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Health council considers plan for Renascent Centre By'MIKE JOHNSTON, The Durham Region District Health Council will recommend to the Ministry of Health that it supports -the concept of another alcoholic rehabilitation centre in Durham Region, but with some concerns. "Our place here is not to support or deny . this. Our concern's and thoughts should be passed on to the ministry," said Susan Bland, chairman of the council. The council questions the financial impact of the proposed Renascent Centre in Brooklin on the existing Pinewood alcoholic rehabilitation centre in Oshawa. Council members also want to know how local low income housing would. be . affectgd following the release of guests from the centre. Council's recommendation came after a 45-minute meeting with representatives of the Renascent Centre last Wednesday night in Whitby. Renascent is considering the location of an alcoholic rehabilitation centre •in Brooklin on Colston Ave. The move is opposed by some Brooklin residents who fear the centre could cause problems in thé village which has a population of about 1,500. The health council, rather than deal with planning matters, preferred to direct questions to- Renascent representatives on health-related subjects. Yet council concerns about the location were obvious from the beginning of the meeting. Gary Herrema, Durham Region council chairman and a member of the health council asked if the centre would havi any impact on hospitals in tht area, especially if its resident: begin suffering from' alcoho withdrawal. John Campbell, a member of the board, replied that guests are required to be alcohol-free 72 hours prior to being admitted. He SEE PAGE 21 French immersion busing recommended by committee On Feb. 8, the Durham Board of Education will consider a proposal to bus French immersion students throughout Durham Region star- Cartoonist - WinS OCNA premier award THE PETER PERRY AWARD given posthumously to Dr. Joseph Ruddy is held by son Richard Ruddy and Dr. Ruddy's widow Josephine Willson during the reception after the award ceremony Friday night. Free Press photo J.O. Ruddy named Dr. Joseph 0. Ruddy, who died in 1969 before he could see the public opening of the hospital he had worked hard to establish in Whitby, became the first posthumous win- ner of the Peter Perry Award last Friday night. "Just marvellous," was how his widow, Josephine Willson, described the honor. "I was absolutely astounded, honored and proud," said one of Dr. Ruddy's two ' sons, Richard,. manager for special loans in the Royal Bank head office in Toronto. "Without his (Dr. Ruddy's) leadership, we wouldn't have the hospital today," said Brian Winter, Whitby archivist and secretary of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce which organizes the Peter Perry Awardshow. Free Press editorial car- toonist Randy Hall won a first- place Premier Award, in the "Best Local Cartoon" category of the Ontario Com- m unity Newspapers Association Better Newspaper Competition for 1987. Hall won for his cartoon in an October, 1986, edition. The cartoon made light of a news report in which a resident complained of rats on a property near a medical clinic in Whitby. Roxanne Reveler, Brooklin correspondent for The Free Press, was second in the ".Champion Correspondent" category of the Premier Awards. Awards will be presented at the OCNA convention in Mar- ch in Toronto. Ruddy was born in Uxbridge, Ont., on Oct. 10, 1900 and spent his boyhood in Leduc, Alta. He atten- ded the University of Alberta and graduated in medicine in Toronto in 1926. After post-graduate work for a year, he worked in South America for 17 years before coming to Whit- by in 1944 to take over the family practice of Dr. Ralph T. MacLaren at Brock and Mary Sts. He spent the remainder of his life trying to establish a general hospital in Whitby. He tried, in.1949, to acquire the old county House of Refuge on High St. for use as a hospital. Ten years later, he began chairing citizens' meetings to establish a hospital. A provincial SEE PAGE 9 ting in September -a change that could lead to accommodation and staffing problems because of an expected large increase in enrolment as a result of the change. The notice of motion was made at the Monday night board meeting, following a recoimmndationimade last week by the'proe'ty fctiân- sportation committee to have board staff work out the criteria for busing. A delegation of parents, in- cluding Sana Scott of an F.M. Heard committee, had 'requested busing at last week's meeting. ,Criteria could be based on the policy now used for transportation of students in ,the regular curriculum of the public board, in- cluding busing of students who live more than 1.6 km. from a school (with exceptions where walking is unsafe). The projected total cost is $219,450 for French immersion busing for the September-Decem ber period of 1988, and $624,960 for al] of 1989. The board's share would be 'reduced by more than half should provincial funding be provided. The French immersion program is now in its lth year with 2,217 students enrolled in seven elemen- tary schools, including Heard. Until now, board policy made parents responsible for French immersion stulent ~busing except where .students reside on existing bus routes. The exception benefits many students from five immer- sion schools but there are no existing bus routes for Heard of Oshawa's Ridgeway school. "Clearly there is a great deal of inequality with respect to the ac- cessibility to existing bus routes, particularly in Oshawa and Whit- by," Barry Vail, a board superin- tendent, states in his report on French immersion transportation. After hearing parent represen- tatives and discussion of Vail's report at the meeting last week, Pickering trustee Lorna Murphy made the motion to provide'tran- sportation and urged that the decision now be made to allow preparation of a new policy. "I would like to see a decision here, and not pass on the'buck to another generation," added fellow Pickering trustee Louise Farr, to applause from parents who packed the committee roon to hear discussion. . Farr said blsing should have begun when French immersion programs started. "The program, the concept, the ideas, if they are to be offered at. all, have to be accessible to all if it is going to be equitable and wr," said trustee Durican Read in sup- port of' Mrphy's motion~at the eozTimittee meeting. The motion was passed by a 5-3 vote, as some 'trustees, including committee chairman Ruth Lafarga, urged that "in principle" support only be given to transportation. In his report, Vail said transpor- tation could lead to a 35.9 per cent increase in kindergarten enrolment in September, 1989, basing his figures on the experience of two Metro Toronto school boards when they began bussing. "This would place a strain on existing accommodation at some locations where portables are SEE PAGE 26 See page,1 Campbell takes Pacifie championship See page 22 Peter Perry winner Charter night for Brooklin Optimists