Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:55 am Post subject: NEW! B.C. 'BILLY DILLIES - Only on Canada's Wacky West Coast
Those Silly B.C. 'BILLIES and their Silly 'BILLY Dillies:
Goofs and gaffes so unbelievably dumb they could only happen on Canada's wacky weed-wonderful West Coast
Homicide A Year on the Killing Streets
Paperback
By David Simon
Quote:
For ----- cops, hard-core billyness is generally regarded with as much disdain and humor as the hard-core ghetto culture.
... You may come from the same mountain stock as the rest of Pigtown, but by a detective's reasoning, that alone doesn't make you a true billy. Maybe you're just another white boy; maybe you finished twelfth grade at ----- High and nailed down a decent job and moved out to ----- or ----- . Or maybe you're like Donald Worden, who grew up in ----- , or like Donald Kincaid, speaking in a mountain drawl and sporting that tatoo on the back of one hand. On the other hand, if you've spent your life drinking at the ----- Tavern on West ---- and the other half shuttling back and forth from the ----- Court for theft, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and possession of ----- , then to a ----- detective you most certainly are a billy-boy, a white-trash red-neck, a city goat, a dead-brained cul-de-sac of heredity, spawned in the shallow end of a diminishing gene pool. ... (-- pgs. 420-421) (Again, make your own substitutions... Frightening, isn't it?)
Y'all come see B.C.'s swimming pools, movie stars and our new failed-housing economy. Buy a leaky condo, repair it, set a spell, then up through the floors and walls comes 'a bubblin' rude - rain. Toxic black mold. Gold, that is, to the real estate industry. Still brought to us by Victoria 'BILLIES either too dern ignorant to think outside their same old B.C. resource give-away box, or they've decided to sacrifice consumers for the gosh'aw'mighty B.C. homebuilders, bless 'em.
On B.C.'s legendary 'building envelope specialists':
The Vancouver failures produced a number of highly skilled professionals specializing in building envelope design. They continued their work with or without the official title. Unfortunately, the majority of these professionals were engineers, not architects. In abdicating this task of designing the envelope, architects once again relinquished part of their control over the greater design. Some thought that this reduced their liability, but others rightfully stated that the design of the building envelope should remain the architect's purview.
Developers in Vancouver responded to the public's fear of buying a "leaky condo" by advertising the fact that a building envelope professional was involved with their project. In their glossy prospectus - right next to the photos of future owners sipping coffee and admiring the view - were drawings of the wall construction or photos of the building envelope professional. Architects themselves were granted a higher profile than ever before. The buzzword was "rain screen." If you had a rain-screen wall, you were safe - if not, watch out.
... Architects have control over all but the quality of construction, and even here they can exert some influence. As discussed in Chapter 1, architects should not take on projects where the budget does not allow for complete detailing and contract administration of the project. The construction budget and schedule should be adequate to assure quality construction. A building boom is no reason for architects to take on projects bound to fail. In fact, it is a time when greater caution should be exercised. Skilled workers are often in short supply and schedules even more rushed during building booms.
This also was a second period of experimentation For example, the self-adhesive membrane, peel-and-stick, was seen as a panacea to keep out water. Headers at window openings were wrapped with peel-and-stick only to be seen later to have essentially formed a bathtub from which water could not escape. Recommendations to wrap the entire window opening with peel-and-stick (or any other impermeable material) were revised.
Have all of the problems in Vancouver been solved? Certainly not. But at least the design community and the public are more aware of what the problems are and how they can be avoided. (From Ch(apter 11, Wood-Frame Construction: Designing for the Climate and the Future, pgs. 313-314)
Vancouver Magazine Rough Housing The next big shelter crisis hits the 'burbs. Is it as bad as the Leaky Condo debacle? Or worse?
By Frank O'Brien
March, 2004
From the outside, Cloverdale, B.C. looks like another Vancouver suburb riding the upswing of a robust housing market. Which is true enough, unless you happen to be out for a drive with Gary Friend, a third generation Fraser Valley homebuilder. Friend points out the evidence of a different wave, one he fears could be the ruin of his industry: black-market houses. "Everyone knows what is going on," he says, "but nobody can do anything about it."
He's talking about hundreds of detached houses built in suburban Greater Vancouver this year - and thousands since the leaky condo crisis crested five years ago - that are being erected by non-licensed contractors who offer no warranty protection, no worker compensation, no guarantees at all. Should you buy one of these "owner-built" houses and find that something is wrong with it, your only hope will be an expensive court docket assigned to a sceptical prosecutor. (And that's if your insurance isn't made void and your mortgage isn't called in). Your other option, and a much more popular choice: flip the place to an unsuspecting buyer and flee as far away from the fallout as possible.
