Town offered $ 150,000 to install new soccer fields The Whtby Optimist Club and the Whtby Iroquois Soccer Club has promised to con- tribute $150,000 towards the cost of constructing a new park on Rossland Rd. just west of Cochrane St. Henry Kortekaas presented the proposal last Monday night to the operations committee of Whitby Town Council. The proposai cails for a total expenditure of $467,850 for the con- struction of seven soc- cer fields, a baseball diamond, a playground, and a running track complete with exercise stations., In making the In making Hi~ inadeauacv nf proposal, the clubs said that there was a lack of soccer facilities in the town. "There is a growing inadequacy of soccer fi z Vol. 14, No. 25 Wednesday, June 20, 1984 24 Pages uAJ___ w paper monopoly Ontario Minister of Health Keith Norton was on hand last hospital's building fund committee; Norton; Harry Jermyn, Wednesday afternoon to officially open the chronic care unit president of the hospital's board of-governors;-Ontario at the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital. To commemorate Government Services Minister George Ashe, the MPP for the occassion, Norton unvielled a plaque that will be hung Durham West; and, Mayor Bob Attersley. somewhere in the unit. A large crowd of local and provincial dignitamies and spec- Seen here with the plaque are: Durham Regional Chair- tators were on hand for the ceremony. manp GaryrHerrema; Pat Joeriston, the chairmae of the Free Press Staff Photo k was almost like coming home Norton opens chronic care ward For Keith Norton, returning to Whitby last Wednesday af- ternoon to officially open the 32-bed chronie care ward at the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital was like coming home for a visit. Norton, currently serving as Ontario Minister of Health, lived in Whitby for a few years in the early 1960's while a teacher at Anderson Collegiate. He was born and raised in Claremont, just north of Pickering. He used the occassion to praise the efforts of the hospital's building committee and the community as a whole for ban- ding together to ensure that the unit was put into operation. "I share your pride in your achievement," he told a crowd of about 100 onlookers. "This is the second time this coin- munity has dug deeply into its pocket and into its heart." The minister also made mention of the difficulty the hospital had in getting provincial government financial sup- port for the $600,000 project. Traditionally, the government kicks in two-thirds of the capital costs relating to hospital projects but due to what Norton described as "economic pressures", the province only kicked in $200,000 or about one-third of the amount needed. "This is a perfect example of what-sometimes happens," Norton said, "Economic pressures have an effort on gover- nment no less than the private sector." He said his ministry had to make some tough choices. The minister also used the occassion to announce that the government will be providing 100 per cent of the operating cost of the unit - some $1.267 million - over the next two years. The unit is designed for people needing long term and rehabilitative care. Its 32-beds will take some of the pressure off other regional hospitals, allowing them to concentrate on providing active medical and surgical care. The aim of the unit, Norton said, was-"to encourage the in- dependance" of its clients. He also noted that this time, the residents of Whitby raised more mnoney than it cost to built the original hospital some 15 years ago. "Ideas remain just that, ideas until someone can put them into concrete form," Norton said. Ontario Government Services George Ashe, the MPP for Durham West, also mentioned the lack of provincial funding in his brief address. "But half a loaf is better than no loaf," he said noting, that a great many people "put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears" into make the unit operational. One other local issue was mentioned briefly by Durham Regional Chairman Gary Herrema who in his remarks noted that the hospital is a vital part of Whitby which has always been, first the county town and then the seat of regional government. "And we're going to keep it that way," Herrema told the crowd referring to a recent dispute between the region and the City of Oshawa over the construction of a new regional headquarters building. Oshawa is strongly opposed to such a move and has even claimed part ownership in the present regional building as a means of blocking the sale of it to the provincial government. Herrema said that Whitby is one town in the region that "Has got some backbone, has got some identity." commiti The Whitby Boy Scouts will continue to enjoy their monopoly in the business of paper collection and recycling throughout the town. Whitby Town Coun- cil's operations commit- tee decided Monday night to recommend that council deny an ap- plication by Doug Puckrin to pick up old papers in the town. In his report to coun- cil, public works direc- tor Dick Kuwahara said he had no difficulty with allowing Puckrin to do this on a two-month basis but noted that it might have a negative impact on the boy scouts. "To me there are a lot of positive aspects to this proposal, namely the cost savings in disposal fees, reduction in operating costs," the director said in his report, "We might save a trip to the landfill site." However, Bill Vaughan, president of the Whitby Boy Scouts said that the paper drives - which are held every second Saturday of the month between tee says September and June - are an important source of revenue to the organization. . He told the committee that this year the scouts are earning just over $22 a ton for the paper they collect. As of the last drive, the scouts had collected over 290 tons of paper, to date this year. Vaughan also noted that in previous years, the price paid for recycled paper bas dropped as low as $5 a ton but the scouts still collect and recycle the paper. The president also in- formed the comrnittee that the scouts had held these paper drives con- tinuously since 1929. "With no breaks," he added. Vaughan said that the Puckrin proposal could hinder the scouts efforts but felt that some people would still save their paper for the scouts. September is also their peak month and if Puckrin starts his project in July and August, then the scouts could lose a great deal of their revenue. r, facilities within the Town of Whitby due to increased interest and participation in soccer by all age groups as well as a lack of progress towards modern facility design and maintenance procedures," the report they submitted to the committee said. The report said that since 1978, the number of youngsters wanting to play soccer with the club has risen by 65 per cent. During this period, the number of active teams went from 43 to 73. It was also noted that there are two oldtimers teams and ap- proximately 40 school and five industrial teams also use the town's soccer fields. "Unfortunately, the number of available, safe, regulation sized playing fields has not risen in proportion to the increased demand," the report said. In 1978, there were six town owned and three privately owned soccer fields in Whitby. Since then, the town has con- structed three ad- ditional fields, however, one of these is unusable due to its unsafe nature. The report says that if all 12 fields are counted, the utilization of all fields has increased by 25 per cent since 1978. While the members of the committee were ob- viously delighted that both the Optimist Club and the soccer club were willing to put "their money where their mouth is", so to speak, they did not want to take any immediate action on the proposal. Councillor Ross Bat- ten, chairman of the committee, noted that the committee is already considering a feasibility study for the Sco0uts tg Iroquois Park Complex that was prepared by a consultant at a cost of about $10,000. That report recoin- mends that the town make some $5.1 million in improvements to the complex over the next few years to bring it up to the standards enjoyed by other municipalities. Batten also expressed concern about the long term operating cost of the proposed facilities and who would foot the bill. Councillor Marcel Brunelle told Kortekaas that he was impressed by the proposal and that he wanted it considered along with the con- sultant's study of Iroquois. "This is something that deserves to see a day," he said. The councillor also noted that the town would. be foolish if it didn't find some means to take the clubs' money. "The town is not going to let you walk away with $150,000," Brunelle said adding "But the realities are the dollars." The third member of the Committee, -Coun- cillor Joe Drumm. told the clubs that if they were looking for an im- mediate response to their proposal they were going to be sorely disappointed. - He pointed out that all recreation money has been committed for this year and that there is not money left in the budget to take on a project this size. The best time to con- sider the proposal, Drumm added is during next year's budget deliberations. "Yóur asking for dollar bills we haven't got," he said. o kee