The Diary volume nine

December 16th 2001 to January 13th 2002

Column 39
Ramblings
The same issues this week as last: the Police, Thomas Gillbard School closing and the ongoing rebellion in Hope Township.

The Saga Continues
The furor about the Deputy Chief doesn't seem to be going away, it seems that the Police Services Board thinks that the situation that has dominated these and other pages for weeks will blow over. It ain't gonna. More fat in the fire this week with the news that the President of the Cobourg Police Association sent a letter to the Chair of the PSB on December 24th. Hearing nothing (as of 9th January) he decided to go public. In an interview with this esteemed e'zine he says, "If I had got a reply I wouldn't be saying anything, but we haven't even had an acknowledgment from the Board!" Stan Sokay is asking that an investigation be conducted into two things: one is why wasn't a charge laid against the Deputy Chief when he was charged and two an investigation to see if the pair of senior officers were drinking on duty. "It is an offense under the Police Act to drink on the job, we want to know if they were on the job. We want an investigation to probe the circumstances and let the chips fall where they may!" I think many taxpayers feel the same way.
   In a letter that we received this week a person asked if there was anything they could do to support the Cobourg Police Association (the letter also contained an account of a conversation with the Mayor that cannot be published because it is so outrageous, and hearsay, although I believe every word of it) in their bid to have an investigation, so I asked Stan Sokay. the Association President. He said the Association will take all the help it can get and this is how to do it:

And if you think that the Mayor and Council can ignore this event think again. Talking to one member of the council this week that person thinks it is disgraceful and is determined to keep it alive, at least until the Chief's contract can be discussed. And I keep hearing how the public is amazed that the Mayor is not condemning the situation or at least talking about a municipal code of ethics.

Closure sets in
The Thomas Gillbard School closure committee met this week and there were more spectators in the audience than before. One prominent person was the Director of Community Affairs and others including Councillor Pam Jackson (must be in between travels) and Deputy Mayor Spooner. DM BS exposed one of the motives for closure in an astute piece of questioning and he and others demonstrated that not all the public are prepared to swallow the school Board guff and fluff. For more about this read here

A large public meeting may be an expression of defiance
Another public meeting that had the potential to demonstrate some nastiness was held in Port Hope to discuss the future of policing in ward 2, the former Hope Township. This meeting was held to discuss the future policing of Ward 2. Ward 2, the former Township of Hope was amalgamated last year. The result of a year's governance with an unbalanced council has been seen by some in Ward 2 as a civil occupation and annexation. Consequently when they have a an opportunity to express independence they do so lustily.
   Four formal presentations, 18 speakers from the floor and 400 in the room, it was a mighty fine public meeting However with about 300 of the 400 from ward 2 any speakers who were obviously from ward 1 got short shrift. Respect was not accorded even the ex-mayor Ron Smith got booed for his opinion.
   With the motive of unifying the municipality , and saving money, (Jeff Lees, "Some of us would like to unify the community -GROANS - and save some money") figures have been produced to show that if the Port Hope police took over policing in ward 2 taxpayers could save up to $200,000 annually. But the audience was not buying it.
   However this suggestion only provoked a roar of opposition best described as insurrection. These folks are going to cling to the OPP no matter what the cost. Council was told in no uncertain terms by some of the 400 people present not to be telling them what was going to happen. "You were elected to work for us not tell us what to do!" - Pat Toms.
"Mr Lees do not condescend to me, Mr Lees you are advocating unity in the most divisive way" - Joan Cox. Even the figures were questioned, I've been kicking around police forces for 35 years and look at the proposals, I don't know how we can supply an ATV for $3,000 you can't even rent one for that." - John Arken.
   Even the panel composed of Council members displayed disunity. Dave Watson of ward 2 delighted in pointing out to ward 1 speakers that they had run out of time and should sit down, "Point of order, Mr Day get to it!" Yes I will ...blah blah" Dave Watson, "You're over four minutes". However the same tactics did not work on Ron Smith from ward 2 (ex-mayor who was speaking in favour of the port hope police taking over). Given the same rude interjection from Watson Smith retorts, "with respect you went over the limit on the first speaker so give us the benefit." "Hurry up only one speaker went over 3 minutes" and so it went on. Finally for his troubles when he ended with the words, "I encourage you to consider the costs of the PH police." he was roundly booed. For notes of the meeting look here.
  My reading of the meeting; it will be a very interesting couple of weeks for Port Hope Councillors, most will want to save money and impose the PH police but are scared shitless to upset the ward 2 residents. The upshot will be that the OPP contract will stay but Council will tell ward 2 that is is cheaper to do it with PH police thereby stimulating a taxpayers discussion of costs.

