This is a page of news reporting. You won't read this in the Tribune. The dominant criminal empire of Welland controls local media with Toronto and American partners, if you can call an office in St. Catherines that controls The St. Catharines Standard, The Niagara Falls Review and the Welland Tribune, with other info-news advertising publishings, a Welland newspaper. A former Tribune publisher is now editor of all three.
     I was writing about local bands as an Evening Tribune weekly columnist, and writing about outside bands giving concerts in Welland as a daily article, with a press pass that got me into shows, bars and backstage in venues from Buffalo to Hamilton. According to the editor who hired me, that was good for me, the Tribune was being generous with me, and I had that press pass, so being paid $5 a week was fair. When my column became popular, mostly because I let the musicians speak for themselves, I was told the Tribune didn't want employees who were content with their job, they wanted ambitious people. I was told that if I didn't cover Thorold City as a reporter, I would be fired. I was also offered $50 a week to do that.

I said I'm not a reporter, I don't have any college or university credits in journalism, and I don't know what to do. I was told that all I had to do was attend Thorold City Council meetings every Thursday and write three different stories from that. That's how my job as a political reporter began.
     What made me popular at Thorold City Council meetings was telling them about Welland. They were having problems with Welland politicians and Welland residents, the same people making problems for me.

     As a reporter, having one source can make a news article. Having two sources is considered as being proof that can't be denied. This page has many sources. I've been hearing about David Clow ever since his name became known as running for mayor. Many people on King Street remember him, many working for the same people he worked for in Welland. Many people who have only met him since he moved back to Welland talk with me, and many people who only know him after he became a mayoral candidate talk with me.
     The following is a brief history of his career and what his candidacy means for the people of Welland.

     David Clow: Welland Mayoral Candidate, by John Watt

     David Clow first became well-known in Welland as a drug dealer for the Ward Family. After he ran up a big debt with members of the Ward Family that he couldn't repay, he moved to Ottawa where he moved in with another member of organized crime. That's where he had a motorcycle accident that put him in a wheelchair.
Residents of King Street remember him as a very devious man, being manipulative and "getting into your head". He created a lot of anger everywhere he went, everyone saying he took advantage of them in very sinister ways. New people say he plays on your sympathy, and they now regret wanting to help him.
     When I met David Clow in Welland, we would talk when we met. David told me that Sam Ward drove him around in British Columbia to help him take photos of environmental damage so he could build a website about that kind of politics. I asked him if that was one of the Ward Family from Welland, and he said yes.
I told him about being a victim of the Ward family, and the horrors, if not crimes against humanity, they did against my father, mother and brothers. He didn't put me down for what I said, agreeing with me, and seemed interested in what I said about running for mayor.
     Now that David Clow is a candidate, people are telling me about the time he went into Welland City Council during a council meeting, disrupting it. The people who are telling me this also think Welland City Council is corrupt, so I'm surprised they are upset about this intrusion, saying it wasn't a wise poltical thing to do, or a mayoral thing to do.
     I'm now hearing that he has edited a video of this meeting and uploaded it online. City council cameras show that Jeff Ward was sitting in the audience with a device, making a video, and was part of the overall plan. People who were close to him say that he must be wearing a watch that was given to him when he was younger, because his arm looks like it's growing up around it. All of this was very disturbing for viewers.
     This reporter, a six time mayoral candidate, does not see the "debate" at Hunters' Point as being a public debate. I participated at a mayoral event there myself. It's by invitation only in a members' only conference room. The initial property and construction is controlled by the same people who control City Hall. I see this "mayoral debate" as being staged so Mayor Campion can say there was a debate in Welland.
     People who have seen David Clows' video of this event say it's heavily edited, isn't a portrayal of the entire evening, and centers on him. One viewer said this behavior only shows his entire attitude about life and living in Welland, calling him a psychopath. That's a very strong word, but if you are coming at people as a mayoral candidate, saying you want to fight corruption, when your life has been about drug dealing and using others as disposable human trash, just what they say, I can only report what this conversation is.
     When election officers at Welland City Hall say to me that it's wonderful that someone like David Clow is running for mayor, when they change the filing deadline to make me too late, you can see this psychopathy is as contagious as their support of the Ward Family has been, all their lives. These are the same election officers that Mayor Campion said can't afford to have a by-election, before Claudette Ward (Richard) was appointed a city councilor with a secret vote that violated the municipal election act.
     That doesn't matter to those politicians and employees at City Hall, because they're getting paid from both sides now. If City Hall really wanted a by-election, they could have cut typing paper into thin strips and let voters attend City Hall to write their candidates name on it and drop it into a box, giving them a few days to do that. If City hall really wanted an open and democratic election, they would let voters fill in paper forms so that, as per their rights under the Charter of Ontario, they could have write-in candidates or comment on why they are not voting. That's not why Welland buys discredited voting machines from America. After elections, Welland City Hall sells lists of people who voted, and I'm sure you know that as electronic, digitized voting, it would be just as easy to charge more money to show who people voted for.
     If Welland is your city, it is your responsibility.

     Personal comments: Any attempt by me to profit from professions, trades or any self-employment, has been illegally interfered with by members of the Ward Family and their employees. If I'm setting up musical equipment in public, it gets stolen. Left-handed guitars I am building for myself get damaged in my apartment. Other musicians in Welland are afraid to be seen with me in rehearsals or onstage. Business people can be told that if they want a sign from John Watt, they should ask the Wards to get one for free.

It's never nice criticizing, or reporting, anything negative about anybody. If I wasn't being taunted in email about going to David Clows' "The Hub" to sing and play guitar, this wouldn't be so easy.

David Clow