680News - Lisa Brandt

So, how does it feel to make someone $25,400 richer? It feels great!

We gave away the accumulated 680 Weather Guarantee jackpot this morning to 680News Insider Club member Elson Manzo of Scarborough. He’s a warehouse coordinator for IBM, who was understandably stunned when our reporter Jaime Pulfer woke him up and broke the news to him at his home.

Brian Hill, Jill Taylor, Harold Hosein and John Wilson had a 205-day winning streak going with predicting the correct daytime high temperature. Everyone was hoping we would get to a new record jackpot. The one to beat is $26, 500. But it was not meant to be, and Brian missed the guarantee last Friday.

Elson has plans for the money, which he shared with us live on 680News this morning. When he got married two and a half years ago, Elson and his wife couldn’t afford to go on a honeymoon. Now they will. He also says they’ll pay some bills.

We’re building a new jackpot now, and to be eligible to win it, you need to sign up become a 680News Insider Club member through this website. Be sure to actually enter the Weather Guarantee contest, and you’ll be good to go.

Brenda Martin is back home and predictions are that she will not be behind bars in Waterloo very long before she is paroled.

The 51-year-old Trenton woman was held without trial for more than two years in a Mexican jail on fraud charges. Intervention from our politicians because of an outcry from Martin’s family, friends and supporters finally lit a fire under the Mexican judicial system and her case was heard.

It wasn’t the outcome some had hoped for though. She was found guilty of either aiding or knowing about a $60-million Internet scam carried out by her former boss, who is serving a 10-year term in a U.S. prison. Martin has always maintained her innocence and her ex-boss even delivered a sworn statement that she was not involved. The Mexican judge seemed to think Martin, who was working as a cook, knowingly took money from the proceeds of fraud.

So for all intents and purposes, speaking purely factually, Martin is a convicted criminal. The law — even though it’s Mexican law — has said so. She continues to protest, but a lot of convicted criminals say they’re innocent. In the eyes of the law, she is guilty.

Our government brought Brenda Martin back to Canada last night. They chartered a private jet for the pick-up. This is where I have questions.

Whether she’s guilty or innocent, Brenda Martin is not a violent woman. She is not a danger to anyone. Why in the world would our government feel the need to spend big bucks on a jet to bring her home? She could have been flown first class on the next commercial flight. That would be understandable. But this massive expense, is not.

There was no need to segregate her from everyone in this wholly expensive manner. She still could have been brought back in virtual secret and once the plane was in the air, there was no way media or anyone else could get to her as she flew with Corrections officers.

That’s where I stand. How do you feel about this government expense of your money?