The Citizen, 2012-10-11, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012.Locals compete at various levels of curling bonspiels
The curling season has started for
some of our Belgrave residents.
Katie Pringle curled with her team at
the Ontario Curling Tour
Championships in Oakville fromSept. 6 to 9 where they advanced tothe quarterfinals and again at theKitchener-Waterloo Fall Classic
from Sept. 20 to 23 and again
advanced to the quarterfinals. She
will be curling in the Stu Sells
Toronto Tankard from Oct. 5 to 8.
Congratulations and good luck in
Toronto Katie.
Shawn Cottrill curled with his
team at the Ingersoll Clash men’s
spiel from Sept. 27 to 30 and
advanced to the quarterfinals. Shawn
will be curling in the Stroud
Sleeman Cash Spiel from Oct. 11 to
14. Congratulations and good luck inStroud Shawn.Matthew Cottrill curled with hisjunior men’s team at the Southern
Ontario Super Spiel Qualifier in Galt
from Sept. 28 to 30. Matthew’s team
finished first in their pool and
second overall to qualify for The
Super Spiel to be played in Ottawa
from Nov. 2 to 4 where they will be
competing against teams from all
across Canada, the U.S. and
Switzerland.
Congratulations and good luck in
Ottawa Matthew.
Matthew also received word when
he returned home from Galt that hehas been selected to play with the Fanshawe College Falcons curlingteam this season.
Recognition
A mounted Blyth Festival season poster was presented to
North Huron Township Council during their Oct. 1 meeting.
The poster, presented by Manager Deb Sholdice to Reeve
Neil Vincent, was given to the township for their
sponsorship of the Festival. (Denny Scott photo)
By Linda
Campbell
Call
357-2188
PEOPLE AROUNDBELGRAVE
NH Councillor frustrated with
‘slander’ of township employees
North Huron Township Councillor
Brock Vodden called for an in
camera session to deal with
problems he has with the conduct of
residents of the township.
While Vodden didn’t mention any
names, he read a lengthy letter
regarding a situation in which
members of the public, often under
pseudonyms, were writing what he
called “slanderous and defamatory”
comments about North Huron staff
on a local blog that could potentially
haunt them for their careers.
The following letter was read by
Vodden at North Huron Township’s
Oct. 1 meeting.
“We are fortunate to have a
dedicated and talented staff. We
regularly receive feedback from
North Huron residents and from
visitors to North Huron about the
excellent service they have received
from those staff members, and the
manner in which they are dealt with.
As an employer, North Huron
council recognizes the value of our
employees for their hard work, their
loyalty to the municipality and the
community and for the support that
they provide for council.
Staff, like councillors, can never
please everyone they deal with, and
like us, they have times when they
make an error, express themselves
badly, or fail to recognize a delicate
situation. From my experience,
these situations are rare and I know
that staff members work hard to
have positive interpersonal relations
with the public.
More serious are the situations in
which a member of the public
decides to criticize a staff member in
a very public forum, naming the
individual, citing what they consider
to be illustrations of unacceptable
performance and behaviour, with or
without additional negative
comments about the person’s
character or personality. Sometimes
these aspersions are not one shot
efforts but the slanderous comments
remain accessible to all indefinitely
in a readily accessible forum.
These published comments are
slanderous and defamatory, and
potentially harmful to the career of
the named person. They can affect
the morale, not only of the victim,
but also of other staff who are aware
of the unfairness of such criticisms,
and the possibility that they too
could be the objects of such
derision.
Staff are sometimes being blamed
for actions not of their doing,
actions not in their scope of
responsibility, actions which are
required by council policy or legal
requirements, These attacks on staff
are invariably unbalanced; that is
they dwell on only one aspect of the
person’s work and performance,
without considering the total
contribution that person is making.
Furthermore, it’s difficult for our
staff members to defend themselves
in these situations. In most
instances, but not all, the accusers
hide behind fictitious names in order
to protect their identity while
callously naming the target of their
derision.
It is time to put an end to these
personal attacks on staff by targeting
the defamers and the vehicle they
use for disseminating their cowardly
messages.
I believe that we as council are
obliged to defend all of our staff
against this kind of attack. We
should immediately develop a
strategy for dealing with these
situations, including obtaining
advice from our solicitor as to how
we should proceed. I have requested
our CAO/Clerk to announce an in-
camera session this evening to
discuss potential litigation and
matters involving recognizable
persona involving several staff
members.”
Council did go into a closed
session following Vodden’s letter.
The results of that session are yet to
be announced.
While Vodden didn’t expressly
name any group responsible for the
comments or label “the vehicle” he
spoke of that night, in a conversation
with The Citizen later last week, he
stated that the blog The Wingham
Free Press is a major example of
such a vehicle.
“It could be an individual or
anyone posting these things, but up
to now, The Wingham Free Press has
definitely been a major source of
comments like that,” he said.
NEWS
FROM BELGRAVE
MacGowan returns to council
After a two-year hiatus, Wingham
Ward resident Archie MacGowan
was called upon to serve as a
municipal councillor again and he
accepted.
“I’m excited to be a part of council
again,” he said. “I won’t lie, it felt
strange to be appointed to the
position. Typically, over the 16 years
I’ve been involved in politics, I’ve
always been fortunate enough to run
an election and win. I was acclaimed
once, but I’ve never been appointed.”
He said that the council he last
served with, which didn’t include
councillors Ray Hallahan or Bernie
Bailey, had a different feeling than
the current council, but he feels there
is potential to do good and help out
the community.
That has been a mantra of his since
he entered politics; he wants to make
a difference for the community of
North Huron.
“In 1994, when I ran, I really
wanted to make a difference,” he
said. “I thought I could contribute
and I was interested in learning what
it was all about and helping anyway
he can.”
MacGowan, a self-professied
political junkie, said that at the time,
he was excited to take the dive and
get involved despite his mother
saying he was “nuts” when he
Get information on Huron
County attractions on the
Stops Along The Way
section of our website
www.northhuron.on.ca
Continued on page 14
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
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