Newmarket Public Library Digital History Collection

Newmarket Era and Express, 6 Dec 1951, p. 9

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Vs J HEADS OF COUNCIL 1 P Lome Evans For Deputy Disdainfully ignoring Mayor Bells crude attack on his election pronouncement published in last weeks issue of Aurora News Page Dr Crawford Rose can didate for the mayoralty of Aurora in elevated the tone of the nomination meeting to a high standard by a brilliant address which received great applause from his attentive hearers He surveyed hydro work and and has been the recipient of numerous testimonials in honor in the limited time at his dis posal set out briefly a program calculated to restore good local government in Aurora It is felt that by returning Dr Craw ford Rose as mayor of the town Aurora will once again have a head of council who will give to it dignity prestige and experi enced methods of handling busi ness There has been a sharp recoil of public opinion in Aurora since nomination night when a record audience was subjected to harangues of abuse and near- slanderous statements on the part of Mayor Bell and Reeve Cook Many electors who for merly supported Bell and Cook have now expressed their de termination to work for the cer tain election of Dr Rose as a protest against the injury done to the reputation of Auroras standard of fair play by the abusive attacks made on Aurora News Page and its editor by Mayor Bell and Reeve Cook Stew Patrick For Reeve The decision of Mr Stewart Patrick to oppose Reeve Cook has been received in Aurora with great popularity Stew Pat rick is a popular sporting figure well as a keen and very suc cessful business man He was on council for a number of years and is thoroughly conversant with town affairs He has a large business stake in the town and a big taxpayer Unlike Mr Cook he did not appeal his increased assessments Stew Patrick is a man who makes decisions and does not sit on the fence That is one important difference between himself and the present holder of the office of reeve Mr Pat rick does not subscribe to a policy of dillydally or handing a job on for someone else to do He prefers action and his selec tion as reeve would give energy to the office He is essentially a mans man and he is a good mixer He has done a very great deal in promoting of his services It is generally felt that the time has come when Mr Cook should go out of office with others of the Old Gang who are retiring this year and make room for a successful candidate to fill his place It is generally recognized that Mr Cook as reeve has failed the town in Mr Patricks decision to oppose him is rapidly gaining in popularity Lome P Evans In his brief address on nomin ation night DeputyReeve Murray admitted that it had not been his intention to seek re election this year but gave no reasons why he had changed his mind He further admitted that his business interests would suffer through another year in the office of deputyreeve In these circumstances opinions have been expressed that it would be unfair to him to elect him to the office Mr Evans address greatly im pressed the nomination meeting It covered a wide range of prac tical proposals and his declara tion that he was firmly opposed to any further expenditure on the planning boards consultant was received with general ap plause by his listeners He also pointed to the need of an inde pendent assessment Court of Re- Vision Voters who last year support ed Mr Murray are saying that such support will be given to Mr Evans in this years contest Whatever influence has been brought on Murray to change his earlier decision to retire it is felt that in fairness to him he should be allowed to carry out that decision in his business in terests Mr Lome Evans has had wide municipal experience which would be of great value to Au rora at this time when planning board and other town costs should be reduced His election would prove a popular choice COUNCIL REPORT While Citizen Collects Mail He Also Gets Parking Ticket Six Appeals Municipal Board A regular meeting of the town council was held in the council chamber Monday night December with all members present A highlight of the proceed ings was the announcement that six leading industries and firms were appealing assessor Goods rulings to the municipal board Correspondence included a let ter from the town solicitor ad vising council that the Inner Spring Mattress company was not disposed to sell any of its property which had been under consideration for town uses Mr A Sutherland sent a letter protesting a parking ticket which he alleged had been issued while he called at the post office for his mall and while he waited at the postal wicket The writer said he had 4 i with CHUNGS no objection to meters but cori the method he complain ed of was going too far Appeal Municipal Board The industries and firms pro posing appeals to the municipal board in respect of their assess ments are Collis Leather Shoe Company Hart Manufacturing Aurora Milling Factory Equipment and Mr A Lome Cousins Other A report on parking meters is to be prepared by the town clerk Councillor Jones requested that better lighting be provided at the parking space and that action be taken at once It was resolved that Decem ber be proclaimed Boxing Day and a holiday Proposed extensions on Dun ning Ave be handed over to streets committee Council ad journed at pm J SINCLAIR Editor PAGE NINE THURSDAY THE SIXTH DAY OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTYONE tSAuri aid Chicken Dec 17 1951 EDITORIALS MAYORS VOTE DECIDED The opportunity which the majority of the citizens of Aurora have asked for has now come On Monday December they can choose a new Mayor for the year 1952 and we trust they will do so in no uncertain manner It is our purpose in this editorial to show why we shall vote for and in other ways support Dr Craw