SECOND RECENT KUDOS TO THE WOOLWICH OBSERVER

Call it a love-hate relationship. I am constantly pleased with their local and regional coverage overall. I am constantly pleased with their Editorial's and Steve Kannon's opinion pieces whether on local or international matters. I am thankful and appreciative of their presence during all council and committee of the whole meetings. I think their cartoonist is often beyond brilliant. Their coverage and opinions on the political scene whether municipal, regional, provincial or federal are reasonable and logical Etc. etc..

So what's the problem? Well the Merlihan boys know what's coming next. Primarily it's their refusal to cover the biggest ongoing environmental story whether here in Woolwich, regionally or almost provincially. I will give the nod to the horrendous Grassy Narrows display of provincial negligence and ambivalence to human suffering as the biggest, ongoing provincial environmental story in recent months.

Uniroyal Chemical aka (also known as) Chemtura and now Lanxess is on the cusp of either a serious cleanup off-site to the east combined with sediment and floodplain soil removal in and around the Canagagigue Creek or it's on the cusp of the truly largest environmental charade, sham and coverup that will put the last thirty years of public deceit, deception and lying to shame. And where is the Woolwich Observer? They are MIA (missing in action). Your community needs and deserves your coverage. You did a fantastic job for perhaps your first decade of existence (1995-2005) on this file. We actually had two excellent local papers covering Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura in those days. The Elmira Independent are gone and as a result we need you more than ever.

Oh the second Kudo to the Woolwich Observer above and beyond the above? Despite a strong difference of opinion regarding Chemtura/Lanxess coverage, the Observer have repeatedly played fair with their public comments section after their articles. Beneath their coverage of their "Boundary Rationalization" article I put in my comments yesterday about their excluding my and Councillors' discussion regarding Chemtura's contamination of the east side. Many groups and individuals talk a good story about public input and comments but only the good ones actually continue to embrace it when the comments are critical. Kudos to the Woolwich Observer.