Button Button Who's Got the Cornfest Button?

The Big Stone Lake Area Royalty has been working very hard to get ready for the parade season. These girls have raised money to remodel the float. This float has not been used in a few years and the girls have taken it upon themselves to fix it. Now all the hard work has paid off and they can sit back and enjoy the ride right? Well, not exactly. You see one of the things about the royalty is the buttons. Royalty attending parades around the area all have buttons promoting their local events. Each royalty carries buttons for their particular local event that they are promoting. The Royalties exchange these buttons.

You may recall last year as the reigning royalty walked around Cornfest they had buttons all over their sashes. Their sashes were just dripping with buttons. It is common for the royalty to exchange these buttons and the organizations that sponsor the royalty will make up the buttons without numbers for the girls to exchange with other royalty. In this case that would be the Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Last year the royalty received their buttons within the first parade. It was only a few weeks after the photos were taken. This year we are almost half way into the parade season and no buttons in sight, nor any promise of when they will get them.

This year the girls had their photos taken before the Sport and Leisure Show. That was over three months ago. Where are the buttons? The royalty is supposed to get the unnumbered buttons to exchange with other royalty and so far they have nothing to exchange. Who is making the buttons this year? The same person who made them last year within a few weeks of the photo being taken and in time to allow the girls to exchange buttons with other royalty. The person making the buttons is Artie Arndt. That name is familiar.

Isn't Artie Arndt the person who said "The chamber will have nothing to do with these people"? See Yo, Ho, Ho The Chamber

Isn't Artie Arndt the person who degrades and belittles the "BayBridges" on these forums? See Watch Out for Trolls.

Now we have this same man in charge of making the buttons for some girls who have given many hours of their time to work to make a float and promote the Big Stone Lake Area and the buttons are not there? Mr. Arndt did not have any problems getting the buttons out on time last year. So far we have been told that Mr. Arndt claims that he hasn't received the photos. The photographer has stated that the photos have been emailed to Mr. Arndt three times. So which is it?

Perhaps we can shed a little more light on this subject. Let's take a trip back to September of 2008 for the rest of the story. At the first royalty meeting the statement was made that there was some question about allowing the girls to have their picture on the button. We were told that some on the Chamber Board complained, "Why should we wear buttons with someone else's kid on it?" Considering Mr. Artie Arndt's feelings about nonresidents that he expressed under the name of "understood" (See Only Residents can speak? ) would we be surprised to find such an attitude in the Chamber? (It is interesting to note that the Queen and the 2nd Princess are not residents of Ortonville.)

When I heard that statement I wondered to whom it was directed at. Who's "kid" were they referring to? I kept my silence and waited to see what would happen. The girls were all kept on pins and needles worrying about it until January when it was finally announced that indeed they would have their picture taken for the Cornfest Button. I had hoped that there wouldn't be any more trouble for the girls and they could enjoy their "reign" without any more problems. That wasn't to be.

You may have read my post on the Chamber above called Yo, Ho, Ho. In that thread I mentioned a meeting in a letter dated March 7, 2009 in which I came to the Chamber to find out why they had pulled the link to our website. I had not spoken about everything said at that meeting. There was another issue that I didn't mention because I didn't want to politicize the royalty. That silence will now be broken.

We had received word through the grapevine that the Chamber was going to take Liberty's crown away from her because of this website. You should be aware that at the time emotions were high in the Chamber against us. They had already pulled our web-link and Artie had come on this website attacking it and the Chamber Board did nothing to stop him or to deny any of the accusations he made. We came to that meeting expecting they were going to try to take Liberty's crown, but they didn't. We wondered if it was because of the presence of Attorney Ron Frauenshuh. The Chamber was expecting Liberty and I to come. They didn't know that Ron would be there.

What happened is that as we sat in the museum meeting room the door to the chamber was open and board members were arriving and going in and out of the door getting their lunch and talking. As we waited I wondered why all the activity of going in and out. One would think that they would come in and grab their lunch and sit down. I wondered why people would keep going back out into the chamber office to talk. At one point I realized I had forgotten my notebook and went out to the car to get it. I used the museum door to leave because of all the traffic between the chamber door and the meeting room. Upon retrieving my notebook I came back in the Chamber door and found Steve Roggenbuck, Holly Deutch, and Artie Arndt in a very intense conversation in the chamber office. They were not speaking loudly but you could tell by the intensity of their faces and lip movement it was serious. Upon my entrance they stopped talking. Lucinda McMahon was standing by the now "closed" door to the museum meeting room. I wondered why the door was now closed and if they closed it to have some "private" conversation about us. It should be noted that Holly is the representative for the board to the royalty. Lucinda never said a word to me but turned and opened the door to the meeting room for me to leave. She then shut the door behind me. One could wonder what the discussion was between the President of the Chamber Board, the royalty representative, and Artie Arndt, the man who was banned from this website for trolling. It appeared to me that Steve and Holly were trying to convince Artie of something. Artie Arndt was unusually quite during that meeting. He said very little. I wondered what or who had restrained him.

At some point during the meeting the question was brought up of Liberty's connection as a princess and an admin of this website. The board stiffly said that Liberty had not personally written anything on the forums they could find fault with. We later wondered if the presence of the attorney had anything to do with their behavior at the meeting.

I had hoped that that was the end of any mischief in regards to the royalty. The girls take their jobs very seriously and have worked hard. Now to see the disappointed looks on their faces as they don't understand why they don't have the buttons to trade with the other royals saddens me. I would be grieved to have the girls suffer because of something they had no involvement in.

Considering the thread on the Town with a heart (See: Town With a Heart?) and the comment that people around here are afraid to speak up out of fear of what might happen to them, one can't help wonder if there are people who are mean enough to spite the girls. The Big Stone Lake Area Chamber Board has continued to ostracize this website and now I am only left to wonder if some kind of spite is being directed at the girls. I hope not, but if it is, that would be low.

Your girls are giving graciously of their time and energy to represent you in neighboring towns, and in spite of the fact that they have nothing to trade with other royalty; they keep smiling and giving their all. When you see them in the FarleyFest parade today give them your best. They deserve it, because they give their best to you.

I almost didn't read this because it looked so long, but my curiosity got the best of me.

After reading this, I am quite shocked that the girls should be kept waiting all this time for something they should have, and obviously could have had long ago.

Your post does make one wonder, has this indeed been done out of some sort of spite on the part of Mr. Arndt? If it was, it is indeed a cruel and low blow to make on these hardworking girls.

I wonder what the chamber has to say about this?

I have now been informed that the buttons will be ready for the girls by the next parade.

What a mentality. Could someone please escort Mr Arndt to the high road and hand him the map to Character?

Excuse me, but when are the buttons usually for sale around town?

Don't we usually see them by now? Aren't they usually comming out of our ears long before this?

One can only wonder who regulates the Chamber, How do you find out that information? Who has or where can one go to get a copy of the rules and regulations, laws & bylaws that they have to follow? Does anyone know this information? If so please feel free to share that information.

I would also like to know where one would be able to get a list of complaints filed against the Chamber