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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Out-of-control-train!













Wowsers! Iron-horse on the loose! Gilbert Watt of Riversdale hears the scream of steel on steel and fears for all good farmers, as the ES Train hurtles down the Regulation Line at full throttle, wild-eyed Engineer Timms whipping the boilermen into a frenzy and throwing the throttle wide open ... it's a nightmare of steam, heat and smoke that's spooking the horses and creating consternation up and down the main trunk line. It's making my eyes water, all this rocking and rolling!
Mr Gilbert writes:

"Environment Southland is being run like a high-speed train out of control.
  The person at the controls, after only being there a short time, is really starting to show her bias against dairying, with the team around her making decisions about dairying with little or no consultation with the public about rate hikes - which are criminal, and prejudiced against the dairy industry.

After reading Bill English's article and him being told he doesn't know what he's talking about, is it not time the Government had a look into Environment Southland's operations and put the brakes on this out-of-control train?"

 Poor Gilbert! Poor Bill! Woe is us!

(The editor's in there, boots and all, with an accompanying photo of Bill in pontificating mode, and a caption that reads: Sort it out: Bill English was told he doesn't know what he's talking about.)

6 comments:

paulinem said...

Robert...what I don't get is when you read the correspondence either in this letter to editor and on comments online to the ST and else where ... people from the dairy industry actually do come across genuinely aggrieved ... why I ask especially if you are a farmer whom is doing all the can to alleviate pollution?

Its not them that are being attacked on the contrary I loudly applaud them in their attempts to curtail pollution

BUT its the rat bags dairy farms(whom I make the presumption are mostly corporate or overseas ownership) is whom the wider community and myself want to remedy their behaviour.

Instead of attacking these farmers they insist on attacking the regional councils such as ES...its ridiculous!!

Also these same people not so long ago screamed about communism taking over our country ..ahh hello wanting to sack an elected council and replace with political appointees is this not communism!!!

Its at times like this I really want to break my code of conduct and reply to her ! Thanks for giving me a forum to reply back ...but come November :) watch this space as the saying goes :)

robertguyton said...

Roll-on the 11th month, I say!
The spectre of Government Intervention is one that is being presented toi the Council in order to bully it, pauline and this letter isn't the first instance of that. The Federation likes to allude to Brother Bill and Giant John stomping on us with their Blue Boots. They'll need to try harder to create a crisis down here though - I don't think the good people of Southland would swallow the same story that sunk the Canterbury Council (have democrtatic elections been held to replace the Commissioners there ytet, I wonder? If not, why not?)
There are indeed good farmers, Pauline, managing their 'downstreams' well and those will be unconcerned about a Council that is requiring that all farmers do the same thing. I'm betting that the same dtractors that are squealing about the Interim Rule are the same ones who say of the Three Strikes Bill, or the erosion of privacy protections that this Government has done, if you're not doing anything wrong, you've nothing to worry about :-)

Anonymous said...

Out of control train? Strange metaphor given that the current situation has been allowed to develop over the past ten years. I would have thought a tortoise was a more appropriate image. Or maybe a tuatara! Looks like it's sitting there doing nothing for ages, then strikes fast ;-)

robertguyton said...

That's it, wildcrafty. The Council's a sphenadon! We've been torpid, now were rampant!
Go us!

Anonymous said...

Pleasing to see a balanced view presented. Thanks Robert.

robertguyton said...

'welcome