The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 Orono Weekly Times - 3 ELECTION Continued from front easy to accidentally make a mark that covers a second oval. Bertrand also claims that the referendum question at the bottom left corner of the ballot is in small print. According to Barrie, the ballots were designed by a company that has experience in designing ballots for federal provincial and municipal elections. Unlike ballots for federal and provincial elections which traditionally only have four or five names on them, a municipal ballot, in effect, includes five individual ballots -- the Office of the Mayor, Office of Regional Councillor, Office of Local Councillor, Office of School Board Trustee, and in this particular election, the referendum question regarding the election of the Regional Chair, according to Barrie. "Polling stations are equipped with equipment to assist electors who have concerns with accessibility," Barrie stated in her emailed response to Bertrand. This equipment offers an audio ballot for those electors who are visually impaired and is equipped with sip and puff technologies, paddles and tactile controllers for those electors who may have hand impairments. As well, Barrie states, "Each voting poll is equipped with magnifying sheets to assist electors who have low vision." These magnifiers sheets have been used by some electors in the advanced polls, according to Barrie. While Barrie recommended the municipality rent electronic vote counting machines for this election, as was done in the 2006 election, council opted instead to have the ballots counted manually by the polling station staff. In her report to council last year on manually count vs. vote tabulators, Barrie stated, "The municipality used centralized optical scanners in 2006 to tabulate the election results and the equipment proved very successful." One of the advantages of the electronic scanners is that if a ballot is damaged or has been marked in such a way that it cannot be properly process by the scanner, it will be returned to the election official. The election official can immediately alert the voter, who then has the option to correct the ballot. Even with the changes in this year's election, Barrie says she is "optimistically hoping to be home by midnight on voting day." "Soccer Buy-In" for charity! by Maggie Savage Public Relations rep, Clarke Student Council Clarke's senior soccer boys put on a performace on Friday, October 8th, while raising money for charity. Members of Student Council recently met to gather ideas for ways to give back to the local community and the world. One idea was to raise money for the floods that occurred in Pakistan in July. Clarke senior soccer players Ryan Brandt and Trevor Heming presented the idea to have a "Soccer Buy-In" for their October 6th game at Clarke. This was then brought to the principal, who gave his approval. Students wishing to participate in the "Buy-In" had to pay a fee to skip class and watch the game. Ticket sales for the "Soccer Buy-In" started on Monday September 27th, in front of the school's cafeteria, where tickets were sold for two dollars each. Sales continued until Thursday, October 7th. A total of 362 Clarke stuGiving back Student Council also made a donation just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend. Members of Student Council spent four days collecting food. All the homerooms got points for each item students brought in. The class which brought in the most Clarke High School mascots Corbin Gay (horizontal), Mitchell Cowle (right) and Mitchell Harp (left) entertained the crowds at the afternoon soccer game held on October 8th. dents bought tickets and were released from their third period classes (1:20 pm). Student Council members also sold hot chocolate and bottled water for one dollar to raise money at the event. The Senior Boys finished the soccer game against the St. Mary's Thunder with a 7-0 win. The event ended at 3:00 pm. The "Soccer Buy-In" raised a grand total of $787, all of which will go towards Pakistan flood relief. food won free pizza for their homeroom class. The Clarke Food Drive began on Monday, October 4th, and on Friday, October 8th, Student Council delivered over 973 itens of food to Bethesda House, the women's shelter in Bowmanville. When asked how the food drive went overall, Ashley Johnson answered, " I felt it went great. I'm really proud of the amount of food that was collected, our school did a really good thing!" CORRECTIONS... In last week's article profiling the Ward 4 candidates, we stated that Local Ward 4 candidate, Cecil Mackesey ran for the Mayor's seat in 1997, and since then served a term on the public school board. With the intention of looking up what his other accomplishments were, we inserted a number of question marks. We never did get back to the story, and inadvertently, the question marks were left when that edition went to print. We sincerely apologize for this oversight. When asked the question, "What experience qualifies you to seek a council seat?" at the October 13th, Ward 4 Candidates meeting, Makesey said he has been a member of the Lions Club, a former Vice President of the Newcastle/BondHead Ratepayers Association and other volunteer committees. We regret the error. In the story we ran in our October 6th edition about Wes Knapp and his troubles with Clarington's By-law Department, we reported that he would only be allowed to put up a two- by three-feet sign in a residential area. That is not correct. The sign by-law permits a six square feet sign in a residential area. Also we stated that in order to be grandfathered into Clarington's current zoning by-law, Knapp would have to prove his small engine repair shop existed at the current location before 1984. That date should have been 1968. ~ Happenings ~ Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - Oddfellow & Rebekah Centre Roof Fundraising Supper, 6pm. Tickets $15.00. Call 905-983-5726 or 905-983-9571. Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - Fashion Show by Monica Rose, 7 pm, Solina Hall, Tickets $10. Call 905-263-8380. Fundraiser for Eldad United Church. Saturday, October 23, 2010 - Newcastle United Church Fall Bazaar, 10am-2pm. Crafts, Baked Goods, Silent Auction, Country Store, Tea & Lunch Room. Sunday, October 24, 2010 - Kendal Lions Club Pancake Breakfast, 9 am - noon. Kendal Community Centre. Pancakes, sausages, etc. Adults $7, Seniors $6, 6-12 yrs. $3, 5&under Free. Saturday, October 30, 2010 - Orono United Church Roast Beef Dinner with Homemade Pies, 5 pm. Adults $13; kids $7, preschoolers free. Tickets: 905-983-5169 or 905-485-5502.