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Facebook posting seen as threat by some Orangeville councillors

October 7, 2016   ·   0 Comments

A Facebook posting that some Orangeville councillors saw as a threat to their safety led to an unusual police presence at last week’s town council session.

Councillor Gail Campbell was escorted into the town hall by Police Chief Wayne Kalinski, who attended the meeting with some of his officers.

Councillor Sylvia Bradley saw herself as potentially being “lynched” and other councillors also saw the communication as threatening.

The author of the posting was local Facebook administrator Trevor Castiglione and the comments were posted on the Orangeville and Area Q&A Facebook site.

The comments, since removed from the site, were as follows: “Sylvia Bradley with her outlandish waste of taxpayers’ dollars going after Mayor Jeremy D Williams and Nick Garisto, and crazy idea about this fire bylaw, has got to go. The citizens of Orangeville are going to lynch her yet.”

Mr. Castiglione went on to say, “I hope OPS (Orangeville Police Service) is on hand (at council) because I think the citizens of Orangeville may drag some council members out of chambers and look for a tree this coming Monday at 7 p.m.”

As a result of the social media post, Orangeville Police visited Mr. Castiglione to discuss his actions and share with him the seriousness of the situation he had created.

When interviewed, Orangeville  Police confirmed that the force’s criminal investigations group did caution an individual and asked that the offending posts be removed. The officers had used the situation as an “educational opportunity.” Although criminal charges might have been laid, the police preferred to give the citizen benefit of the doubt.

In addition to visiting Mr. Castiglione, the police also felt it necessary to increase their presence in council chambers Monday night. The Chief and a small contingent of officers were at the meeting to ensure the safety of our elected individuals.

Councillor Campbell later admitted that she was “concerned for her safety.”

As such, Chief Kalinski had offered to meet her and help maneuvre her through the crowd. Ms. Campbell said she did talk to the Chief about the situation and found the Facebook posting to be “very upsetting,” summing up her feelings on the situation as “beyond being hurtful”.

Councillor Bradley, having been specifically named in the posting, called the incident “bullying at its best.” Although clearly upset by the incident, she vowed to continue to make needed improvements within the town, indicating she remained determined to work for the citizens of Orangeville in a positive fashion.

At the end of the Monday night council session, police accompanied the councillor to her car to assure her physical safety.

Interviewed by myself regarding the posting, Mr. Castiglione, who sees himself as a future political leader for the town, said he wanted everyone to know that he meant no harm by his comments.

In fact, he was unaware that “lynching” was rooted in a the history of bigotry. He was not planning to hurt anyone, nor did he understand that his comments could be construed as racist.

Lastly, he said he did not intend to make councillors fear for their safety.

For what it is worth, I do believe he was sincere. Given the police involvement and the uproar this has caused, I imagine Mr. Castiglione’s future postings on his Facebook page will be somewhat more thoughtful and less aggressive.

As for the rest of us, is this what we want? Is it okay to post social media comments that are physical in nature, about our current town leadership? For me, it is a firm “no”.

The idea of communicating in this manner is simply not exercising sound judgment. I am sorry council members felt unsafe this past Monday night.

Moving forward, we need a town full of citizens who challenge the ideas of each other through respectful debate. If we do this, we can collectively make Orangeville a better place.

@toddtaylorr70

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