Walmart makes the top ten worst companies for 2002
An email received points this out to us. The list has been compiled by the MultiNational Monitor

Appearing in alphabetical order, the 10 worst are:
Abbott Laboratories, for its TAP Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture with Japanese Takeda Pharmaceuticals. TAP was forced to pay $875 million to resolve criminal charges and civil liability in connection with allegations of major Medicare reimbursement fraud. Among other alleged fraudulent activities, as a way of hooking doctors on prescribing Lupron, its prostate cancer drug, TAP gave doctors free samples and then encouraged doctors to bill Medicare for the free samples.
Argenbright, the security company, for repeat violations of regulations for airport security. Argenbright's appalling record -- including violations of security rules it had been caught breaking just a year earlier -- helped convince Congress to federalize U.S. airport security operations.
Bayer, for its overcharge of the government and public for the anti-anthrax drug Cipro, based on a patent monopoly that may well be improperly maintained by virtue of a collusive arrangement with a generic manufacturer. Bayer also secured a place on the 10 worst list for its dangerous peddling of antibiotics for poultry (contributing to antibiotic resistance among humans) and its harassment of a German watchdog group, Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, for maintaining a BayerWatch.com website.
Coca Cola, for its sponsorship of the first Harry Potter movie and possible sequels, using a children's favorite to hawks its unhealthy product, and for alleged complicity with death squads in Colombia targeting union leaders there.
Enron, for costing many of its employees their life savings by refusing to let them dump company stock from their pension plans, as Enron plunged toward bankruptcy.
ExxonMobil, for leading the global warming denial campaign (even O'Dwyer's a leading rag of the public relations industry, has chastised the company for its "stubborn refusal to acknowledge the fact that burning fossil fuels has a role in global warming") and blocking efforts at appropriate remedial action, plus a host of other reckless activities.
Philip Morris, for its "we've changed" marketing campaign -- revealed to be a hoax by a Czech study it commissioned alleging cost savings from smoking-related premature deaths, as well as the company's ongoing efforts to addict millions of new smokers.
Sara Lee, for a scandal involving its Ball Park Franks hot dogs. Listeria-contaminated Ball Park Franks killed 21 and seriously injured 100 in 1998. In 2001, with civil and criminal litigation around the case heating up, the Detroit Free Press reported that Sara Lee stopped performing tests for bacteria after it started recording too many positives. The U.S. attorney, which handled prosecution of the criminal case, insists Sara Lee did not know about the presence of listeria in its hot dogs. In an extraordinary move, the U.S. attorney issued a joint
press release with Sara Lee announcing settlement of the case. The final tally: 21 dead. A misdemeanor plea. A $200,000 fine.
Southern Co., the largest electric utility in the United States, for its efforts to defeat sensible air pollution regulations. Southern is a heavy user of coal, and leads the fight to maintain a ridiculous "grandfather" clause in the U.S. Clean Air Act, which exempts power plants built before 1970 from Clean Air Act standards.
Wal-Mart, for continuing to source products from overseas sweatshops, for viciously battling efforts to unionize any fraction of its workforce (the largest in the United States, among private employers), and for contributing to the sprawl that blights the U.S. landscape.
    For a complete version of Multinational Monitor's article naming the 10 worst corporations of 2001, see www.essential.org/monitor.
   It should be noted that I can't wait for Ron Dabor to see this list apoplexy will surely set in. For  a man who believes that secondhand smoke is not a hazard and that blowing .8 doesn't make you legally impaired this apparent libeling (in his opinion) and manipulation of facts to produce such a list even showing such a thing is heresy!!


