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Don Sherk Construction of Penetanguishene lost a contract for work in Midland worth more than $140,000 Monday evening in part because of a letter that company owner Don Sherk wrote last Thursday to Midland's public works commissioner. : When tenders for the reconstruction of Queen Street in Midland were opened on June 5, Arnott Construction of Collingwood was the low bidder with $145,306.72. Sherk Construction's bid was second, $147,162. Some council members were disturbed by the letter and voted 6-3 against giving the contract to Sherk, and then voted 7-2 to award the contract to Arnott Construction. Some councillors argued that Sherk should get the contract because he is a local contractor and will spend more of the contract money in Midland. Don Sherk reacts: See story on Page 3 In his letter dated July 8 10 Public Works prices as part A." Commissioner Percy Ehler, Sherk said, 'AS you are well aware our company is the low bid on Pari A of thiscontrac!. We have looked ai our prices quoted in Part B, and now realize thai they are oul of proportion with Part A. Our company is prepared to do Pari B of this contraci for the same unil Sherk's revised bid was $142,070. Sherk went on in his letter to point oul the ex- cellen! relationship his company has had with the town, and that his company was a local company employing local people. "We need this contrac! !o keep our forces busy." "We would appreciate your assistance in having this contract awarded to our company. I am prepared to meet with yourself and the Public Works Committee if you feel this would be warranted." Deputy-reeve Bev Day told council, "I 'hink we'll be laughed ai the nex! fime we tender" (if council gave the contrac! to Sherk). I think our good repuiation will go down the drain."' Bui if the contrac: was to go 'o Sherk, his lowest bid should be ac- cepted, 10 save the town some money, Day added. In the recorded votes that followed Day voted agains! giving the contraci to Sherk and for giving the contract to Arnott. Councillor Ian Ross, in explaining the motion to give the contraci to Sherk Construction, said that because Sherk Consitruciion is a local company, the money would be spent in Midland, the cost of administration, such as telephone calls, would be higher with a Collingwood firm, and that the difference between the two construction firms was less than one per ceni. Councillor Richard Platt said that a matter of principal was ai issue. Council should not only act in an open and above board manner, bu! be seen to be acting in an open and above board manner, he said. Sherk's letter was compromising, he said, and the awarding of the contract to Sherk would leave "a bad taste in my mouth." Council decided against opening the contraci for a second round of tendering, which some councillors suggested would save the town money. Councillor Roberi Jeffery's suggestion that in fairness the other bidders on the contract should be contacted and asked if they would lower iheir bids was also not supported. During ihe recorded votes Mayor Moreland Lynn, Councillor Ian Ross, and Councillor Al Hennin voted io give ihe Queen Stree! contrac! to Sherk Con- struction. In ihe nex: vote, Mayor Lynn and Councillor Ross were the only council members io vole against giving the con- traci to Arnott Construction. Both Councillor Day and Councillor Joe Blake requested a recorded vote. Community Newspaper Vol. 15, No. 28, Folio 56 Wednesday, July 14, 1982 32 pages, 30 cents Snake bite proves false Jennifer Ferland has joined the list of one or 'wo people a year who are suspected to have been biiten by, or who have been biiten by, one of the Massassauga raitlesnakes indigenous '0 the Georgian Bay Island National Park and 'he surrounding Georgian Bay shoreline. The four-year-old ESPSS has 12 scholars Twelve of this year's graduates from Ecole Secondaire Peneianguishene Secondary Schoo] have been named Ontario scholars. ESPSS's 1982 Ontario scholars are Janice Desroches, Yvonne Desroches, Elizabeth Gammell, Elizabeih Glover, Leonard Lefaive, Paul Marchildon, Carolyn Maurice, Anne -Merkley, Michelle Morrow, Denise Preston, Christopher Sibbald, and Val Smith. Annual bikini contest on Aug. 1 The 'third annual Bikini Contes: ai Penetanguishene's Dock Lunch will be held on Aug. 1, Dock Lunch owner Nick Boudouris says. He is arranging for some well known hockey players to aci as judges this year. Aboui 15 girls (and, last year, one man) have compeied on a Stage erecied in the parking lot ai ihe iown's dock in each of the lasi three years. Boudouris estimates that 3,000 people waiched the contest last vear. Bicyclist injured in collision Paul Windross, 17, of Robert Sireet, Penetanguishene, was seriously injured on July 5 when his bicycle collided with a car. The car's driver, Louise Gauthier, 39, a Penetanguishene-area resident, has been charged with making an improper lefi turn. The collision took place ai ihe intersection of County Road 26 and Tiny Township Con- cession 13 at 5:35 p.m. Personality to host teen contest Television personality Sherisse Laurence from Toronto, rushed by boat io Midland and ihen to Huronia Districi Hospiial last Friday morning, had not in faci been biiten by a rat- ilesnake. She was kepi for a few hours for observation and then released, park Warden Dan Reive said. The rattlers, on the rare and endangered list in this country, are neither rare or en- dangered in this area. Pile 1s editficul! for anyone 'to spend any lime in the park" and not know what the snakes look like, and whai to do in case of a bite,' Warden Reive said. The information is well posted and is also contained in the pam- phlets describing the island, he said. A person with a suspected or real bite can be brought to either Penetanguishene General Hospital or to HDH for treatment, the warden said. The bite of ihe Massassauga rattler is not necessarily fatal, he said. The age of the person bitten and the location of the bite are important factors. False alarm Jennifer Ferland, four years old, of Toronto, is understandably upsei as she is transferred from a boat io an ambulance waiting at the Midland town dock to take her to hospital. Fears that the child had been bitten by a Massassauga rattler were proved to be unfounded. The area around a bile would swell within one !o0 two hours, he said. A boat can travel minules. Ferland from the island to the mainland within 10 was a passenger on a boat that docked ai McCabe Rock, a picnic area in the national park. will host ihe Miss Maple Valley Teen contest on the final day of the 1982 Rockin' Blue Grass Festival July 23-25 ai the Maple Valley Club near Lafontaine. A. least 10 girls, all 16 io 19 years of age and daughters of Maple Valley Club members. will compete for the 'een iitle. The contesi will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. One accident leads to another _ Two residents of a Mississauga home were injured in separate traffic accidents near Sawlog Bay in Tiny Township lasi Friday evening. A third person was killed. : Dead due to suffocation after being pinned under the International four wheel drive vehicle which he was driving, when it rolled on Bush Road, is Kirk Wallace, 16, of Rexdale. A passenger, Kerry Taylor, 17, of 761 Willowbank Trail, Mississauga, was injured. Aboui an hour later, Valerie Taylor, 42, of the same address, was injured when her car also went off a curve on Bush Road while, police said, she was aitempting to get help for an accident. SCBE top brass meet this evening When Simcoe County Board of Education 'rustees meet tonight for an 8 p.m. general meeting they'll be faced with a rather large agenda. The meeting itself at the Education Centre will be open to the general public.