In the previous recent Township Council meeting a long time Langley resident, taxpayer and local business operator/owner pleaded desperately with the Township Council to look into simply doing some inquiries to ultimately help him with gaining a short visitation access to his court seized property to simply collect some of his personal possessions.
Mr. Paul Houweling provided Township Council a long and detailed list of legal documents in which he claims that he has now exhausted any and all formal avenues of redress. His frustration finally brought him to Township Council as a last resort. In fact when he made his delegation request to council for any and all assistance, he said that he was now at his wit's end and at the point that he was even worried about providing even for his families basic needs due to the legal actions that culminated in his seizure of his property and his personal belongings, still on his previous property.
He said the bureaucratic systems to date had all but literally, financially destroyed him and his family so far and he pleaded with the Township Council to at least look at his case and see if they could as a last resort at least possibly assist him in getting access to his seized property to at least collect some of his personal belongings that he said are critical for him to rebuild his life.
"There for the sake of God go you or I ! " <--- span="" style="font-weight: bold;">LFP EDITORIAL COMMENT
Actual Council videotapes of the motion and debate can be viewed here---> Part 1 video is 5:31 minutes long and Part 2 video is 1:03 minutes long.
All of The Langley Township council except for Councillor's Richter and Kositsky voted down and against Richter's motion to get a report from the Langley RCMP on the matter. In fact Cllr. Bob Long & Steve Ferguson even argued that although the Langley Police are a sub contracted direct service paid for by Langley Taxpayers and are under the Township Council's purveyance (remember Langley policing is the single largest budget portion of the Township's annual operating budget!) that this council should NOT be involved in his request at all. Both Long & Ferguson said that they had not read the complete documentation given to them from Mr. Paul Houweling either.
Councillor Ferguson went so far as to even compare this desperate request from Mr. Paul Houweling with a police issued driving infraction! Neither he said should be interfered with essentially. He also said that Mr. Paul Houweling was well know to him personally and in the Langley community. In this Editor's opinion by default aren't they are basically closing the door on any or all requests by the public when it comes to the Langley Police services? Councillor Ferguson even went so far as to essentially say that getting a simple Langley Police report on his desperate matter was too costly an expense (WOW - WHAT caring? - WHAT Priorities?)
Councillor Richter's motion was a very short simple, reasonable and caring request that even she said may not possibly go anywhere to assist him but that she felt it important to at least inquire about. Her motion specifically said;
"I move that Council refer Mr. Houweling's delegation request to the RCMP to address his concerns as best as they can and report back to council."
She later added that her motion was;
"..in no way shape or form is this motion asking, ordering or intending to order the RCMP to conduct an investigation. It's simply asking the police to look into the delegation request made last week and report back whether or not there is any concerns that are valid and justifiable."
and finally Richter says;
"I think that's our (council's) job, to help the public, and if we are not going to help the public we probably shouldn't be sitting up here ( Langley Council table)."
This Editor was told that Mr. Paul Houweling in his delegation request also told the councillors that he had talked about his issues with Langley's RCMP top cop in charge, Superintendent Janice Armstrong and had asked her to attend the same evening council meeting when he made his delegation request to Township Council. In fact she DID attend that evening meeting and even sat right beside Mr. Paul Houweling in the audience! The superintendent rarely if ever attends the council meetings to be just an observer! Yet this Council in it's once again questionable wisdom chose to not even look at his desperate issue!
Kudos to Councillors Richter & Kositsky. Shame on the rest of Township Council.
In closing all this Editor can say in summary again is "There for the sake of God go you or I ! " and as Richter said, "...if we are not going to help the public we probably shouldn't be sitting up here ( Langley Council table)." ...
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