According to the Oxford Natural Heritage Study

A Note From Jim

Personally I think I couldn't have sat back and watched the proceedings from my TV, I had to act, but after 1 year of expending massive efforts I feel sad and dismayed that the council of the city of Woodstock voted to go against the will of the people,(thousands upon thousands of people signed petitions against this sell off/lease arrangement) and to allow for the developement of our local Burgess Park and Standard Tube Conservation areas.

There was some limited discussion of the matter, with several concillors adding to the discussion, but most notable was the almost vomit like statement that Councillor Talbot made alluding to how wonderful a neighbour a golf course makes, and how special she was to have lived on a property that "had the biggest back yard in Woodstock" because her back yard backed onto that "wonderful" place, a golf course, where her and her family walked and collected frogs from pinholes...according to her. Ms Talbot is a very special councillor that had a wonderful childhood growing up on a golf green.

Hmmm, I think if even one of us steps onto the Sally Creek course...we'll be arrested for trespassing. And contrary to Ms Talbots' statements, there will be no access to this golf course...unless you buy a ticket. And I guess a good neighbour is someone who uses council to exproporiate your community's parks for a private developement?

Sobeskis' assertion that he envisions a really nice park in 2040 is wierd at best.
The lease is for 25 years...so where does 2040 factor in? Todays date is 2007, add 25 years and you get, 2032, not 2040. Or is he saying they will give the guy 8 years to empty the place out?

So, out of this entire council, we have 2 persons who were on side who supported the ideals of keeping our green spaces green, and who believed they were their to do the work of the people who elected them, councillors Tait and Northcott. Those persons at least had the inner strength to stand up against those other buffooons on council.

And jesus, what happened to the CAW pick, Ross Gerrie? He sat on his hands, and wasted his opportunity to defend the persons who elcted him.

And our mayor? Where was he? He voted to initiate the Oxford Natural Heritage Study, and even waxed on eloquently in the preamble to the study about how we need to save these precious resources...well, it's amazing what people will say and do, and it's amazing how much they will say just to get their name in the news, or on a document, or just to hear their own name, period.

Here we are sending leaders across the globe to try and save the environment, and on the other hand, our local "leaders"(i tend to think they are followers, and only an election made them leaders, and before they were elected, they were just people with squat knowledge, now they lead us by the nose)are busy trying to kill the environment.

Lets' stop sending people around the globe and wasting money on trying to make other countries "green up'...we can't even get the fools in charge here in our country and community to stand up for the environment so what is the point of making China or India protect theirs, while we smash ours to bits?

So as an end note I would like to say that the fight is not over. We need to exert pressure on Mr McGuinty, and we need to exert pressure on the environment minister(John Gerretsen who I have some history with)and the board of the UTRCA.

We can leave Connie Lauder out...there is no point contacting her, as she has no idea what she is doing and it appears she is biding time until her time is up. A great benchwarmer...or they can use her to introduce motions that she doesn't read or study...that would be a great job for her because she has no idea what the heck she is doing.

October 23, 2007 she actually introduced a motion at the UTRCA board meeting that said they were not prepared to accept a golf course at this time, then she witheld that information from her fellow councillors on city council, only to have it blow up in her face when an ex-RCMP found the information buried in the Oct 23 minutes.

Even though she voted against the golf course at Upper Thames, she voted for the golf course at the city level. Connie Lauder is a HYPOCRITE.

This person needs to go, and she ought to resign. There should be a recall mechanism in place for the people to use to fight against this tyranny .

So, to the thousands of people who came out, who wrote letters, who attended council meetings and fought the honest fight to keep Woodstock green, thank you.

And special thanks to Jim Northcott, and to Deb Tait. it's good to know that someone on counciul actually cares for their community.

The rest of them, well, we won't go their. They are worthless to us... And are only worth something to big business.

Can't wait to see Talbot on that private golf course collecting frogs...can't wait to see her arrested for trespassing.