FIVE MINUTES OF VERBAL DIARREAH AND NO STRAIGHT ANSWER

Well most of the fireworks erupted early as expected although for a slightly different reason than expected. Unsurprisingly Sandy Shantz took offence at my Delegation although I credit her with keeping her mouth closed during my presentation. That at least is a step forward. Afterwards however she was sputtering with anger and demanded written proof of corruption. That seemed odd to me as I had just listed four lines of evidence which while strong individually were overwhelming evidence when taken together of massive flows of contaminated wastewaters from the Uniroyal/Lanxess site over to the Stroh property. I asked her if she would like a response to her comment. Councillor Scot McMillan immediately jumped in claiming that a comment from the Chair is not a question. Anyway it turned out that she wasn't commenting or questioning the four lines of evidence about Stroh contamination but rather her feelings were hurt about my declaration of corruption regarding the Elmira cleanup amongst our authorities over the decades. The only criticism I had of Woolwich Township in my Delegation was their having fully captured the public consultation process which is undeniable. ............................................................................................................ That was followed by the only intelligent question regarding my Delegation although it was asked of Ramin Ansari of Lanxess Canada. To my surprise Susan Bryant pointed out to Ramin that as Alan had stated, there have been exactly zero soil samples taken by Lanxess/GHD in and around the Stroh Drain. She found this odd as ALL the other nearby creeks (Landfill, Bolender, Shirt Factory, Larch's) had been sampled for BOTH sediments and soils yet the Stroh Drain was only sampled for sediments which indeed were present well in excess of criteria. Why weren't soils in and around the Stroh Drain also sampled. Well....Ramin responded with FIVE MINUTES OF VERBAL DIARREAH without ever answering the question. Susan's face told it all as she listened. First was shock, then humour and finally a shake of her head. For anyone present at that meeting who did not understand that Ramin had just blown that question off, then they must be high on drugs, asleep or brain dead. ................................................................................................... The virtual meeting was packed including a couple new MECP folks such as a Lubna Hussain who also advised of a new District Manager by the name of Geoff Burdone (?). Keep in mind that we unwashed, unvetted by the polluter and his friends (Woolwich Twn.) can't ask questions even of clarification so I might have the last name wrong. Again with the use of the slide deck Ramin (Lanxess) monopolized the rest of the meeting patting himself and the company on the back. Other than the first hard question everything else was just a love in. People just sat back and tried to enjoy the show because that's all it was. .................................................................................................... I indeed got some pretty good shots in although I watered down the new soil sampling effort by simply saying the following: "Far too often citizens have been forced to step up to do the job that our authorities inappropriately, improperly and sometimes illegally refuse to do." "Local citizens have ben forced to step up to fill the research and enforcement chasms knowingly ignored by our various authorities." ............................................................................................... Later this morning I will be sending a copy of my Delegation off to the various guilty parties including Sandy. Hmm maybe today if I have the time or tomorrow I will send her some proof of corruption although why? They already know and already have the proof. Probably more than I've got. We'll see.