Local resident, and friend of mine, Rick Arnold is looking for support in his fight to make local thrift shops more economical and stop the exploitation of third world textile industries. He wants the old clothes collection bins stationed around town removed. The clothes collected are sent to third world countries to compete with local textile industries, in most cases driving them out of business.
There are petition sign-up sheets at Thrift Shops in Cobourg and Port Hope demanding that Zellers, Canadian Tire and OLCO (in Port Hope) remove the second hand clothing bins on their respective properties (please find attached the explanatory cover letter that went with the petition sheets).
   Would it be possible for you to make mention of this in your electronic newsletter? Perhaps you could reproduce the letter I am attaching for your readers info? Click here for the letter Can people sign an on-line petition? If this is not possible could you direct them to Horizons thrift shops and the Big Sisters shops in particular as places to sign the sheets? Am trying to collect as many signatures as possible before the end of January to then present them to the three businesses in question.
 Hoping to hear from you on this.
 Saludos, Rick.  rarnold@eagle.ca  905-352-2430
To add your name to Rick's petition click here and type your name and address in the body section

Sunday 30th December 2001
Ramblings
No apologies for the strong language of last week just because we now have a 'white knight' who has appeared to have bought the "Whitehall building". The public is still interested and wants to know that the oldest building in Town is in good hands. Keith Oliver is circulating a statement, here, and asking people to sign on to it just to demonstrate a concern. It will be presented to the new owner.
  The upshot is that evidence is turning up to show that a political solution could have been effected months ago at very little cost. But this Council, and the previous one, was not interested. Sad.


I have learned that a meeting of the committee that is studying the Thomas Gillbard closure is meeting on January 8th at 2.30pm. All who are interested should be there.

Finally a Happy new Year to everybody and we all look forward to a new year filled with more democratic successes than this one.

BTW congratulations to Dan Christie who hit the nail on the head with a letter to Saturday's Toronto Star.
cc
Hurray for 'bleeding hearts', there aren't many left!
Now for the e-mail:
The reason for nonames here is obvious, but the message is sincere.
I think there is a huge difference between having a glass of wine or whatever over lunch compared to hours upon hours of drinking on a pub crawl. Especially a member of the police whom we would expect to have a higher standard.
   My wife called Mayor Delanty and his answer to her was basically what he said on CHUC. She was appalled.
   I do hope we have not heard the end of it. I do hope that members of the community rise up and call our (bimbo) leaders to account.
   He should have lost his licence for 3 months or whatever penalty applies. Accept it with dignity and we would have understood and accepted the fact. We all make mistakes.
   Instead we have lost respect for the police and the "system".
Please don't publish my name, Ben.
Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.

Subject:
Whitehall
Date:;Sun, 23 Dec 2001 13:08:36 -0500
From: johanna ter woort <johanna.terwoort@sympatico.ca>
To: philoctetes <ben@eagle.ca>
It is truly a Christmas gift from hell,the dismantling of Cobourg's oldest building: what is this lawless heritage Council going to do about it? Can you please keep up the pressure: I absolutely loved the Fisher interview with Chief Kay and if the Star keeps up this kind of journalism I might subscribe again-Christmas wishes for you and your family-Johanna
Sunday 23rd December 2001
Ramblings
Column 38

