Feature Article
November 12, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeIncumbents hang on in North Frontenac
With no Mayoralty race, Ron Maguire won by acclamation, and only two candidates, incumbent Dick Hook and Will Cybulski, running for the two council positions in Ward 1 (Barrie), there was less interest than normal in the North Frontenac election this time around.
Still, it was a nail biter in Ward 3 (Ompah), with incumbents David Smith with 305 votes, and Gleva Lemke with 296, prevailing over Bob Olmstead, who received 259 votes.
In ward 2 (Plevna), Clinton (Bud) Clayton received 651 votes, and he will be joined on council by newcomer Betty Hunter, who received 369 votes. The other candidates were Kennex Cox, 263 votes, and Carol Hillier, 204 votes.
New Mayor in South Frontenac
In a race between sitting councillors to replace retiring Mayor Phil Leonard, Bill Lake beat out Fran Willes in a reasonably close vote, with political newcomer Stephen Beacosk finishing a distant third.
Willes won Bedford district by 155 votes, and her home district of Loughborough by a more substantial 532 votes. However, Lake took Portland district by 328 votes and trounced Willes by 1146 votes in his home district of Storrington. The total vote was Lake 4,305, Willes 3,516 and Beacock, 416, Bill Lake receiving more votes than Fran Willes and Stephen Beacock combined.
With the retirement of Vic Pobran in Loughborough, and Fran Willes running for Mayor, the field was wide open for the two Loughborough Council positions. Of the five candidates, three received over 1,000 votes, with Ron Vandewal leading all vote getters with 1,412 votes. Gary Davison won the other spot at the council table with 1,205 votes, just 85 votes more than third place finisher Alan McPhail at 1120. Janette Haase finished fourth with 486 votes, and Gloria Busch received 247 votes.
In Storrington, incumbent Jack Barr was re-elected, although it was close. He received 1,030 votes. But three other candidates were bunched up behind him. Peter Roos took the second council seat with 994 votes, just 14 more than Gil Pomeroy at 980. Larry York wasnt far behind either, garnering 935 votes. Carl Bilow received 383 votes.
In Portland District the two incumbents were returned, Bill Robinson at 1318 and Don Smith at 1168. Michael Clow was not far behind in a losing cause with 1,084 votes.
In Bedford District, incumbents David Hahn, with 874 votes and Del Stowe with 768, were re-elected. Third place went to Lea MacDonald at 595 votes and Gerald Bryant finished fourth with 207 votes.
The only School Board Trustee race in Frontenac or Lennox and Addingon Counties took place in South Frontenac. Ken Gilpin, who is the bylaw control officer for the County, will now be a school trustee in the Limestone Board as well, defeating Robert Tapscott 3,850 to 2,939.
The mail-in vote seemed to help bring in more cottage voters in South Frontenac, but voter turn-out was still poor to moderate.
The new council will be sworn in Tuesday December 2, at Sydenham. They will soon be looking for volunteers for various committees dealing with recreation, land use, public safety, etc. This is a good time to consider offering a few hours a month to help the people weve elected.
MacDonald re-elected Mayor of Central for the third time in a close vote; three incumbents go down to defeat.
There was a mood for change among the electorate in Central Frontenac, but that wasnt enough to put Howard Gibbs over the top in the Mayors race. Gibbs took Olden and Kennebec districts, both of which he served as Reeve back when they were townships unto themselves, but MacDonald won by a wide margin in Oso district. It all came down to Hinchinbrooke, which reported in well after the other districts because there was a referendum on the Hinchinbrooke ballot as well. MacDonald maintained his lead over Gibbs as the results from Hinchinbrroke ballot boxes were tallied. In the end, it was MacDonald 2002 to Gibbs 1740. The difference of 262 votes was greater than the slim 100 plus vote margin between MacDonald and Gibbs in the 2000 election. Back in 1997, before mail in voting had been established, MacDonald won by only a handful of votes over Gibbs.
Change was afoot in Ward 1 (Kennebec) however. While Jack Nicolson was easily re-elected with 614 votes, incumbent Marsden Kirk, with 473 votes, was defeated by Logan Murray, who sat on Kennebec Council in 1994-97 (before amalgamation).
In Ward 2, what must be seen as the upset of the night took place. While incumbent Faye Putnam topped all vote getters with 449 votes, Bill Guigue received 420 votes, and long serving incumbent Elva Price came in third with 353 votes. Justin Gray finished fourth with 252 votes.
Ward 3 (Oso) saw incumbents Francis Smith, with 898 votes and Bob Harvey, with 623 votes, easily re-elected. Rob Harrison finished third with 354 votes.
Another incumbent, Boyce Peters, went down to defeat in Ward 4 (Hinchinbrooke). Bill Snyder was re-elected with 510 votes, and newcomer Janet Gutowski was elected, finishing second with 459 votes. Phillip Smith finished third with 278 votes, and Boyce Peters came in fourth with 254 votes. Rounding out the large field were Archie Meeks with 180 votes, and John Cook with 64 votes.
There were two referendum questions, both attempts to reverse Hinchinbrookes status as a dry, alcohol free, district. Both were easily passed and Hinchinbrooke will now be wet.
Addington Highlands handily elects Ken Hook as Reeve
We could not get the numerical results for the election in Addington Highlands, but Ken Hook was elected Reeve easily, over Tom Thompson who finished second, with Gord Hannah finishing third.
In Ward 2 (Kaladar, Abinger, Effingham), 2 new councillors were elected, Louise Scott and Bill Cox. One incumbent, Ibra Cuddy, was defeated (the other incumbent was Ken Hook). Charles Snider also ran for councillor in Ward 2.
In Ward 1 (Denbigh) it was real squeaker; with unofficial reports putting the candidates less than ten votes apart. The two incumbents, Lorraine Berger and Eythel Grant were returned, with Teresa Madigan finishing a very close third.
Incumbents returned in Sherbrooke ward, but Tay Valley has a new Mayor
Susan Freeman and Mark Burnham were re-elected in Sherbrooke ward, but Mayor Mike Mosher lost out to Kieth Kerr by a count of 1571 to 1412. Mosher has been an activist Mayor, but lingering resentment over the naming of the township may have been responsible for his defeat. Jim McCann finished third in the Mayoralty race with 696 votes. Maureen Towaij, known to Frontenac News readers for her work on landowners rights through the Citizens Mining Action Group, was easily elected to Council in Burgess ward with 778 votes, along with Brian Campbell, who received 664 votes. Incumbent Wendy Laut, who has been an active environmentalist councillor, was defeated in her re-election bid in Bathurst ward. Laut received 623 votes, but Wayne Jordan, 673, and Bill Avery, 658, were elected.
Cameron wins in Lanark Highlands
In Ward 6 of Lanark Highlands, Hazel Cameron defeated Stephen Kotse 443 to 236.
