The owner of a local skating rink is barring Roger Grimes from playing hockey there, because Roger said something mean about his brother, Ken Marshall (former chair of Nalcor). It’s been a silly week for abuse of position.

It’s easy to feel bad for some people in public roles these days, but other people make the scrutiny easy, if not necessary. This week, former premier Roger Grimes told CBC he thinks Dwight Ball’s popularity is plummeting because Ball is playing too nice in the face of critique.

“The premier is paying a personal price for being way too much of a gentleman,” Grimes argued, “[He’s] showing way too much respect and kindness to people like Ed Martin and to people like Ken Marshall … these people don’t hesitate to punch Dwight Ball in the nose, punch him below the belt, stab him between the shoulder blades … I think he should have come back, in my view, firing like a good hockey fight.”

Almost immediately, Grimes got an email from Ken Marshall’s brother — lawyer Steve Marshall who owns the Capital Hyundai Arena on Pennywell Road — saying Grimes is no longer welcome to play hockey in that rink. Grimes typically plays in a league, which has games there.

Naturally, that sounds like a sooky, privileged kid in a schoolyard to some folks. “Mr. Grimes saw fit to take a public cheapshot at my brother Ken so there will be no hockey for Mr. Grimes at our rink. He should now realize that in saying negative and untruthful things about my family that I will do something about it without hesitation.”

I wonder what I will be banned from for writing this article? (kidding?) If we can’t speak our minds about local politics, if we can’t vent about them, then God help us.

Or, is this act of sibling defence honourable; was Grimes out of line in his quotes, or in sharing that email? Is the arena Marshall’s to ban people from. Your call, I suppose. There’s been no word from Ken on the matter of his brother’s actions.