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*A Note About Challenging Words

A Hornby Fable
   • by David Work               

The WORK vs KNOTT Debate.... Part Two
    • by David Work              

A note about the "Challenging Words" section

All points of view have a right to be expressed. Secrets and repression have a toxic effect on a community or family. The alternative to airing our dirty laundry is allowing it to fester in the dark. Word of Mouth seeks to facilitate a balanced and respectful approach to dealing with strong emotions and points of view which challenge the 'established order of things.' Letters which have been found unacceptable for print in the First Edition, or which find themselves heavily edited there, may find a home here.

You are free to read and respond only to what interests you. If you prefer not to be exposed to explicit or challenging content, don't read posts in this section.

This section is meant to be a place for expressing hurt and angry feelings, vulnerable sharings about traumatic emotions and experiences, and points of view that 'push the envelope'. In many cases, feelings of anger, disaffection and hurt must have an outlet before they can be cleared. In other cases, an unpopular or challenging point of view needs to be heard in order that all sides of a story can be known. The whole truth is made up of many facets.

The following article was printed in the July First Edition with the final two paragraphs removed.

Your Community, Your Ball Park – A Brief Recent History (Part 2 of 2)

For the record, so it's not forgotten......

With the wash-house completed and operating efficiently attention at the ball park returned to the clubhouse which included a significant improvement to the kitchen – a long multi-use counter designed and built by another volunteer, Jim McLeod . Long time ball park supporters Jerry Pethick and Lyle Chambers spear-headed a new liquor lock-up and much needed repairs to the old washroom off the kitchen.

In the fall of 2001 I invited my brother John Emerson up from North Vancouver to help draw and design what Bill Cannon and I saw as a way to connect the new wash-house to the clubhouse. John sent me a design for the clubhouse expansion and exercise facility that I forwarded to Michael McNamara for a computer generated rendering to enable ball park members and supporters to visualize and comment on. Michael 's flare for curves resulted in the round wall. After about 6 month’s worth of pleading, Tim Smith agreed to be our construction foreman and the concrete was poured in May, 2002. As with the wash-house construction, all labour was volunteered and so began the long process of organizing weekly work parties on Saturday. In December of 2003 the volunteers decided we could get the roof on by New Year’s and indeed it was so. At that juncture some 1679 volunteer hours had been spent on the project. All of the names of those involved will be recognized on a plaque once the project is complete.

There remains a lot of work to be done but as I reported last fall, I have been sidelined and the best reason I’ve heard is that I treated the volunteers too well by providing ball park beer after the work parties. Go figure. Then there was the very carefully orchestrated annual general meeting (agm) in late November where all the stops were taken out to make sure that darned Ron Emerson didn’t get on the board. Since then there have been two board resignations. Out of respect to the membership in attendance at the agm don’t you think the appointed board members should have been those next in line? Not so. New fangled democracy I guess.

All I can say is I am very disappointed in the way the ball park has been run in the last year and amazed that the negativity of two or three people can derail the enthusiasm of the many volunteers who made the wash-house and clubhouse expansion happen. And given my personal contribution to ball park improvements since 1997 I cannot believe the level of disrespect and disdain I have been afforded by these individuals. And I’m not the only one.

Ron Emerson

David Work Responds to Webitorial #9

My "day in court" was very symbolic to me. I saw the whole exercise as an opportunity to finally voice my grievance before a real judge and put this is sue to rest. The trial was solely concerned with the events of July 9th/2004 but in my mind and I'm sure in the minds of my "enemies", the entire 15 year dispute was being judged. I was extremely pleased with the outcome and the "enemies" have had to back off and now hang their heads in shame when they see me in public. In my mind justice has been done. Ruth Fortune and I have now shook hands and agreed to let bygones be bygones. I was hoping we could all do the same, but people like Eugene Lion ( who I have only spoken to once in my entire life) seem to want to keep the "battle" going. Everyone wants to have the last say and I keep getting drawn back into the argument because, after all, it is ME you are all talking about.

Now a word about the "enemy consciousness" that you refer too. As you know Phee, I am not at all an aggressive or violent person. For years people have criticized me for "attacking", just like Janet and Judith did on July 9th, but I proved in court that it wasn't me who attacked them but quite the other way around. This official judgement should be proof enough that for 15 years it was my "enemies" who were doing the attacking, not me. Sure there have been a few times when I have lashed out at a few individuals at public meetings. Try to imagine a dog that has been tied up on a rope, starved and kicked repeatedly. Would you blame that dog for snarling and snapping when faced with it's persecutors? I know that many from "the other side" of this dispute would have you believe that I am suffering from a persecution complex, but the persecution is very real. It really is a "battle" but even pacifists need to battle when the threat comes to their own door.

It might be hard for some people to imagine that a group of taxpayers on the island would conspire to break environmental laws in order to save money.... but that IS what happened... I inadvertently uncovered their plot and they were forced to destroy my reputation to save their own. Do you think I should have been a pacifist and let them continue to dump and burn hundreds of tons of garbage in the watershed? Do you think I should have just let them destroy my good name so that they could escape unscathed? And please understand that I do not make "personal attacks". I have NEVER attacked individuals over personal is sues. I have only attacked public officials who have been elected to office or who have accepted some authority in the community and who I feel have been negligent in that public duty . Those officials have tried to discredit what I'm saying by classifying my remarks as "personal attacks" and in so doing are guilty of making "personal attacks" on ME. I think that Eugene Lions and others just can't accept that the HIRRA Heroes they have cheered on for all these years are actually "the bad guys". I've just been fighting for the environment and for the truth to be heard.... what are they fighting for?

I heard a B.C. politician on T.V. (forgot his name) who said "politics is just war without the bullets."

David Work

Phee says : Thanks for your truth, David. I appreciate your point that the more people talk about you, the more you feel drawn out to respond. Since you are not alone in wishing to let this issue finally rest, I will let it go now and move on to other subjects. I’m glad you finally feel complete.

THE BIG MANAGER THAT CRIED "WORK"

by David Work

Once upon a time there was big manager with a small committee to manage. Then one day, along came a work that wanted to join the committee. The big manager hated work and was afraid the committee would become unmanageable. So, every time the work came around the big manager would cry out "Help! Help! It's a big bad work!" but the work wasn't really big and bad and I think we all know how this story ends...

Connecting the Dots...

by Colleen Work

No personal attacks in the First Edition? I feel Michael Hill has made a personal attack on “the Works”. Michael is having trouble connecting the dots between David ’s trumped up charge and the fact that his committee has had to stop certain practices at the Depot, like burning “clean wood”.

He’s sure that the little old lady who put the plastic imitation wicker chair on the burn pile had “cleaned” it thoroughly. He’s convinced that the painted wallboard with the foam insulation still attached was well scrubbed and that the green, treated wood scraps had been through the dishwasher. Michael knows that the 2X4’s with PVC electrical wires stapled to them were well sterilized and I’ll bet that the wooden swing on the yellow polypropylene rope, that he himself threw on the unsupervised pile, was so “clean” that it sparkled and gleamed in the sun!

But if you ask the neighbors they will tell you that the “clean wood” didn’t smell like a boy scout weeny roasting fire. Does Mr. Hill think he can just “clean” up the facts with a glossy coat of paint? I suggest, that before he opens his mouth again about past depot practices that he ask himself why it was stopped, if it was so clean?