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

OPINION Election post-mortem A term often used after any election goes something along the lines of "the electorate is never wrong". Such was the case with Monday's municipal election in which Halton Hills voters-- in almost every race-- were very decisive with their ballots. In the race for Halton Hills mayor they clearly saw through the sham of a campaign run by challenger Robert Heaton and gave incumbent Mayor Rick Bonnette a resounding, lopsided victory. Halton Hills lost a great opportunity for representation at the region council table when former CAO Brent Marshall-- a longtime Acton resident-- lost to former MPP Gary Carr. A late start to Marshall's campaign and the fact Carr is well known in south Halton undoubtedly did in Marshall whose 30-year career with the Region is now over. In Ward 2 incumbents Bryan Lewis and Joan Robson defeated a game, but green, Jason Hilts. Ward 3 saw the only significant change of the evening as incumbent councillor Mike Davis-- who wasn't afraid of making waves during his one term-- fell to an impressive showing from newcomer David Kentner. Longtime councillor Moya Johnson was returned while David Adair was fourth. With the retirement of Ron Chatten, Ward 4 was guaranteed of seeing a new face and that face belongs to John Duncan who should partner well with incumbent Bob Inglis. Drew Riedstra, in his second attempt at municipal politics, was third while Kevin Duggan was fourth. Two quality candidates-- Gillian Kutarna and Mike Parkhill-- battled for the right to represent Wards 3 and 4 at the Halton District School Board with Kutarna prevailing. In the Wards 1 and 2 school board race-- the only close battle of the night as it turned out-- Gerry Ockenden outlasted Sean Haefner. Catholic school board voters clearly opted for change as they elected Rosanna Palmieri, ending a 26year run as trustee for Irene McCauley who battled health issues during the campaign. The turnout-- 31.6 per cent-- was less than we like to see, but sadly was par for the course for a municipal election. To all candidates, thank you for putting your name forward in an effort to benefit our great community. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Development in Glen will affect hamlet Dear editor, Re: Oct. 20 letter `Region must stand up to Province'. Mr. Beyette has eloquently put into words, issues that are of great concern. It was ironic that his letter was published in the same issue that ran an article on the new Sheridan development in Glen Williams, painting a much rosier picture than I would. Maybe I just don't understand government financing. The developer adds hundreds of homes to the town, yet there is no equivalent growth in the size of the town hospital; schools can only cope by adding more and more portables; and the roads become increasingly congested. The developer walks away and leaves residents with the problems that he has created, and our taxes continue to increase! As Mr. Beyette points out, we are also increasing the very pollution that we all talk about needing to reduce. In their insatiable appetite for profit, uglier and uglier subdivisions are being built where houses are crammed into ever smaller spaces. In my own village of Glen Williams, I spent six years, along with numerous others, including town staff and elected officials, helping to develop a `Secondary Plan' for our hamlet. Whilst Sheridan claim they will design their subdivision to fit in with the rest of the existing village, the sheer size of the development (91 homes in a village of 450 homes) cannot do anything but have a negative impact on the hamlet. A hugely disappointing result after six years work, to say the least. With local elections just past, I hope all voters asked their candidates their positions on these issues and what actions they were prepared to take to stop this madness. W. Shuttleworth, Glen Williams Participants thanked for making car seat clinic a great success Dear editor, Recently members of speciallytrained teams from Halton Hills Fire Protection & Prevention Services, Halton Regional Police Service and Auxiliary Officers, Ministry of Transportation, and our local Co-operators Insurance Office came together to give their time at a car seat clinic hosted by our Canadian Tire store. The level of commitment this group demonstrated in educating parents and ensuring the safety of our youngest citizens needs to be publicly acknowledged and we thank them for making our clinic a huge success. Tracey Craig Store Manager Canadian Tire Georgetown Pro-abortionists `living in the dark ages' Dear editor, Re: Resident appalled by right to life protest (Oct. 18, letter). Pro-Abortion people are living in the dark ages. As a pregnant woman, I can tell you first-hand the benefits of having a baby outweigh the consequences of having an abortion. Thirty years ago when they legalized abortion in Canada, they didn't have the technology (ultrasounds, Internet) that we have today to show a developing baby. The pain of postabortion syndrome and the physical danger (like death and complications in future conception) surely outweigh any possibility of abusive adoptive parents. I never chose my parents and I'll bet S. Harris never chose their's either, but adoption agencies do screen prospective parents and some allow the birth mother to participate in that selection process. I have seen joy in the faces of young girls who kept their babies and who knows, maybe one day, one of those babies may grow up to find the cure for AIDS. Now that's a good "choice". Amanda Snow, Georgetown