What appears to be a grammatical error in Greater Vernon’s new welcome signs isn’t appealing to residents or tourists. The three new welcome signs read: Welcome 
Greater Vernon. Many have interpreted the sign as a welcome mat for only Greater Vernon residents and not to tourists due to the lack of the word ‘to.’ “Everybody’s noticed it,” said Greater Vernon Services chairman Gary Corner. “It’s the first thing I noticed.” Since the project came in under the original $92,869 budget, there is approximately $22,000 left over to incorporate the word ‘to’ into the signs. The funds came from a Union of B.C. Municipalities grant that was allocated in 2006. Although the apparent error is being fixed, the final product, overseen by economic development/tourism, was in fact not a mistake. Denny Raincock, economic development manager, explains that Greater Vernon is a political body, not a city, district or village. “How do you say ‘welcome to’ a political body? “The fact of the matter is people get it, it’s welcome to somewhere.”
She adds that there have also been a number of compliments received on the signs.“I think we’ve come up with quite a handsome sign.” But how the sign reads isn’t the only thing concerning residents and local politicians. The new signs, complete with stonework, were constructed in the spring and have since become a canvas for graffiti artists. The back of the sign is a bright white, blank slate, but that could soon change. “It could have something like ‘Thanks for visiting’ or ‘Please come back again,’” said Raincock. “We’re playing with options.” Another problem with the signs is where they are placed, particularly the one on Highway 6 next to Hillview Golf Course. The others are almost at the Predator Ridge turnoff of Highway 97 and one north of the visitor centre by Swan Lake. “It should be at the entrance to Greater Vernon, not the entrance to Vernon,” said Glen Taylor, Greater Vernon Services director and a Coldstream councillor. “It should be moved out to Lavington.” Director Wayne Lippert explains that where the signs ended up was a Ministry of Transportation decision. “The sites that we have are the only place that highways would allow. (Otherwise) It would have to go in place of the District of Coldstream sign because they only have limited sites.”Corner, also Coldstream’s mayor chimed in: “We’re not giving up our sign.”
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Morning Star Editorial July 18, 2008 A sign of greater failure at hand
So now instead of welcoming tourists, Greater Vernon is welcoming Greater Vernon to this fine community. At least that's how it appears to most people driving by the brilliant, newly erected signs stationed at the entrances to Vernon. They read: 'Welcome Greater Vernon' not Welcome TO Greater Vernon. Apparently this wasn't a mistake on behalf of the sign maker or whoever signed off on the wording. Apparently the signs are supposed to read like that because Greater Vernon isn't an actual municipality or city, like Vernon and Coldstream are. It's a political body, so the thinking was that you can't say 'Welcome to' a political body. Aside from the fact that this seems like a lame excuse (or the height of silliness due to political correctness run amok), the placement of the signs combined with the wording makes one wonder. So the signs say Greater Vernon, yet they're not placed on the outskirts of this greater region (i.e. edge of Coldstream towards Lumby or the outskirts of the North Okanagan Regional District at the far end of Swan Lake). Nope, instead they sit right on the City of Vernon's doorsteps.
Meanwhile Vernon's mayor claims it was the Ministry of Transportation that led to the signs being put where they actually ended up. Funny how that played out. But if the city really was the greater one, it would help get the signs moved to reflect the words (once 'to' is added) that every resident and tourist passing by will read. And with any luck that will lead to a more appropriate sign of the times that will actually make sense for all involved.
1 comment:
People in glass houses should not throw stones. The MorningStar is full of gramatical errors, wrong word usage and so on. Rolke doesn't understand that "isn't" isn't an acceptable contraction of "are not". Never mind the fact that contractions in formal writing are improper. When our kids were in school, the joke was that you didn't have to bother with English in high school. You could always get a job writing for the MorningStar!
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