Governor Pushes for a Grand Festival on Saturday

By Nezar Shakaki

Following their appointments, Governor Nathan Malone and Lieutenant Governor Moawya Adhami have plans for multiple events to improve the morale, mental health, and community involvement at American Legion Buckeye Boys State (ALBBS). The largest of these plans is a grand festival and a kickball tournament organized by Adhami.

Roosevelt Punslan, the Chief of Staff to the Lt. Governor, announced the organization of the festival in an interview. Speaking of the administration’s plans, Punslan said, “So far we are in the midst of creating a campaign, and our main objective is to promote mental health our idea to do that was, on Saturday, the day before we graduate, to have a festival that allows everyone to spend at least an hour or two out under the sun.”

Adhami doubled down on this, adding, wanted to raise awareness especially for men veterans’ mental health, how it just gets very overlooked.”

As for the logistics of setting up a lastday festival, Punsalan stated that he “doubts [the project] is going to have to go through Parks and Rec.” Punsalan added, however, that the Lt. Governor’s office “is going to try and work with them to arrange something; that way, a larger festival is held.”

The Lt. Governor himself clarified, “We're meeting at 4:00 [on Thursday] to discuss all the specifics. Right now we just have a general overview of what we wanted to do.”

Additionally, Punsalan wanted to clarify his decision to hold the festival on Saturday. He stated, “Saturday is supposed to be the nicest day of the week. It's supposed to not have a single cloud in the sky, so it should be fun that day If the worst comes to worst and the weather ends up being super stormy, then we'll just end up having indoor activities in our own building amongst our county.”

When asked about how the plans would fare in the General Assembly, Adhami responded, “I think [the bill] has a very high chance of being passed. I think that a lot of people, not just the people voting on it but everyone in Buckeye Boys, would be interested in it or would like to go to see what it is. So I definitely don't think we'll have a hard time getting [the bill] passed.”

Regarding the festival’s status in the General Assembly, Federalist representative Nathan Kennedy from Bishop City in White County, said, “I think everyone thought it was a good idea. If [the bill] does come back, I'm sure we'll pass it. We have no reason not to. It's just a good idea all around.”

Kennedy also mentioned that he sees the fair being very popular with all delegates, regardless of profession or party alignment.

Kennedy noted that he saw bipartisan support for the bill, saying, “It was not a party versus party thing. We all forgot the parties for a few hours and just got together.”

Adhami agreed, adding, “The yellow and blue doesn't really matter at this point... Now we're all just Boys Staters. The party doesn't really matter. So we're just trying to have this unity festival just to kind of unite everyone.”

Right now, the festival is supposed to be held shortly following the end of the business day on Saturday, though Adhami explained that they may have to hold the festival on Friday depending on factors beyond their control.