After the Wallace Street fire in May — and it is common after any calamitous event that many voices could be heard giving opinions and speculations as to cause and effect, as people get swept up in a wave of sensationalism. After a day or two the idle gossip dies down and thereafter it’s only the die-hard gossips, the real expert manure manipulators that keep stirring the pot. Most of us return to our regular life’s activities, possibly with a mental note about what, if anything, we may have learned from that experience.
About ten days ago we were handed a hand-written draft for a petition seeking insight into the fire department management policies, clearly directed at the District Hall management team with no mention of the firefighters corps.
As requested, we proceeded to properly type-set this item and then provide the client with approximately 60 copies. For us this was very much a daily routine — after all, we are a print shop — and we were totally unprepared for the violent reaction that burst upon us last Friday, maliciously alleging that our involvement in this petition has grievously offended all district staff, but especially the volunteer firefighters, so much so that we must expect to get boycotted by the letter.
We totally repudiate this vicious insinuation, which can only have been thought up by a devious mind bent on sowing fear and discord. It not only aims to destroy the fair-play reputation we have built over the years, it also blatantly tramples on the integrity of our volunteer firefighters by suggesting they might retaliate.
For more than 25 years, we have been privileged to share our time and resources through numerous community projects and so developed a growing respect for other volunteers, especially for our firefighters and search and rescue members, who can always be relied upon to give their best in service to the community.
This good working relationship has grown into friendships in some cases, and if we have, however inadvertently, offended any of them — we are sure they would be in touch to clear up any misgivings before they can start to fester.
Rest assured we continue to be available for all who come with the best intentions for the good of the community, knowing that by working together we can eradicate the foul-mouth gossips and through mutual respect of the others opinion build a better community.
Erica Press
Hope
