November

There were a lot of happy people in the Nobleton area to commemorate the acquisition of 170 acres from Slokker Canada.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) assumed ownership of the site and, while protecting it from development, plan to rehabilitate the land by restoring it to a natural state. York Region will manage an approximately 94- acre portion of the land as part of the York Regional Forest tract. Beginning in the spring of 2007, the Trees Ontario Foundation will help fund tree planting efforts.

+ + + + + + +

Mayor Black had been concerned she might have trouble holding on to her office, but in the end, she was all smiles.

Election night saw her returned for her fifth term, out-pacing Councillor Pellegrini by more than 500 votes.

The Ward 1 seat, which was vacated by Pellegrini's mayoralty bid, was taken by Cleve Mortelliti, while Jeff Laidlaw upset incumbent Peter Grandilli to take the Ward 2 seat.

Linda Pabst, Bill Cober, Jane Underhill and Jack Rupke were returned to their respective council seats, and Gord Kerr became the local trustee on the York Region District School Board.

+ + + + + + +

OPP reactivated two unsolved murder investigations, including one involving a body found almost 40 years before in a field north of Schomberg.

+ + + + + + +

York - Simcoe MP Peter Van Loan might have missed the first cut, but he made it into Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet the second time.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Michael Chong resigned because of problems with Harper's motion to have Quebec recognized as a nation within a united Canada, so Van Loan was invited to the table to fill his shoes.

He took on all of Chong's cabinet duties, which included Minister of Sport and President of the Queen's Privy Council.

"That's a big business card," he joked. "I'm going to have to get extra large pockets to carry them."

+ + + + + + +

King resident Dr. Henry Barnett was among 21 recipients of Ontario Senior Achievement Awards from Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman and Jim Bradley, minister responsible for seniors.

Barnett, 84, was cited as a world renowned neurologist, physician, researcher and teacher, well-known for conducting clinical trials that showed that aspirin on a regular basis reduces the risk of stroke.

But his work as an active environmentalist and a longtime leading volunteer and supporter of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) had drawn much attention in this area over the last couple of years. He was instrumental in the success of its conservation efforts in the preservation of Happy Valley - the largest intact deciduous forest on the Oak Ridges Moraine.