The naked truth. Heehee!

Sounds to me like Sharon Smith only cares about peace and quiet in the community rather than the truth.
She should be at the top of the list for pressuring politicians for a public inquiry.She has a responsibility to the people who voted for her.
She does take a nice picture though!!! heheheh.
:-))

Ypu are right on about her being the one who should be most concerned. I do not know whether there is a regional police there or a city/town police as in PG. In either case, she is reponsible totally or in part as to how well the contract with the RCMP and the community is carried out.

If they are getting lousy service, and almost no matter what happened, this is lousy service. Even if Bush was a major part of the problem, the RCMP did a lousy job of handling that problem and a lousy job of reassuring the community that they can handle things in a transparent way.

So, she also does not seem to know what here job is as mayor. She is cheerleading in the wrong direction at the wrong time.

"it is time to pull ourselves together and move forward".

Wonder if she'd feel the same way if it was her family this happened to?

Uh Miss Mayor...need to shake your head a little. She better have another conference before her town turns on her and talk about what really matters. I don't feel as all the shadow was cast over Houston. It was cast over the RCMP period. She just might be another person who's afraid to lose her job.

She has also alienated the voters once before as I recall...hmmmm.
She should have learned something.
Fortunately for her,she survived and kept her job.
Houston deserves more support than this, and she could be the catalyst to taking this inquiry to the next step.
She has the power,or she so should.
She needs to use it and the people of Houston need to demand it.
Whether Bush was right or wrong is not the point,the entire process was wrong.
This community will not heal if it is left where it is.

Now for a different point of view!!

Right on Sharon Smith.

I too have followed the debacle for the past year. I too have feelings about what has happened, and I too have some misgivings about the process.

But I too appreciate Mayor Smith taking the bigger picture of the "whole community" and stepping up to the plate and saying... "The image to the rest of the world cast a shadow on this small town, the media and the rest of the world need to see what this community is all about, a small hard working, and fun loving community."

Now there is a lady.

The whole attitude and way of thinking about how certain members think law "should be held" needs a makeover so the RCMP officers who truly love their jobs and do their jobs well can have a fair chance in their job of choice. We need comments like this to be erased and start new." "The public doesn't have a right to know anything." RCMP spokesman Staff Sgt. John Ward in response to a reporter's questions about the public's right to know about the death of Ian Bush in police custody."

You are correct Heidi1555!
There is an attitude that exists throughout government,police,and the courts that we do not have a right to know anything.
We do,but somehow that has been lost to politcal manuvering and spin and I seriously doubt that there is much we can do to change that now.
All of these agencies no longer answer to anyone, if in fact they ever did.
This is what now passes for democracy!
Your voice is your only defense.

When I was young I was taught to respect everyone and especially the police. I have never been in trouble with the law at any time during my life other than a few speeding tickets. A lot of young people now do not respect any authority of any kind. People that lie to the police and try to intimidate them deserve everything they get as far as I am concerned. We are a whole lot better off with police than without them. Maybe the next person that wants to be a "smart ass" with the police will think twice about doing it, and I am all for that.

Duffer wrote, "People that lie to the police and try to intimidate them deserve everything they get as far as I am concerned."

So you approve of Bush being killed for a bottle of beer, do you? Would you approve of his fingernails being ripped out? Would it be acceptable to you if he had been kicked in the testicles repeatedly so hard that he had to be castrated? How about putting him in a gas chamber? Do you accept NO limits on what the police may do?

The Brownshirts had the same attitude as you.

Ladies and Gentlemen:
You will see that a good number of comments have been deleted on both sides of the Bush case argument. Don Mackenzie is right about this, we cannot say Paul Koester murdered Ian Bush. He killed him, yes, the jury ruled "homicide" which in the case of a Coroner's jury only means, it was not: accidental, natural causes,or unknown. There has been no charge of murder.
We also cannot say Ian Bush tried to kill Paul Koester. The forensic evidence indicates there was indeed a brawl, but there is no evidence to suggest who started the fight and indeed at least one expert questions the final moments as outlined by Paul Koester.
The other 2 points I would like to raise, for one more time,
1. name calling between commentors is not allowed. It does not address the topic at hand.
2. stick to the topic, in this case, related specifically to the Mayor of Houston's comments.
-Elaine Macdonald
Publisher, Opinion 250.com

So the mayor values the image of the community in the rest of the world more than a life. Interesting ...

I wonder how many in the world will agree with that point of view.

As was stated, the mayor is in a better position than many others to see this matter to a more logical conclusion. The conclusion the Coroner's jury reached was that it was a homicide. There was no blame laid as to whether it was murder, self-defense, manslaughter. They did not rule it accidental, which they could have.

So, the jury could only go half-way. Now we need to take it the rest of the way in order for the rest of the world not only to see Houston as a hard working fun loving place, but also a place of justice.

Justice has been sought, but the result is incomplete. It is too early to move on. A person who is interested in a just society and understands how to get there will see that. If it stops here, then people who know better will see that the community is presided over by someone who does not understand negative and positive.

It is negative to move on. It is positive to see this through to the end and be part of the system which will get that accomplished. Houston will be seen as a better place for it, whether the shooter is found guilty or not.

Once that verdict comes in, then it is time to move on, not before.

It is the easiest thing to be a leader who continuously avoids seeking the truth and sues the simplest method out of continuing conflict "time to move on". Anyone can do that. It is the leader that wants to see something through to the just conclusion who is the true leader.