Editorial: Stupid, cowardly act plain terrorism

What this person has actually done is scare the living daylights out of the staff member and their colleagues who opened the letter, writes Matthew Martin. Photo / Ben Fraser

Some of our city's more heartless residents may have enjoyed the news the Rotorua Lakes Council building had to be shut down yesterday due to the discovery of white powder in a letter to the mayor.

Whoever sent the letter must have a real grudge against mayor Steve Chadwick or the council in general.

It's a shame they could not have just written her a real letter and let her know what they thought instead of shutting down the organisation for the day and disrupting many people's lives.

This person is obviously so stupid they actually thought the mayor would open her own mail and I'm sure they were not trying to send her a cake, by instalments.

Jokes aside, put yourself in the shoes of the person - a council staff member just doing their job - and think about how you would react upon finding a mystery substance in the mail.

Okay, it's probably not dangerous but the intention of the "letter writer" is clear.

But if this person actually knew Mrs Chadwick they would realise she's not easily intimidated.

What this person has actually done is scare the living daylights out of the staff member and their colleagues who opened the letter and cost us ratepayers more money in decontamination costs and lost time.

They have also hurt and scared Mrs Chadwick's family and taken up valuable police resources. Let's hope this person is also stupid enough to have left fingerprints behind.

There are plenty of anonymous people who hide behind social media and their particular monikers who don't have the courage to reveal who they really are while they fire all sorts of abuse at our elected representatives, and indeed ourselves.

The action of yesterday's "letter writer" is the epitome of a cowardly act.

Their lack of foresight and human decency is despicable and should not be tolerated for whatever reason in a civilised society.

It's nothing short of terrorism.