Well, if the princess hadn't left her boyfriend's house dressed similarly to this young lady, maybe the neighbors wouldn't have noticed.
The above picture is not Ms. Hann the Unchaste. It is for illustrative purposes, only.
Posted on 05/18/2004 12:46:01 AM PDT by xm177e2
By IAN FAIRCLOUGH / Valley Bureau
GREENWOOD - The young woman chosen Princess Greenwood for this year's Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival says she has been unceremoniously dumped by the village as its representative because of false accusations.
Renee Hann, 21, was selected March 19 to represent Greenwood at the festival's Queen Annapolisa competition but says allegations that she is living with her boyfriend cost her the title.
Ms. Hann said she was called to a meeting Friday at which members of the Princess Greenwood committee, including village commission chairman Al Belliveau, gave her the choice of resigning or being dethroned because of several allegations.
She said she wanted to tell her side of the story but wasn't given the chance.
Festival rules prohibit women from being princess candidates if they are married, living common-law or have children.
Ms. Hann had been living with her brother and his girlfriend in New Minas while taking a course at the Kingstec campus of the Nova Scotia Community College in Kentville but moved home to Greenwood in March. She said her brother's new baby, born in January, was a distraction as her school workload increased.
She moved back to her mother's in Greenwood, and some days caught a ride from a friend who lives in Aylesford. For those mornings, Ms. Hann would stay the night before at her boyfriend's apartment in Kingston because her ride wanted to avoid the longer trip into Greenwood. That would be three or four nights a week, she said.
She said the committee told her it had received phone calls, some anonymously, from people saying Ms. Hann had been seen leaving her boyfriend's apartment in the morning.
"I said yes, I stayed there on occasion, but that I wasn't living with him and it was just for school," she said.
"They said that wasn't acceptable."
She said the committee told her that if she stepped down, she could tell her friends and family whatever she wanted to, but if the committee had to dethrone her, there would be public notification.
She chose to be dethroned.
But on Sunday, she said, the committee asked her to sign a prepared letter saying she was resigning for personal reasons. She refused and instead submitted her own stating everything that had happened.
She said she had previously informed committee chairwoman Rachel Brothers that she stayed at her boyfriend's to catch her ride and was told that was OK.
"I was completely up front with her. She didn't tell me I couldn't stay there."
Her primary residence is still her mother's, Ms. Hann said, and she had been there every night for the week leading up to Friday.
She said Ms. Brothers told her that in the past week members of her committee were telling her Ms. Hann was engaged and had been seen leaving the apartment.
She said she was not treated fairly or with respect.
"I want people to be aware of what really happened as opposed to what (the committee) will say," Ms. Hann said.
"I'm not ashamed of anything I've done before or after I was chosen Princess Greenwood."
Her boyfriend's sister, who was Princess Kingston in 1991, said Ms. Hann has been treated badly.
"They've tarnished her reputation and won't believe what she says," Michelle Beardsley said.
"She knows what it means to be princess. She wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that."
Ms. Beardsley has been a chaperon, judge and board member for the festival since 1991.
"I never thought I would say anything bad about the Apple Blossom Festival, but what's being said is unjust (and) unfair."
By Sunday morning, a photo of Ms. Hann's replacement had been substituted for hers on the festival website.
Festival president Ray Savage said Sunday evening that princess issues are not the responsibility of the organization at this point.
"It's a community issue. The festival isn't responsible for them until they arrive at the festival and through until the end."
He said some communities may have stricter guidelines on candidates than those that the festival has put in place.
"The communities have to have a feeling their candidate will be a good representative," he said.
He said questions should be directed to the village commission. But Mr. Belliveau wasn't talking about the issue.
"I'm not at liberty to release any information about it whatsoever, especially to the press," the chairman said.
"It shouldn't have gone this far. You'll have to call the festival office. I'm just the bystander caught in the middle."
Ms. Brothers could not be reached.
Why do certain people feel such a need to control this woman's sexuality if she is going to be their "princess?"
Isn't there something a little weird about people trying to keep a grown woman chaste? Isn't there something dehumanizing about making her into their princess?
Why not just put her in a burqa and threaten to cut off her head if she's seen with a man? Wouldn't that be much more effective at upholding the honor of the community?
Good for her for not giving in quietly.
She said the committee told her it had received phone calls, some anonymously, from people saying Ms. Hann had been seen leaving her boyfriend's apartment in the morning.
Who the heck informs on a princess? The court spinsters? How pathetic is that?
Here is the link to the festival...
Your idea about the Burqa has some merit!!
Na.. just kidding.
I'm not sure I'd call cheesy local beauty pageants dehumanizing, but they sure are silly. I saw one local teen contestant last week with a royal sash and tiara headed out of Burger King, all alone, wiping her mouth as she straightened her crown. I couldn't read the sash, but her attire was just one step up from those outfits they put on child beauty queens. I felt kind of sorry for the girl and wondered where her mother was.
The community has every right to demand standards of conduct from those who represent them. But this organization has been very sloppy in the way they went about it. A bad scene for all.
Sorry but I agree with the committee. If you are going to enter the contest than you better know before hand that you are above reproach. If she didn't agree with the rules then why did she enter the contest? She admitted that she was sleeping in with her boyfriend two or three times a week. It has nothing to do with keeping her chaste, it is what appeared to be that the committee was concerned about and it was quite obvious.
It only a contest. And the organizers should have the right to set the rules. They just want to avoid sleaze.
Sounds like they should be investigating Miss Runner-Up.
Nova Scotia...the land of paradox. In Halifax they would have celebrated her "sexual freedoms", in the Annapolis valley she gets chastised. I wonder whatever happened to that ban on all perfumed products in Halifax because a handful of their citizenry had allergies? Provincial governments in Canada can be very amusing, and act in an almost autonomous fashion at times. Regardless, I'd still love to move to Nova Scotia's spectacular coastline.
Are there any beauty pageants (which is what this is) for men? No. (Mr. Universe doesn't count, as it's a bodybuilding contest.) I think the whole concept of these beauty contests are silly, but it's the committee's right to establish the rules as they see fit. The woman in question broke the rules, so they took away her title. End of story.
Why do you assume any criticism of the pageant is an attack on their "right" to do things their way? I'm not saying it's illegal, I'm saying it's stupid and disgusting.
Is it any more "stupid and disgusting" than having a beauty contest is? I'm kind of tired of people who join voluntary groups, then whine about the groups' rules and regulations. If this woman was so offended by the princess' rules, then perhaps she shouldn't have run to be a princess.
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