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Dwayne Weidendor Gerry Mattice Group Sales Director Retail Sales Manager, editorial@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO CHRONICLE Ken Bosveld 905â€"523â€"5800, Ext. 239 The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a subsidiary of Osprey Media Group Inc. The Waterion Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor. They should be signed with name. address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy. No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be edited for length. so please be brief Copyright in letters and other mate rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freely repro duce them in print. electronic or other forms. Our mailing address is 75 King St S . Suite 201. Waterion N2] 1P2. our eâ€"mail address is editorial@waterinochronicle ca. and our fax number is B86â€"9383 The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number Regional Classified _ Classified Manager Sales, 623â€"6617 Andrea Bailey Bob Vrhanac Reporter, Ext. 227 Sports Editor, Ext. 229 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Associate Publisher: International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0832â€"3410 Deb Duffield _ Jean Van Volkenburg Letters Policy Ken Bosveld Norma Cyca Fabienne Viemmix Iymn Bartol OSPREY 886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 & & d o u p 40050478 Audited circulation: 27,538 Deborah Crandall Editor, Ext. 215 Launie Ridgway As I said: "There is nowt as queer as folk." Anecdote: After I finished writing this article on the morning of the 5th of May, the same evening it was announced in city council that Mr. Stockie had handed in his resignation to council. 1 am sure he has taken the correct course of action, which reflects all credit to him. With any city employee there are rules to protect both employer and employee. One of those rules is the fairness of hearings and the confidentiality of such dealings until a conclusion is reached. From the 10 points above, I would suggest to you, that the very way that the CAO has been dealt with is disgraceful. This is not to say that 1, or any other member of the public should not speak out or not request actions by council. However, council should not act on innuendoes and should only reach a conâ€" clusion after proper due procedure is followed. This has not happened in this case and is a sad reflection on our city and mayor. It may well be that the RIM Park inquiry will throw light on the CAO‘s part of the RIM‘s financial deal, but his future should not be decided by an open public debate. 10. At no time has the mayor presented to the CAO a case for grounds of dismissal as to why he How can the mayor and some councillors who have had 18 months to deal with this problem, even think over the past few weeks to announce publicly that they would publicly vote on the CAO‘s disâ€" missal? Then announce that they could not act because of the CAO‘s sick leave? 5.Until 1998, the CAO‘s performance reviews were exemplary, hence the contract that if the CAO stayed on for a period of five years, he‘d receive a bonus; 6. No performance review was done in 1999 or 2000, when a new council was elected; 7. No performance review was done in 2001, even though this was the year of the RIM financing disclosure; 8. No performance review was done for 2002 though city held its own investigation into the RIM Park financial deal and decided to take legal action against MFP and MIKE Clarica. In the same year CONNOLLY council decided to settle out of court and called for a full municipal inquiry; 9. As at date the inquiry has not reached its find ings or recommendations; should be dismissed 4. Due process must be given to the individual to put their side of the story; Over the past year, I have, in my articles, kept clear of any political writings to the reactions of council on city‘s dealings. However, I do feel from what I‘ve read in the media, the way the city is dealâ€" ing with a certain matter is completely unfair and not acceptable by normal standards. The remarks made by the mayor, some councillors and members of the public make it sound like they are holding a kangaroo court, without the participation of the accused or indeed the due process of law. I am, of course, referring to the sad case of Tom Stockie, the CAO of Waterloo. Here are some of the facts: 1.He is CAO of Waterloo and has the responsibiliâ€" ty of overseeing all city‘s staff and its dealings; _ 2. He may delegate to his subordinates but this is a matter of his