What it all adds up to, according to Friend and other observers, is a kind of Leaky Condo II for big suburban houses. If that prediction sounds alarmist, what is certain, says Bob Maling, the top cop in British Columbia's Homeowner Protection Office, is that there's "a gapping loophole" in the provincial legislation. And some builders are taking full advantage.
... [size 18]What's worse is that Maling admits his office - whose motto is "restoring confidence" - has had near zero success in stopping the abusers. In fact, not a single illegal builder has been convicted in five years even though about 10,000 owner-built houses have been identified[/size]. A six-month statute of limitations from when the house is occupied is hamstringing Maling and his 34-member staff. Meanwhile it's easy to see the incentive in exploiting the loophole. The math shows that buying and selling an owner-built house in today's real estate market is like hitting the lotto - again and again... Case study: the HPO tracked one house where the owner-builder dodged a cool $120,000 in [various registration and licensing] fees and taxes. Plus he made money on the sale of the house. And then he walked away.
... In B.C. home builder warranty cases must go to Crown Counsel, which means there has to be a fairly solid case for conviction. This differs from Ontario, where legislation allows the Ontario New Home Warranty Program to lay charges and prosecute cases without Crown Counsel being involved. A Lindsay, Ontario builder caught without warranty coverage was recently sentenced to six months in jail on each of two counts. In B.C. all but one of the cases Mailing and his team have presented to Crown Counsel have quietly died.
... What about the Maple Ridge homebuyers who, upon hiring Ed Witzke - a veteran building inspector among the first to blow the whistle on leaky condos a decade ago - discovered that workers had actually defecated between the wall studs before they put the Gyprock up? . (Says Witzke, "The house stank to high heaven, and it had mechanical and electrical problems as well.") They did what most end up forced to do: look after the repairs and costs themselves. (emphasis added) (-- pgs. 25-27)
Quote:
But when pricey licensing and mandatory warranty rules kicked in for contractors, the suburbs appeared to be filled with an inordinate number of handymen. The number of owner-built houses soared, according to Maling, a former Ontario warranty provider and now acting chief executive officer of the HPO. This year, he said, they will represent at least 35 per cent of the 12,000 new houses built in the province. In parts of Surrey, it is closer to 50 percent; the bulk of the worst examples are in the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland, according to HPO officials. (-- p. 26)
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So much for the CBC Radio Early Edition not-so-smart 'Get Smart' series of March, 2006, which includes a report by Salma Nurmohamed asserting that Valley homes are now in the clear of leaky condo issues.
The developer of the San Marino condominium building is telling owners they’ll have to pay a hefty monthly strata fee or walk away from their units. Just two weeks before the opening of the eight-storey San Marino building in Sapperton, DCP Developments (Sapperton) Ltd. added an estimated $200 to $350 strata fee to each condo. The owners were told to agree to the fees or have their purchase agreements cancelled.
The increased fees were needed to make the project a reality, says the developer. Increased construction costs and materials, extra regulatory fees and poor weather have combined to inflate the cost of the building, said Paul John, a director with DCP Developments. "In hindsight, he said, the company should not have pre-sold the condos. “We never thought we couldn’t deliver at the price we sold them at.”
Many of the owners in the 106-unit building made down payments on the condos two years ago as part of the pre-sale.
Condo owner Lorrie Williams said she didn’t read the purchase agreement, which allows the developer to add the strata fee. In hindsight, the New Westminster councillor says she should have vetted the agreement through her lawyer. (emphasis added)
“I’m dismayed that a contract doesn’t seem to be a contract anymore,” she said. “You have to read the fine print.” Williams has agreed to pay the extra strata fees, which is a leasing fee covering building infrastructure such as mailboxes, the elevator and fixtures. The leasee is the developer.
Normally such infrastructure is a fixed cost and is part of the price for each condo.
“If it wasn’t for my mom, I would walk away from this,” said Williams, who bought the unit so she could have her aging mother close to her home. Williams realizes the developer needs more money to pay for escalating construction costs. “But this took us all by surprise. We should have known about this before—a year ago.”
She considers herself lucky because she can afford the added costs. But Williams worries about those who can barely afford to pay their condo mortgages. “For those having to scrape together the money to pay for the mortgage, this will probably put them over the edge. They’ll have to walk away.”
Those purchasing units will have difficulties selling them because of the high strata fee, said New Westminster MLA Chuck Puchmayr. Along with NDP housing critic Diane Thorne, Puchmayr plans to speak about the San Marino situation in the Legislature, recommending changes to protect consumers. “Developers would have to be bonded to make sure they can deliver at the cost they promised. There’s no way consumers should have to take all of the risk,” Puchmayr said.
