i i!fc '*4 x». u*• 'f - l* BOWMAN VILLE LIBRARY 62 Temperance St. 1.1.03 Bowmanville, Ont. L1C 3A8 Orono Town Hall RONO Weekly Times Volume 66, Number 44 $1.00 GST Included Wednesday November 20, 2002 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 I 1 n liliüü """IF"""'" ii: 1» It didn't take long for local sledders to get their snow racers out Sunday after the season's first snow fall. Medical centre going to the dogs A application by Dr. Marlene Spruyt to rezone the Orono Medical Clinic to allow for a veterinary clinic was approved by committee of council on Monday morning. Since there were no objections objections raised at Monday's public meeting dealing with the rezoning for the building located located at 30 Cobbledick Street in Orono, the application was approved rather than referred back to the Planning Department for further processing. processing. Dr. Spruyt vacated the medical centre which she owns, in June of this year to amalgamate her medical practice practice in her Newcastle offices. Once the paper work and some on site work is completed, completed, including a new roof to the building, lot grading and landscaping, landscaping, the former medical centre will be home to three doctors of veterinary medicine--Doctors medicine--Doctors Matthew Stephenson, Carolyn and Derrick DeHaan. Swan safe among the cats The swan who's been on the lam since this past Summer was captured by Orono Jungle Cat World last Thursday and brought back to the enclosure at their facility north of Orono. The swan had called Orono Mill Pond 'home' since it's arrival this summer, to the delight of the pond area residents and many area residents residents who went out of their way to watch to swan at the pond. Cat World owner Wolf Klose, in speaking with the Orono Times on Friday said the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) had requested they capture the swan and bring it back to their facility. Andrew Taylor, Wildlife Officer with the CWS, confirmed confirmed that he had established that the swan did belong to Cat World, and under the conditions conditions of their aviary permit they were obligated obligated to get the swan back. Klose said he would have the veterinarian permanently fix the swan's wing, so it would not fly away again. A bone in Continued page 4 uote by mail here to stay Clarington residents will be casting their ballots in the mailbox again rather than the polling booth for next year's municipal election. Committee of council approved Canada Post's 'Vote by Mail' method for the November 10,2003 municipal election. A Clerk's Department Department report before the General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting Monday morning, identified three key benefits to the 'vote by Mail' method first utilized in Clarington for the 2000 Municipal election: increased voter turnout, decreased cost to the municipality municipality and convenience to the electors. Mayor Mutton stated that the increased voter turnout was partially due to the interesting interesting mayoralty race. On the down side, the Mayor said, "it took too long to find out who was elected. I want to be celebrating celebrating before midnight next time," he stated at Monday's meeting. Canada Post is working on integrating automatic vote tabulators with the Vote by Mail System, and according to the Clerk's report, is confident that the integration will be available for the 2003 municipal municipal election. One of the major concerns identified during the 2000 municipal election was the inaccuracy of the voters' list prepared by the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation Corporation (OPAC). At that time, amendments made to the list prior to 1997 had not been processed because OPAC was undergoing a major reorganization reorganization at the time and did not have the staff resources to handle the amendments. OPAC, now renamed the Municipal Property Assessment Assessment Corporation (MPAC), is under the Provincial Government jurisdiction. Many voters in the 2000 election election receive more than one ballot, and ballot kits were left in general areas in apartment building where anyone could have access to them. Municipal Clerk Patti Barrie said at Monday's meeting that MPAC have said they will provide better lists in future. Councillor Robinson noted that while 'Vote by Mail' system system was convenient for the elderly, it did shorten his election election campaign. "A lot of people people had voted and I was still knocking on doors," he stated. He also said he missed the poll Continued page 5