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Vote - West Warwick |
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2006 EPpy Winner -- Best multimedia Providence, R.I., Partly cloudy 69° |
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11.10.2000 08:26
Absentee votes clinch election for council incumbent  With 266 mail ballots still to count, challenger Gary Turner conceded the election Tuesday night to Louis Bleiweis.
By Edward Fitzpatrick Journal Staff Writer The margin had been 249 votes on Tuesday night, but then Bleiweis received 167 mail ballots while Turner received just 146, according to the Board of Elections. "I am very happy that the people thought enough of my performance over the past six years to return me to office," Bleiweis said yesterday. Turner, who owns the Inn at the Falls restaurant, had conceded the election Tuesday night even though there was a potential for up to 266 mail ballots. With the mail ballots in, it's now certain that Bleiweis and two other Town Council incumbents won re-election, fending off challenges from Turner and from Eddy Pacheco, a Burrillville High School student who waged a write-in campaign. The tally, with mail ballots included, now stands at: Democrat William E. Gonyea 3,224; Republican Edward F. Bonczek 3,180; Democrat Bleiweis 2,999; Democrat Turner 2,729. According to the Board of Canvassers, Pacheco received 784 write-in votes, running as an independent. The 19-year-old senior class president said he never expected so much support. "I was pretty shocked," Pacheco said yesterday. But he said he spent Election Day at polling sites, shaking hands and handing out fliers. "It's not fancy signs or the ads -- it's being able to relate to individual people that gets votes," Pacheco said. Although he lost, Pacheco said the effort was worthwhile because it helped raise his profile in the community. Indeed, he said he is already being recruited by the Democratic and Republican parties. He said he plans to decide which party to join -- or whether to join a party at all -- in about a month-and-a-half. In two years, Pacheco said he plans to be on the ballot for the next Town Council race. Bleiweis, 85, said his plans for the future include helping to find locations for new industry in town. "Sadly, there has been a diminution of business in the community," he said. But Burrillville can make zoning changes along Broncos Highway to allow more industrial development, he said. Bonczek, 61, said he plans to concentrate on revitalizing downtown Pascoag and renovating the Stillwater Mill complex in Harrisville. "We consider it a premier site for development down the road," he said of the old mill. But the Town Council must be careful in pursuing development, Bonczek said. "People want the town to be rural, and if we are going to bring in economic development, we have to do it with taste," he said. Gonyea said his main priorities are holding down tax increases and trying to get the state Department of Motor Vehicles to put a satellite office back in Burrillville. "We have a lot of elderly people in town, and we have to go to Woonsocket to go to the DMV," he said. "It would be a great convenience not only for Burrillville, but also for Glocester and North Smithfield." Gonyea emerged as the top vote-getter for the third time in a Town Council election. "To get this honor means a lot to me," the 78-year-old said. "Usually people can't live this long without doing something to be criticized about." Mail ballots also produced new totals in the uncontested, nonpartisan race for three School Committee seats: Debra L. Stockwell 3,450; Chairman John G. Carroll 3,375; Donald E. Waterman 3,273.
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