Councillor targeted with "crude cardboard facsimile"

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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.

Tags:
Civic Regalia, Trevor Jones, Wilmslow Town Council
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Julian Rosebury
Wednesday 17th July 2013 at 8:42 am
Will the challenger to this duel need to wear any kind of ceremonial jewellery? Like Mr T perhaps?
Mark Goldsmith
Wednesday 17th July 2013 at 10:24 am
I agree that this has over stepped the line of protest and Councillor Jones has my sympathies over this incident.

I am also pleased that the Council has reversed their decision so that everyone can now concentrate on how best to improve Wilmslow.
James MacDonald
Wednesday 17th July 2013 at 9:59 pm
Cllr Jones wont be voted in again that is a certainty.
Dave Cash
Friday 19th July 2013 at 12:01 am
'Death & Taxes are the only certainties in life'

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!
Nick Jones
Friday 19th July 2013 at 6:41 pm
Let me get this right........ WTC Jones concerned about the trespass on his land. ... and wants to leave the isue parked...

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.........
Jem Harris
Friday 19th July 2013 at 9:23 pm
Brilliant, most would laugh off such a stunt but instead Trev decides to quote Kipling and threaten a dual, further consolidating the view of his Ward that he is completely removed from normal life in some sort of feudalistic Twlight Zone where such behaviour and indeed spending 12K of tax payers recessional money on a shiny precious or two is OK.
Paul Weston
Tuesday 23rd July 2013 at 2:31 pm
Not exactly the Ku Klux Klan. However the incident is regrettable and should not have happened. At least we now know how the mind set of the good councillor works. Would you vote for this man. People have to move on, quoting Kipling isn't the way to do it.