Gartshore get review of regioný j. "Ltis.ime to.takea.look at, ý-:the act" and the region 'of Drasays Whitby Mayor Jm Gartshore. At the Juiy ý23 meeting .of regional council, Gartshore Hand .Oshawa Mayor',Jim Potticary, introduced, a motion to set up a committee'. to steadY .'the, Durham and Region Act because there have been no changes, to. the act, since iL was passed "The. motion, which was accepted by Regional. Council, wili set ûp a com- mittee '0f fine. people, -one from iea ch municipaiity. In Ail ýregion plus a chairman. Alof wh om are to be elected officiais. Council aiso. .alloted the committee a budget '0f $10,0O for travelling ex- penses, assistance of' other kinds, and to coverthe print- ing à f the.report which wil be rnade'to council, dyring it's first . meeting,.,In.Fè b., 1980. The -committee will hold public, meetings where briefs and -pesenttions may be mad e by the publiic expres- sing their concerns and fears about regionai government. Gartshore said' thatt our alternative washaving just the politicians paMtcipating in the. study but "the. best seemed teo-Say -that there shouid, be pubiic imput. "There are a number of improvements to thé bilI that could be made .tomake.the, Tho largestgo-kart -track * operation in North Amer'Pea has received pe>ieision * from Whitby Town Council to expand iLs track. gomily Kartways gtthe ing of council,ý subject to certificationý from the minhis- try of the environment. Approvai was given 'after town-hired consultants reported that they could not fiday "raveý difficultis" with the study down by the track's owners. That study said that while the track wouid.be brought dloser to neighbouring ~' homes, there would not be an increase innoise leveis. Planning- directg~ Bob Short said, "therè;&" re.ally no sense in objecting to iL," even though, he recommen-, -ded approval'o.f the expan- sion without receiving a report on the noise levels from the environment minis- try. There has been a lot Of heated debate of the expan- region operate more efficien- tiy," he'said. "We' want, to fînd out how people, see the Iregion, see- .how we might improve i," he said. "We want to improve Lhe »operation,"ý Gartshore said. Gartshore' said that1 he would like Lo see the mun- dane things stra.ightened out. ".Why do'they (the region) have, to approve stop signs? he -asked. He'said that the procedure for stops signs is that, when, someone waà nts a stop sign put in, hey génieraiiy cali the towný who miust in turn cal the region for approval. Although the approval cornes almfost automa ticaiiy, the proçess can be ti me consuming, s0 why should not the town just do iL*? .Qartshore said that hé would like to see the region contract out things to the, .town, such a~s road mainte- nancesriOw removal (which the town &oes under regional contract) and othr basics'. Gartshore does-,- however, say, "The r egion is here, you can fight it and, get no where or you*can ry and make iL work better." One of. the main prôblems which regional, government had in the beginning.was the ime element between Lhe go-ahead was given. by the province and the ime the region started to operate. "lThere sho0uld'have been ..son of the track since lasL 'ear when a new. asphaît track was laid without coun- cil approval. >11When neighbouring resi- dents started to' complain, council turned down an application'-by the rack's owners to aliow thé new section to operate. Tva. Bice, one of the most vocal opponents of the move, and w'hose home is immedia- tely north of Family Kartways, said that the resi- dents were upset because they were informed that the mater was to be aken up by council with only hree hours warning and were unable to 'attend. Family .Kartways and their ^lawyer, Michael Vaughan, have- claimed, since the issue was fîrst raised, thaL the expansion would cause- no 'noise pro- blemns that would -be any worse than, those that âlrea- dy exista -with the -present track and traffic, on Brock Street. more ime to set Up Lhe operation"in the beginning," he said. H.aving been created in the' faii to'begin operaLions J'an. 1, 1974, there was foL enough time L 'o train people,0f, both the staff and poli tical.levIes, Gartshore said... This mayhave produced parochial attitudes among the. first counceillors, who' ever deaiing with an area bigger than some provinces in Canada and from a towný budget Lo a regionai budget' of $60 million, aimost equal to, that 'of some 'provinces, Gartshore saîd. There was "LraumaLic change" for ,,them Gartshore said "(They) did-do a reaso-' nabie job." Despite his efforts to make.. the region wo-rki Gartshore stiii has somie reservations. "I question the operation of the regicon. 1 quèstion the- geogra phy of the region, " he said. ",Are. the people in the forth;getting Lhe benefits o'f the region?" Prune Poison" There was somnetbing in. the prune juice that ,caused five, aduit residents of the Durham Centrefor the Deve- lopmentally 'Handicapiped Loýý be sent to, Oshawa General, Hospitai onJuly 23. AI five recoviered from the' poisoning within 24 hours. Dr., Ted Watt, Durham Region medical ýofficer, of' health said that some deter- gent-like, substance was pre- sent in t he juice and that it was being Lreated as an accident. The incident was disco- vered when a member. of the staff tasted' the juice at breakfast when the residents cornplained, -Barry Casey, acting president of the Ont- ario Publice-Service Emplo- yees Uniion (OPSEU) Local 332,that represents the couni- seli'ing, staff said. ILtwas definately flot the counselling staff's fault,"' he said. Ail the food prepared for the residents- is made in the kitchens and brought over to the cottages where, Lhey live, ahl theconeos do is serve it,, Casey. said. "IL would seemn to be the kitchen' staff's fault," he said. .Carnival,.Queen, Carnie- MetMiss, County To wn Carnivai- 1979. She is pretty, Ca1rnie Whyte, 190 f 305 Beech, Street, West, Whitb.y. Carnie is a graduate Ãf Hénry Street High School and whose career.interest i& Lobe a dental hygienist. She hopes to start her studies in the*ea fuur- a Duha Cllege in Oshawa. -$28 m-iiion WPH im provement .delayed The $28 million programn to replace dut dated facilities at the Whitby Psychiatric Hos- pitalý will notstart until late next year, hospital adminis- trator Michael l O'Keefe announced last week. The projet was announ- ced in. January by Ontario Health Minister Dennîs Timbreli after a study on the three major psychîatric institutions, in the" Toronto area 'concluded' that the. Whitby fadiity was substan- dard. Timbrell announced, at the samne ime, that Toronto's Lakeshore Psychiatric Hos- piLaI was to be closed. Almost ail the buildings *making Up the Whitby faci- lity will be replaced as many were built in 1913, O'Keefe For the past six months architects have been work- ing on a functional plan accommodating ail depart- ments of the hospital». The next stage will be the actual designing of the new build- inigs, O'Keefe said. ."It's a total rebuild pro- gramn., We're looking at, a new facility. Right n 0w, w e're.spread out over acres and acres and to renovate'or modernize would cost us as much or more to do that." With the modernization program, the numbe of beds in service at the hfospital, wil be reduced from, abot 500 to 470 but it will not:'affect the number'of patients which averages close 'té 420, O'Keefe said. < "One couid say that with projiected increases in poU- lation, one would need more beds, but one bas Lo Lake into account the whole question of community services and de-institutionalization," O'Keefe said. He also sa.id that he does not expect any change in the number' of staff which is about 740 fuli-Lime and 80. part-Lime. The design of the new hospital Must be'approved eanly next year by the gov- ernment services ministry and then funding must come from formaI governent approval before tenders may be submitted and ontracta awarded. The'new buildings may be erected in stages, once con- struction begins and the availability of funding, O'Keefe said. - Go-kart'track -to exýpand