Memorable quotes of 2015: Part One

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2015 (3746 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the most interesting aspects of journalism — perhaps the most interesting — are the often intriguing, thoughtful, bizarre, or even terrible things that people can, and often do, say or write.

Whether it be in a courtroom, during an interview, heard in passing or said to an audience, a colourful quote goes a long way to strengthening a story.

And the year 2015 was certainly full of interesting quotes from memorable people. To mark the last day of the year, we offer up part one of our annual Quotes of the Year feature. Look for part two on Saturday.

“You just get a rush and you feel like people actually care about you. I felt very loved when I ran away because everyone was trying to find me.”

— “Jane,” a repeat runaway who became entangled in drug addiction and sexual exploitation. To protect her identity, the Brandon Sun didn’t use her real name.

“I have had a good life. Some tough times, but you get through them.”

— Brandon resident Jim Riley who celebrated his 106th birthday in January 2015.

“My business is cruel and harsh. It is response times in minutes and seconds. I’m going to put forward the best model and brief (the government and stakeholders) on the best model on how we can improve services for Manitobans.”

—Gerry Delorme, executive director of health emergency management with Manitoba Health, responding to a Brandon Sun freedom of information request that showed more than 40 per cent of Westman’s rural ambulance didn’t meet provincial response-time benchmarks when going to an emergency.

“We are not more special than anyone else and I wish everyone can have a house because it really does change your life. There is a security for yourself, your family, your neighbours.”

— Furaha Kabayiza, who, with his wife Imelda and their three sons, was awarded a home through the local Habitat for Humanity chapter in April.

“The fact the officer arrested the first tall black man he saw in the area so precipitously after coming into contact with him causes concerns.”

— Brandon Justice John Menzies, in an 18-page judgment in which he ruled that more than four ounces of cocaine could not be used as evidence in a drug-trafficking case because a Brandon Police Service officer breached the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during an arrest.

“My father never thought he did anything other than his duty.”

— Patricia Mitchell, daughter of Virden-born Pte. Wayne Mitchell, whose name was enshrined on an annex at CFB Shilo. Mitchell’s building was just one of three that were named in honour of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Kapyong during the Korean War.

“I grew up wanting to die, wanting the pain to end. I spent the last 20 years putting myself back together.”

— Marlene Orgeron, who at three years old — and along with her two brothers — was seized from her uncle’s home in Shoal Lake by provincial officials as part of what become known as the Sixties Scoop.

“People want to get away from everything — we all do. It’s a mentality and everyone feels they’re owed a vacation in the winter. It’s a reward for living in Manitoba.”

— Brian Salt, with McPhail Travel in Carberry, following news that WestJet would double its flights between Calgary and Brandon in January 2016.

“I took the twins for a ride across the railroad tracks — to feel them jiggle one last time.”

—Bambi Edwards, who was told in January 2013 that she had breast cancer. Ultimately, she had to have both breasts removed.

“There are two really cool things about chasing tornadoes in Argentina. One, there is no speed limit, so you can go as fast as you need to catch up to the storm; and two, the tornado spins in the opposite direction because you’re in the southern hemisphere.”

— Chris Chittick, co-star of CMT’s Tornado Hunters, speaking to students from King George and Waverly Park schools in Brandon.

“We accept that it was dark in the room. Mr. Huessien did intend to grab a part of (the victim’s) body, but did not intend to grab his penis.”

— Crown attorney Marnie Evans, during the Aug. 1 sentencing of a man who was drunk when he forgot his key, climbed into the wrong apartment in the dark and mistakenly grabbed the penis of a man who had been sleeping in the bedroom.

“Frankly, this is a stunning act of parental neglect.”

— Judge Donovan Dvorak as he fined a mother $500 and put her on probation for two years for abandoning her baby in the street while high on Gravol and painkillers.

“Oh well, at least I got three points tonight.”

— Jason Charles Motheral-Crampain to police upon his arrest for breaching his bail curfew by playing hockey. On Feb. 2, he was fined $500.

“The largest psychiatric institutions in our country are actually jails.”

— Ken MacKenzie, manager of the forensic mental health program for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, on the need for a Mental Health Court in Brandon.

“We have a concern with one of the expansion joints.”

— Coenraad Fourie, the city’s manager of development and transportation, when the southbound lane of the Eighth Street bridge was closed to all traffic in May. The closure was expected to last six weeks.

“Until we truly know what’s going on with the bridge, it probably wouldn’t be prudent financially to do repairs if we don’t know exactly what the future of the bridge is.”

— Rod Sage, Brandon’s general manager of operations, in late July, after the city found that parts of the Eighth Street bridge were deteriorating faster than expected. As a result, a city engineer suggested the structure may have to be closed to vehicle traffic for good

“It would be nice if that bridge was open for vehicle traffic, but right now (it’s not). So we are looking at ways to … quell people’s fears about the safety of the bridge.”

—Brandon Police Service Sgt. Kevin McLean, after three youths were assaulted while walking across the Eighth Street bridge in October.

“My dad grieved over the lack of justice that was done to him. It bothered him. It’s like a person, when you’re terribly wronged, but you still remember it years later.”

— Earl Lawrence, whose father, 87-year-old Brandon resident Henry Lawrence, died in December 2014 after more than two decades of suffering from asbestosis.

“He’s not living here.”

— Brandon Police Service Sgt. Kevin McLean, address rumours that Vince Li, the man who beheaded a fellow bus passenger, was living in a group home in Brandon.

“To me, once you’re a parent of a transgender individual, it’s like you’re a parent to all of them … when you hear them being hurt or victimized or treated badly, you take it on because that could be your kid.”

— Kathy Bull, the mother of a transgender person and a founding member of a local support group for parents, friends and family of trans individuals.

“Is it because money is money and if we have to prostitute the academic integrity of the institution — by, for example, circumventing established program development, assessment and approval processes — to get more, then so be it?”

— Brandon University economics department head Prof. Joe Dolecki in an open letter attacking a plan to create a joint business school in conjunction with the Assiniboine Community College.

“Clearly, debate, varying opinions and critical thinking are alive and well at BU.”

— Brandon University president Gervan Fearon, as part of a written statement in response to Dolecki’s comments.

“I couldn’t sleep that night, I was horrified that people were going hungry in Canada. I knew I had to do something, but what could one person do?”

— Jennifer Sikora of CFB Shilo, who set up a Brandon and Shilo chapter of Helping Our Northern Neighbours to organize food shipments to remote and fly-in communities due to staggering food prices in northern Canada.

“I never enjoyed the hard news interviews … I always liked the human interest things way more. The ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

— Longtime Brandon radio personality Bill Turner, upon his retirement after 45 years from CKLQ.

“When you pass on, what’s your legacy? My legacy should be that I built dream homes for people and if my tombstone said ‘and he built a bear trap and that was his contribution to the grizzly bears,’ I’d take that, too.”

— Ryan Phinney, a Brandon-based construction company owner who designed a better bear trap for Alberta grizzlies.

“In a small town, jobs are few and far between and certainly a huge concern to lose 10-12 jobs, those aren’t easily replaced.”

— Sheri Grant, past-president of the Neepawa Chamber of Commerce, following a fire that destroyed the town’s Home Hardware building.

“The regret I have is that I didn’t ask Dad more questions. It’s my biggest regret, really.”

— Brandon resident Pat Daniels, who’s late father Roy Tolmie — as a 25-year-old air bomber with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War — was forced to jump from a nosediving Wellington Bomber plane over German-occupied France, southeast of Paris, in 1942.