Angela Dunlop, Ocean Shores
I feel impelled to defend Tom Tabart in light of Cr Sarah Ndiaye’s damning character assessment of him (Letters, 9 June).
Some years ago, as a volunteer on a S355 hall management committee, I was subjected to a Code of Conduct complaint by council staff on the flimsiest of grounds. I felt bullied and intimidated by staff and the incident caused me great mental anguish and made me question my ability to continue to contribute to the betterment of the South Golden Beach community and its community centre.
Tom Tabart was a stalwart supporter who gave me effective guidance and moral support as I waded through Council’s bureaucratic quagmire. His wealth of knowledge, experience and dogged determination gave me the strength to pursue natural justice when I felt so disillusioned with the process and felt like giving up. I have always found Tom to be respectful and compassionate in his dealings with women and I am proud to call him a friend.
I recognise that there are some men who do not see eye-to-eye with some women, but that does not make them misogynists.
Likewise, women who have issues with certain men are not necessarily misandrists. Let’s bring back respect and good ol’ common courtesy in our dealings with others, regardless of gender.
We are on the eve of our local government elections and now is the time that we should all be pulling together to focus on the election of our best informed, experienced, and passionate candidates to represent us for the next three years. Enough of the bickering already.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
