More than six months after the issue was first brought to the forefront, the debate over the commercial use of the Birch Avenue docks in Lake Rosseau is continuing to ruffle the feathers of many in Muskoka Lakes township.

These days, however, the argument is becoming personal.

Neighbours of the public docks, tired of waiting for the township to move on the issue, have taken the matter into their own hands and contacted other levels of government, even the police, for help.

Hoping to prove their point that barging is dangerous at that particular stretch of waterfront, some Adams Bay cottages are even taking daily photographs of local contractors at the docks, sending the signal that any slip-up will surely be reported to the appropriate authority.

Not surprisingly, barge and scow operators are not taking too well to the surveillance. Being under the constant scrutiny of a group of disgruntled cottagers could actually cause an accident, they argue, since workers are paying more attention to a camera lens than to directing traffic along the waterfront.

Indeed, parties on both sides of this debate are upset, frustrated and looking for a solution.

All of this, of course, could have been avoided had the township taken decisive action months ago to investigate the safety concerns at Birch Avenue.

Instead, commercial operators and Adams Bay cottagers were left to stew in their anger and fight their battles along the waterfront, instead of in the council chambers.

It is a sad state of affairs when the public looks to their municipal government for help and finds only empty promises of assistance by complacent bureaucrats, convinced they have all the answers.

It is in circumstances such as these, where individuals feel their concerns are being ignored, that wisdom can take a back seat to emotion, and irrational thoughts can prevail.

Let us hope that is not the case here.

As angry as both parties may be at each other in this dispute, one thing is clear: their feelings of resentment are now also being aimed at the township.

Like everyone else in this emotionally-charged debate, we hope that councillors and staff, too, will start to take these sentiments personally.

— JL