In Tuesday's paper, Coun. Richard Carpenter was reported as calling Coun. James Calnan a "backstabber" for publicly going against his council's decision to use an injunction as a way to resolve the native land claim dispute in our city.
The injunction, a one-sided punitive strategy, did not work in Caledonia and is not working here either. Instead, it has increased tensions and escalated things. If other council members cannot see this, they are in collusion and are not sincerely interested in resolving things.
Politicians make mistakes all the time. We would hope not that often. Calnan, by being forthright about his, despite being at the expense of other council members' displeasure and name-calling, can help to open up the door to explore discussions of a peace-evoking nature.