Dear Editor,
When I heard ‘Under the Microscope’ host Eon Halls bemoaning the cutting down of the ‘Welcome to Linden’ signboard at Millies Hide Out junction, I took it with a pinch of salt. I heard him saying things which at first I didn’t pay much heed to. I thought he was exaggerating, just like other members of the community, who dismiss him as often being too querulous. Some of the things mentioned just didn’t sound right; they were things that you just wouldn’t expect mature, rational thinking people to do, especially those who are in leadership roles entrusted with the community’s affairs. But after his boisterous droning I decided to query, only to realize that his accusations were well founded.
All Lindeners saw that imposing ‘Welcome to Linden’ signboard as a splendid one, which reached out with a beautiful and cordial salutation to every visitor to our town, beyond any sort of partisan or political consideration. What then, could it have been that motivated the cutting down of the sign and replacing with a signboard advertising ‘Chico’? Was there a request from the Beharry Company to have their product advertised at that prominent point? Is this ‘Chico’ sign of more significance than Linden Town? There is a welcome to Linden written in small letters which is definitely not the catch.
As I understand it, there is supposed to be some kind of physical project every year at the instigation of the Town Week Committee which organises the event for that year – a testimony to it. So could they not identify another high point for their ‘Chico’ business sign? Couldn’t they have been more creative? In any event, I fail to see how this ‘Chico’ signboard could have been the preferred choice of the 2014 committee – if it was indeed that. In all good judgement, this is plain silliness and a waste of time and money. As for whoever was responsible for replacing the ‘Welcome to Linden’ signboard, just who are they impressing? This is so vapid, somebody needs to explain; people are asking and deserve to know.
Observing the way that Mr Halls is often dismissed because of his political affiliation, reminds me of an unfortunate human failing: that of dismissing the messenger without paying attention to the message. But, I need to stitch in an important point here: so true is the saying ‘what goes around comes around’; life has a strange way of rotating events. In August of 2009 when the Ministry of Works was dismantling signboards along the Linden Highway, saying that they were traffic hazards, the welcome sign on that very same spot was removed, and also the very large one not too far away with a life-size picture of well-known athlete and one of Linden’s prides, Marion Burnette. Objections were made to the removal of these two signs; there was no need to pull them down, for they weren’t in dangerous locations, and even if they had been, they could have been shifted somewhat further in. I expressed my concern, and wrote, “I expect that the ever vigilant and concerned councillor Mr Eon Halls will deal with this matter on his TV programme ‘Under the Microscope,’ but he never did. But as fate would have it, this time around it has to do with a project which he had been involved in, and is dear to his heart, so the noise and objection is deafening. Nevertheless, I do agree with him because what was done makes no sense, but the point is we must not be vacillating; we need to stand on principle, because when a thing is wrong it is wrong no matter who does it. When you stand for principle it defends you in the end. And probably this may be one reason why Mr Halls is regarded a certain way, though he is on solid ground.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
