This
blog does not claim to be the suppository of all wisdom (apologies to PM Tony Abbott)
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‘Don’t believe everything you read in the
blog, it isn’t true.’
That’s what James Best was overheard
saying to a visiting police officer in the Shire office a day or so ago.
What does that tell us?
First, obviously, that Mr Best reads the
blog. I suspect he is one of the blog’s
most assiduous readers, as well he might be, because nary a day goes by when he
isn’t the subject of at least one post.
We all love to read about ourselves, even if what we read falls considerably short of commendation. ‘Fame is the spur, that last infirmity of noble minds’, as Milton says.
Secondly, that the blog is having an
impact. He seems worried, or at any rate
nettled by it.
Thirdly, he implies that some things in
the blog are true, though not everything.
That’s my belief too. Everyone
makes mistakes.
If Mr Best can show me that something I
post on the blog isn’t true, I will acknowledge my error and apologise for it. He doesn’t have to use the blog; if he prefers,
he can send an email to james.plumridge@gmail.com.
I dare Mr Best to start the process by pointing
out where, if at all, my recent remarks concerning cronyism in the Shire are
untrue. By the same token, if what I
wrote was true, as I have good reason
to believe, he might tell us how he proposes to deal with the issues I raised.
He might also have a go at explaining why
Simon and Heather Saint have had three visits from a Shire Ranger to take
photos of their front windows. After the
second visit, Mr Best gave Simon an explanation that as I have shown elsewhere
does not survive logical scrutiny. How
would he explain the Ranger’s visits now, especially the third?
Sometimes truthfulness is in the eye of the beholder, Mr Best, but in the instances I have cited it is not the blog that appears to have gone astray.
Love it!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blogosphere Mr Best
ReplyDeleteMr Best, you are hilarious and truly missed your vocation!
ReplyDeleteFYI - The blog is the closest to the truth this community has ever come. For years they were led to believe that anything and everything spoken at a Shire meeting, written in Shire minutes or reported in the local rag had to be gospel.
Have I got news for you!................here's the latest
A huge 'majority' (not a word used often in York) are fed up to the back teeth (if they still have any)...Why?
Word has it Mr Best (at the recent Electors Meeting) commented that York residents should be very pleased with the local Police - because there is no graffiti ???
These are multiple choice questions:
1) Why is there no graffiti?
a) The Shire's Youth Officers requests to encourage the local art form were rejected
b) Like everything else, someone is doing a good job of covering it up?
c) Most of the taggers are so drug f'd, they can't afford the spray paint
2) Is there a serious local drug problem and how bad is it?
a) Don't know, local Police have instruction to ignore everything else to concentrate on locating graffiti.
b) Police have recently carried out raids and house searches only to find nothing (not even electrical equipment belonging to other people or utensils obviously being used for general kitchen purposes).
c) Local police dogs have now been re-trained in paint sniffing.
d) A local Real Estate Agent has implored Police not to report incidents - house prices are already so low and if the insurance premiums go up any more, he can't make a quid.
Local commentary "Perhaps we could get the Local Government sniffer dogs back again - they seem to turn up something and find evidence that doesn't exist!"
A York local bumps into Jeremy Clarkson and they start to chat.
She says to him, "What do you do?"
He replies, "Top Gear".
She says "F*****g brilliant I'll have two grams"
Till next time.................
A clearly informed and intellectually challenging approach to examining "possible" (if not "show") causes. I won't say "imaginative", because some is imaginative and some is closer to the truth than we may know. Thinking outside the box just might get us somewhere.
DeleteMind you, the way questions have been misreported in Shire Minutes, I for one learnt early not to believe it all. Strange, this, because Minutes are meant to be totally accurate. Other organisations of any integrity insist on it.
Correction: the police officer mentioned in my story is not a serving officer. He's retired. I'm told he was attending the Shire office in his capacity as a Justice of the Peace.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the friend who put me right on this.
To my surprise, somebody has asked me if my quotation from Milton comes from his religious epic Paradise Lost.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's from an earlier (and mercifully much shorter) poem, Lycidas, an elegy in the pastoral mode for his friend Edward King, who was shipwrecked and drowned in the Irish Sea.
Mea culpa, I confess that I misquoted the lines because I was too lazy to look them up. They actually read:
'Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights and live laborious days...'
Sorry, Mr Milton. I'll be more careful in future (or 'going forward' to use the current vernacular).
Spot on WOTS - Mr Best doesn't believe everything on the blog and takes pleasure in telling others, yet at an Electors Meeting does he believe everything written in the Annual Report and then expect us to accept the content to be the truth ? Its no wonder that the people who did attend refused to accept the budget - good for them standing united for the truth to be told.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm told it was the Financials for 2013 to 2014 that were not accepted and also because the Auditors did not have an annual meeting with the Shire as they should have in contract and legislation.
DeleteMaybe the local police could ask the Council for use of our Shire Ranger to sub-contract, he could be the 'camera on the street'. Instead of taking photos of shop windows he could make use of his time by snapping away at real criminals - the ones that really are a danger to York and its reputation.