ford Rose Let us say at once that we did not agree with Dr Rose in regard to the substance of the controversy over the new hydro building What we said then we would still say without the alteration of a single word Apart from our strong dislike of the appearance of the building which is a matter of opinion there are stronger reasons that it offended against the town building bylaws which ordinary citizens are called on to comply with However the final word did not rest with hydro commissioner Dr Rose When the deciding vote was taken Mayor Bell had the last word He could have cast his deciding vote with those who were insisting that the hydro be compelled to conform with the build ing bylaws He did not do so Instead of taking that course he cast his deciding vote along with the votes of Reeve Cook Councillors Fielding Gundy and As head of council Mayor Bell did not stand by the building bylaws he helped to put through in March 1950 The hydro was a test and he failed to pass the test He did not give a lead to council He voted against the very bylaws he had helped to make for other people Had he cast his decking vote with those who supported the building bylaws the hydro building would have had to conform Having regard to these facts which cannot be dis puted and the even more important fact that Mayor Bell was chairman of the building permits committee that granted a building permit to the hydro he must accept the chief responsibility in the whole matter In the final summing up the hydro building on street stands as it is today because of Mayor Bells casting vote The last word was his TIME FOR CHANGE The time for a change at the head of the council chamber is long overdue We need not repeat over again the many reasons we have given in past months why that change is necessary During the past year there has been a continuing decline in council prestige resulting chiefly from waste of time and time spent on matters that have produced only vexatious contro versy such as planning board bylaws and especially the contentious zoning bylaw not to mention the meters The truth is people have begun to lose confidence in the usefulness of the town council So much so that we have heard citizens say that the best thing that could happen would be for the council to go out of existence altogether That is a truly deplorable state of mind but it has been brought on through events of the present year town council is vital to the people of Aurora It is their local parliament and in the hands of good councillors great good for the town can come from it But the first essential is a good head of council The first essential is a man who can conduct the business council with knowledge and understanding Hero Is what a member of the present council said to us after hearing that Dr Crawford Rose was to be a candidate for the mayoral chair in We have great respect for the councillor who spoke these words and these are his words I served under Dr Rose for two years and he was a splendid chairman I never expect to serve under a better All members of council got their fair chance to say what they wanted to say But Dr Rose never wasted time Ho understood the of council and could give guidance if and when it was needed I would like to see him back again Wo were very greatly influenced to support Rose by such words from an experienced member of council ELECT DR ROSE MAYOR Writing this article the day before nominations wo have to state that our personal knowledge of Dr Crawford Rose is restricted to one long conversation we had with him an interview given at our request Wo sought clarification on certain points and we were fully satisfied Wo told Dr Rose that wo would reflect on our conversation we never write in a hurry would also hear what he had to say at the nomina tion mooting The impressions wo gathered from our talk with Dr were that he shares many of the views that have been expressed in Aurora News Pages in regard to the waste of on planning board consultations though ho is in favor of a planning board whoso purpose would bo purely advisory to council Ho as wo believe In tho supremacy of the town council as tho chief authority and is strongly opposed to zoning bylaw now council Dr is a in tho freedom of the proas and holds tho view that it should access to Hydro High and Public school business those are all parts of local economy Tho election of Crawford Rose to the office of Mayor would give vigor and buoyancy to town af fairs Ho would restore to that office a dignity it has lost in recent yean While this newspaper will at all timet its own independent views whoever Mayor of the town of Aurora we urge all voter to return Rom Mayor for 1952 Give him and the new council confidence through a record vote NOMINATION NIGHT Mayor Bell And Reeve Cook Lambast Aurora News Editor And The Victim Gives Reply The Mechanics Hall was crowded to capacity on Friday night November for the municipal nomina tions This was the same hall that council resolved to sell or rent to industry in January of this present year and it was so advertised for two weeks It will always be a proud memory for us that through our newspaper crusade we aroused public opinion in Aurora and saved the hall for the use of the citizens But for that newspaper crusade Aurora would not have a Community Hall today After the nominations were few months While that is concluded Mayor Bell came up on to the stage He spent little time in defending either his past work or outlining a pro gram for the future He men tioned meters but gave no state ment on them He referred to an editorial of ours concerning Mr William Large and stated that he resigned Mr Large did resign out that was not the end of the story The end came suddenly on the morning of Tuesday January 1951 when Mr Large was re lieved of his positions as assist ant town clerk and secretary- treasurer to the