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3Oth y ar for WhtbýyJaces page 9 to1 Staff layoffs at CLOCA vvmn page 5 Riding boundaries Tour the may change expanded seniors' page 3 centre. page 4 LJan.'31 x7 meeting about hospi'tal serviices Sa.ve Our General Hospital (SOGH-1)co-chair JoAnne Prout la calllng on ail "friends" of WMhy General Hospital te attend a speciai meeting of the, Whitby General -Hospital Corporation. Tii. meeting will b. heid next Wednesday (Jan. 31), 6 p.m., at Heydenshare Pavilion, ini conjunction with the January. board of directoirs meeting.. It was called *at the written request ofl10 corporationmembers ta discuss. a Community Hospital Conunittee (CHO) proposaI te, amaigamate sricsbetween WGH and Oshawa Generai Hospital. ý' Tii. CHO, made up of politiciàns,-, doctors, hospital officiais and ýréeintsý-from, both, Oshawa a'nd. Whitby,. bas.d the. proposalinrecommendations from, médical staff at bath hospitals. The. plan, seen as an alternative ta convertinig WGH in te a rehabiiitation-only facility that wouid offer no acute car. or emergencyý services,, was not aiiowed ta b. brought up for debate by chair <im Souch at the. WGH boards November meeting. Prout: says many. Whitby residents are unhappy with the. boards apparent reluctance te consider alternatives -te tthe rehabilitation centre only plan. dropped By r ik IReesor Despite the. best efforts of a crowd of sorne 200 parents and children, public board trustees held their ground Monday night and voted te, do away witii junior kindergarden (<1K). Oniy Oshawa trustee Mike Nicholson and Ajax truste. Colleen Jordan - who were also the. bne dissenters at a special budget meeting Jan. 13 - vroted against a motion te stop offering the. program at the end of the current schooi year. Nicholson's motions te postpone a decision on the. issue until the. next board meeting and te'refer it back to standing cormuttee for furtiier study bath failed te attract a seconder. A third motion, ta refer'it back te budget committe., was ruled out of order by the. board chair, fellow Oshawa trustee Audrey Macean. As security guards steod by-at bath entrancSw te the, room, speaker after speaker pleaded with trustees to, not eliminate the program. "ii. community values junior kindergarden... why dont you consider it a valuable education," wondered one.. SWiiy can'L money to pay for the. prograzn not b. found by cutting administration or. other programs, asked another. 1"W hat type ofcostreducing measures have been taken te allow money to eb red up.for <1K," Will Geisaler of Pickering aaked. 'Mes marvelous looking structure," ho, said, gesturing at the. luxurious board chambers, 'has certainly given me an insight as te where the. money is."e Why weren't parent councils consulted before the. decision ta cut <1K was made, wondered another, urging trustees ta postpone the. decision until the. Ontario government announces more budet specifics next month. "Ifwe can't afford junior Indergarden, how can w. afford free meals (and) expense allowances," another queried. Provincial grants for junior indergarden have been cut in haîf, said interim director Clarence Prins in response ta one questioner, meaning It would cost local ratopayers $1.5 million ta keep the. boards urrent, smail scale <1K program operating. Expanding it toalal Durham schools, as had been planned, would have cost- local ratepayers more than $11 million, estimated education and business superintendent Bilan Cain. "There's not a trustee. here -wfio's erijoying (cutting <1K)," said Whitby trustee Doug Ross. (Whitby>s other representative, former chair Patty Bowman, was absent). "fthere was anotherÈway ta do it (save money), we would do it," h. said, whiie admitting that the public wasn't gven a chance ta have a say in the. decision or suggest alternatives. SUR PAGE 20 DruHmn lwants photo radar By John Dujay Even though the. provincial governmnent bas cancelled photo radar for mAjor high*iays, re- gional councilor Jo. Drunmx wants to se. the non-descript blue vans placepd on the. side of roads in Whitby. "I'm slck, and tired of golng along the. road and being blown away by speeders,", ho said. dur- ing a Town operations committes meeting Monday evening. Drumm was referrlng to Most iregional roada in town but specif- ically, h. said, 'Thickson Road is an abomination. It ia absolutely terrible. "Somebody's going to get kiIied on that street." Regionai councillor Gerry Emm agreed that there is a problem. "W. have te make eveiy effort te, try and slow traffic down." Somne concerna were expressed by east ward councilior Dennis Fox that perhaps photo radar s illegal after the province got rid Of it. Nevertiieles, committe. de- cided te ask regional council te, institue a groater form of speed enforcement on, the.regionai moade. TMe enforcement may in- clude photo radar if it is appfoprî-, ate. FOX also sald that penhaps rosi.- dents may not like the. idea of photo radar in ýtown. JK AI-1 -