Dear Editor:
I was stunned to read the letter by Councillor Dave Mackay in last week’s issue titled Let’s stifle negativity.
Although his comments about Cobden’s potential for growth ring true, his personal attack on a small group of citizens quickly reflects the true nature of the problem faced by this community. The last time I checked every citizen was entitled to equal treatment under the law and the people elected are to serve the entire public. If Councillor Mackay feels that serving the public needs, whatever they may be, creates too much negativity for him to perform his duties, then in good conscience, he should resign his position.
Councillor Mackay implies that several contentious issues are the root cause of all the negativity impeding council action. Many people in Whitewater are misinformed about the true nature of both of these issues. The people involved have been vilified in the media through the lies and misrepresentations made by Councillor Mackay and others that are intended to mislead and deceive the public.
The truth is that two individual landowners in remote rural areas feel strongly that they have the legal right to decline to purchase dog tags since their animals never leave their property. I’m not going to say that these people are legally right or wrong. However, they do have well, thought out and compelling legal precedents for taking the positions they have.
Here’s where the lies and misrepresentations begin. Rather than simply leave these two people alone and forego the $30 in revenue from dog tags, it is Councillor Mackay and the related power-hungry bureaucrats who have pushed this issue to the point of extreme negativity. It was a power-crazed bureaucrat and a timid council who sent the controversial enforcement officer to the dog-owners’ properties to enforce their edict. It was a power-crazed bureaucrat and a timid council who filed the lawsuit and forced this issue into court at great cost to us taxpayers.
As taxpayers we have a right to ask what the public benefit was to spend all this money. Further, based on the number of court appearances and attorneys involved and used by the township in this protracted attack on two taxpayers, I am convinced that the true costs of this whole mess are being drastically understated. Further, there are many other costs other than the legal fees.
As taxpayers, we cannot be angry at the two people involved for defending themselves against this senseless attack. The real travesty is that the dog-owners were ready to state their well-researched case in court and the township spent well over two years in legal maneuvering because they were either incompetent or afraid that they would lose their case. In the end, the case was thrown out because the defendants are entitled to due process and were not getting this due to township legal delays. You really have to ask what was accomplished by the township.
So with that as a backdrop, Councillor Mackay and his fellow councilors, and especially their chief bureaucrat, can look squarely in the mirror for the source of 100 percent of the negativity he speaks of. The outright misdirection and deception that is so apparent in this matter is but the tip of the iceberg and applies equally to the other situations Councillor Mackay refers to. It is simply the ongoing modus operandi for the entire organization in most or all controversial matters and is fostered and promoted by the bureaucrat guiding the ship.
As taxpayers, we must insist that these elected officials and their bureaucrats drop the vendettas that they have created (like the new one in Councillor Mackay’s letter to the editor) and truly get on with positive actions in this community. The subdivision proposed by BEI is badly needed. The truck stop that was once slated for the corner across from Miller’s Feed & Seed is badly needed. The list goes on and on.
Howard Winters
Cobden
