The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WHR"..ï1REE;PREsS, >WEDNESDAY,JULY 1%, lm. ,PAGE r5 Mount Herbert, PXEL - (Special to the Free Press). If Prince Edward Island haai never existed, there is every likelihood that Lucy Maud Montgomery would have imagined it. If she had, even Lucy Mlaud's rich imagination would have been taxed to make believable the details: the lush, green farmlands;, the winding roadls along the shore; the picture neat country homes; the gardens - ah, yes the gardens; and red soil which bewithis every where. The power of Montgoxnery'sp rose would then perhaps make Prince Edward Island as believable as is Anne Shirley, the heroine of Anne of Green Gables. And we ail know how after but, one exposure Anne dances forever in our hearta. It is with some surprise, however, that regarding the island, Lucy Maud imagined nc* a jot. Even the roada, once you get beyond the black pavement, are red. Red clay, red rocks; red dirt roads. Red, the color of carrots. Red, the color of Anme Shirley's hair. Tlhere is no other place like it on earth. Having thus freely admitted in the previous four paragraphs that I have been smitten Iby the island magie, how do, we continue without sounding like a tourism brochure? Well we could describe the inevitable traffic problers that tourism brings. I got caught up yesteday in a bottloneck at the Hillsborough Bridge. God knows it took five, ten minutes to clear. Many isianders who buy country propertiessoon seil and return to Charlottetown rather than deal with traffie like that every day.'So rmn told. Natives of the island who return after years to eile decry the incursion of fast food joints and tourisma traps. But of course the fast food strips have sprung up in places other than the island, sud Lely say more about the whole continent's taste in food than anything else. . And tourist traps? Yes, a wax museurm a "prung uniein Cavendishkidtty-oerner from Luc Maud Mlontgmeryps grave site. And up the road 1a. mile WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan MClassic-red. lies Rainbow Valley, P.E.L's version o Csuada's Wondeland. But Iarn willing te overlook these transgressions. Anyone with children will welcome Rainbow Valley as a break from the monoteny of beautiful scenery, e rtine beaches and Anne-doîl craft shops. And hey! ere else can seven dollars a head get you a full day's worth of paddle-boats, magie shows sud five different water slides? And the wax museum? I suppose even the utterly tasteless should have something te amuse them. One might tend te blame sch fluf on Mnne of Green Gables. But the island attracted tourists before Lucy Maud published that book. Mainly Ameriesu visitors, Marilla Cuthbert said. Can.-disus were obviously too poor back then te be visitori. So suy way, even without Anne the visitors would have attracted the wax museum and other triles. Then tbere's Green Gables! Weve seen it in our imagination! We'ye seen it in pictures! On television! Now, step right up, ladies sud gentlemen. See for yourselves the quaint frame farm bouse with its dark front room parleur. See the kcitchen with its wood étove, the wooden frame sereen door, the apple-peeler sud n inninLy wnfer. Anywhere else such a natural treasure would be the ultimate in tourist traps. Here, even parking sud admission is free. And with it cornes a full hou?'s stroi through the Haunted Woods. For the five-year-olds i our party, that was one of two highlights of the ten-day visit. The other - the main - highlight had te be Monday night's peformance of the musical Anne of Green Gables at the Confederation Centre. Oh, I must admit in a way that my mother was right. The musical does tend te trivialize the simple power of the-s eto ithry.eneihi ua ,But forget tha nteeighte egtisrua Canada did not have door-to-door mail delivery by uniformed men from Canada Post. And that gossip may have flown about Avonlea, but certainly not by telephone. 1Stilly, the simple charm of a'carrot-headed girl,, a tongue-tied aging Matthew Cuthbert sud a shrill, rnoralizing Marilla tug at our heart strings. By the time of Matthew's death scene, there is not a dry eye in the house. Afterward, we "went over te the restaurant across the street sud had an ice-creaml," as Anne herseif had done on ber visit to, Charlottetown. "les nice te be eating ice-cream at brUiant restaurants at eleven o'clock at night once in a while." Like Anne, we recognize, even the dancing five-year-,old, that this is not su everyday thing. As you read this, we will have completed the forty-five minute ferry ride (complete with the world's best clam chowder) sud have the far wheels of our car flrmly back on the mainland, pointed at Whitby. We leave behind a magie land, one so complete and lovely that even Mmne herself could not have imagined it. And even as the ferry pulls away from shore, as the red bluff falI behind us, we