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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-11-20, Page 151y-th �Y6'.♦V� J awl _;'. Box Blyth, Cut, I'CIvi ; H� BOWLING . TOURNEY WINNERS—The Youth Bowling Council from the Wingham lanes recently held a "Bring - a -Buddy" bowling tournament. The following YBC bowlers and their buddies were tournament champions: Hydro rate rise is lowest in years Hydro rates will be going up again next year. However preliminary indications are that the rate increase will be only about half what it has been in recent years. At its November meeting the Wingham Public Utilities Commission received notifi- cation from Ontario Hydro that the rates for electricity sold to municipal utilities will increase by an average of four per cent in 1986. - Hydro urged the utility to review its own rates as soon as possible and submit its requested increases for approval by Nov. 30. The commission plans to meet with its Hydro represen- tative this week or next week to 'prepare a new rate schedule. ' The actual increase in the cost of bulk, power charged to the Wingham PUC next year will be 3.9 per cent, Manager Ken Saxton reported. - Chairman Roy Bennett noted there is not much the PUC can -'do about the in- crease, but he .commented it is the lowest he can remem- ber in many years. In 1985 the increase charg- ' ed to the PUC — and passed along to its customers — was about eight per cent. Mrs. Lila Higgins celebrates 90th BELGRAVE — Many relatives, friends and neigh- bors gathered in the school- room of Knox United Church on Saturday to help cele- brate the 90th birthday of Mrs. Lila .Higgins which fell. on Monday. Mrs. Higgins was born Nov. 18, 1895, and has lived in Morris Township all her life. Her parents were the late Jeremiah Brydges and Eliza McCrea. On Sept. 1, 1915, Lila mar- ried Robert Higgins and they farmed on the 3rd Conces- sion of Morris before retiring to the village of Belgrave in 1953. Mr. Higgins died June 21, 1974. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins had a family of five: Mrs. Roy (Jean) Pattison, Belgrave; Miss Margaret Higgins, Lon- don; Alvin Higgins, Wing - ham; Mrs. Jack (Ruth) King, Wingham and Jerry Higgins, Stratford. There are 11 grandchil- dren, two step -grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A family dinner was held in her honor at a local res- taurant -on Saturday evening following the birthday party at the church. Mrs. Higgins is very active with her needlework, baking and flowers and is a life-long member of Trinity Anglican Church, Belgrave. Relatives from a distance attending the birthday party were Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Brydges and family of Brampton and a niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Downy of Pena- tanguishine. MRs. -LILA HJGGIliiS U Belgrave cele ratfed-her 90th- birthday 0thbirthday last Saturday with family and friends at Knox United Church, Belgrave. The former Lila Brydges, Mrs. Higgins retired to Be/grave 32 years ago and still lives in the village. where she enjoys gardening and needlework. She also is kept very busy by her family of three daughters and two sons, nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. back, Barb Carter and Tammy Cleghorn, Senior, Tracy Scammell, Bantam, Lori Tiffin, Junior; front, Michael Remington. and Ryan Robinson, PeeWee and Kerri Cleghorn, Bantam. 100 AND STiLL COUNTING—Hanna Wilson passed. a milestone last week when she celebrated her 100th birthday. Now living at Huronview, Miss Wilson returned to Wingham to celebrate the happy occasion "with nieces and nephews from Ontario, Michigan and as far away as California. Her birthday was marked last Thurs- day, Nov. 14, with a tea at St. Andrew's ,Presbyterian. Church, followed by a dinner at the golf club Saturday evening. Former resident marks 100th birthday Last Thursday, Nov. 14, marked a milestone for Hanna Wilson, as the former Wingham. resident, now liv- ing at Huronview, celebrated her 100th birthday. Nieces and nephews. in- cluding James and Cath- erine Wilson of Wingham, Margaret (Wilson) Thomp- son of Fresno, California; Betty (Wilson) Riker of Alpena, Michigan; Eric and Kay wilson of Cedarville, Michigan; Merle Wilson of •Wingham and. Agnes Fair - brother of, Toronto gathered to mark the happy occasion. A tea was held at St. An- drew's Presbyterian Church, Wingham, on Thursday oon.