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Review Vol.16 Number 48
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Thursday, November 27, 2014
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Serving the communities of Keremeos, Cawston, Okanagan Falls and Kaleden
Mayoral candidate charges ballot tampering Tara Bowie Review Staff
Mayoral candidate Martin Menzies has sent a letter to BC Premier Christy Clark charging ballots from the recent municipal election were tampered with. In the three-page letter Menzies lists a number of concerns relating to advance poll results and election day conduct. A large portion of the letter states there should be a ratio as to how residents would vote for incumbents and first time candidates. Mayor Manfred Bauer won the advanced poll by a margin of 111 votes to 16. Bauer was re-elected with a total of 304 votes over Menzies’ 213. As he did so poorly in advance
poll, but so well on election day Menzies thinks the advanced poll ballots were somehow changed. In speaking with residents since the election on Nov. 15 Menzies claims more than 16 people have come forward as having voted for him in the advanced poll. In the letter Menzies claims he has “many more people willing to go to court and testify or sign an affidavit than I had ballots in that box.” The letter charges that the advanced poll ballot box was not securely closed on the bottom and could have easily been tampered with during the 10 days between the advanced and election day polls. Laurie Taylor, CAO of the village and chief elections officer, said immediately after the election the
Martin Menzies
box was put into the village office vault. “It was locked in our vault from that night from about 8:05 p.m. on November 5 until I came to pick it
up the morning of the 15th to bring it in Victory Hall,” she said. “No one was ever alone with the ballot box here.” She added the box was secure and that it came open as an elections officer tried to show Menzies that there were no more ballots in the box. Voters must register at time of voting and that list is used to cross reference how many ballots were cast in the election. Taylor said the number of ballots cast matches the number of people on the voters list. In the letter Menzies outlines a variety of other problems he had with how the election was run and calls for a review of legislation in regards to reporting poll problems.
Menzies stated he spent more than a day on the phone with BC Elections and Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and in the end he was told to hire a lawyer and file a complaint with the court by Dec. 19. Mayor Manfred Bauer said he has full confidence in the village’s election staff. “I have full confidence in the electoral system in BC and I don’t see how it would even be possible to rig in any way the outcome of an election without having a large number of people ... working on a conspiracy to commit fraud and I don’t believe that is the case,” he said. “I have a full confidence in our local election staff. I think this is a really bad case of sour grapes.”
Local family is making a world of difference Tara Bowie Review Staff
Always on the lookout for a good property buy Roger Clinton and wife Gerrie Harker found themselves investing in more than just land. The couple, who lives near Keremeos, has worked tirelessly over the last few years to build a school, and develop proper roads and an electricity grid, for an impoverished community in Honduras. “The little kids down there they don’t really have a lot of a hope, but they are the happiest children you would ever meet,” Harker said during an interview with the Review about an upcoming fundraiser. Clinton, a Rotarian, originally travelled to the Central American country through his not-for-profit work before buying property site unseen. Several years ago while going to check out his buy he stayed at an Ocean resort and while there asked the staff if there was a community nearby that needed financial help. He was taken to the mountain town of Esperancita, near the historic Spanish colonial city of Trujillo on the northern Caribbean coast of Honduras. “When he saw how desperate the need was he said ‘I’m going back. I have to go back,’” Harker said. “The kindergarten school had a dirt floor and insects and little
vermin everywhere. There was no real light coming in... dark and dingy and damp not good for the heir health.” They put up the money – about $8,000 – themselves to help the community build a new primary school and to build a road because bringing supplies in was almost impossible. They now want to build a main school for children up to Grade 10. The cost is estimated at about $15,000. The couple have secured a portion of the finances already from private donors including friend Colin Foo, and anonymous donors. The Osoyoos Rotary Club, which Clinton is a member of, is also supporting the project Before heading to Honduras Sunday to start the build a buy-a-brick fundraiser at Rustic Roots winery in Cawston is being held. The fundraiser takes place between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the winery owned by Bruce Harker. A brick is $10. A powerpoint presentation will play in the background so people can become acquainted with the project. There will also be door prizes and food. Small donations will be Submitted photo accepted at the door and the sale of each Roger Clinton, left, and Bruce Harker stand outside the old kindergarten building in glass of wine will be donated to the cause by Esperancita, Honduras. Clinton donated his own money to build a new building there and is now working on a second school in the mountain village. Rustic Roots.