OPSEU cafl for stirike vote. Page 4 Aw ards for Town, Sklar-Peppler Page9 Librairy joins the Free-Net Pagel16 New priivate school to open i Whtby Page 17 ETETE] THE DRIVER of this 1985 Plymouth minivan was taken to Oshawa Generai Hospital ater his vehicle went off Thickson Road, at Winterberry Drive (south of Dryden) on'Tuesday aftemoon Iast week. The 36-year-old Oshawa man was treated anid released. Police aren't sure what caused the single vehicle accident Phao by JorMMDus., VNthy Fres Prou Hlospital merger rejected 1By M&ikeJoWalski Amalgamation with Oshawa Geiieral Hospital has been redected by. Whitby 'General Hospital Corporation 'membera.*'* By a margin of almoat two te. one, corporation- members laut Wednesday turned down a morger concept put forward by a conimittee spearhead"ed by Durham Contre MPP Jini Flaherty. hI votIng agai net amalgamating with, Oshawa General Hospital (OGH), members appear te have registered thoir approval Qf theý Whltby Generai Hospital (WGH) bourdas efforts with respect, te a controversiai proposai now before the Ontarlo governmont , The. board supports converting, the hoqpitai into -a réhabilitation zreatment centre serving Durhamn Region provlded that urgent cars and out-Patient acute care services are retained. . Flaherty, however, dcaims the vote resulta are not indicative of tho mijorty of Whitby residents' feelings on the issue. He furtiier charges that smre hospital employées may have been "Influenced" by administration into voting against the mre Proposai '-. an accusation vehemently deniedl by- WGH vice-chair Rob Morton.- 1 "I really thought that the comunty was going to win this vote,' said Flahertyr in a news robeas. issued the following day. Due te a previous commitment, Flah.rty ad te baeve before the. vote resawereannounced ho tii. more than 200 people who attended the meeting at Heydenshore Pavilion. "I arn very surprised that the resuits do not reflect the wlahes of the community." said Flaherty. of the. 80-48 vote againat the Coxnmunity Hospital Committeo's (CHC) proposal. "Preserving services at Whitby Generai Hospital la somethlng I have been woring very hard on for more than a yoar now," ho added, "anditfs discouraging to ueo ail that work end'iii this way.u <Modelled on an ourlier report by medical staff ah the two hospitais, tiiat callod for groater sharing of services, the ICHC document was prepared by a comrnlttoe 0f politiclanso, doctors and residents from WMhy and Oshaw&ý Ton me mbors 0f tho hospital corporation petitioned the board for thie speciai meeting after WGH chair Jim Souch refused te allow the OHO proposae to çomo forward for discussion at last Novomber's board meeting. Merger' advocates .such as Flaherty and JoAnne' Prout, co-chaiof t.he'Save Our General Hospital (SOGH) citizen.' commtte. farged that amalgamtinWas feasible, despite Healtii Minuster Jim Wllson's endorsement of the rehabilitation contre ichome.. They noted that Wilson. did not rube out the. posslbility of mone outpatient and .mergency. services ah Whià ftby when h. approved a MERPAGE 3' ce s Driver injured By 11k. Kowaidk Whitby's long-standing need for more !ce rinks is a stop doser to fruition. Town coundils operations conmmitte recommended Monday that $7 million b. setasiide in this years budget for construction of three, Ice pada at Iroquois Park. If approved -by oeuëncll next week,, the arenas would b. ready for a September 1997 occupancy and be bufit at no expense to loWa taxpayers. However, comrnittee members were warned by unsuccessful mayoral candidate Pat Perkins that- a staff, recommendation te bypas. the traditional 'tenderlng procedure could leave council -open to accusat ions of favounitlsm In awarding contracta. Iii addition, former counclbor Rosa; Batten accuÈed*lis one-time colleaguos,--of, ,.otýý.,sulà Mlienty exploring. - private sco Batte, a, 14-year vetieran, of council 'until, defeated'in t;helait municipal eletion, la an In"vestor. in- a firm willing' te býuild aà four-pad cornplex that he clalrned would generate more revenue for the municipality, than any publicly-owned facility. Hi. and .Perking' criticismna notwithstanding, représentatives ofioe user groupa in Whitby* urged the conittee te, give the. three-pad proposai, their fuli support. "I1 thlnà k we're ail In agreement and the cioc la tcklng," sald Peter Lang, president of thé. Whltbhy Minor Hockey Assocition. "Our orgaization doen't-care If it'. public or private. We Juât want te se the facllity built as qulckly as possible."1 Lang agreed with councillor Jo. Drumm that the fadillty muat b. totally funded hby the user groupa and ho asaured councillor Judi Longfield that bis organization ia amenable te an increase in ice rentai fees te py for the project According .to a parkus and recreation department report, the facility would be. financed* fromn $1 million in reserve funds and the. lasung of a *6-million»debenture over 15 years at .7.5 per cent Interest., Cost 0f the. debenture wiIl b. covered by a *25-per-hour increase in current rentai fees for thq two exlsting pads at Iroquois Park:and 'the . single-pad- Luther Vlpond Memoril Arena In flrooklln. Tiie fée hike, brokon down inte Increen o f $12â'50 on Sept. 1 and again on April 19 1997, willb. in addition te any inflationary increases. Gene Burns, president of tiie Whitby Ringette Association, echoeLamn'endorsemnent of the staff recommnendation "Iarn in complote agreement," said Burns. "When it becme clear that i. last pr1- oposai1 W.,s1 .