Another Perfect “Perfect Pie Contest” in Warkworth

The Warkworth Town Hall Centre for the Arts was aptly named when you look at the artistry that went into the over 85 entries in Saturdays 31st Annual Perfect Pie Contest.  Decorations included chocolate dipped peanuts, pastry maple leaves, dates and fancy crust cut outs.

The event opens to the public at 1:30 but by 1:10 there was a long line up outside with each person anticipating tasting some wonderful pies.  I usually buy one of the auctioned off winning pies.  Last year I bought the winning maple cream pie and while I had promised a few pieces to friends I kept going into my kitchen and cutting off a little slice … oh it was so good.  Well , by the next morning there was one piece left … what the heck I ate it for breakfast!

This year my intention was to buy the winning savory pie and then invite friends over to share it.  I waited for the award to come up and the winning savory was a chicken and peameal bacon pie made by Caroline Glover. Coincidentally I was sitting right beside her.  This solidified my intention to buy it.  As the awards continued finally we got to the “Perfect Pie”.  Well Caroline got up to go present the award on behalf of Campbellford Chrysler and lo and behold she couldn’t  do it because she had won.  It was a lovely moment watching the surprise on her face.

Next came the auctioning off of the pies.  Rod Williams who has conducted the auction at the pie contest for over 20 years was at his comedic best and his “assistant”  auctioneer Judy Norlock provided the perfect foil as she announced her aging eyes couldn’t see nods and winks.

The various pies brought in prices from $35.00 to $85 and then came the perfect pie .. the savory one.  Well Mayor Hector MacMillan who had been in earlier but couldn’t stay had left a $100 bid for the perfect pie.  As I was about to up the bid a couple of others jumped in enthusiastically and it immediately went to $150.  I knew if I joined it would drive it much higher and since $150 was the amount I had set for myself and I had already bid for and one the youth category pumpkin pie, I sat on my hands.  I believe the Perfect Pie went for the $150 or close to that.  I was sulking.

What a wonderful event.  It is also good for the local economy.   My shop as well as the others in town were really busy as folks came into Warkworth early to drop off their pie entries and then to do some Christmas shopping while they waited for the judging.

Congratulations to the Warkworth Eastern Star Chapter 279 for such an excellent event.

Percy Ward wrap up thoughts- Trent Hills election

Over the last two days a couple of friends and I have been picking up my election signs.  I was impressed to see that most of the candidates complied  with the by-law to get them removed.  The countryside is looking pristine again.

For Percy Ward there were (out of a possible 3538)  1604 people who voted.  Because we have two Councillor positions and each voter can pick two …we could expect 3208  Xs marked, spread across the four candidates.

In fact the total number of  Xs marked (absent any spoiled ballot information)  were only 2806 which suggests to me that  402 folks only marked one X i.e. only chose one Councillor.  Interesting.

I was pleased that 59% of the people in Percy who voted put an X beside my name.  That is a very nice vote of confidence.  I look forward to representing the whole community to the best of my ability.

Now the work really begins.  I have already been receiving e-mails from folks concerned about various issues.

Dec 1st is the official date for us to graduate from “Councillors elect”  to Councillors.  Our actual swearing in ceremony will Be Dec 6 at 11 am and our first Council meeting will be Dec 7th.  In the mean time I will continue attending whatever meetings I can and reading and researching the issues I believe will be facing us early in our term.

I hope to use this BLOG to provide information where ever I can.  I will continue to share my thoughts on various ideas as well and I hope over time some folks will  be comfortable in participating in this BLOG to talk about what is on their mind.

One thing I feel strongly about is that we need to find a way to increase public participation at information sessions and public meetings.  I hope this BLOG will be one way of helping to get the word out.

Time for another early night!

Trent Hills unofficial results

As of 11:15 all counted. Thank you all who voted for me, I made it. So did Meirion Jones.

Hector Macmillan. Won 3721
Bob Fudge 2282
Alan Appleby 1576
Gene Brahaney 1931
Gerri Humphries 1076
Terry Nun 246
Rosemary Kelleher Mac Lennan 2108
Tom Kerr 1765
William Thompson 1993
Meirion Jones 792
Kim MacNeil 953
Chuck Mills 675
Stephen Moore 386
Camille Edwards 148
Bob Crate 375

Trustees
Verna Shakelton. 2161
Shirley Patterson 5099
Michal Vavro 1264

Trent Hills unofficial results here tomorrow night

I must admit I am now getting anxious. Tomorrow night I will go over to the Municipal Offices around 9 PM. Council chambers will be open and I understand that results will be reported as they progress. I will have my iPAD with me so I will try and update this BLOG from there.

Unofficial results will come out Monday and official results will be out Tuesday.
Thank you to all who have supported me. If you haven’t voted yet , you still can. just go to the Municipal Office in Campbellford, there is a poll there tomorrow … Monday… Until 8 pm.

Composting in Trent Hills- Next Public Meeting

Those who have been asking when the meeting will be, here is info taken from Trent Hills Website www.trenthills.ca.

