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shop you drop here are the christmas shopping hours in downtown stouffville this coming week monday to friday 9 am to 9 pm saturday 9 am to 6 pm sunday 1230 pm to 5 pm mon dec 23 9 am to 9 pm tue dec 24 9 am to 6 pm girls ho league action he up see page 21 of heart clears way for king sal bommarito staff reporter the man many thought had a legitimate shot at being the next chairman of york region withdrew his nomination at thefjast minute after deter mining he didnt have enough support to win bob featherstonhaugh 55 who lost his job as mayor of east gwillim- bury in the nov 12 election was considered by many as the ftontrunner among challengers to incumbent eldred king king won a surprise acclamation to a third term last week after feather stonhaugh dropped out of the running former aurora mayor george timpson and former georgina mayor john rogers had also planned to challenge king for the influential post which pays 86691 a year i chose not to be nominated members of council seemed to be vacillat ing said featherstonhaugh featherstonhaugh said he called eldred king thursday morning to tell him the news and wish him well another factor which influenced his decision to withdraw was the public vote the regional chairman is nominated and voted in by regional council in an open ballot featherstonhaugh said many councillors are uneasy with the system because they dont want to support a candidate and if he doesnt win they have to work with the regional chairman for the next three years i didnt want to put councillors in that position he said despite kings acclamation featherstonhaugh believes many regional councillors were considering other candidates right up until the vote was taken if councillors went to the last minute they were thinking change he said rogers was a lastminute entry into the race after announcing his inten tions at a special meeting held last monday afternoon at the sheraton see page 3 emmerson ont battle election result further bruce stapley correspondent despite his contention there were several irregularities in the nov 12 whitchurchstouffville municipal election defeated mayoral candidate wayne emmerson is calling it a day emmerson whose request for a recount on the basis of a number of missing ballots was denied by the new council last tuesday said at a press conference friday afternoon in his home that he would not pursue further action regarding the election this election as of right now is over said emmerson we will not be going to court at the briefing which was also attended by emmersons wife and campaign manager debra campaign workers dave probert and ed hakonson and defeated ward 2 candi date ed lyons emmerson said he was disappointed with the way council had handled his request for a recount of the 37 items on the agenda we were 37th said emmerson who had expressed his concern to council regarding 80 votes that could not be accounted for he had also told council tuesday he was disturbed by the conduct of certain members of the town staff on election day council which was meeting in committee voted unani mously to deny emmersons request for a recount council then met immediately afterwards at the direction of cao bob panizza in order to ratify the denial emmerson suggested friday that to call a council meeting with no notice was contrary to the municipal act he also aired other concerns advance poll ballot boxes had been taken home by the cao said emmerson he added that there was a 73 vote discrepancy between checked voters and ballots counted in one ward and that locks were left in advance poll boxes with only one staff member present he also questioned councils contention that the cost of a recount which was set at 600 to 700 would be unwar ranted these points leave very serious concerns about the whole election and the role of the chief electoral officer said emmerson i felt that in the best interest of the public a simple recount of the mayors race would answer all the questions emmerson also cited what he saw as unfair politics regarding mayor fran sainsbury being given a letter allow ing parkview village more sewage capacity during the elec tion in order that she could use it as an election tool the same letter had been asked for but not given to see page 3 dean financing from 5786 main st stouffville 4 6423655 buick c5mcz or up to all remaining 92 cars trucks jjtyvfrl4vv 6ac