Who is running the winter festival?
In the Jan. 8 Brandon Sun it states that “City manager Scott Hildebrand made it clear that the City of Brandon does not operate the Winter Festival or handle decision-making for the pavilions.” If this is indeed true, I am wondering why in the Jan. 4 Brandon Sun it states that “Esther Bryan, the city’s community development manager and past-chair of the festival, said the American pavilion’s application was declined in the fall after a vote by the festival committee of the whole.”
Something stinks
I totally agree with James O’Connor’s Jan. 5 Editor’s Notebook column about something smelling rotten in Denmark. Well, it smells in Brandon, too, when it sounds like an elitist Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival committee is making decisions about who and who cannot have a pavilion here. As far as them having a secret vote — I think it is disgusting. This is open to all nations. Why can’t the U.S.A. be here? We all spend enough time shopping there, so why not allow them to have a small pavilion at our Winter Festival.
Mysterious society
I read with interest the reports about the upcoming Lieutenant Governor’s Winter Festival. If there is, as stated, an English Society it would surprise many Brandonites who would be eligible to become members. To the best of my knowledge, English folk come together at festival time and then disband immediately after, till the next festival. In that respect they are no different from those volunteers who staffed the American Pavilion last year. Maybe the downfall of the American Pavilion organizers was their honesty ... whereas there is no transparency from some of the other pavilion organizers, even to their own volunteers. The Winter Festival is an amazing event and I hope the city will provide more leadership so that it can run smoothly well into the future.
Nothing will change with ‘Idle No More’
If some leaders did what they were elected to do, we would not be in this mess. I am a First Nations person and I have to speak out for the sake of our children and their future. The Idle No More movement is a waste of time. Some chiefs will continue getting big fat salaries and bonuses along with councillors. Some leaders get a criminal charge and they are still in office! On the reserve, if you have a big family you get to be a chief or get to be a councillor and you get in office only to help your family and relatives.
Just telling it like it is
Kudos to Brandon sports editor James Shewaga for not holding anything back about our hometown Wheat Kings/Bobcats and their struggles. Just because they are our home team, it doesn’t mean we have to be positive all the time. A little bit of criticism doesn’t hurt once in a while. If they are doing poorly, then say so!
Teach them a sense of worth
I say hooray to the Sound Off about kids learning some discipline in the army. I must say that during the Second World War when a person became 17 in England you had to do important war work and I joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and I have never been sorry for doing that. As an only child, it was an awakening for me in more ways than one. So I do agree most wholeheartedly with what that writer said. And you do learn to respect each other, especially at that particular point in time. And you have something to do with yourself and you had a sense of worth. That’s what these kids today need — a sense of worth.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition January 9, 2013
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