And this is the group that recieves over $200,000 per year from rates charged by the council. Oh Dear, And who runs this show, it would appear our old Lib mate Mr Ruffell is on a mission, . The question is what is the mission.

Integrity, a word that is easily said but so very rarely acted on. Congratulatons to Graeme Baker and Jane Mildren for showing the people of Bendigo that there were TWO members of The BTA with these values. What has happened to the person who put out the petition? Is he been slapped on the back and told what a good bloke he is? Well its about time 500 other retailers need to take a stand and ask what exactly is being done and all supposedly in the name of progress.

Two good people able to look at things rationally have been marginalized by disruptive, negative elements

this is an absolute disgrace. Ruffell, you should be ashamed of yourself. Just 'cos this guy had a differing opinion to you, then he has to quit? What ever happened to free speech? You should rename yourselves the anit council group, not the traders association. Why don't you all try to do what the original mantra of the group was intended for and promote the interests of the traders rather than smacking the Council.

I think someone should reread the four 'Traders quit group' postings. I am not lawyer but to me as a reader several do not meet the Advertiser's terms and conditions for postings "We welcome freely exchanged opinions on any subject, but entries deemed libellous, offensive, unacceptable, deceptive, flagrantly abusive or misleading or that breach other aspects of the terms and conditions of use on this site will be removed. Our discussions are about displaying mutual respect so please keep contributions civil and relevant. A good rule of thumb is – would you make those comments in someone else’s home?"

Maybe it is time that these other 500 traders put their hand up and said "I will take on the job" rather than leave it to a few others to do it and then some of them have their mates attack those you have the guts to do the hard yards. Maybe we should all look at it this way, one is asked to leave and the other spits the dummy so we will blame the other 8 people left for our own downfall. As I always say that there is two sides to a story and one has had his say in the paper every day before and after his removal, that tells me something about him!! So 2 are right and 8 are wrong, don't look right to me, but then again who am I?