contract to replace the one that expires Dec. 31. A strike date is to be later deter- mined. population of 48,000, the same num- ber of beds the hospital had when it opened in 1969 serving a population of 15,000. "By the turn of the century, 12 short years away, Whitby's population will be 75,000 and we may still only have 65 active beds unless the new minister of health reconsiders the ministry's position," says Wallace. The board is hoping that resoun- ding support from Whitby residents will help provide a favorable decision. A press conference was held Monday morning to outline the board's campaign. To reach out to the public, Wallace says petitions are being delivered to various service clubs and a letter will be going out to every property owner in Whitby. The board will pay mailing costs, adds Wallace, but he offered no estimate. Requests for petitions have already started, he says, men- tioning organizations such as the Lions and Lioness clubs, Brooklin Legion and hospital auxiliary. The cut-off date for petitions will be Nov. 30. At that time, Wallace says they will be ready when the board meets with the newly appoin- ted Minister of Health Elinor SEEPAGE3 TWO AJAX residents were taken to Oshawa General Hospital with un- disclosed injuries after the motorcycle they were on struck the rear of a car on Dundas St. E. around 2 p.m. last Friday. The motorcycle then rolled in- to the eastbound lanes where it was hit by a truck. Wayne Weeks and Samuel Ritchie, both of Ajax, were taken to Oshawa General. Police are still in- vestigating the cause of the accident. Free Press photo West Dundas strip plaza gets approval By ROXANNE REVELER A surprise move at last week's regional planning committee meeting, which saw a tabled mat- ter lifted and voted on, gave ap- proval to the construction of a 24,000-sq.-ft. plaza in the western section of Whitby. The agenda for the planning committee meeting indicated deputation was to be made by Ron Rogerson of Greenbriar Develop- ments, who wants to build the plaza, and by Rob Morton of the Whitby Downtown Business Im- provement Area board of management, who opposes the con- struction. But after hearing from both parties, planning chairman Marie Hubbard suggested the mat- ter be lifted from the table and voted on rather than merely receiving the planning com- missioner's report for information. In a 4-2 vote, committee recom- mended that the official plan designation for the site be changed to allow commercial use in a residential area. The property is located on Dundas St. W., just west of Cochrane/Annes, and is now vacant. Morton told committee the BIA objects to the construction of "strip plazas" in the area surrounding the downtown core of Whitby. He said the BIA, as a group of concerned merchants, was attempting to make the core area more viable for consumers, and plazas will com- pete with them for business. "This (construction of the plaza) does nothing to enhance the commercial viability of the core," said Morton. "It negates the type of business we (BIA) are trying to develop in the downtown core." But councillor Mike Arm9trong said there were only two options open for that particular piece of property -apartments or a plaza. "If the neighboring residents had not turned thumbs down on the idea of constructing apartments at that location, I would not have any con- cerns. But now it seems there is only one alternative and that's to build a plaza," said Armstrong. Regional chairman Gary Herrema echoed Armstrong's thoughts, adding the land had to be used and there appeared to be no other alternative than to allow con- struction of the plaza. I don't think this will draw from the downtown area," said Herrema. "Whitby didn't want to make a decision on this matter so now we (region) have to." Whitby council had approved the plaza only 'in principle.' The recommendation of the plan- ning committee will be dealt with by regional council today (Nov. 4). Region looks into hazardous waste disposal What.should local residents do to get rid of the hazardous wastes they accumulate around the house -the half-empty paint cans, part bottles of toilet bowl cleaner and the like? Durham Region's works com- missioner Bill Twelvetrees admits there is no ready solution. In response to questions at the last regional council meeting, Twelvetrees said his department is in the midst of an investigation into the problem of disposing of household hazardous wastes, but that there does not appear to be any ready solution. "It sounds simple, but it's costly," commented Twelvetrees. "The price of this service (separate collection of household hazardous waste by the Region) is pretty ex- pensive...before we jump into it, we have to give it pretty serious con- sideration." Backing up Twelvetrees, operations director Jack McCorkell indicated it cost Metro Toronto some $70,000 to dispose of paints, cleaners and other household chemicals brought in by 470 people during a household hazardous waste collection blitz earlier last month. In Scarborough, which had a similar collection campaign at the end of October, officiais estimated the cost for the one-day event would tally $100,000. McCorkell said he could not now even guess' at the costs for such collections on a regular basis. He explained that Toronto and Scar- borough hired private contractors specialized in the elimination of such hazardous wastes to remove them to specially licensed disposai facilities. McCorkell said Region staff are investigating this method as well as others to determine the most viable. 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