BUCYRUS—Galion Attorney Roberta Wade issued a press release on Wednesday updating progress in her bid to hold the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival Board for wrongfully terminating Brocwell just days before the Bratwurst Festival was held.
Wade is determined to hold the Board accountable.
She is also on a mission to declare the Board an arm of the City of Bucyrus, thereby opening their books and emails to the public.
“The main problem is that the Bratwurst Festival Board is composed of family members and close friends and has no independent thinking board members. Not one board member listened to Abigail and not one board member refused to sign the removal letter.” Wade said.
The press release in its entirety, along with public records requests, can be read below.
RE: Abigail Brocwell
P R E S S R E L E A S E
We would like to take this opportunity to update the public on Abigail Brocwell and our continued efforts to address the Bratwurst Festival Board’s unfair actions to remove her as Bratwurst Queen just ten (10) days before the Bratwurst Festival. We have appreciated the strong public support and want to keep the public informed.
Just for some background information, following Abigail’s removal, the Bucyrus area community immediately sensed something rotten was going on, and rallied in support of Abigail. Thereafter, the Bratwurst Festival Board released a poor excuse for their actions, and stated that they dethroned Abigail because she went to the Baltimore Festival luncheon on August 6th. The Board’s position that Abigail could not go to the Baltimore luncheon was based on two (2) incorrect reasons – (1) Abigail was not allowed by the Board to attend the luncheon (not true – Abigail was on her own time and was not representing the Bratwurst Festival) and (2) the Baltimore Festival luncheon was only for festival royalty so Abigail could not attend personally (also not true – Abigail was invited by the Baltimore Festival to attend the luncheon on a personal basis).
How the Bratwurst Festival Board could take such extreme actions to remove Abigail right before the Bratwurst Festival, when she had done nothing wrong, was just outrageous conduct. As we said before, the Bratwurst Festival Board is a community organization and should support community values – like truth and fairness. But there was no truth and no fairness in what happened to Abigail being dethroned as Bratwurst Queen.
When we released our first Press Release, we also released original documentation that spread like wildfire throughout the internet. And then the internet sleuths began to investigate what was going with the Bratwurst Board and their unfair and unjust removal of Abigail. We were amazed at the amount of information that appeared on Face Book posts, including information about who is on the Bratwurst Board. People had asked me from the beginning ‘who is on the Bratwurst Board’ and ‘how do you get on the Bratwurst Board.’
So the updated sequence of events about Abigail’s removal now has more details. And it certainly appears that the Bratwurst Festival Board was not representing the community; it was not interested in truth or fairness; and it was just not capable of doing the right things for the right reasons – how dysfunctional. The short update story about Abigail ‘s removal is now that:
– Abigail attends the Baltimore Festival luncheon (August 6th), and also attending the luncheon are Princess Kent and her mother who are there as official representatives of the Bratwurst Festival. (Ms. Kent is the sister of Bratwurst Festival Board Member Lee Haefer.)
– After the luncheon, the phone conversations/text messages (and the emails) must have been really busy because by the very next day (Sunday, August 7th) Sarah Beck contacted Abigail about a last-minute meeting the following day. Sarah Beck portrayed the meeting as a routine meeting about the upcoming Bratwurst Festival, but that was all a ruse to get Abigail to the meeting. (Sarah Beck is the former 2019/2020 Bratwurst Queen during the COVID Pandemic and also the niece of Bratwurst Board President Adam Heinlen, and the granddaughter of Interim Vice President Jim Rinker.)
– So when Abigail attended the Monday (August 8th) meeting, she was totally blindsided when she walked into the meeting and found the Board Members signing a letter removing her as Bratwurst Queen. She tried to explain to them about the Baltimore luncheon, that she was there on an invitation from the Baltimore Festival and that she was attending on a personal basis, but no one would listen. This whole behind-the-scenes manipulation to remove Abigail as Bratwurst Queen with no good reason is just outrageous conduct for a ‘community’ organization that receives the support of public funds and public resources.
The main problem is that the Bratwurst Festival Board is composed of family members and close friends and has no independent-thinking Board Members – not one Board Member listened to Abigail and not one Board Member refused to sign the removal letter.
So where are we headed with the Bratwurst Festival Board, at this point?
So far, the Bratwurst Festival Board has refused to provide any of the documents that we requested. But private entities can be found to be the “functional equivalent” of a public office, making their records and operations open to the public. The Bratwurst Festival’s records and operations have needed public scrutiny for way too long. Taking such an outrageous action to remove Abigail Brocwell as Bratwurst Queen just days before the Bratwurst Festival, when she had done absolutely nothing wrong, indicates an alarming level of dysfunction in the Bratwurst Festival organization.
The first step to having the Bratwurst Festival Board’s records and operations open to the public is to obtain public records from the City of Bucyrus to show the relationship between the City of Bucyrus and the Bratwurst Festival. On September 22nd, we served public records requests (copies attached) to the following:
City of Bucyrus Mayor
City of Bucyrus Auditor
City of Bucyrus Council Clerk
One request was for emails between the City Administration and the Bratwurst Festival representatives for about the last two (2) years. This request will require a special search of City emails to fulfill that public records request. Our plan to make the Bratwurst Festival a “functional equivalent” of a public office will take time. But there is no doubt that the City of Bucyrus is providing City land, City labor, and City financial support to the Bratwurst Festival. And the public should have the right to see exactly how those taxpayer resources are being used.
The Bucyrus area community immediately rallied to support Abigail. And it has been amazing that the support has only grown and spread throughout the State and country. We are truly humbled by all of the interest and support – thank you.
Lastly, we were remiss in our first Press Release in not mentioning a Bucyrus business that stepped up to support Abigail. Print Happy ( Printhappyohio.com ) designed “long live the Queen” and “not my Queen” tee shirts (and coffee mugs) in support of Abigail. And they even offered to donate a portion of their profits to help replace the scholarship that Abigail lost due to her dethroning as Bratwurst Queen. We want to recognize Print Happy for their support and thank them for their efforts.
Abigail walked into that August 8th Bratwurst Festival Board meeting with the Board functioning outside that Board meeting – their decision was already made. She walked into that Board meeting being totally deceived about what was going to happen at that Board meeting. And she walked into that Board meeting knowing that she had faithfully fulfilled her contract with the Bratwurst Festival Board. What happened to her, being removed as Bratwurst Queen right before the Bratwurst Festival, was so wrong and so hurtful – and it should not have happened.
As for the question ‘how is Abigail’, Abigail is doing just fine. She is resilient and she has moved on – Abigail was recently named 2023 Crawford County Ohio Ms. Agriculture USA.
But the Bratwurst Festival Board’s action was such outrageous conduct that we are continuing our efforts to look at the Bratwurst Festival organization and open its operations to public scrutiny.
Again, we thank the public for their interest and support.
E. Roberta Wade
Attorney for Abigail Brocwell, Angie Brocwell, Grant Brocwell