ReplyDeleteSHIRE OF YORK
ReplyDeleteCommunity Visioning
Advisory Group Forums
ADVISORY GROUPS ~ combined meeting on Thursday 12 March at 5pm
Empowering York residents and stakeholders to be thoughtful about their future and that of their decedents.
Why the hell would anyone be thoughtful about the future of their decedents?
Or, after spending a couple of months in York, has Mr Best death on the brain?
And he's our saviour....???????
Yes, Peter, you're spot on, 'decedent' from Latin 'decedens' is a legal term signifying someone who has died (literally, someone who is in the process of dying, but over the centuries the meaning has changed).
DeleteIn all probability our decedents don't expect us to worry about their future in this world, since by definition they don't have one.
If we're to be thoughtful about their future in the next world, the commissioner might consider engaging a medium, or providing the meeting with an ouija board or planchette, so they can give us some direction as to what they'd like us to do.
It's possible but unlikely that the commissioner meant 'descendants'. I say it's unlikely because the spelling is so different. The two words are quite unlike.
Obviously what he has in mind is some supernatural envisioning followed by strategic facilitation of a metaphysical kind. Truly, a first for York and possibly for Australia.
James, I thought it may have been a simple typo in the Community Matters, but upon receipt of an invitation from the CRC on behalf of Mr Best and the Shire of York, it does indeed state decedents.
DeleteMaybe it would be fitting for Mr Best to hold his envisioning at the cemetery.
Well, it could have been "decadents". Think on that.
DeleteDoes this mean we'll be having séance meetings instead of shire meetings?
DeleteIr would appear our Commissioner is stumbling over his own pretentious expressions, where none of those high brow phrases really make any sense. In his avoidance of plain English, Mr Best is falling into an abyss of nonsense! So much for his 'Social Capital' dispensing in York as we succumb to the "Machine of Democracy' to which we are supposed to be 'authentically engaged'. Write on, Commissioner, but I suggest you start proof reading your grandiose language.
DeleteIts all such a mucking fuddle!
DeleteCongratulations to the Blog Master - just goes to prove how important this site has become.
DeleteCemetery would be apt because the "vision" will be a dust collector anyway.
ReplyDeletePage views to date 70,547
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the Blogmaster that is a fantastic result.
ReplyDeleteI congratulate you for the fabulous way you match the pictures/cartoons to the stories - such good humour ...keep them coming they make my day!
I am increasingly hearing around town that Mr Best is just not replying to emails. This is not a good thing obviously but at least now I know it's not personal. In fairness the Commissioner is a one man band trying to do the work of 6 councillors. Sorry but that doesn't work. Usually when one person is trying to do the work of 6 people they burn out.
ReplyDeleteA common courtesy of acknowledgement though to those who write would be apt James.
If correct that Best attended the Council meetings in December before the Show Cause Notice, and with the FOI exposure coming, it is clear that he has a lot on his mind. And all that will be on this blog for ever.
ReplyDeleteMr Best has a lot to answer for, and any attempt to convince you that he is in York to look after your interests is pure BS, he is here to do the Ministers and DLGC bidding. Truthful answers Mr Best, why cant you do that?
I am not sure if I can trust Mr. Best, part of me wants to but then that little voice inside my head is shouting 'be careful'.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot be blamed for having lost trust and faith in Local Government and anyone connected to it. It has not 'been here' for the people of York.
We have all watched the system, and the Town, let down those residents who were relentlessly targeted by the Shire and that is a shame we all have to live with.
The previous Councillors were a party to that bullying. The DLG chose to ignore the problems - why?
This has created the belief the corruption includes our previous Councillors, Administration, the DLG. and perhaps even the Minister.
It is becoming more clear as things go up on this blog that someone or several people within the Local Government are attempting to cover things up.
Yep, a cover up of the Hooper council period.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the $64 question. The DLG is not only incompetent, it lacks integrity and is a sick organisation. Ms Matthews has much to answer for.
But there has to be an under lining reason for the DLG/Hooper protection. It must have high level connections which would partly explain why even Mia Davies is so anxious to avoid it.
I still firmly believe the rubbish dump is the key that will unlock the mystery of why the Hooper era was left to reign as an autocracy / dictatorship. I was told recently that RH was in the 'extraction industry' prior to arriving on our doorstop. Connect the dots with Allawuna having multi-millions of dollars of Kaolin of medicinal quality that someone would want to mine to make money. Comments RH made when the gravel pit was stymied - something else, I understand, he was flying under the radar (as happened again with the rubbish dump) - and 'presto', you have a reason for ministerial / DLG support with no questions asked / answered of those running York.
DeleteDo you recall the report in the Avon Gazette following the JDAP upholding our Shire's refusal of SITA's proposal based on planning issues? Nial Stock, SITA's manager, was most upset saying SITA had an 'understanding' with the SoY. What do you make of that??? The FOI documents I have would give you quite a few dot connections....
I agree Jane. I was very concerned when heard that Jacky Jurmann was going to sub-contract to the Shire to represent the ratepayers against SITA. I don't trust her, she'll be looking after her own interests, she is a liar and can't be trusted.
ReplyDeleteI have heard the Shire has advertised for a new planner,