Not much this week in content but lots in quality and importance: First of all how about the the thundering silence that greeted the massacre of the oldest building in Cobourg. This act of commercial vandalism sanctioned by the lack of interest by a Council that has absolutely no interest in Heritage can be equated to the acts of desecration to the Giant Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Both acts demonstrate a total lack of interest and ignorance of our history by the governors.
   The work, to demolish Whitehall (built in 1812), has been going on for some time but until the front door was removed nobody noticed. Then the proverbial hit the fan. Citizens arrived to observe the Town put a stop order on the work and a few took photos. Apparently the new owner, of the dismantled relic, is in Toronto. There was a demolition permit in place but one of the conditions of the permit was that the Town had to be informed of the work. This did not take place, so any last-ditch negotiations that could have taken place to salvage the house for Cobourg were impossible to arrange.
   A big black eye for our civic masters!! They have now proved to be absolute non-supporters of any kind of heritage efforts. I suppose if supporting heritage means joining the right clubs and telling us in election campaigns, "Oh I support Heritage for Cobourg" then they qualify but when push comes to shove what abject failures they are seen to be. Don't believe a bloody word these people tell you!


Perhaps our civic masters having learned from this fiasco may move on to the next confrontation in the heritage wars - Thomas Gilbard School. This inner city school is slated to be closed by the local school Board and if it does then the fate of the building will be the next heritage battle. It (the school) is sited inside an impressive and imposing  building; a Victorian traditional model school that sits on 1.5 acres of prime downtown housing land.
   It is in the local school board's interest to close this school as it is underfunded by the formula dictated by the Province. In fact if it closed tomorrow the Board would cash a cheque for $359,000. Add that incentive to the value of the land and buildings (a similar school in Port Hope just sold for $400.000) and there is absolutely no interest or incentive on the part of the Board to keep this school open. So the Town and its citizens have to make the case that a downtown school is essential.
   A committee of the Board has been meeting with local school and parents associations and not much progress has been made. The local papers have failed to publish letters to the editors about this issue so I have been asked to publish one here. The real problem is that the people who go to this school are poorer than average and have no political clout, unfortunately Yuppie's kids do not go to this school and the embattled parents council appears to be getting little support from anybody, not even the local trustee (the wee one, Mr Gilchrist - all he can see is $$$$ for the Board).
   So we have two problems for our heritage minded civic masters: keeping the school open and if it does close how to preserve the building. There will be massive pressures to demolish the school as the land is far too valuable to leave the school on, it is not sited for the best land values. You can build far more townhouses on the land than you can convert to condos in the building. So over to you Mr Mayor.

The subject of the Deputy Police Chief hasn't calmed down, I would say that the interview granted to Pete Fisher by the Chief has inflamed the situation. I know that people are organising very quietly to voice their opinions and if any readers wish to be put in contact with others who are willing to tell the Chief what they think, he did say that nobody had told him, just email me and I will forward your names. I have heard that the Police Services Board will not be having a meeting until the end of January, perhaps they think that the situation might have blown over by then.

now to the email:
Subject:
your excellent coverage and opinion on the acquittal of the Deputy Chief
Date:
Tue, 18 Dec 2001 11:40:15 -0500
ben@eagle.ca
Can the enraged public start writing letters to 1) the Mayor,2) the Chair,Police Services Board,3) the Crown,insisting on an appeal of this appalling decision,4)the Attorney General, exposing the hidious strategy of allowing the statute of limitations to expire which might have allowed for internal disciplining???? We pay extremely high salaries to our top bureaucrats: they can drink all they want but NOT WHEN ON THE JOB. This culture needs cleaning up: can we have our local journalist interview the various members of the Police Services Board for their opinions and measures which must; be taken? In most other countries the legal limit is substantially lower than our.08,our police surely is aware of active lobbying for a lower threshold in Canada. I thank CHUC for conducting an opinion poll. Shame on Mayor Delanty for stating that he accepts that business is conducted around drinking: NOT IN THE BUSINESS I AM FAMILIAR WITH....and I certainly do not wish to see my taxdollars support this culture of ignorance: can we set higher standards, immediately?

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