30/01/01
Shriners unit
disbanded after naughty party
WINNIPEG -- The Khartum Shriners Motor Patrol
Unit has been disbanded for holding a dinner featuring strippers
allegedly performing sexual acts with guests.
"These people
have no unit as of now. You won't see them in the circus, you won't
see them anywhere," said Gervin Greasley, Khartum community
relations director.
The 50 member unit held a
fund-raising "Gentleman's Dinner" at the Garden City Canad Inn last
Thursday with strippers who had their breasts and genitals fondled
by some of the members of the crowd who paid $75 to attend the
event.
None of the money was destined for any Shriner
charities and the Shriner executive didn't approve the event, said
local CEO Bill Kubik.
"We did not sanction that particular
function," he said last night following a four-hour meeting between
the Khartum board and the executive board of the motor patrol.
"They purposely left any indication of the Shrine logo off
their ticket so they knew it was not a Shrine event," Greasley
added.
"We're getting a lot of bad rap for something that
wasn't us."
The motor patrol unit's funds have also been
frozen.
Members of the motor patrol drive 750 c.c. black
Yamaha motorcycles at parades and the annual Shrine Circus. The
unit's demise does not affect any of the other motorcycle or car
units who operate under the Khartum name.
"This is only one
group of motorcycle riders," Greasley said.
The ultimate
fate of the members will be decided after the local executive
finishes its investigation, which will include reports from the
Manitoba Liquor Control Commission, the Garden City Hotel and the
Winnipeg police, Kubik said.
About 25% of the more than 300
people at the dinner were Shriners, Greasley said.
'VERY
SMALL GROUP'
"We're talking a very small group who have
ruined it for a whole group," he said.
The traditional
gentlemen's dinners will continue to be held, but will only feature
guests and dinner, Kubik said.
The Shrine of North America
is an international fraternity of 525,000 men in 191 Shrine Temples,
or chapters throughout North America.
Each Shriner is a
Master Mason in the Freemasonry fraternity.
Founded in 1872
by 13 men belonging to the Masonic Order in New York, the Shrine
turned its focus to philanthropy in 1922 when the first Shriners
Hospital opened in Shreveport, La.
Nearly 80 years later, a
network of 22 hospitals headquartered in Tampa, Fla., helps over
600,000 children across North America with burns, orthopedic and
spinal chord problems.
Further Reading:
The Royal Order of Jesters - The Shriners Secret Society Secret Society - 'Mirth is King'