choice and cannot absolve him from his overall responsibilities; 3.If the mayor wishes to dismiss a member of city staff, then the cause for dismissal should be substanâ€" tiated and served on the individual; Stockie deserved better treatment ere is an old North Yorkshire saying: "There‘s I Nowt as queer as Folk" which roughly transâ€" , lates to, don‘t be surprised by the way people react and deal with any situation. This is Canada and that‘s not the way we do VIEWPOINT By the way, during the campaign candiâ€" dates will feel obligated to say some kind words for education. When we take a look at some of the folks we‘ll elect, you‘ll have to admit it‘s needed. Good Riddance: Along about this time Emest Zendel, the obnoxious German, may be headed back to Germany. He‘s skedded for a court appearance about now. You‘ll recall that he was turfed by the United States after going there after whatâ€" seemedâ€"aâ€"forever stay in Canada. His Every time there‘s any uncerâ€" tainty about how they‘ll vote Ontario voters usually ‘park‘ their vote with the Liberals until they decide how they‘ll mark their ballots. Ontario never loved Mike Harris that much, and I suspect they care for Ernie Eves even less. How that will work come voting day, only the fates will say. Of course, this time Ontario has to pass judgment on Liberal leader Dalton McGuinâ€" ty as possible premier and it‘s hard to guess what they‘ll say. True, he was in the running last time, but he wasn‘t accorded much of a chance. By the way, some folks are making much about the subâ€" stantial Liberal lead in the polling. It‘s bigger than it was the last time, but you wonder if it counts for that much. They figure the take was about a billion bucks. Why the theft? They say that Hussein was so strapped that he had to sell all his weapons of massive destruction, two slightâ€" lyâ€"used palaces, and a map of RIM Park. On the Hustings: Gee, more and more Emie Eves is making it sound like a provinâ€" cial election is only a brief spell away. Say the end of June. ‘Tis said that he gained from the SARS episode, and he‘ll hang the election call on that. Gee, I thought that episode was so confusing you wouldn‘t call anyone a winâ€" ner. And they say the Speaker has caused them trouble by finding against them on the budget presentation in a machine shop. Or such like. Ens ee, but Saddam Hussein has a neat Gway of getting a pension. He gets one of his sons to mastermind three eightâ€"wheelers to a Baghdad bank and loads ‘em up. Saddam has a unique pension plan SANDY Maybe he‘ll have to invade somebody else to get some weapons. The support would be surprising, given that most Canadians appeared cool toâ€" even amused byâ€" the venture of Americans into outerâ€"space rocket guns. Anyhow, let‘s hope that PM Jean isn‘t working to get on the good side of Dubyah, assuming he has a good side. Say, maybe George Dubyah was looking to expropriate Iraq‘s cache of weapons of terror just in case he couldn‘t get rockets that worked. u Meanwhile PM Chretien seems to be nuzzling up to the DY Supreme Leader in hopes of RD patching the rift over Iraq. He is making noises like there‘s the prospect of Canada going along with the American Star Wars proposal. From earliest tests, it has appeared the operations don‘t work that well. It looks as if they‘ll be playing Back to the Drawing Board for a while at least. It was a great photo opportunity, one you‘ll be seeing again and again when the next election gets into gear. Mr. Zendel (he‘s still wanted in Germany) had a habit of rewriting history and casting Mr. Hitler and friends as the good guys. He and his few henchmen would stomp about picketing and hooting at folks who hold contrary opinions. Given what he‘s said about Canada, he has lot of nerve to ask asylum here. It‘s one thing to be ignorant, but it‘s another to make a career of it. As I‘ve menâ€" tioned before I‘ve had my encounters with Zundel, and I affirm this: He reminds me of a bad toothache I once had. Flying High: George Dubyah has (at the cost of a million bucks) pulled a publicâ€"relaâ€" tions coup. He made like an airman and landed on a homebound aircraft carrier. sojourn here was replete with one heyâ€"rube after another. Dubyah is busy now touring mostly military bases which can assure him of rousing receptions. If that windbag of a victorious warlord can‘t get a hand from the troops, he‘d have to trade in his smirk. And the question still arises, which nation may be next on George Dubyah‘s new foreign policy, his hitâ€"‘emâ€"first approach, which has spawned one war so far.