Hello Friend,

It appears that the Toronto Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society, who have been successfully operating the 74-inch astronomical
telescope for the past several years, to further public education, will cease operating the facility as of August 31st.

       At the same time,   Paul Mortfield tendered his resignation as RASC Toronto Centre President "with deep regret".

Mortfield and his wife Karen were instrumental in the operation of the public outreach at the DDO.Perhaps the driving force if you will.

The immediate reasons for  this rapid demise of the public outreach program are not entirely clear, however, the assessment
is that a combination of backroom politics, personal agendas as well as testy negotiations between the Town of Richmond Hill and the Toronto RASC may be partly to blame.
 
Time will only tell how things will move forward from here: The David Dunlap Observatory is  to be cherished for all the brilliant
research and discoveries that have been made there, by many Canadian and foreign astronomers.

Let us hope that the town of Richmond Hill will do due diligence in ensuring that the observatory continues to operate and that layers
of dust do not end up sitting on it's