Councilor Bruce Parker has a history of public name-calling even labeling his constituents “malcontents” at city council meetings for daring express opinions contrary to his own. Mayoral candidate Mike Reaves has made use of surrogates to fight his public battles, deploying his wife and engaging his lawyer to publicly label disgruntled citizens as ‘hairy unwashed’. Parker’s letter this week accusing Mayor Steve Britton of being a criminal to promote Reaves as mayor was just more of the same.
Having been the target of repeated public attacks I am sympathetic to Britton and hope he has the good character to stay above the fray and not wrestle in the mud with Reaves. Mostly, I am appalled that Parker’s repeated negative behavior is allowed to go unchecked by the rest of the community. It doesn’t speak well of a civil society that continued incivility is condoned in Coquille.
Just to set the record straight – NO, I have never been convicted of a crime. NO, I have never been on parole or probation. NO, my children are not academically deficient. NO, my daughters have not been expelled from school. NO, my daughters are not truant from school. NO, my daughters have not been molested or abused.
YES, my daughter was bitten by a certain dog and YES so was a witness who, YES really DOES exist. YES, I do have the right to make capital improvements to my property. YES, I have a right to privacy in my own back yard and YES, ANYONE is supposed to be able to walk on the public right of way.
Coquillian adults who actively slander a ten-year old child can be counted on two hands and thankfully, are not representative of the community. It is the complicit silence of the majority, who lending an ear to gossip, make the city’s infection appear as an infestation. Far from pillars of society people who conduct themselves thus are just plain mean and should be shunned as pariahs.
Engaging in such base tactics as the councilor’s letter speaks volumes about the character of mayoral wanna-be, Mike Reaves and his champion, Bruce Parker. This November, Coquille has an opportunity to define its true character, to choose how it wants to be perceived by other communities and visitors and what face it wants to present to the world. Vote to retain Mayor Britton.