Tignish

Tignish, ahhhhh, how I miss thee.

Tignish has a reputation for toughness even amongst people from PEI. To steal one of my brother's favourite stories:

We were walking outside of the bar in Charlottetown, and I heard a guy shout, "I'm going to punch the next son of a bitch from Tignish that I sees."

Brenton, being the social sort, asks the guy, "Where are you from."

'Tignish," roared back the angry man.

I lived "Up West" -- Western PEI is "Up West", Eastern PEI is "Down East" -- for two years, and have learned that the Tignish tough guys are usually more bark than bite. Small town for sure, but good hearted sort. That guy who wanted to fight another Tignisher, he would have probably given the guy a drive home after... he would have been driving his pick-up 140 up Route 2 drunk as hell, but he would have never left a fellow Tignisher alone in Charlottetown.

So, from today's Guardian -- it covers PEI like the dew -- the story of a Tignish Halloween. Halloween violence is a tradition in those parts.

Thrown asphalt injures RCMP officer

Object thrown at police vehicles in Tignish
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian

TIGNISH — A member of the RCMP was taken to hospital for treatment of a deep cut to his head when a chunk of asphalt was thrown through the window of the police car he was in during a wild Halloween incident Wednesday night in Tignish.

Several large groups of people were responsible for throwing rocks and bottles at the police vehicles and officers throughout the night, resulting in extensive damage to three police vehicles, said Sgt. J.A. George, NCO in charge of Prince District Operations.

Thirteen young people, ranging in ages from 16 to 21, were arrested for various breaches of the peace as the West Prince detachment of the RCMP had a very busy Halloween night throughout the entire area, said George.

Police spokesperson S-Sgt. Jay McInnis said Thursday that the injured officer was treated and later released from hospital after getting a number of stitches.“He’ll be fine,” said Jay.

Police are hopeful that charges will be laid for the assault on the officer, but admit it will be a difficult investigation because the people throwing bottles, rocks and asphalt all wore dark clothing and masks.

In Tignish, police, town maintenance staff and the fire department were kept busy responding to nuisance fires and complaints of damage to town property.Police had not received any reports of rocks or bottles being thrown at other vehicles travelling in Tignish, “which leads to the conclusion that those carrying out these cowardly acts were targeting the police,” said George.

“The RCMP was disappointed in the reaction from the young people involved in these large crowds and have been in contact with the Tignish council to help identify community strategies that will help to curb these cowardly and dangerous acts in the future. Hopefully this will address an embarrassing and shameful incident for the majority of citizens of Tignish.”