Aurora hydro commission Three men were concerned in relieving Mr Large of the positions he had success fully held for a number of years They were Mr George Baldwin chairman of the hydro commis sion Mayor Bell and Reeve Cook It seems a pity that since Mayor Bell told his audience that Mr Large had resigned that he did not go on from there and say how the resignation had been rescinded by council January and how mat ters stood on the morning of January 16 1051 when Mr Large was relieved of his jobs Had Mayor Bell told the whole story his listeners might have drawn a sharp breath It was a matter of deep regret to us that as we were not the owner or the publisher of the Aurora Banner but only a con tributor wo could not publish the complete story felt then that this oldtime trustworthy town employee did not in nil the circumstances get a square deal and we still think that Lambasting Us It was obvious however that Mayor Bell was thirsting to get on with another job dearer to his heart and of greater solace to his wounded pride Mayor Bell likes being mayor of the town And we dared to criticise him Why we criticised him Certainly not for personal reasons since we have no interest whatever in Mr Bell as a private individual It has been our business to serve Mayor Bell on council work for a period of almost two years Regretfully we have to state that he Is the least compe tent occupant of a mayoral chair we ever known There He hadnt much to on any- tangible proof of the confidence that readers have In our sin cerity it may not please Mayor Bell So on Friday evening he start ed out to us He drag ged in every little episode real and imaginary that he fancied could build up a case against us He even brought in some ragged recollections of an address we gave to the Aurora Lions club in April last it hope lessly mixed up He Did It Himself A more pitiable exhibition we have not seen or heard in many years His emotion overcame such powers of reasoning as are peculiarly his own so that his voice sometimes rose to a so prano tempo Of course I own the Banner he added facetious ly havent seen any profits yet We never said he owned the Banner on good authority we suggested that he was a part- owner That he did not deny nor does it matter For the Ban ner is only the Banner and no thing more The Mayor of Aurora did not take time out to tell his inter ested listeners what achieve ments he had accomplished There were apparently none to record He spoke not one word about a future program Pre sumably he has none but the zoning bylaw and even that is not his Alt he will do is help to pass it if he remains mayor His vociferations were pitiable in the extreme It was a truly painful exhibition But the peo ple of Aurora gathered in the Mechanics hall did have full opportunity of sizing up their present mayor He did it him self We did not begrudge him his little lambasting excursion Mayor Bell did not harm us He harmed only himself If Mr Bell suffered an injury to his reputation he has only himself to blame It was he who did it nil by himself Such Childish Writing to the stage came Reeve Cook brief case in hand He did not have anything to this year on becoming warden of York county No doubt he real izes it wasnt worth while No use whipping an old dead must always be a better and a worse One must judge these from the record All tho major questions Mayor Bell has handled in the past two years produced Intense divisions of public opinion In Aurora None more so than planning board bylaws hydro and the meters It has been our job to writo detailed impartial accounts of the Aurora council so that tho citizens would know what was going on We have hidden no thing We have told the citizens all that we knew of council work As an editor we ex amined council work pointing out to our defects as we saw thorn This has often offended him The sales of our newspaper have also in creased rapidly during past thing else except us Then there was blood in his eve He was out for the kill and Banner re porters got very busy With his papers on the po dium like a minister preaching his farewell sermon Reeve Cook read a few lines and then broke down He had missed the lino and it took him some time to find it again Wo thought he might bo looking for some fig ures to enlighten his audience on why he wns able to got knocked off an on of his properties But ho didnt say word about it It was ourselves ho was Ho would to have kill ed our News Pages full of such childish writings Even Dr Malcolm the squirrel suffered a blast Ho lampooned and lam Continued on Pago Col Minutes Incorrect Aurora News Page calls the attention of Mayor Bell and members of council present at its meeting held on Novem ber 1651 to tho fact that minutes of that meeting ore not correct although wore ap proved by council on Monday night December On November Mr Korr represented a delega tion which appeared bofaro council requesting removal of tho press ban Imposed by Mayor Bell Tho re quest proved follow ing a lengthy debate in which all of council present took part No mention whatovor is of such a or its out come in minutes There is consequently no record of that important event and min utes are not in order and should not have been approved Rowlands DEB Shop DRESSES SWEATERSffliftW THAT WEARfAND So s el v 1 v y V- on Look fee fellow Meet Your y w Two Graduate try St Emergency V H Stationery Range 01 Greying Cards Agent For Era Ads 13 St Telephone J v v IPC v For Km -f- J WILLIS The Drug Store News agent Tobacconist etc Business Founded Yonge St Aaron Telephone A V I Caterer For Weddings Parties Rome For Your Pleasant Samoadliifa 3 DANCING EVERT SATURDAY NIGHT I Table Kitchen General ffSf t phone A J A St U v S I THEATRE CLIFFORD GRIFFITHS T I t rs fe 1 V -p- v t j WW I Wl Lr1 TBI mil fcjii k MGMspii 1 V 14 t ir mm irii iw v -v-

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