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£ 3 8 Agno Vol. 114 SETAC he AT Th a No. 32 Wednesday, July 2, 1980 32 Pages It's that time of year, again You just know that summer has arrived [finally] when the strawberries are ripe on the vine. There are a number of berry patches in the Scugog Township supplying local stores, and baskets for those who like the fun of picking their own. [Story, more pictures on page eight.] The Port Perry Senior Citizens Club wants to remain at the Latcham Centre. Club members last week voted unanimously to reject a suggestion from Scugog Council that they explore the possibility of moving from the Latcham Centre to the Memorial Library building on Queen Street. In light of the fact that proposed plans to locate a new public library building \ on Water Street have run into problems at the Ontario Municipal Board, Scugog council June 23 asked that both the Senior Citizens Club and the Library Board "explore the possibility" of having the seniors move to the present library building, and using Latcham Centre as the building for a new library. However, Mrs. E. Irvine, incoming president of the Seniors Club told the Star that the idea was turned down flat when the seniors held a general meeting last Wednesday. "We are quite happy with the Latcham Centre as a place to hold our meetings," said Mrs. Irvine. She added that the Club has 202 members at present, and the Memorial Library building would be too small for many of the club's functions. As well, she said there are A report prepared for the Durham Region District Health Council recommends phasing out the maternity units of the Port Perry, Uxbridge and Bowmanville Hospitals. These and other recom- mendations in the extensive report, were unveiled at the Health Council's annual meeting last week in Whitby by representatives of the consulting company of Peat Marwick. In addition to the phasing out of the maternity units at the three hospitals, the other radical recommendation in the report calls for J.O. Ruddy Hospital in Whitby to be converted from an active treatment facility to a chronic care hospital and also a psychiatric facility. It is now up to the District Health Council to decide which of the recommen- dations to accept for a final report to the Ministry of Health. OPPOSITION At the annual meeting last week, several citizens from Port Perry and Uxbridge expressed strong opposition to the suggestion that the maternity units be phased out. They said that if women from these areas had to travel to Oshawa or other hospitals to have their child- ren, emergency situations could arise because of the distances involved and adverse weather conditions, especially in winter. Scugog's regional council- lor Reg Rose, who is a member of the Health Coun- cil, expressed concern that phasing out the maternity units could have an effect on the general medical practit- ioners in smaller communi- ties who consider maternity cases an important part of their family practise. David Coulson, author of the consultants report, defended the recommenda- tion to phase out the mater- nity units, citing a cost saving of about $150,000, and saying that the levels of care and treatment may not be as high in maternity units that handle less than 500 births each year. Ih the case of the Port Perry and Uxbridge Hospi- tals, the report calls for expanded chronic care units in conjunction with the phasing out of the maternity wings. For example, the report says that Port Perry Hospi- tal should have 30 chronic care beds by the end of this decade, a number that was strongly disputed by Hospi- tal administrator Dave Brown at the meeting last week. He said 30 such beds! could not be filled in this area. Close maternity unit says report The feeling among the people present at the meet- ing last week was so strong that a delegation from Uxbridge presented the Health Council with a 1000- name petition opposing any move to phase out the mater- nity unit. When an interim report from the consultants was released earlier this year with the suggestion that the maternity units be phased out, the boards of directors from both hospitals issued strongly worded statements in opposition. The Health Council's new chairman, Howard Hall of Port Perry, who took over his duties at the annual meeting last week, said after the meeting that he personal- ly remains opposed to the recommendation to phase out the maternity units. Mr. Hall said that the (Turn to page 3) GO train extension fo Oshawa years away If you're a regular user of GO transit, don't hold your breath waiting for an exten- sion of the rail service from Pickering to Oshawa. Al Leach, managing direc- tor of GO transit told members of Durham Region council last week that even if it's found to be feasible to extend the rail service to Oshawa, it will likely be three or four years before the trains are in operation, and the cost could be as high as $50 million. Mr. Leach told council that CN, which owns the tracks, is now beginning a feasibility Estate subdivision gets Durham's OK Despite opposition from nearby property owners and the Regional Planning department, Durham council last week approved an Official Plan amendment which clears the way for a subdivision in Uxbridge Township of up to 60 estate residential lots. The proposed develop- ment, by Midterra Invest- ments, is on a 192 acre parcel of land on the west side of Regional Road 23, just south + Seniors reject move to stairs at the library which could be problems for some of the seniors, and there are no kitchen facilities. Mrs. Irvine said the kitchen facilities at the Latcham Centre are used extensively by the senior citizens during their twice monthly general meetings, and for the euchres held every other Saturday evening. Scugog area councillor Jerry Jackman, who intro- of the junction with Regional Road 8. In a written report to Regional council, Durham's commissioner of planning Dr. Mofeed Michael opposed the amendment because there are extensive gravel pit operations on surround- ing lands which could lead to "future conflicts with the new residents." Dr. Michael's report also suggests that 60 estate-type (Turn to page 3) duced the resolution at the meeting June 23 said he is not unhappy with the decision of the Senior Citizens Club to stay at the Latcham Centre. "The whole purpose in asking for the discussion was to see if the seniors would be interesting in exploring the possibility," he said. "The council felt that because the proposed site of the new library is uncertain, we should be starting to study to find out the implica- tions of providing three different levels of GO rail service into Oshawa. The first would be three westbound and three east- bound trains daily during peak rush hours in the morn- ing and evening. The second would be five trains west and east during peak rush hours; and the third would be an extension of the full GO transit rail service into Oshawa. The cost of this study is expected to run several hundred thousand dollars, according to Mr. Leach, and should be completed in a about a year. Mr. Leach said the costs of extending rail service to Oshawa are enormous. GO transit, for example, would have to provide a storage area for locomotives, build some kind of station with parking area, and possibly purchase new rolling stock. He said that adding one more passenger train per day could mean that CN would have to change its entire switching system. a costly and time consuming task that could take 18 months to complete. He was not entirely pessi- mistic about the chances of (Turn to page 2) consider all alternatives "1 accept the decision of the seniors to stay at the Latcham Centre." he said Council had also asked that the Library Board discuss the idea in principle. However, with the senior citizens rejecting the idea, it is likely that the Library Board will let the matter drop as well. MS TIE - Yo ' aR a # | l ' =. Ser . - a rh i - ~ ey 2 NY - a -- hay CT Ey AR Rx : rT -- "ell - vy Node CE hos - ) "is = a) EA PR STE "2 I AR ny Poa es -- v [3 4 ERR a