‘Scapegoat’ Obermuller ‘bleats’

TOWN CLERK ORLEENA OBERMULLER IS FURIOUS BEING MADE THE
PROVERBIAL BIBLICAL SCAPEGOAT for the deficiencies swirling around Linden Mayor
Waneka Arrindell, her Deputy, Wainewright Bethune and Councillors.
Obermuller, Mayor Arrindell and Deputy Bethune are at odds over the precipitous decline in toll
collection in the mining town which fell from $60M in 2017 to near $40M in 2020 – more than
60 percent.
While the Mayor and her Deputy cite pilfering, Obermuller blames the slide on administrative
vision defect by the Mayor and her office.
“I am tired of these people and their lies, where they keep trying to stain my name,” Obermuller
told www.aroundtheregions.com in a recent interview.
Scapegoats are usually strong-willed, empathic, protective of others and justice-seeking. But they can
also internalise blame, be emotionally reactive, highly sensitive and routinely question authority.
Since her elevation to the post in 2018, Obermuller and Arrindell have been on a face off, with the former
accusing the Linden Mayor of “running to the media to create a certain type of image” whenever she
blunders and is forced to account.
Obermuller decided she has had enough of Arrindell’s antics and “will no longer sit by idly to accept
(her) deliberate calculation at creating undue embarrassment” for her in the bauxite-mining
community while she insists in pushing her own agenda.
The Town Clerk blames Arrindell and her cabal of Councillors for trying to muscle their way around
established guidelines, ignore issues and in the quest try to “embarrass” her.
“If I suck at my management there is a process according to the Termination and Severance Act
that speaks to how disciplinary actions are to be taken. If there is evidence and grounds for same,

then the process has to be followed. It was never done,” Obermuller said highlighting the justice-
seeking element of a scapegoat.
On the issue of revenue decline, the Town Clerk explained that vehicle owners might be taking
advantage of a lacuna in the law governing collection.
“It is evident that there has been a large increase in the number of persons who pay 25 percent of
the toll compared to those who paid in 2017 to date. Then there is still a number of defaulters
who are receiving 25 percent pay since 2017, of which a large local company and a Councilor
are part of that list,” the TC revealed.
She blamed the revenue slide on drivers now bypassing the toll booth by using alternative routes;
some have illegally registered their vehicles to a Linden address and several features which
helped produce the 2017 bonanza have been abandoned.
“If in 2017 we had less than 100 persons paying 25 percent of the toll, today we have over 200
persons paying 25 percent of the toll. Mind you, if the toll is $4800.00 you only pay 25 percent
of that once the vehicle is registered in a Linden address and a lot of persons have been doing
that,” she revealed.
“When it started, if I’m right, less than 60 vehicles paid 25 percent of the toll, this is based on the
by-law for the toll,” Obermuller said.
Obermuller is adamant she will not be intimidated by Mayor Arrindell, Deputy Bethune and their
supporting cast of Councillors into violating protocol and operating unprofessionally.
“The Council has to make decisions about what is (to be) executed. Maybe the Council can
say what decision was made to improve (revenue collection at) the toll booth and if that
wasn’t followed,” Obermuller suggested.