Editor:
Re: Surrey returns voters’ signs, June 15.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts had the insight to realize that it is a democratic right to display signs before a referendum, as stated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
These Fight HST signs are unobtrusive and do not interfere with sightlines, so that excuse is not valid. I wonder if the fact that Premier Christy Clark was coming through Surrey for a meeting on the day the signs were removed may have had something to do with it.
Most of the signs have now been returned, but tireless volunteers must now replace them all – giving of their own time and energy – and many are seniors, fighting for the survival of democracy as they remember it.
Eileen Spencer, Surrey
• • •
I would like to clarify and correct one part of your article about my incident with the Surrey bylaw officer last week.
The sentence, quoting another Fight HST member, reads: “75-year-old Sybil Rowe was putting signs along 32 Avenue last week when she was approached by a ‘very large, intimidating’ bylaw officer and told to cease her actions.”
I do not like the implication of this quote, namely, that this very big fellow was trying to intimidate a little old woman. In fact, he was completely professional and polite in the execution of his duties as a bylaw officer.
He wasn’t for me, he wasn’t against me. He was merely enforcing the bylaw.
I felt the need to correct this, because I am convinced the success of any mission depends upon strict adherence to the truth.
Sybil Rowe, Surrey
