FROM MAYOR OF WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP..... TODD'S FALL FROM GRACE

Today's Waterloo Region record carrys the following story titled "Former Woolwich mayor Todd Cowan gets conditional discharge". Bob Burtt you may yet get sued for Libel. I was not the one who called Sylvia Berg corrupt or in Uniroyal's pocket contrary to the misinformation in your book. You gutlessly never asked me about that during our interview. You did ask about the DNAPL report and APTE's failure to confront the M.O.E.'s approval of it. Hindsight being twenty-twenty I am so glad that Richard, Esther and I left APTE over that because that was the turning point in APTE's future reduced influence. By the way Dr. Henry Regier did not leave APTE then. He wasn't even in town yet and didn't join APTE until around 1996. He left APTE over other failures not so much by APTE as by Susan Bryant and joined the Elmira Hazards Team around 2005.

Whoa what the hell was that sidetrack all about? One second I'm talking about Todd Cowan and the next I'm teeing off on Bob Burtt. Basically in preparing for this posting about Todd Cowan I decided to review Todd's lies in Bob's book. I never got to them but did get to other falsehoods. That said Bob's book is by no means all bad. It is disappointing however that Bob, under Susan's influence, has deminished his book with the personal attack upon my character by the following factually challenged individuals: Wilf Ruland, Todd Cowan, Bill Bardswick, Susan Bryant etc.. Upon rereading Bob's book there actually is a lot of good stuff in there particularily regarding the sins (corruption?) of Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. That we agree on. The rest by a pack of twits more allegedly worried about my style than substance is just window dressing. Wilf will bend over backwards and kiss his own butt rather than tell the plain, unvarnished truth to power. Power means Chemtura, Conestoga-Rovers and the M.O.E.. In Marshall speak he is a gutless wonder of very little use when confronting influential, professional truth twisters.

Susan and Sylvia, in years of hindsight, did sell out APTE, myself and Elmira citizens to the M.O.E. and Uniroyal. That said now I did not know, believe or say any such thing in January 1994 or in fact up until 2010. It took a tremendous amount of time, facts, experience and yes some advice from one or two others to convince me. I do not readily or easily distrust those to whom I have given my trust and confidence. Even after the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008 when CPAC and Woolwich Council turfed me from CPAC I required a very long time to come to that conclusion. History and more facts have since reinforced my conclusions.

Back to Todd. He is both the luckiest and unluckiest person in Woolwich Township. Lucky as hell that the Judge didn't convict him on the Fraud charge and unlucky as hell that his attempt at getting the Township to pay for his girlfriend's breakfasts was witnessed. Also unlucky in that his reputation and character have so publicly been destroyed. Undoubtedly a number of Woolwich Staff and politicians are happy as hell about that.

In the big picture Todd is no hardcore criminal likely to pose a threat to society in general. He has paid an awful price for his behaviour and is unlikely to ever be back in a position to breach the public trust. He will likely continue however to gild the lily when it so suits him and I can only say "buyer beware". I may give him a second chance but I sure as hell am unlikely to ever trust him again. Just like Susan.