Reeve and council need to stand up for what’s right
To the Expositor:
I write this letter as a concerned and disheartened Tehkummah taxpayer.
Recent events in our township have given rise to a new and disturbing direction and that is the deterioration of a certain standard of behaviour which allows and perhaps encourages the bullying of municipal employees.
When an employee feels so threatened in their workplace that the police are called, there is a definite problem. It is not based upon the fact that a taxpayer has a disagreement with the municipality and wishes to voice an opinion. That’s called democracy and freedom of speech. It is, however, not acceptable, in my estimation, to rage, shout and act “in an agitated manner” as witnesses reported to police.
It is not acceptable to be asked to leave for that behaviour and refuse. It is not acceptable for an individual to fear for their safety perhaps even more so when that individual is a small woman who is being confronted by a man who is at least a foot taller than she is. That is what I call bullying and if I know about the situation and don’t stand up to say something about it, then I am part of the problem. It is also evident to me, that the Tehkummah council doesn’t appear to have a problem with this incident. I saw and heard no public statement from our reeve or council when it should have resulted in an immediate response assuring the safety of every municipal employee and condemning these types of actions.
I am deeply dismayed and disillusioned by this. This is not acceptable behaviour on so many levels. Bullying has no place in our society and I was once under the impression that it had no place in our township.
Janet Carscallen
Tehkummah Township taxpayer
