Editor:
I swear, some people in Tsawwassen must live under rocks and only crawl out every once in a while when they think they can slither back again after they've finished their morning hunt.
There are two letters that have appeared in the Optimist recently that suggest Century Group president Sean Hodgins seek immortality or establish a legacy versus continuing to pursue his efforts to transform the Southlands.
Space limits my effort here to fully speak to these irrelevant, irresponsible, inappropriate and a host-of-other-adjectives-that-I-really-want-to-employ comments. The writings of the people who submitted these two letters are not worthy of having appeared on the printed page.
The first thing these creatures that mount such ad hominem kinds of arguments need to realize is that Hodgins' alleged wealth (which I would bet they have no first hand knowledge of) has nothing at all to do with the ongoing discussions over the fate of the Southlands.
It's a stupid argument to try to exploit in a discussion of this kind of an issue, and it goes absolutely nowhere.
The second thing our denizens of the near deep should understand is that Hodgins and Century Group are doing nothing at all inappropriate in their ongoing efforts to develop their property and their opportunities. In fact, exactly the opposite is true.
They are doing what any good citizen should always, without fail, do. They are presenting opportunities to the community. Unlike our residents of the dark places, they are doing this openly, honestly and honourably - whether you agree with what they want to do with their property or not.
Third in this discussion, it's not the community that has been wronged by Hodgins in anything that has gone on in any of the protracted discussions over the Southlands - except by the sheer lunacy and fantasy-based hysteria of the anti-Century side.
Hodgins, though, has endured much that is inappropriate, starting with the refusal of Delta to even consider his much-better-for-the-community-than-what-Delta-has-currently-limited-him-to previous proposal for his property and by the kinds of comments that have appeared in the pages of the local press, such as are being addressed here.
The community, itself, has been wronged by these kinds of remarks and by the continuing hysterical outbursts of the (what I would characterize as) slightly unhinged in this argument over this property.
Something is going to happen on the Southlands. It will not remain what it is now. If we want the "something" to be a good thing, the kinds of comments that talk about legacies and immortality are best suppressed.
Firth Bateman
