When Parksville’s acting mayor Chris Burger flew his wife to Forks, Washington in a small plane recently, he was promptly arrested for theft.
Fortunately the arresting officer had a big smile as he did it and a chuckling Forks Lions Club member was giving him a tour of city hall and the police station at the time.
“Apparently Lions clubs have a thing where they swipe each other’s stuff,” Burger said, and the Forks club was looking to get a banner back that had allegedly been taken by a Vancouver Island club during a conference.
“Mayor Burger from the city of Parksville stopped by Forks today for a visit. We would like to trade him for our banner. Is this a fair trade?” the Forks club asked the B.C. Lions head office by e-mail.
“We have made sure he has a nice a cozy room and he is well fed. We really do enjoy Mayor Burger and he is a stand up guy for helping us find our banner.”
Unfortunately for Burger the Canadian clubs didn’t feel it was a fair trade and replied: “Sorry Mayor Burger, you will have to be put on ice for a bit till someone fesses up over here in Canada! Enjoy your stay and we do hope the Forks Club treats you real nice!”
“I have to say I was a little disappointed by the response,” Burger said with a chuckle about the incident that wrapped up within half an hour and was meant as a local publicity event.
“Luckily I was able to resist their enhanced interrogation techniques since I didn’t know anything,” Burger said.
Burger was released and said they had a great tour around the 3,500 person Olympic Peninsula city where the film Twilight was partly filmed and is now a subtle but consistent tourist theme throughout.
“I was really impressed with the community, it felt very much like home,” he said.