Public Meeting – Zoning and Official Plan Amendments – November 16, 2010
ZONING AND OFFICIAL PLAN AMENDMENTS REGARDING COMPOSTING IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF TRENT HILLS
ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION #380, 10 NORHAM ROAD, WARKWORTH
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2010
The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. with a presentation of the amendments and policy review.
The Municipality of Trent Hills will be hosting a public meeting and special meeting of Council with respect to the proposed policy review regarding composting as a land use.
Proposed amendments to the Trent Hills Official Plan and Trent Hills Zoning By-law will also be considered.
The amendment to the Official Plan is considered under Section 21 of the Planning Act and the Public Consultation process is as set out in Section 17.  This is not part of an Official Plan update as set out in Section 26 of The Planning Act.
Official Plan Amendment
Zoning By-Law Amendment
For further information, please contact:
Jim Peters, MCIP, RPP
Director of Planning and Development
66 Front Street South, P.O. Box 1030
Campbellford, ON K0L 1L0
Phone: (705) 653-1900, Ext 234
E-mail: jim.peters@trenthills.ca

Trent Hills voter Turnout Stats -weeks end

Recorded Electors by Ward/Poll

Updated including October 22, 2010

Ward	Count			Voted	Turnout
Ward 1 Total		7,510	3,448			45.91%
Ward 2 Total		3,512	1,401			39.89%
Ward 3 Total		905	470			51.93%
Municipal Total		11,927	5,319			44.60%

Of the Ward 1 total above:

1,371 of 2,503 have voted in former Campbellford area  (54.77%)

2,077 of 5,007 have voted in former Seymour area  (41.46%)

The Independent really messed up in their editorial in this weeks paper which just came out Thursday.  It was nice that I was one of  their choices for Councillor but the whole thing lost credibility when they chose Ms. Meirion  Jones.  Meirion is a MAN.  It would have been understandable if that was the only error but the description of what makes him a good choice was totally written using she and her. Clearly who ever wrote the article had not done their research or they made some wild assumptions based on the name  Meirion.

Trent Hills Voter Turnout approaching 45%

The deadline (to ensure delivery)  for the mail-in vote passed last weekend. By my calculations most of those mailed outside Campbellford last Fri or Monday should be hitting the Municipality today.

For Percy Ward 2 another 125 came in yesterday bringing the total voter turnout to 1318.

 

Recorded Electors by Ward/Poll

Updated including October 21, 2010

Ward	Count			Voted	Turnout
Ward 1 Total		7,499	3,325			44.34%
Ward 2 Total		3,509	1,318			37.56%
Ward 3 Total		902	442			49.00%
Municipal Total		11,910	5,085			42.70%

Of the Ward 1 total above:

1,331 of 2,491 have voted in former Campbellford area  (53.43%)

1,994 of 5,008 have voted in former Seymour area  (39.77%)

 

Latest Trent Hills Numbers

3 More voting days left!

 

Recorded Electors by Ward/Poll

Updated including October 20, 2010

Ward	Count			Voted	Turnout
Ward 1 Total		7,489	3,189			42.58%
Ward 2 Total		3,506	1,195			34.08%
Ward 3 Total		902	381			42.24%
Municipal Total		11,897	4,765			40.05%

Of the Ward 1 total above:

1,298 of 2,485 have voted in former Campbellford area  (52.23%)

1,891 of 5,004 have voted in former Seymour area  (37.74%)

 

One Week to Go for Election Results

In Trent Hills folks are getting out to vote and I have talked to several that have taken the time to deal with the issues that the use of  MPAC lists,  for the voters list,  has caused.  People who have been on the list 20 years all of a sudden . . . not there.  Names of owners of one building I know of were nowhere to be found and when it was investigated they had been “taken off the list”!  No one could explain how.  Another resident that has “always used her married name”  ended up on the list with her maiden name.  She doesn’t even know how they got it.

I shudder to think what the records really look like.  In this day and age with our technology,  I find it totally unacceptable that an organization such as MPAC , charged with a such a critical responsibility can’t get it right.  There must be some way to fix things up.  Oh yes  and we pay for them don’t we?

I hope our residents have been able to fix up their records in time. I gather our own Municipal staff have been quite helpful in rectifying things.

It is our right to vote and it should not be thwarted by inaccurate lists.

Hot off the press here are the latest numbers for voter turnout.

Ward	Count			Voted	Turnout
Ward 1 Total		7,461	2,803			37.57%
Ward 2 Total		3,499	905			25.86%
Ward 3 Total		901	312			34.63%
Municipal Total		11,861	4,020			33.89%

Of the Ward 1 total above:

1,192 of 2,473 have voted in former Campbellford area  (48.20%)

1,611 of 4,988 have voted in former Seymour area  (32.28%)

Five voting days left now.  Last day for Mail-in has passed so now you need to go to the Municipal office in Campbellford in order to vote.

 

 

 

 

Trent Hills -864 votes (Percy Ward 2) received at Municipal Office as of today.

Results for Trent Hills as we end the week are below.  Thank you to the Municipal Clerk for providing such up-to-date information.

Recorded Electors by Ward/Poll

Updated including October 15, 2010

Ward	Count			Voted	Turnout
Ward 1 Total		7,456	2,618			35.11%
Ward 2 Total		3,497	864			24.71%
Ward 3 Total		900	309			34.33%
Municipal Total		11,853	3,791			31.98%

Of the Ward 1 total above:

1,101 of 2,469 have voted in former Campbellford area  (44.59%)

1,515 of 4,984 have voted in former Seymour area  (30.40%)

There are still many people left to vote but the mail-in-opportunity is diminishing given that if you mail Monday the 18th  it won’t likely leave your post office until Monday night. That leaves 5 business days including election day.  Anything received at the Municipal Offices after 8pm on Monday evening the 25th will not count.

So head over to the Municipal Office in Campbellford and make sure your vote gets there in time!

Kim MacNeil    X