know, we knowr we will be back. We will be back. Hospitlefciipesd wihpatyr'sbde Hos ita oiicïas p eaMoney rst ears de ntecrpi By Mke Kowali Rogardlesa of one's perspective the past year was a good one for Whitby General Hospital. Discounting dejpreciation of tho 20-year-old buillding and equip- ment, the hospital ended 1989-90 with a balsuoed budget. Howevor, once depreciation is factored inte tho equation, the hospital ended the year with a deficit of almost $200,000. "From an accounting point of view there was a doficit, from an operating p oint of view we had a balanoedf budget," said hospital president Hugh Swain. According te tho hospital's annual report, operating revenue tetalled $11,283,503. The bulk of the funding, $9,478,200 camne from the Ontario Ministry of Health. Operating exponsos aznounted te $11,400,730. Salaries sud wages accounted for the lion's share of expenses at $7,232,988. The operating deflciency steod at $117,227 prior te non-operat- ing revenue ( donations) of $125,814 beinge added. However, tis shgbht surplus of $o 8587 disappears when $205,561 of depreciation costs are considerod. This results in a $196,974 excoas of expenses over revenue for 1989-90. Swain said the final figures would have been worse except for some additional funding from the ministry. "Administration worked bard aIl Zeaýr te bring it inte the black, said Swain. 7We are planning for a balan- ced budget for the coming year but it aIl depends on the demand. We have te provide services." Swain is pleased with last month's announcement by Healtb Minister Elinor Caplan that Whàitby Goneral will bo receiving $2 million for expan- sion ofi out-patient sud orner- gency services. Ho is'bopeful that this will lead te the eventual fulfihiment of the hospital's master program. The master programIn s cur- rently being revamipod following its rejection by the Durham Region District Health <ouncil as tee ambitious an undertaking. Ougoal is te be a fuI evc generaîhospital, but they (health council) thouqht we wanîted te do it right away," said Swain. "Thats not the case at ail, it Will be phased in over years.' wig is the ho itls" an o1 rih ow,»a og there are other deficiencies. As he explained, bospitals n ow tend te be classified in three general catezories -- primary, secondary and tertiary. 9«Oshawa (General) should be secondary but it also does first level (primary) ,» said Swain. «We'd like te see it move te tertiary se our residents don't have te go outsido the region.» Swain said Whitby Goneral officiaIs are not looking te be tertiary or secondary b ut we should be a first level, first class facility. " If we can't do it now we Pass it on te Oshawa, if tbey can t do it they pasa it on te Scarborough. It doesn't coat any more but it puts pressure on the system.» Meanwhile, hospital officiais patiently await the outeome of a government study into long-termn healtb care needs for Ontario. The hospital would like te add a $6 million, 36-bed chronie care wing to the existing 97-bed faci- lity but that bas ben put on hold pending the study. We probably won't see a deci- sien for about a year, tbey're looking at the whole approacb te, long-termn care,» said Swain. "Te ministry emphasizes care in the home and that's the way we're going. Patients are admit- ted less and less overnight." Swain said that if a patient's problemn can be rectified in day surgery and he labo can heal properly at home, that is prefer- red route te, take. "They say the best place to heal is in the home," ho added. 0f special note, the hospital's Kinsmen ra i se $42,000 so far The Kinsmen Club of Whitby bas se far raised $42,000 teward their goal of $125.,000 for the Whitby General Hospital First Class ;und Campaign. Bryan Childerbouse, Kinsmen past president, says the club's now projects, such as the annual Yuk Yuk's Comedy Nigbt sud Sunday midnigbt bingos, bave contributed te the fundraising success. The club will hold the Kins- men Spring Ho me Show in 1991 and an 'Oid Fashioned' Christ- mas office party in early Deoem- ber, 1990. Wooden Outdoor Furniture YRTLE RD. HEXAGON SPECIAL î12TWCKSO Hexagons, Octagons, Benches, Chairs etc. Cfi 65,85M sanded, readly to be Cail655*558 stained '~'~We elivr :Solid Cedar construction First lass bund Campaign has passed the three-quarter mark. As of last week, $4.3 million of the $5.5 million target had been reached. will be« used for reriovations in such areas as emerlgency labora- tMr, radiology and pkysiotb- erapy departments. Rousseau's Warehouse MOVING SALE!, Sacrifice pricing on classic home furniture and accessories make this a "don't miss it" sale event. :THIS WEEK ONLY:I 7a.m..-10 p.m. Thurs. & Fri., JuIy 19 & 20 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., JuIy 21 4 ~DU£U'6( FINE FURNITURE SINCE 1929 Warehouse: 205 John St., Whitby (Corner of John St. & Ash St.) 668-3483 or Toronto 686-0061 - - ~ ~ ruallulir, Yyawl.