Mayor in a pickle over Olympic tickets

Penticton Herald Staff Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Penticton Mayor Dan Ashton admits he was “in a pickle” over whether to accept free Olympic hockey tickets offered to several B.C. mayors by the B.C. Lotteries Corp. In the end, he opted to match the ticket price with a donation to charity. When B.C. Lotteries offered Ashton a pair of tickets to the Feb. 17 Sweden-Germany preliminary round game, his first response was to offer to pay for them. However, he was informed Tuesday that the Lottery Corp. has no way of handling such a payment - other mayors either accepted or rejected the free ducats. Ashton said he had planned to go with his 13-year-old son to the game and had already booked a return same-day flight from Penticton to Vancouver. Rather than accept the tickets for free, Ashton said he would rather make a donation to charity equal to their face value. The tickets cost more than $100 apiece. “It‘s a pickle for me,” he said. “But one way or another, those tickets are going to be compensated for. If I can‘t give it to B.C. Lotteries, then the exact amount will go somewhere else.” Upon discussion with his son Tuesday afternoon, Ashton said they decided to go to the game but will donate the money to charity. Elsewhere in the Okanagan, Vernon Mayor Wayne Lippert has accepted the tickets, while Kelowna Mayor Sharon Sheppard has not.