After winning four straight campaigns for mayor, Scott Taylor said he was saddened, but not shocked, to fail in his bid for a fifth two-year term last Tuesday.

"I'm a little sad," he said. "I've been doing this for a long time, and in any election you certainly think you can lose, but I did not think I would lose this election. It was a surprise."

Councilor Terry Prince received 2,563 votes to Taylor's 2,095, giving him a near-10 percent victory margin in the Nov. 7 mail-in election.

Taylor said he was pleased with the 66 percent turnout by the city's 6,853 registered voters, but felt "disinformation" circulated during the campaign regarding growth and financial issues, such as the Sept. 19 annexation measure and the Urban Renewal District, may have had an impact.

"I think there was a lot of bad information circulating," he said, "and people may have voted on that information without necessarily looking at how the council had acted, or without hearing conflicting information."

Taylor believes Councilor Roger Harris, who finished fourth in the six-person contest for three City Council seats, should be appointed to fill the vacancy to be created Jan. 17 when Prince assumes mayoral duties.

Challengers Teresa Blackwell and Patrick Johnson, who formed a three-person campaign coalition with Prince, and Councilor Randy Carson were the top three vote-getters.

Harris and Barry Lucas, councilors who almost always allied with Taylor on key policies and issues, and newcomer Paul Dawson failed to win election in the tight race, which attracted a good voter turnout.

Harris, contacted by email a couple of days after the election, did not address the vacancy question in his brief reply, but implied it was something he was not currently considering.

"An informed public chose their leaders," he wrote. "The process worked as it is intended. I am adjusting well to the idea of having free time in the near future."

Taylor, who had yet to speak to Harris, felt the new council should name the fourth-highest vote-getter to fill the vacancy, as has been the practice after past elections.

"It will be interesting to see whether the new council chooses to follow tradition and appoint Mr. Harris," Taylor said.

"There really is something to people who put their names forward for office, and who go campaigning door to door. We should consider this.

''(Appointing the next highest vote-getter) is how it should work, and it will be interesting to see if the new council follows this . . . Otherwise, you might start saying, 'what agenda are you trying to run?'"

The remainder of Prince's council term will be filled by someone appointed by a majority vote of the council, as decreed under the Canby City Charter. The appointed person would take Prince's council term until the November 2002 general election. Would Taylor be interested in Prince's council seat? "I think it's highly unlikely I would ever be asked by the council," said Taylor, who served on the council from 1983-93. "If the council actually asked me, I would certainly give it consideration . . . but they may see me as being a distraction or as being divisive. We'll have to see what happens." When Prince lost by 216 votes to Taylor in the 1996 general election, the victor nominated the vanquished to fill a vacant seat on the Canby Planning Commission. Two years later, Prince was re-elected to the council.

With Blackwell elected to the council, a seat on the commission will also become available in mid-January. The City Council will vote to appoint a new commissioner.

Taylor, like Prince, said the impact of Measure 7 will need to be interpreted and gauged before the new council takes office.

The new law, which requires payment to landowners if their property value is reduced, takes effect Dec. 7, more than a month before the new council is seated.

Whatever happens in his political future, Taylor said, at this time, he plans to remain a part of numerous community projects and non-profit campaigns.

"I do think downtown revitalization is important and working with our youth, so I hope to stay involved," he said.

Canby High School will present Moss Hart and George Kaufman's light comedy, "You Can't Take It with You," on Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 16-18, at the Canby Fine Arts Center.

Nineteen student actors, two assistant directors and countless set-building stagehands - all under the eyes of director Rebecca Banke - have been toiling since the beginning of the school year to put the play together.

"It's kind of like a sport," said Banke, referring to the troupe's daily after-school rehearsals. "We had auditions the first Monday of school and have been going at it ever since."

This year's auditions were open to the entire school, not just the drama club, so the cast and crew range from the student body president and thespian officers to students entirely new to drama.

In preparation for their performance, the students traveled to the theatrical city of Ashland to view another of Moss and Kaufman's plays, "The Man Who Came to Dinner."

The cast members are as follows: Heather Adair, Alison Becker, Britt Cross, Sarah Gabriel, Ingrid Garber;

Chris Hammond, Tim Hammond, Sam Krause, Derek Landess, Mike Lynn; Kevin McCullough, Rex Meyer, Jordan Sajovic, Cesar Salinas, Lauren Smith; and

Tessa Smith, Patrice Trosclair and Ben Walker.

The assistant directors are Jordan Crucciola and Derrick Ragan.

All shows begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are available for $5 at Cutsforth's Thriftway and at the door. For details, call Banke at 503-266-5811, ext. 1113.