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07 | 25 | 2015 VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 30
AN INTRODUCTION TO GAZING UP AT THE HEAVENS LIVING HERE PAGE 24
COMMENT PAGE 8
LONG-TERM PLANNING NEEDED FOR PENSION SYSTEM
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Shantz reinstated to mayor’s seat by court decision
Despite intervention by complainant Alan Marshall, judge rules in favour of bid to return to office, reversing default STEVE KANNON Sandy Shantz was reinstated as Woolwich’s mayor by a court ruling Thursday afternoon. The proceedings were slightly more complicated than in the case of Coun. Mark Bauman, who was reinstated in minutes after being removed from office for similar reasons. The court granted leave to speak to Alan Marshall, whose complaint led to Shantz’s removal in the first place. In the end, Shantz was returned to the office she was forced to vacate on July 8 when the township served her with a notice of default for failing to file the required paperwork related to her election expenses. Marshall’s revelations prompted Shantz’s removal less than a week after a Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) decision to dismiss an application by the Elmira resident for a
Brady Mayhew (centre) is hosting Skate for Heart at the Elmira Skate Park at First and Centre Streets beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday (July 25) to raise money for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Inset, Thomas Gedja ollies up the steps at the park on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. [SCOTT BARBER / THE OBSERVER]
Saturday’s skate park event a fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital
Sandy Shantz won her bid July 23 to return to her Woolwich council seat. review of Shantz’s election filing. The judge’s decision came as a relief to Shantz. “That’s the outcome I hoped for, but I certainly didn’t go in without some apprehension,” she said in an interview Thursday afternoon. “It’s nice to have it behind me, and just to be able to get back to some form of normalcy.” For Shantz, it’s now SHANTZ | 2
SCOTT BARBER When Brady Mayhew was a baby, just 10-months old, he underwent open heart surgery. The Wellesley native was born with congenital corrected transposition of the great arteries, an extremely rare heart defect in which the heart twists abnormally during fetal development and the ventricles are reversed. Fortunately, the surgery at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto was a success, and
doctors at the renowned hospital have been able to monitor his condition over the years since – he’s now 20 – with annual checkups. Now, Mayhew is looking to give back to Sick Kids, with a Skate for Heart fundraiser this weekend at the Elmira Skate Park. “I’m putting this event on because when I was a baby I had open heart surgery and I’ve gone back to Sick Kids every year for checkups,” Mayhew explained. “When I turned 18 I graduated from Sick Kids
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and I was no longer able to go back, so I decided to put together an event to start donating back to Sick Kids for helping me to get through that part of my life.” He added, “I had a really good experience with Sick Kids. The people are great; anything you needed or any questions you had, they would help you out as much as they could.” An avid skateboarder, Mayhew spearheaded his first fundraiser three years ago in Kitchener’s McLen-
nan Park. After the Elmira facility opened earlier this year, he began reaching out to Skate Elmira and local businesses for sponsorships to launch the event even closer to home. “This is my favourite skate park around here,” Mayhew said. “It used to be McLennan, which is where I held my last skate competition, but ever since they made this park, I find it’s way smoother and it’s FUNDRAISER | 2
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