A dispute over a traffic ticket boiled over at the Rural Municipality of Meota office last week.
A local farmer, Kyle Esquirol, dumped a load of grain in front of the RM of Meota office in protest of a traffic ticket handed out by one of the RM’s traffic officers.
On top of the pile a traffic ticket was placed on top with the following words written on it: “If we are doing such a bad job out here ... you take it to the elevator.”
In a Facebook post that ended up widely circulated on social media, Esquirol stated “this is what happens when your RM decides it needs to ticket farmers on a hot sunny harvest day.”
Esquirol elaborated some more on Facebook about what had transpired — comments that ended up shared by the WEST Admin site.
Esquirol stated there had been two tickets for speeding — one to his dad on a semi for going 77 km/h running a hill, and the other to his brother for speeding while going to test a sample of grain.
He further stated his main complaint was not so much about the tickets, but with the priorities of the RM.
“The priorities of the RM of Meota are way out of line,” he stated. “How does a $186,000.00 dollars of tax payer money make the rural life safer to run a CSO? What is the purpose of a community safety officer that works during the day while our farms, acreages and cabins are robbed at night? All the people stopped and ticked during the day sure are real criminals.”
“...How many arrests of real criminals has this CSO made? The answer is ZERO, he spends his time cruising rural roads during the day picking easy targets for petty offences. He knows people will pull over and comply with very little risk to his personal safety. He has no intention of stopping any real criminals.”
Esquirol ended his comments by stating “farmers aren’t slaves to the RM. I have had enough and did something about it.”
The RM of Meota provided some further details in a news release Monday afternoon. According to the R.M., on Sept. 18 at at around 1 p.m. a community safety officer had stopped a pick up truck travelling on an RM road. The stop was conducted due to the truck traveling at a speed exceeding the legal limit; the driver of the truck was also using a cellular device.
During that stop, a verbal altercation occurred between the CSO officer and another person who arrived on scene in a second vehicle.
Then at around 2 p.m. that same day, they reported that an end dump trailer was used to offload approximately 200 bushels of wheat at the municipal office in Meota.
"Safety is a priority at all times of the year," states the release from the RM of Meota. "The Local Police Board has empowered the CSO officer to use appropriate discretion in the exercise of the duties and is confident that this traffic stop was handled in an appropriate and professional manner by the CSO officer. The Local Police Board has completed a review of the incident and has provided all information to the RCMP for further investigation."
