Two vehicles belonging to the Reeve and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Wheatland County were vandalized in what appears to be a targeted attack.
The vandalisms took place on the evening of Wednesday, April 5 between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Namaka Community Hall while Wheatland County Reeve Amber Link and CAO Brian Henderson were attending a public consultation meeting.
Strathmore RCMP Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Mark Wielgosz says although some investigative work has been carried out on this file, there is not a lot of information available at this time due to a lack of witnesses and security footage. He adds the vehicles sustained some “fairly deep scratches,” but was unable to comment further about the damages.
A post made by Reeve Link’s husband, Kevin Link, was shared to several area discussion groups alleging the vandalism was targeted and was a result of recent community engagement presentations put on by the Wheatland Housing Management Body (WHMB) and Wheatland and Area Hospice Society (WAHS) regarding construction of the proposed new seniors lodge in Strathmore.
“This travelling road show seemed more about making individual councillors look bad, and sowing seeds of discord in the public than it was about collaborating to build a new lodge,” the post states. “These lies shared to the public by representatives of this board has created much unnecessary and unfairly targeted anger.”
Mr. Link alleges in the post Reeve Link has received several “angry phone calls,” “rude letters,” and there has also been discussion and directives from other municipal councils regarding recall legislation “for certain county councillors.”
The Mail reached out to CAO Henderson and Reeve Link for comment, however, CAO Henderson declined to give comment as this matter has been turned over to RCMP; no response was received from Reeve Link by press time.
S/Sgt Wielgosz encourages anyone with information regarding the vandalisms to contact the Strathmore RCMP detachment at 403-934-3968.