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‘Nothing Will Change if No One Tries’

Letters to the Editor | 14 weeks 1 day ago | Comments 4

By Sam Kelly

‘Nothing Will Change if No One Tries’ To The Editor: I do not want the community to get caught up in the name calling that now seems to be the order of the day. I am listed in the book and will gladly speak to anyone that would like to hear the truth about the issues the mayor has raised. We need to move quickly away from all this and back to the matter at hand. This is not about Nate Doughty and Sam Kelly. This is about the host community benefit fee with Future Mining that appears to have been grossly mishandled by representatives from our local government. The truth is I don't know what took place that caused our community to allow this to happen. I do know that it looks very suspicious from just about any angle. Getting answers at public meetings has not worked. A petition has been filed to force our committee to join with the residents to accomplish a complete investigation of this matter. I am not a candidate or member of either party. I do not have anything to sell nor anything I wish to buy. I am not looking for a job. I am a concerned citizen, nothing more, nothing less. I have had a great deal of personal tragedy in the last few years. This has caused me to allow my usual passion to be infiltrated by anger. I have brought this ingredient to some of my presentations and for that I apologize. I do not apologize for any of the issues I have raised or the content of any statements I have made. I did not invent this political system that is now so corrupt. Media and oil drive our national picture, big business and union leaders at the state, while developers and their entourage of attorneys and engineers control things locally. A bit over simplified? I'm not sure. Mix in a little "greedy leading the frightened" and the picture seems complete. I don't know how or if any of this can be changed. I do know nothing will change if no one tries. SAM KELLY Swainton

Print | Email Updated 14 weeks 1 day ago

Comments (4)

We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.

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Tue, 09/02/2008 - 3:01pm

It's just so hard to grasp that the Committee didn't immediately begin a search of the records themselves to recover any lost revenue.

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Fri, 08/29/2008 - 10:15pm

Apparently, a gentleman from Avalon Manor complained about people asking so many questions.

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Thu, 08/28/2008 - 8:23am

Thanks to Sam for his courage and stamina. I heard one of the committee members "pushing" (or bullying) a resident about the resident's saying HCBs should be investigated. So bright in some ways, but so often clueless and plain mean -- this guy seems to blame the public for bringing a major problem to the committee's attention. And he is completly missing the point. It's not up to the public to figure out how much really is due, an dthe final number isn't the big problem. The public is saying that something went rotten, and may still be rotten, and it must be figured out and make our community better. If it was old boy crony=ism, crony-ism has to go. If it's about Nate's or Steve's or Susan's friendship with Albrechts or Heuns, that favoritism has to be stopped. (Don't run for public office if you can't represent the public!) If it was corruption, the individuals who got something out of these years of deals have to go, and have to pay back. If it was stupidity, let's send underachievers to educational courses before they throw away any more public funds. And if it really was nothing, like the bullying committee member is trying to make people believe, then let's have a trained investigative team draw that conclusion. But do not -- and that means DO NOT -- put the pressure on innocent members of the public who simplyare saying hey, I want to know why this happened with PUBLIC funds. You know what scared me the most? The way the committee acted after people started raising questions.

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Wed, 08/27/2008 - 5:52pm

Thank you Sam for continuing to voice your thoughts. It is very sad that citizens had to petition the Committee to investigate the host community beneift issue. How can we get along, if we feel let down by our elected leaders? Instead of protecting the interests of the citizen taxpayer, their actions seem to be protecting a business which alledgedly has not met its obligation to the community. What is even more difficult to accept is the manner the people who have worked hard to resolve this issue have been treated. That is an utter disgrace. While all the Committee members work hard and are rightly proud of many of their accomplishments, they seem to have forgotten that they serve the people; they ran for election to represent the people. One thing for sure is the town needs a five or seven member Committee. There is simply too much work to do for three. Perhaps the HCB issue would have been caught sooner by those watching the hen house, if they didn't have so much to do. Between all of their responsibilities and the politicing needed to maintain their positions, it would be a miracle if they weren't stressed to the max. How much are the legal fees being paid for by the taxpayer for the lawsuits surrounding this problem?

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