Rumours and conspiracy theory’s have been flying around Wingham over our support for Bernie Bailey, and WFP’s roll in his narrow victory or more importantly Mr. MacGowan’s defeat. This statement is in response to those rumours.
We decided to support Mr. Bailey based on his integrity and honesty. Many of our volunteers have had business dealings with the Appliance Doctor, and had only excellent things to say about his honesty and professionalism. This is the reason why we gave his business free advertising the last year or so, our way of saying thank you for his excellent work.
Ownership of Wingham Free Press. WFP is owned by a number of investors that are heavily invested in Wingham and surrounding area. This group represents Millions of investment in Wingham, heavily weighted in residential and commercial properties. One of their primary goals is to see that town council gets their spending under control; and to make Wingham safer by exposing those that do us harm, or put us or our children at risk. WFP will be putting forth several proposals in the coming months in the hopes of making Wingham safer and more prosperous.
The owners find it perplexing that there is so much interest in who owns WFP, as no one seems to care who owns the Advance Times, the recent recipient of $21,381 grant from the Ontario Government. They also feel this money could have been used better by giving 21 businesses $1000 each, with the condition they spend it on Advance Times advertising.
Control of content is the hands of Brian Johnson and Danny White. These two choose to remain out of the spotlight for the security reasons. They have had dozens of threats due to our policy of publishing the names of drunk drivers and drug dealers. We have had many first hand reports from our volunteers where they have heard statements like the following: “Those people should be shotâ€, “They have balls of steel putting drug dealers names online†and “they are going to get themselves killedâ€. We hope town hall can respect this and can continue to communicate via email with WFP.
The investors have pledged unlimited financial support to defend any litigation Mr. White and Mr. Johnson may encounter due to any story they run. They are staunch supporters of Free Speech and the Freedom of the Press. Any story that may be controversial is put to a vote where the volunteers decide if the story is run with a min 90% vote.
For the record:
Mr. Bailey had no knowledge of any of the stories or cartoons before they were run.
Mr. Bailey has never made any comments to WFP about Mr. MacGowan, nor was he asked for a comment.
Mr. Bailey is not a shareholder in WFP.
Mr. Bailey has no knowledge of the investors in the private corporation(s) that own WFP.
WFP had no prior knowledge that Bernie Bailey was going to run for council, we found out when they released the names of the candidates.
WFP thinks Mr. MacGowan is an honourable family man and wish him well in the future.
WFP also feels Wingham has not been managed well for the last decade and a new perspective is desperately needed, and we think Mr. Bailey can get council spending under control, which is the root of many of Wingham’s problems.
From Avner:
My cartoon was meant to illustrate the upcoming change. The ‘Super-hero’ image of the Appliance Doctor was to show that he is the Winghamite to bring about the fiscal changes this town desperately needs. Some think the cartoon was influenced personally by Mr. Bailey