Editor's note: Last month we reported that Wilmslow Town Council agreed to spend £12,700 purchasing chains of office for their Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
The article 'Town Council to spend £12,700 on ceremonial chains' resulted in comments from some of our readers who were not in favour of £12,700 being spent on regalia.
Cllr Trevor Jones, who represents the Lacey Green Ward, responded in two articles defending the Council's decision. Since then Wilmslow Town Council has voted to revoke the decision to purchase civic regalia.
Below is a third post by Cllr Jones regarding an incident which occurred as a result of this debate.
An incident at my property was logged and reported for a police enquiry on Thursday July 11th when overnight a crude cardboard facsimile of a Victoria Cross was mounted on my front gate showing 'WTC' written by black marker pen and with a wooden spoon attached.
This unwarranted invasion of privacy seems linked to the unbalanced media exchange of views over recent weeks and is deemed to have occurred under cover of darkness.
I am advised to review my home protection, including CCTV surveillance, in case this disturbing trend accelerates. I deplore this act and trust that all fair-minded people would condemn such a blatant move to intimidate me and affect my familys' sense of safety and security.
Healthy argument and discussion is fundamental to a decent, democratic society and these tactics should be abhorred in any community.
My core values incorporate another tradition I espouse and nurture, despite declining standards, and that is 'An Englishmans' home is his Castle' and I hope that the silent majority out there would take a similar stance if their home was targeted by those who prefer to hide behind anonymity rather than a personal one-to-one debate.
My belief is that it is time to draw a line under this fiscally emotive issue when a physical manifestation of the increasingly volatile exchange of diametrically opposed rhetoric encroaches on the personal and family life of any individual holding public office.
The iconic, and historic, poem by Kipling springs to mind, for example; 'If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken'...and so on.
Let all protagonists call a halt to this unhealthy and internecine discourse to allow this subject to be determined through good sense and reason though, should the name of this after-hours activist becomes known, I intend to challenge that person to a traditional duel, at dawn, in daylight, on the Carrs, behind St.Barts, with their selected choice of weapon; wooden spoons...... and then this incident can be viewed with the disdain it surely deserves.
Be safe and prosper.
Member post by Cllr Trevor Jones.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I am also pleased that the Council has reversed their decision so that everyone can now concentrate on how best to improve Wilmslow.
Whether Cllr T Jones is voted in again depends on him deciding to stand again for WTC and the number of votes he receives in May 2015.
The cardboard VC stunt was an inappropriate & unwarranted response, and may have caused some personal distress, but hardly an 'invasion of privacy' IMO.
The full Rudyard Kipling poem (below) has some observations in the first verse etc that could apply to Cllr Jones.
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Ok I agree ... unnecessary and unnerving... so not acceptable conduct Im sure most would agree and that should be the end.
But....... WTC Jones abstains on the 'Chain' vote issue .. and then challenges the protagonist to a dual??........ I thought the issue was being left as we all moved on... debate concluded..
Ill look forward to seeing this article on Mock the Week.........