------- Original Message Follows -------
To: Kim Richter & Langley FreePress
From: Dale Hughes
Subject: Thank you for writing to my friend Myrna, she deserved that for her courage to speak out.
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:08:08 -0800
I was personally very heartened to see you have integrity and did your level best to make some valid points in our favour last night.
Many thanks to you and your two fellow members of council who saw the angst of the community and made an effort to support us.
Personally I was stunned to see the whitewash by other council members on this issue.
If 25 people (unnamed) are found to agree with a plan that is kept under~wraps and then sprung upon the community who responds with a force of 10 times plus that number in letter and email protest and it is ignored, then there is something terribly wrong with the system.
This process is new to me, that is the first council meeting I have attended.
I am just getting involved in community matters beyond what I could accomplish in my few spare hours of volunteer for artistic and community hall pursuits. I became involved in this protest out of disbelief that such an important new feature for our landscape was being slipped into place by a passing of by~law due to lack of knowledge and input from our community.
The Mayor/council handled our concerns poorly with the exception of the three of you who took a stand on our behalf.
The deferral of this program to January would have been possibly a win win situation for them and for us of the community.
Yes, the Mayor is right in his passionate lecture to the converted on council and his attempt to sway/inform those of us in the audience.
It will not be the downfall of the Fort. Other phases of time have made an imprint upon the Fort in the past and still have been integrated into the community. And then there was a general agreement that this sort of erratic behaviour would be halted and we would begin building on our heritage and reflect the gems in our village to draw others of like mind to our doorstep in the future. Is money the only concern of a council? Why do we elect and pay them? It is our concerns and directives that are supposed to be upheld, not the wealthy corporate interests.
Erosion of public support in a tight community such as ours is a very sad misuse of power and will not be easily forgotten.
Such disrespect for our intelligence and our time was not easily swallowed and dismissal of the resulting frustration as rude was unacceptable to me. The apology should not have come from Myrna but rather from the council members using their platform of power given to them, by the public they were now misrepresenting, for our time wasted in airing their opinions instead of devoting their attention to our concerns.
Again, I commend you for your moral stand and valiant efforts to assist us.
I see you recognize it was not easy to garner the level of support and emails and letters that were received by council in this excessively busy time of the year within one week. Perhaps council should take another look at the force of will and number of dedicated persons involved in rallying that amount of support.
I will personally be very aware of the slippery slope of December's use for sliding unfavourable projects under the doorway of our community in the future.
I do hope you and all others in our community will have a restful and happy holiday season.
You three wiser ones well deserve it.
Best regards
Dale Hughes....
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