Without prejudice

Dear Mr. Editor:
A quote by Emily Watson, which appeared in last Wednesday’s edition of the Times, states that various religious and cultural groups who have never attended the fall fair in Emo before came this year.
“Because the Legion chose to have their beer gardens at the sportsfield, that allowed families, cultural, and religious groups to come out. It’s just wonderful . . . It was a really nice atmosphere this year.”
Please accept this letter as a response to the above words of the president of the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society.
First of all, please understand that the opinions expressed within are mine. They have not been sanctioned by the Royal Canadian Legion Br. #99. I am a proud member of our Legion and have spent many hours doing volunteer work on the behalf of the branch and our community.
I have attended the fair since childhood and, goodness knows, have seen many “families” in attendance. Is there a new definition for the word family of which I am unaware?
I find Madame President’s comments most offensive and believe that comments such as these serve her personal agenda and divide the community. She has hidden behind the guise of religion and cultural differences to ridicule an organization that works tirelessly for this community.
Before the beer gardens were put in place at the fairgrounds, the local churches were approached for their approval. It was not the intention of the Legion to offend. While this was before my time as a Legion member, I am told the church representatives gave their blessing.
It would seem that she is offended by our presence and the fact that we sell alcohol. Her choice, of course. My question to her is: The children of the community, many little more than babies, are bilked shamelessly of their money at the games of chance that make up part of the midway. Early childhood gambling education perhaps.
Is that respectable? Surely this must offend our religious and cultural groups, as well. Perhaps, next year, the midway can be omitted, as well. Who’s next to go out the door?
I assume by her comments that she has no respect for the local Legions. Her disdain is obvious. However, I would hazard a guess that she has no idea of the good works that we do. It will be a much higher power than she that will call us to judgment, and I fear not.
We openly admit that we raise money through the sale of alcohol to support the financial operation of our branch. If that makes the Legion a substandard organization, I would like to point out that our local restaurants, and the Emo Inn, must fit into the same category.
By the way, does the sale of alcohol make the Emo Walleye Classic, the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, and many other community functions events that families cannot attend?
She also noted it was the decision of the Legion not to have the beer gardens at the fair. Well, there is some history that the public should be aware of. The building that once housed the beer gardens needed to be upgraded to meet Hydro standards. However, the fair board did not want the Legion to remain in the same spot.
We were asked to move to a location situated at the south end of the grandstand, right up against the race track. The noise factor alone was a definite deterrent.
And in order to make the move, we would have to put up a new building. This building would have to meet all current building codes. Understand, as well, that we would never own the building.
The RRVAS did indicate they would consider giving us a guarantee period if we constructed a new building. But the executive of the Legion could not make a commitment to a new building due to financial constraints and the fact we would never have ownership.
It is well-known that the alcohol and gaming, and smoking, laws have impacted severely on our income. The fact that we are having difficulties is common knowledge.
We were approached about renting the upstairs in the arena to house our beer gardens. If there was an elevator in the arena, this would have been a practical and acceptable solution.
Instead, the stairs to access the hall make it very difficult to move supplies in. Most of our current volunteers are, let’s say, “past our prime.” In a nutshell, the hall is inaccessible to the handicapped and elderly.
In view of our financial inability to construct a new area, we had no alternative but to leave the fair this year. We did this knowing full well that we were losing a major source of revenue, and that hurt us. I am sure that it hurt the fair, as well. Sometimes nobody wins.
To add insult to injury, we were not invited to march in the fair parade. Why not? Perhaps an oversight. In previous years, we invited comrades from Legions within the district to join us in the parade.
We also paid the Highlanders to attend and entertain the crowds. I guess that it is someone else’s turn to pay the piper.
We were asked to sponsor the Mini-King and Queen contest. We did. I guess our money is okay, but our presence isn’t.
To try to offset the losses of not having a beer garden, we hosted a baseball tournament instead. It was a great family weekend, and we have been asked to make it bigger and better next year.
We were able to use the new sportsfield and would like to thank the rec committee of Emo for all their help and encouragement. It is a great facility and we hope to be able to utilize it in the future.
We have no wish to detract from the fair. We understand that there are many fair board members who fully support the Legion and all the work we do for the community. Mrs. Watson, on the other hand, indicated quite bluntly that she did not want the Royal Canadian Legion to have a beer gardens at the fair.
I would like to suggest that perhaps many people within our communities do not know what the Legion does for the area and perhaps that is our fault. More people should remember that the Legion stands for our country, our freedom, and for all those veterans, past and present, who fought and are fighting to give us the rights we enjoy today.
Every year, this branch conducts services in four municipalities to honour the men and women who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. These services would never take place without the Legion and its volunteers.
Does Mrs. Watson abstain from attending the Remembrance Day services? After all, it’s a Legion event.
In closing, I would like to make it very clear we do not want to divide our community on this issue. We have worked long and hard to help make our communities a better place. We provide assistance whenever we can in many areas, such as health care, education, sports programs, senior programs, church projects, drug awareness programs, etc.
It is my opinion that we have been seen in an unfavourable light for much too long and it is time that we are given credit for the good things we do.
I would like to suggest that a formal public apology to the branch, from President Watson, would be in order.
Yours truly,
Kay Nickel
Legion member