November 9, 2008
Re: "Comments off base" by Jim McEwan, Executive Director, Funtastic Sports Society, in the Morning Star, November 9
Mr. McEwan has launched a diatribe against me, a mayoral candidate, by misrepresenting what I have said at public forums and on the KISS-FM phone-in for mayoralty candidates. He talks about me "taking aim at the Funtastic Slo-pitch Tournament" and goes on to great lengths promoting his organization and their financial contributions while denigrating this mayoral candidate in a most inaccurate manner. I have never said anything about their financial contributions to the community. Mr. McEwan states he "would like to set the record straight". By this media release, I am setting the "record straight".
So, what are the facts?
At the SENS Forum held at the Knox Presbyterian Church, I stated that the Funtastic Sports Society was a business. Mr. McEwan states in his letter in the Morning Star, "Funtastic does operate on a strict business model". So he and I are in agreement on that.
At the SENS Forum I suggested that Funtastic needed to address "a small element of participants" who were causing trouble through drunkenness and rowdiness which necessitated the intervention of our RCMP on more than one occasion. These are facts that were reported in the media. At the mayoralty forum at the Schubert Centre I stated my full support for the Funtastics and I offered them a suggestion to play their sport on the fields and use facilities like the Multiplex for their concerts, socials and beer gardens. That. I suggested, would be a win-win situation for everyone.
Another fact is there have been complaints about Funtastic concerts and the noise levels into the early hours. Hence, my suggestion to go indoors for those.
On the KISS-FM radio programme, I again offered the suggestion in a constructive spirit to Mr. McEwan, that they needed to deal with these problems to produce a win-win situation for the community and the Funtastics.
I also offered the opinion that, since the Funtastics organization are into promoting sports, the behaviour reported in the media was not a good example to young people. So I suggest that any reasonable person looking at the facts of what I actually said would conclude that it is a reasonable position for a mayoralty candidate to take; one given with constructive recommendations to the Funtastics.
I am involved in sport in Vernon year round on a volunteer basis as a boxing coach (NCCP qualified) and have been involved in sport in Vernon since 1974, so my support for sports is clear.
In conclusion, I will remind everyone that in the past, events that were economically appealing such as the Kelowna Regatta and the Penticton Peach Festival had to be cancelled because bad behaviour was not nipped in the bud.
Antony Stamboulieh
250-260-1082
