We have considered writing a manual for letters to the editor entitled How To Talk About Things You Know Nothing About.

The whole point of the manual would be not to be correct, but to have an opinion. It could be easily field tested in the Municipality of Meaford.

All you need is an opinion. For example, there are often ambulances at accidents. Therefore, the opinion could be that ambulances cause accidents. A similar opinion could be held about fire trucks or indeed about anything else one could perceive (become aware of something through the senses not necessarily by thinking) as having a relationship to something else. One must surely have caused the other or very simply put, cause and effect.

Perceiving involves perception and that is very close to deception, which usually refers to the fact of misleading. Some people thrive on their senses that require no thinking because that frees them to mislead others. Remember the point of knowing nothing about something is not to be correct, but to have an opinion.

The letter by ex-councillor Don Fountain, in which he harangues about RAMSS (the Residents Association of Meaford, Sydenham and St. Vincent) and Graeme Kirkland and how RAMSS "encouraged voters to put candidates in office" is a clear case of talking about things you know nothing about. A classic case of perception and deception, but not by RAMSS.

True, there was a list of candidates published in the Meaford Express on October 25th, 2006 that was sponsored by a group called "Citizens for Candidate Review" comprised of 11 people who were absolutely not representing RAMSS, but several were members of "Cut Our Taxes" which was another ratepayers' group whose origin and finances remain dubious and were not representing RAMSS.

We have a copy of that flyer which we would gladly supply to anyone interested in being correct.

As an executive member of RAMSS I can prove that at no time did RAMSS promote or publish a list of candidates. Whoever 'perceives' otherwise had better check the reliability of their statements.

That is why it is correct to talk only when you know what you are talking about. Mr. Fountain should check the credibility of his statements.  And he is not alone in this municipality.

RAMSS is not, nor has it been, a political organization, but one made up of those who pay the bills.

Mr. Kirkland has never aspired to political office. In his accounting/administrative field, he has exemplary credentials but not qualifications for a municipal CAO. He knows what he talks about.