Reading this article (Threats escalate in village, Trail Times Sept. 3) would lead a reader to suspect Salmo mayor and council are the unfortunate blameless victims of a surly, violent, ungrateful community.
Your reporter could have put balance in that article by talking to some of the very citizens accused of such behavior.
On the one occasion Mayor Henderson called police to attend Council, her own Councilors were the only ones to misbehave in a whole crowded room. In fact, the police never did attend that meeting, having useful duties elsewhere.
The statement that the “hostility” started with the council’s garbage contract fiasco is also wrong. That was just the last straw from years of ongoing incidents of mismanagement, ineffective efforts, inefficient procedures, expensive poor decisions, and self-centered agendas.
I have been observing this mayor and council regularly for five years, and have sad examples of all of the above. Salmo citizens are frustrated and angry at the lack of positive response from the very people who are supposed to be looking after our best interests.
Complaints are made by citizens at “public time” because the “other procedures in place” referred to by Mayor Henderson (write a letter, make a council presentation, phone) are not working properly at all and have not for years.
I moved to Salmo because it is a small community full of decent people. People who have unfortunately let democratic complacency install a mayor and council who are not representative of the spirit or wishes of a truly good-hearted community.
Dan Danforth
Salmo