Elat was steaming again. Elat had been parking their car under a shady tree in town so his dog would be safe in the shade. He had been doing this for the past year and had last week, for the first time, received a parking ticket from another officious public servant. The man had told Elat that he did not care whether Elat had been parking there since childhood, it was simply illegal and here was the $150 fine to prove it. Elat tossed and turned a great deal that night.
Suddenly Elat knew what he must do. When the parking attendant took his wife shopping that weekend he overstayed his one-hour limit parking and a policeman was there to book him. The parking attendant was furious, but Elat and his wife were there to assure him, he had definitely exceeded his one-hour limit by 2 minutes. When the Shire officer next stopped to speak with a neighbour, Elat was there with his friendly police officer to ensure he was booked for illegal and dangerous parking. The Shire officer was furious, but Elat reminded him how wrong it was to abuse a Public Servant doing his duty. Then, when the by now frustrated and upset official tried to phone his boss from his car, the earpiece would not work and he picked up the phone to complete the conversation illegally. The same officer pulled him over again and gave him another on-the-spot fine. He was beside himself with rage and indignation.
Elat was just warming up. In response to a small advertisement he placed in the local paper, 120 persons contacted him to register complaints about the behaviour of Shire employees. Twenty of them had complaints about four Shire officials whose responsibility it was to ensure that Shire regulations were not abused. The group visited the Shire President and put to her that the uncivil behaviour of some of her staff was unacceptable and should, they believed, be unacceptable to her. She was, unable to disagree. Elat and his supporters wanted the council to make civility and care in dealings with the public a primary duty all Shire employees needed to show in dealing with the public. The President agreed that in future all Shire workers would be required to demonstrate civility in their dealings with members of the public. Elat then produced his letters of complaint and informed her that there were several other matters involving council employee’s behaviour and Council procedures that were disturbing local residents. This turned out to be too much for the Shire President who then became angry and accused Elat of being a troublemaker. Elat was able to point out to her, that it was not only a citizens duty to inform a public bureaucracy, in a democratic society, of areas where its behaviour was inequitable, but that it was her contracted responsibility to do something about it.
When she refused and had him thrown out of her office, he went to a well-known stirrer on the staff at the local newspaper. The reporter was delighted to get a juicy story and when he rang the Shire President whilst Elat was still with him, he got an earful from her, not only about Elat, but about his failure to recognise his responsibilities as a journalist. This of course did not impress him and he immediately begun a campaign to have her replaced. At the next council meeting she made a public apology and promised to clean up the Council employees acts, and thanked Elat.
When Elat awoke, his wife was telling him his tea was getting cold.
End
phillboas 