Letters to the Editor: March 11, 2020

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Brier a huge success

Now that the Brier party has ended and the ice at the Leon’s Centre has reverted back to its hockey state, it is time to further commend this great city and its people for putting on a fantastic event. True, the ice conditions were superb (thanks ice crew and leaders Greg Ewasko and Jon Wall), which led to outstanding shot-making, the organizers (Curling Canada, Ken Thompson, Linda Lott, John Ryce, Leon’s Centre staff, etc.), who exhibited great planning, and a multitude of volunteers who provided outstanding service.

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I experienced wonderful situations and heard of many others, such as:

• The out-of-town family who were here for the entire event and ate in a different restaurant every night and were overwhelmed with the quality of our restaurants. If time permitted, they would have gone back to all of them.

• The stores (The Rocking Horse, Tara Natural Foods, etc.) that fully embraced the event and set up window displays.

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• The tourism bureau and downtown businesses that had the foresight to have a Kingston Brier-patterned paper and fully displayed it along with similarly patterned scarves that I saw everywhere.

• Kingston Transit – WOW. I rarely take the bus, but it was entertainment every ride. One ride even had a lady distributing doughnuts throughout the bus. The bus driver who waited for an extra few minutes so the passenger could use the facilities at Centre 70, and then when she got on the bus she received a round of applause! The bus driver who invited those waiting on a cold night for Express 501 at the Brock Street transfer point to hop on his bus for a few moments so they could stay warm until the 501 arrived. And the countless times I heard departing passengers thank the bus driver for his service.

What can I say about the spectators — 96,000-plus. Sou’westers were everywhere, provincial flags waved about, Slider the mascot encouraged the crowd, and, of course, the nuns (Sisters of the Rocks) presided over the masses. The fans filled The Patch and enjoyed the wonderful entertainment. Who thought they could put up a temporary building like that? Note: The City of Kingston should seriously consider a convention centre for this site or some building that could be used for events like the Brier.

There was such a jovial display of happiness everywhere — people were in a good mood, patient, understanding, kind, considerate and generally just having a great time. You know things are going well when the police, security and commissionaires are all smiling and conversing with the attendees.

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Thank you, fellow residents of Kingston for doing an outstanding job of portraying our wonderful city and making the 2020 Kingston Brier 2020 an event for the ages.

I look forward to Kingston Brier 2027, the 100th anniversary of Canadian men’s championship curling.

Tom Bryant

Kingston

‘More neutral approach is in order’

Re: “Woman damages fire extinguisher cabinet” (Feb. 29)

I am bothered by the juvenile sense of humour that frequently makes its way into your paper’s local pieces. The woman in the piece I mention above is described as “seemingly losing an argument with a fire extinguisher” and later “apparently conversing incoherently with the fire extinguisher.” Addiction and mental illness (and they often are connected) are not funny. Mental illness will affect one in three of us during our lifetimes, add family members and virtually no one will not have some experience of it.

Did your team really mean to risk offending the entire Kingston population with this coverage? A more neutral approach is in order; think of it as a requirement of your role as journalists.

A. Cummings

Kingston

Tax file amiss

I am hoping that there is Good Samaritan in the community who may have come across my missing tax file. The file went missing sometime after 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, after it was completed and filed with First Tax, in the Clock Tower Plaza.

While they were working on additional tax files, the file was put into my walker. At some point between when the file was placed in my walker and when I arrived home, it went missing.

This situation has caused me great stress. I am hoping someone has recovered it and could return the file to First Tax.

J. Monahan

Kingston