--- fellowed by - birthday dinner at the golf club on Saturday. Miss Wilson was born Nov. 14, 1885, on the 2nd of Culross Township, coming to Wingham to live when she • was 13 years old. She later trained as a nurse at Grace Hospital in Toronto, graduating„ in 1919, and moved td Bay City, Michigan, where she nursed at' the Jones Clinic for 37 years. Upon retirement , she returned to Wingham, to the old family home on Shuter Street, and for 20 years she spent summers here and wintered in Florida before moving to Huronview at Clinton in 1978. "I've hada busy life and a good life," said Miss Wilson, who is still very bright. and -a-etive:-She-said it 15`up-to the good Lord to decide how many more birthdays she can look forward to. No review,,rilanned FIRST SECTION inibnm cir4.7fint Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 1985 Single Copy 50c C' Irregularities in vote for mayor Special meeting is called to consider possible recount The Wingham Town Council will hold a special meeting this evening (Wed- nesday) to decide what to do about a problem which has cropped up in the results off the town's mayoralty election. The three-way race was won by Councillor Jack Kopas by a 13 -vote margin over his closest challenger, Ernest Eaton. However before the official results were announced last Thurs- day, Mr. Eaton had un- covered a discrepancy in the vote count at one poll. The results from Poll 5 show a total of 211 votes counted for the three can- didates for mayor, but only 205 voters casting a ballot at that poll. Mr. Eaton promptly notified Mayor William Harris of his discovery and asked that council request a recount. After getting a legal opinion from the town solicitor on whether it is necessary to have a com- plete recount or just to check the results of that poll, the mayor called the special meeting toconsider the request. Mr. /Eaton said he had suggested to the mayor that �;. recount would be in the public interest, in order to clear up any doubts about the election results. "The reason for my request, is the obvious mistake in the count or in addition, whereby more votes were cast for mayor at Poll 5 than ballots issued at that poll," he explained. "I feel that if an obvious mistake was made at one poll, there may well have been significant mistakes at ther polls as well." He pointed out that Poll 4 d not report until nearly :00 a.m., seven hours after he polls closed, suggesting ome difficulty in the count here. He also - noted that ere appears to be a par- cularly high abstention ate in the vote for mayor at hat poll. "Nobody knows what the ote for mayor is yet," -he oncluded. "We know it ertainly is not correct as it tends." If council does not agree to sk for a recount, Mr. Eaton an, by paying $100, request' judicial recount on his own. owever he suggested that hen there is an obvious ror in the count, as there is Poll 5, the municipality self should request the ecount. 0 di 3 s t th ti r t v c c s a c a H w er at it r For a poll -by -poll Page 5. wrap-up of election results, please turn to Page 5.. of count schools Elementary and secon ondary School, Wingham, is dry schools in Huron also on the list. County will not come under The Clinton- high school the close scrutiny of an has an enrollment of 806 accommodation review this students, while the school year, the county hoard of should have at least 849 education decided at its students to run efficiently. November meeting:. The Wingham high school, The last schools in Huron ilii= largest in the county, has to undergo such a review are an enrollment of 938 the Vanastra Public School, students, while the small st Hensall Public School and ,1 number of students it shoed A. D. McCurdy Public School have is 960. in Huron Park, and the board Both the Hensall and Van - has m -a -de a- crnrllnitnlenTio astra public schools remain keep all three schools open. on the list , of elementary This year only Central schools operating with less lluron Secondary School in than the minimum number Clinton was added 0) the list of students. of schools which are under i All current enrollment their minimum effective figures are taken from Sept. enrollment. F.E. Madill Sec- 30 Injury slight in accident A Stratford man received minimal injuries in a single - vehicle accident along County Road 19 in Grey Township last Saturday. Provincial police at Wingham reported that Hugh S. McCulligh, 26, was southbound on the county road at about 2:00 a.m. when he- lost control white roun- ding a curve and his car spun and entered the north ditch. A passenger in the car was not injured, Mr. McCulligh was not taken to hospital. The car, a 1976 Chev, received damage estimated at $1,000. Clerk -Treasurer Byron Adams confirmed that there is a clause in •the Elections Act whereby a council "for the public good" can call for a recount. He said such a recount would only verify the votes in the mayoralty election, not