The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1985 ditorial comments Allegations Unfounded Over the past month, there have been submissions to this newspaper in the form of two letters to the editor and one full page paid advertisement dsaling with the conflict of interest on the part of Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor. The full page ad was taken out by Joel Aldred and appeared in the August 7 issue of the Star. There was a letter in the August 20 issue from John McMorrow and another letter in the September 4 issue from Colin Kemp. With a municipal election fast approaching, it would not usually be the policy of this newspaper to step into the middle of an issue such as this one. But we feel there are some points that require some clarification. Firstly, there is no question that the Mayor has a conflict of interest. He is a financial partner in a proposal to develop up to 22 lots at Stephenson's Point on Scugog Island. The Mayor has done absolutely nothing to hide this conflict of interest, and at every meeting of council where the proposal was on the agenda for discussion or a vote, he has properly declared the conflict and removed himself from the chair and chambers while the issue was under discussion. By following this course of action, he has in no way committed any breach of the statutes or guidelines. It should be pointed out that the council approved 13 of the lots. Property owners in the area have taken that decision to the Ontario Municipal Board for a hear- ing, a date for which has yet to be set. There has been the suggestion in the letters and in the ad from Mr. Aldred that because thé Mayor has this conflict and excuses himself from the meetings when it is discussed, he is missing meetings in their entirety. That is simply not the case. When the Mayor declares his conflict, he leaves the meeting only when the development is being discuss- ed. When the discussion is over and council moves on to other business, the Mayor resumes his chair. The insinuation that he is somehow neglecting his duties as the head of council and this municipality is total- ly unfounded. The development proposal in which the Mayor has an interest has been handled in exactly the same man- ner as all development proposals. It has been scrutiniz- ed by government agencies, subjected to the necessary engineering and hydrology testing, and because of the opposition from nearby property owners, the matter will be decided by the Ontario Municipal Board, on its merits. Section 5 of the Conflict of Interest Act, 1983 spells out clearly when and for what reasons a councillor must declare any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect. The Mayor has followed this to the letter. There is nothing in the Act which prohibits any member of any council from buying and selling proper- ty. applying for re-zoning, or developing land, so long as the member does not take part in any discussion, vote on the matter or attempt to influence the voting. Mayor Taylor's integrity in this matter is totally in- tact. His absence from the portion of council meetings where the issue was under discussion does not amount to neglect of his duties as head of this municipality. This editorial is not meant to be a defense of Mayor Taylor's development proposal, or his involvement in it. Rather it is to point out clearly that there has been ab- solutely no illegality and most certainly, his absence from portions of council meetings does not amount to neglect of municipal duties. The Mayor has handled this in a frank and open manner, the same way he has conducted himself with all Township business. Insinuations to the contrary are without foundation or merit. A Nice Week Prime Minister Brian Mulroney made headlines twice last week: his wife gave birth to a baby son, and the PM told Canadians that the country is bankrupt, flat broke Waell, the birth of a new baby is always cause for joy. as for the assertion that Canada is going down the financial chute, what else is new? It must be more than just a little discomforting for the average Canadian to learn that hard-earned tax dollars are going to be used to pay for the collapse of the Alberta based Canadian Commercial Bank (Turn to page 6) 4 / yp oo ITS ABOUT a THIS RAIN f HARRY 1 ; J "WELL IT COULD / / | BE Snow Like / ; ,\ CALGARY Just / / HAD ML mmc RA-RTTEN, PoRI™erRRY Sra 25/6 chatterbox by J. Peter Hvidsten ELECTION FEVER Here we are into the second week of September and already election fever is beginning to grip the community. Almost everywhere we go these days the November election is one of the topics that comes up in conversa- tion. "Who's running and what are their chances?" are just some of the comments we are hearing. Personally, I think that the 1985 election is going to be a very interesting one. Possibly one of the more ex- citing ones in the past few years. Mayor Jerry Taylor is being challenged by councillor John Wolters. Both men have been on council for many years and are well known in the community, so this could be a hot one. But who knows, there could be one or two more in this race before it's over. Another battle appears to be shaping up for the posi- tion of Regional Councillor. Presently held by Lawrence Malcolm, a veteran municipal politician, it would ap- pear that he will have a challenge if he decides to run for the position again. At least one or two other possi- ble candidates have been named to take a shot at the seat for Regional Councillor. Ward councillors have been reasonably quiet to date, as they wait to see what movement will take place among their ranks. It would not be surprising to see a few of these positions be contested as well. This year Scugog will be allowed two represen- tatives on the Durham Board of Education, so there will be at least one position up for grabs in the November election So, with only two months left before voters go to the polls we begin to sense excitement building in the com- munity [ know this writer is waiting anxiously for the race to get into high gear. GONE FISHIN' Just returned Sunday from a three day fishing trip to l.ake Temagami, about a five hour drive into the wilds of Northern Ontario The trip has been a ritual for the past nine years, and, as always we experienced great weather and fair fishing Our group of eight guys has changed little over the years, although we did miss our good friend, George, the elderly man in our group, who, over the years has managed to keep us in line. George died last fall after a brief illness, but there were many times over the weekend, that we reminisced about the good times with this gentleman who so loved the north country Although there were no new faces in our camp. for the first time since our fishing trips began. another group of Port Perry fishermen joined us on the lake Tucked away on a small island about two miles from the Cottrell cottage, is Ibi"s Haven, where the others set up camp. There has been a misconception over the years that this "fishing trip" is nothing more than a weekend get- a-way for the boys, so I would like to clarify that point. On Lake Temagami there is nothing else to do but fish and many hours are spent on the lake with our lines deep into the water looking for that elusive big lake trout or pickerel. . Our first day on the lake we caught two lake trout and although neither were trophy fish, they were good eating size. In the other camp, pro-fishermen like Fowler, Moase and Cuddie, their boats equipped with fishing gear, which includes down-riggers, graphs, temperature probes, CB's, dozens of lures, spinners and flat fish, managed to catch a few more than the "boys at Camp Cottrell," but.nothing to write home about, if you know what I mean. Aside from the fishing, one of the highlights of the trip was when the two camps got together one evening at Ibi's to tell fish stories and have supper together. Master chef's Jackman and Kroonenberg slaved over the hot stove for two hours preparing a delicious roast beef dinner with all the trimmings for sixteen hungry fishermen. 'We brought food with us, just in case we didn't catch enough fish." That evening finished, the boys from "Camp C" in- vite 1 the boys from Ibi's over the next day for brunch. Arriving at our camp on Friday morning about 11:00 a.m, the boys were treated to champagne and orange juice, bacon, eggs, sausage and home-fries. At this point, we had all eaten enough to get us through the entire weekend, but we managed to get a few more choice meals down over the next two days. ~ The weekend was rather uneventful from the stand- point of any large fish being caught, but Mother Nature treated us graciously, delivering hot sunny weather for our three-day trip. We managed to get in some water skiing, canoeing, sunbathing, swimming and star gazing at night. As I said it was uneventful, but it was a great little holiday with a great bunch of guys.