Dear Editor,
Regarding the Dec. 29, 2010 article: “No quick fix for sour gas smell.”
I am writing to complain about the amount of newspaper space that the Western Wheel gives to the views of Roxanne Walsh on our local oil and gas industry. I must ask, does Roxanne Walsh call you or does the Wheel call Roxanne for stories? It is getting to be sensationalism at best. Roxanne is the typical gadfly and you amplify her views.
Between you and Roxanne, you have caused our Turner Valley municipal taxes to increase and I, amongst others, have had enough. Roxanne is entitled to her views but the Western Wheel has continually enabled her with a podium out of all proportion. Her views are not representative of our community. If either the Wheel or Roxanne wishes to run for elected office, do it, quit sniping from the sidelines while honest, hard working men and women go to work each day and make their living from the very industries that so many activists are trying to destroy and who, at the same time, are driving up our municipal and provincial taxes.
If the smell of petroleum products is repugnant, too bad. Turner Valley has smelled that way from the very beginning. If you read the Province’s response, which is the same as I have been trained in for many years, it is harmless at such low concentrations. It may tarnish your silver, or my guitar strings over a long period of time, but I have lived with that all my life. Live with it.
I am asking the Western Wheel to balance out the story by telling your readers about Roxanne Walsh’s recent run for Turner Valley council and how the people repudiated her views with an almost nothing number of votes. Now she is at it again, aided and abetted by the Western Wheel. Please don’t give me any platitudes about the responsibilities of a newspaper; sometimes too much is just too much. Report the other side, and quit driving up my taxes.
Robert Weder
Turner Valley
