This is a one off blog at the request of a group of DEAL RESIDENTS. All Information taken from online sources available for the public to view.

As many hundreds of people are aware, a new movement of dog awareness is apparent in Deal to fight the proposed all year ban of dogs on Deal Beach. As a dog owner I would never support such a ban and its great to see people oppose this too.

St Margaret's Bay resident Steven Robert Ross Colburn opened a facebook group called 'Opposing the ALL Year Dog Ban on Deal Beaches'

I suppose my first question would have to be 'Why would a person who does not even live in the town be taking such an interest in what goes on in our town?' That said, as a dog loving community we welcome the chance of discussing the issues that do affect us and our dogs in our town.

My second question would have to be about the first post which included the line

'Someone (we know who you are) is painting poo orange! This is a gimmic to gain support for this persons mission to obtain an all year round ban on Deal beaches, amongst other restrictions.... ....[we] are going to have have some restrictions slapped upon us unless we muster troops to oppose some far reaching proposals'

So far all very dramatic and just the sort of post needed to get people fired up and moved to action although it would not affect Mr Colburn as does not live here.

I knew immediately that something was adrift with what was being said as I knew a couple of people who had been spaying the dog poo's with temporary biodegradable orange paint, its legality having been checked and because of the extreme problem Deal was having with dog fouling, the council and environmental crime unit welcomed all initiatives by the community to highlight what was going on and find ways to tackle the issue.

I also found the way that Mr. Colburn was finger pointing at one individual rather odd and as this blog will prove, has caused others to follow suit and post derogatory remarks about a Deal resident based on the so called 'facts' of Mr Colburn.

From summer 2013, Community Organisers in Deal started listening to residents to find out what they thought about the town, the good the bad etc, and what people could do as a community to change things they did not like. 1,300 Deal Residents were listened to and the majority of them complained about the amount of Dog Mess in Deal.

In October 2013 The Community Organisers held a meeting with Roger Moore from Dover District Council and showed him what the residents had said.

Between them they sought ways to try and improve the situation. This included spraying the paint to raise awareness, organising a doggy fun day in the local field to bring residents together and try and encourage people to to pick up if they didn't, or to encourage others to encourage others pick it up.

The Community Organisers, who work out of The Golf Rd Centre and who's job is to help members of the community tackle problems themselves as a community with their help, supported the community with their individual awareness campaigns which included The bio paint, the 'No such thing as a dog poo fairy' protest by children of the town, local mascot Scooby Dude going into school to teach children about the dangers of toxicara and what they should do if they get dog poo on them and the recent Fairy Parade on 29th June.

The following pictures are intended as a time line to show what has been happening in Deal this year,

Published 3rd January 2014

A Deal couple have complained to Dover District Council about the amount of dog mess near Sandown Castle.

Published Jan 23rd 2014 - Ralph Cade filled 150 council supplied dog bags with approximately 400 dog poo's picked up in the North end of Deal, the worst area being between the royal Hotel and Sandown Castle.

This next picture from the same page, shows that the Survey on dog control orders was already in place.

Deal Resident complained that a dog was allowed to urinate on her doorstep.

Mr Colburn was aware of the incident above as he had commented on the thread in connection with it but wasn't very supportive, in fact he suggested that the lady was making a fuss about nothing and if it bothered her to clean it. It also shows that Mr Colburn was aware of the problems that we have in our town and he wasn't concerned about how the residents felt.

(why would he, he doesn't live here)

At this stage, we know Four facts

1) About one thousand people who live in Deal complained about dog fouling

2) The press had highlighted there was a serious issue with dog fouling in Deal

3) A dog owner was out there picking up hundreds of poo's in a bid to clean the area up

4) The dog control order was in place and the council were looking into things to see what could be done.

11 February

An announcement made about bio paint & poo on the Community page as witnessed and commented on by Tony Wickenden, (Although, as will be shown below he does a good job of pretending he didn't know when he too was abusing a female resident of this town by asking if he too could ''piss on her door step'')

The opening of the page 'Keep Deal's Streets Beautiful - No more Dog Poo'

Also in February

March 2014 children take action.

11 April 2014

In May The Community hosted a Doggy Family Fun Day to bring dog owners and non dog owners together for a day of fun & games and awareness of the issues.

June 29th 2014

ON THE DAY OF THE FAIRY PARADE ONLY ONE LONE DOG POO WAS ON THE SEAFRONT BETWEEN THE ROYAL HOTEL AND SANDOWN CASTLE.

WHAT THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN DEAL HAVE BEEN DOING HAS MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE AND WE SHOULD BE THANKING THEM ALL!!!

1 JULY 2014.

THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS TO GET CONFUSING BECAUSE THIS IS WHEN ST. MARGARET'S BAY RESIDENT DECIDED TO START HIS CAMPAIGN WHICH WAS AS MUCH AGAINST AN A RESIDENT OF DEAL AND THE UNCONNECTED POO PAINTERS.

It should be obvious by now that this is not a one person campaign as stated by a non resident of our town, over a thousand residents complained about the dog poo. If he was a resident he would have known more and not just jumped on a band wagon after all the work was done by those who actually

LIVE IN THE TOWN & WERE AFFECTED BY IT.

Because of Mr Colburn's false allegations and the way he portrayed one of the thousand residents the following posts started to appear!

As we have already seen above, Tony knew the paint was not criminal yet still supported Colburns campaign against a resident of our town. He even encourages people to waste police resources by complaining about the paint when it is already known it is legal!

This is an absolutely disgusting way for grown men to behave. It is abusive and bullying!

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Update

After a recent incident in a local park following fireworks being lit under a new piece of play equipment in North Deal Playing Field for the children in North Deal, Colburn thought the following post was was a fun thing to write.

I am not exactly sure of Colburns intention any more.

Update

It appears that Coburn decided to visit Deal yesterday and spent the bus journey slating those people in Deal who have done good things. He named names and the person who witness his mouth could not believe what he was saying and passed on the comments.

One lady (a community volunteer) who was mentioned messaged him and told him if he had a complaint to put it in formally.

This resulted in yet another onslaught of misguided nonsense posts from those who obviously are not fully aware of the facts.