SUBMITTED BY DEREK COLLINS, NOTL.
OPINION

Dear editor:

The members of Save Our Rand Estate should be congratulated on their success in obtaining the well-deserved party status (now confirmed by three separate judicial bodies) allowing SORE to appear as a recognized third party in the upcoming legal proceedings between the Marotta Group and the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

This is due to the dedication and hard work of the SORE core members as well as the support provided by the larger group of enthusiastic SORE followers – and to the obvious merits of their argument.

At the same time, of course, this lays bare the groundless and self-serving claim recently put forward by Benny Marotta and his legal counsel Michael Melling that rather than representing a large body of opinion, SORE is nothing more than a small group of activists, representing nobody but themselves, and motivated to fight a development proposal that is not to their liking and is located in their own backyard.

The presence of so many concerned NOTL residents at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal hearing at the community centre proved the fallacy of this argument.

Their efforts to deny the simple truth of the matter is now patently obvious and in turn raises the important issue of credibility. 

Derek Collins

NOTL