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Vol. Wednesday, June 29, 1977 16 Pa, ges Retires from YMCA work after 40 years Ron Hupfield receives Mayor's Medal Nearly 7 uu peop1 " d- A REWARD FOR DEDICATED SERVICE Mayor Jim Gartshore and retiring Executive Director of the Durham Region YMCA, Ron Hupfield, hold the Mayor's Medal, which Mayor Gartshore presented to Mr. Hupfield last Wednesday. In the middle is Mr. HupfieId's wife Velma. Mr. Hunfield is ending 40 years of work for YMCAs across Canada, the last 10~of which he spent in Whitby. He was the first executive director of the Durham Region YMCA and built the Y up from a small local organization to a regional operation with a wide variety of programs for all age groups. Free Press Photo Rotarypark plan to go topublic Approval of a preliminary master plan for the develop- ment of Centennial Park by the Whitby Rotary Club received cbuncil approval Monday, clearing the way for a public meeting on the plan in July. Bomb threat Police Headquartersreceived two telephone calls Friday evening warning them of a bomb in the Royal Hotel on Brock Street North. Shortly before 7 p.m., an unidentified caller told police that there was a bomb set to go off anytime in the Royal Hotel unless a certain person were thrown out of the hotel. The caller would not say whom he wanted ejected. Police conducted a check at the hotel which proved to be negative. At 9:30 p.m., another call was received complaining about the large number of policemen investigating at the site of the bomb threat. The caller then repeated his bomb threat. Police once again checked the Royal Hotel. The second search , also proved. negative. The preliminary master plan, prepared by Richard Strong-Steven Moorhead Ltd., Toronto landscape designers, will turn the park into a major passive recreation area, with trees, flower beds, an adventure play area and an informal concert area, at a cost estimated to be between $100,000 and $250,000. Bill Irwin, chairman of the Rotary Club's committee for the park project, said the club for two years had been considering what kind of a project to undertake to use the funds gained from the sale of the bowling and tennis club property in 1973 and the trip of the months draws. Last fall the town's recreation department inform- ed the club that council had passed a motion by Councillor Tom Edwards that Centennial Park be made a passive park. As a result the Rotary Club chose its development, from a possible 11 or 12 projects being considered by the committee. In November 1976, council agreed to co-operate with the Rotary Club in the development of Centennial Park and formed an ad-hoc committee of Rotary and town representatives to plan the details. This committee requested submissions from landscape architectural firms, and made a selection in April 1977. The preliminary master plan divides the park into two sections bisected by the right-of-way for Burns Street, which may be developed in future as a through road. The plan calls for the area south of Burns Street to have wildflowers, trees, shrubs and ground cover, and an open grass picnic area. Both sides of Burns Street would be lined with a buffer of trees and fencing. Cont'd on P. 2 Massive layoffs could occur at the Sklar Furniture plant in Whitby by August if sales don't improve, say union officiais. John O'Connor, business agent for Local 50 of the Upholsterers International Union of North America pre- dicted recently that as rnany as 150 workers could be laid off. For the past three months, the Whitby plant's 600 workers have been on a four- day week, and company officials are hoping a consoli- dation of the company's activities will protect the workers' lobs. Meridian Furniture, a Sklar-owned business in Toronto, is closing at the end of Jun. and its employees are being transferred to Whitby. Mr. O'Connor said he hopes to get the members of his union back to a five-day work week, but sales will have to improve before this can happen. Sklar ,recently reported a first quarter loss of $381,000 for 1977 and announced the Toronto closure and a greatly reduced production at a wood furniture plant in South Hampton. Nearly 100 people gathier- ed at the Centennial Building last Wednesday to honor Ron Hupfield, Executive Director of the Durham Region Family YMCA, as he retired after 40 years of service with the Y. Mayor Jim Gartshore presented Mr. Hupfield with the Mayor's Medal, a rare honor, reserved for only the most special occasions. "I know the extraordinary success and growth of the Y (in Whitby and Durham Region) in the past 10 years is the result of your work and ambition", said Mayor Gart- shore to Mr. Hupfield. "We are, sir, indebted to you not only for your work in the Y, but for your work in many community affairs. This town is a much better place for you having been here for the past 10 years", said the Mayor. Dr. John Davies, the, president of the YMCA in Whitby at the tirne Mr. Hupfield was hired in August 1967, outlined the history of the Y and Mr. Hupfield's contributions. "Through Ron's hard work and drive and prodding we got 300 children involved in social and athletic Region c Broolin The Durham Region is looking for a new dump site, and 100 acres of land near Brooklin are presently under consideration. This week the regional council will examine a public works committee recommen- dation to hire a consultant to investigate the potential site, adjacent to the now- closed Whitby landfill site. At present the site consists of two gravel pits under private ownership. A landfill site on the Newcastle-Scugog boundary was recently rejected because the province said it was environ mentally unsafe. Jack McCorkell, regional works department director of operations, says garbage could become a problem in Durham if a new site is not found. The Oshawa site has ýkin activities" ,lhe saia, speaKing of the efforts to build up a YMCA which until Mr. Hupfield came from Kingston, did not have a full-time executive director. Another past-president, Bob Attersley also paid tribute to Mr. Hupfield. "A lot of us didn't think about the Y until a guy nam- ed Hupfield got out and hustled and got people involved", he said. "He was the big driving force behind making the Y a successful operation in Whitby. He got people active in the Town of Whitby". On behalf of the Durham Y's board of directors, Bill Nurse, presented Mr. flupfield with a sail for his boat, which is his chief hobby, and placed a yachting cap on his head. Pat Wilcox, who organized Mr. Hupfield's retirement roceptionpresented himwith a trust account of money from his friends to help him with his sailing. Many tributes followed, such as one from Elizabeth Moore, Mr. Hupfield's pro- gram dir ector since 1970. She related how Mr. Cont'd on P. 2 onsiders dump site about 18 months t service left, and if Pickering and Metro Toronto can agree on a site in Pickering, perhaps four more years could be bought, he said. Any new site would have to handle dumping for a minimum of five to 10 years, said Mr. McCorkell. The former Whitby landfill site, closed at the end of 1976, has been incorporated into the Heber Down Conser- vation area, and if the pro- posed new site is developed, it too will eventually become part of the conservation area. Approvals to develop the site near the Heber Down area may take four years to obtain, so selection of a site as soon as possible is important, says Mr. McCorkell. Jubilee dinner is tonight Durham Region's Crown Attorney Bruce Affleck will be guest speaker tonight at a Silver Jubilee banquet hosted by Branch 112 of the Royal Canadian Legion. The Legion has invited representatives of all the town's service clubs to attend the banquet as part of Canada Week, and as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee. The dinner gets under way at 7 p.m. in the Legion Hall on Byron Street South. Mr. Affleck will be addressing the gathering on the Jubilee and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The Legion's major Jubilee event will be a drum- h.ead service in September, but this banquet was called to coincide with the Town of Whitby's suggestion that sone Jubilee events be held during Canada Week. 7, No. 26 Layoffs expected _R E' 7E-