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Volume 73, Number 40 GST Included $1.25 Wednesday October 20, 2010 Orono Town Hall Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 Agreement No. 40012366 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Mark your ballot carefully After two days of advanced polling, Clarington's voter turn-out is 1.65 percent. A total of 951 electors took advantage of the advanced polling stations held in each of Clarington's four wards on Saturday, and in Bowmanville on Sunday. As Clarington voted by mail in the past three elections, Patti Barrie, the municipal clerk, has no historical data to compare these numbers to. With a return to the traditional style of voting in Clarington for this election, Barrie has had some difficulty finding enough people in Clarington willing to work the polls on voting day. After reducing the number of polls from 221 to 206 by combining a number of polls, and after advertising in Scugog for additional poll workers, Barrie says she has hired 553 people, enough to staff the polling stations on October 25th. As Ward 4 usually has the highest voter turn-out in the municipality, Barrie said she did not combine any of the polls in this Ward. Polls are divided into groups of 300 voters. Louis Bertrand, of Bowmanville, has raised a question in an email to Barrie, as to the design of the ballot. Bertrand voted at the advance poll and says the ovals where you place your mark on the ballot are small, and it would be easy to accidentally make a ELECTION see page 3 Fred Bedwin, who has farmed his Lakeshore Road property for many years, is busy with his chores as he prepares for the onslaught of yet another winter. Special fire safety meeting redundant At 10:55 Monday morning, Mayor Jim Abernethy called a special council meeting to be held at 11:30 Tuesday morning. The purpose of the meeting was "Public safety in the delivery of fire services in Clarington." The one item on the agenda was a presentation by Clarington's Deputy Fire Chief. In explaining why he had called the special council meeting, Mayor Abernethy read from a prepared statement. "The Christmas season will soon be upon us and we the council and public need to know if we do not have a safely functioning fire department." Abernethy informed his fellow councilors that the meeting was only about the safety of Clarington's fire department and he warned, "Do not venture off topic." The Deputy Chief went through an 18-page power point presentation which reiterated all the policies currently in place, as they relate to firefighting operations in the municipality. Clarington has been certified, as late as December 2009, by the Ontario Fire Marshal as being compliant with the public education and fire prevention requirements of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act. "Fire safety is everyone's responsibility," Deputy Chief Mark Berney reminded councillors. And in response to the question whether he felt Clarington was safe, he respond, "Clarington is safe. I am confident with that, I live in Clarington. At the beginning of the meeting, Councillor Ron Hooper declared a conflict of interest as he was the Ward 2 candidate endorsed by the Clarington Firefighters Association last week. Last Thursday the Clarington Fire Fighters Association (CFFA) announced which candidates they will be endorsing in each of Clarington's wards. Through a questionnaire and a series of interviews, the Association picked a slate of candidates who they felt would best promote their issues. Other current councillors endorsed by the Association, Willie Woo and Adrian Foster received a legal opinion that participating in the meeting would not put them in a 'conflict of interest' situation. One of the biggest issues the Association has is with the guideline in Clarington's Master Fire Plan, which recommends four personnel be on the trucks FIRE MEETING see page 9 What's inside... see page 3