Congratulations to somebody out there…
Yup, you got us. You sent us fraudulent letters to the editor which made it onto the pages of RMO.
Now, of course, it’s clear that there is some kind of orchestrated effort to put Alpine Helicopters and everything to do with Canmore’s heliport in a bad light. Despite the fact the company has been busily operating all summer long, it’s only recently that RMO has received a sheaf of letters complaining about the noise.
It’s pretty obvious people are being coaxed/coerced into putting forward complaints. Apparently nobody is bothered by Trans-Canada Highway or railway noise.
Trouble is… now that we know at least a couple of those letters were fraudulent (you just never know what might land you in court), the entire issue of helicopter noise and fumes is called into question. Now it’s a question of which complaints are legitimate and which are bogus?
Cowards took advantage of our public forum to try and sway public opinion against Alpine Helicopters.
We now must apologize to both Alpine and the Town of Canmore for printing these fraudulent letters. It’s not our intention to allow those who won’t put their names behind their words to affect anything within the Bow Valley.
Anything.
Newspapers offer up valuable space for letters to the editor as a forum for citizens to complain, suggest, thank, offer alternate opinions, etc. on any given topic they feel is important to them.
Letters to the editor are a valuable way for citizens who otherwise may not be heard on a topic to have their opinion legitimately put in print.
The thing is, that space is for people who are up front enough to put their name on a letter, who will stand by their stance – it’s for people whose convictions are strong enough that they don’t need to fraudulently offer their opinion or hide behind the legitimacy of an established group or organization.
Now, rather than have letters to the editor carry any weight in regard to a new heliport lease, the authors of these fake letters have likely hurt their cause, such as it is.
This fraudulent letter incident smacks of the same kind of municipal meddling which was put forward during the last election, when some anonymous group tried to put forward The Slate; a list of candidates it/they/he/she believed would best put forward the wishes of Canmore citizens.
The reality, of course, is the chosen slate of candidates was likely eyed as best supporting the ideals of whoever put The Slate together.
In the case of The Slate, RMO turned down a request for advertising space because the supposed group wouldn’t identify a spokesperson or anyone who would be the face of the supposed group.
Here at the Outlook, we believe valley citizens have the sense and intelligence to read over election material, maybe take in a candidate forum, discuss with friends, family and colleagues, then make an informed decision in the voting booth.
Alpine Helicopters may now take some solace in the fact that at least a couple of antagonistic letters have proven to be false. And we would ask Town council to now take complaints regarding helicopter noise with a grain of salt as clearly there is orchestrated squirming going on behind the scenes.