on any of the other ballots. In a separate action last week Bill McGrath, who missed winning a seat on the Wingham council by only two votes, filed a request for a recount in that election. Mr. McGrath finished with 539 votes while Dianne Grummett, the final elected councillor, had 541. The official results, which were posted Thursday at the town clerk's office, con- firmed the preliminary results issued immediately following the vote . count Tuesday night. Although there were a couple of changes in the final tallies, these involved only a couple of votes and did not alter any .of the standings. As a result, pending possible recounts, Jack Kopa's was declared elected as mayor; William Harris was declared elected as deputy reeve, and Ron Beecroft, Don Carter, Ward Robertson, Dr. J,. K. McGregor, Douglas Switzer and Dianne Grummett were declared elected as coun- cillors. Rod Wraith and Roy Bennett were declared re- elected for the Wingham Public Utilities Comma sion and Art Clark and Brian Jeffray were declared elected for the Huron County Board of Education. Asked for his reaction to a possible recount in the mayoralty election, Mr. Kopas said he really had no. comment to make. "Certainly if anyone feels there are discrepancies, there are mechanisms to have a recount. I wouldn't want my or anyone else's election to be in question." He said that becauselof a possible conflict of interest he did not plan to attend Wednesday's council meeting. However he said he had no objection to a recount "if council feels that's the route to go." As for the election itself, Mr. Kopas said he found the overall turnout gratifying and was glad there were no landslides. As far as his own vote, "I didn't really know what to expect," he said. "I was obliged to put forward various positions of the police commission at the council table and I suspect I. may have lost some support because matters I supported involved the expenditure of public funds." Mr. Kopas said that as mayor one off his first steps will be to ask council members what they see as the needs of the community, and then rank them ac- cording to priority. At some point council must come to grips with the question of the Lower Town Dam, he said, and also proceed "with as much vigor as possible" to resolve the library question. He said he sees the mayor's role as one of striving for consensus, likening it to that of a sea captain with the respon- sibility for guiding his ship safely to port. He said work is already underway setting up the new standing committees of council and he plans to have a number of orientation sessions in which the. new councillors will meet •with the present standing com- mittees to see what they are doing. JAMES -H. CURRIE of Wingham, a t teran of World War I and a 'charter member of the Wingham Legion, recently was presented with a Diamond Jubilee Plaque for his many years of dedication to the Legion and the community. Bert Morin and Dave Crothers, Legion members, made the presentation to Mr. Currie last week at his Cen- tre Street home. Grossman edges Timbrell to claim Tory leadership A mere 10 months after he lost to Frank Miller in his first leadership bid, Larry Grossman has succeeded in becoming the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Con- servative Party. At the party's leadership convention in. Toronto last weekend'— the second in less than a year — Mr.°Grossman won a slim second -ballot victory over Dennis Timbrell, another rival from the earlier convention. The final margin of victory was just 19 votes, 848 for Mr. Grossman to 8291or1Vtr,._-. Timbrell. The third leadership candidate, Alan Pope, had dropped out of the race after the first ballot on which he received 271 votes. After his victory; Mr. Grossman said his first priority as leader will be healing divisions within the Tory party, which has been badly split by the back-to-back leader - ship campaigns, and raising money to pay off its almost $5 million debt. He promised Mr. Timbrell "the most senior" job in the caucus and said he hopes Mr. Pope, who has hinted he might not rem.ai.n. at Queen' -s Park, will decide to stay on. It was the second time Mr. Timbre]] had been edged by Mr. Grossman in a close vote. At the leadership convention in January he lost by six votes on the second ballot, setting -up-a_--final-- ba-Ilot--shewdewn.-letwcen -Mr: — Grossman and Frank Miller which Mr. Miller won by 77 votes. The second convention became necessary when Mr. Miller announced his resignation following his party's disastrous per- formance in the May provincial election, which saw the Conservatives lose power to a Liberal -New Democratic coalition.