San Marino owners choosing to opt out of the purchase agreement will be refunded their 10 per cent deposit, plus two years of bank interest.
The San Marino, at 411 East Columbia Street, went on sale two years ago. It is expected to be granted an occupancy permit this week. The developer said there is a positive side to the San Marino opening, even though owners are having to pay the extra fees. “The owners have already made a lot of money—$150,000 to $200,000,” said John referring to the most recent assessed values.
Excavation - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
What's this about another sinkhole at a downtown construction site?
Quote:
Yes, it's true and in almost the same place as another sinkhole five years ago, according to a UBC earth sciences professor interviewed on CBC Radio One's Early Edition Dec. 29/05. A sinkhole usually occurs when the construction site engineer fails to properly monitor shoring at an excavation, said the professor. (emphasis added) This one, at Bute and Pender, probably occurred because the engineer in charge was otherwise engaged over Christmas. He said that sinkholes occur very rarely, but with so many highrises going up downtown, we remain cynical.
Traffic is being re-routed in downtown Vancouver after a section of Pender Street collapsed into a construction excavation site on Monday. The pavement gave way on the south side of Pender between Bute and Jervis Streets, causing a water main to burst. Emergency crews then cut off gas, water and electricity to nearby buildings. Those services have since been restored. But city engineer Tom Timm says it could take some time to reopen the street to traffic. "It's really hard to say exactly how long. Certainly Pender Street will remain closed for the next few days in both directions. In all likelihood, it'll be closed probably weeks rather than days into the new year." Timm says drivers should find a new route into the downtown core, and leave themselves plenty of extra commuting time.
Charges are pending against five University of British Columbia engineering students after a Volkswagen fell from the Iron Workers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge during a botched attempt to suspend it under the span. Shortly after 4 a.m. PT Monday, police were called to the Vancouver side of the bridge, which connects Vancouver with the North Shore. Students had been attempting to hang the vehicle under the bridge when the rope or cabling they were using failed and the vehicle plunged into the Burrard Inlet, said Vancouver Police Const. Lindsey Houghton.
No one was injured, but five students were arrested and released with a court appearance notice, said Houghton. Police will recommend charges of mischief over $5,000, she said.
Engineering students have been hanging the hollowed-out shells of Volkswagen Beetles from Vancouver bridges since about 1981 to mark the start of Engineering Week at the university. Houghton said this is the first time anyone has been arrested. "What's unique about this situation is that when they were lowering the shell of the Volkswagen off the side, they realized they may be damaging the important cables that are underneath the bridge, on the side of the bridge, and that's why the prank — if you want to call it that — went awry," Houghton said.
Eight years ago, students suspended a Volkswagen off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
A fourth-year mechanical engineering student let The Province in on the methodology for the stunt. “You need to suspend it from a cable that can support two to three times the weight of the Volkswagen, then add other cables to prevent it from rotating,” said the student, requesting anonymity.
“The world has changed — it used to be considered a prank,” said Doug Moore, marine operations coordinator with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. “We do a lot of business with the U.S., and we have to meet or exceed their level of security.”
Associate dean of engineering Bruce Dunwoody wouldn’t say whether criminal charges are warranted — but did say university discipline may be in order: “They’ve got to be serious as professional engineers, because what they do matters, and I think they’ve learned that.” Dunwoody said the VW plunged into Burrard Inlet when a crew of workers were brought in to remove the car.
Whistler Blackcomb's costly new Peak 2 Peak redubbed 'Peak to Creek' after leaky gondola tower collapses
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BC Place has never been universally loved. It was included on a list The Vancouver Sun compiled a few years back of landmarks local architects would most like to blow up.
...When the stadium was built in the early '80s as part of the preparations for Expo 86, the fabric roof had a design life of 20 to 25 years...Despite its drawbacks, including poor acoustics, the real arguments for keeping BC Place operating are that it's still needed -- it's in use on average 220 days a year -- and it's paid for. BC Place was built with public money -- $125 million in construction costs plus $80 million in related servicing costs for adjoining lands -- and it is now operated as a division of the B.C. Pavilion Corp., a Crown corporation known as PavCo.
There is no estimate to what it would cost to replace. Safeco Field, the flip-top stadium that opened in Seattle in 1999 to rave reviews, cost $517 million U.S. In the current building boom in the Lower Mainland, it would be foolish to even consider building a new stadium in time for the 2010 Olympics, which are scheduled to open three years hence with the eyes of the world focused on BC Place...Paveco said before the collapse last week that through good maintenance the working life of the roof has been extended well into the foreseeable future. (emphasis added) On Friday, it reported that the cause of the deflation was a combination of operator error, bad weather and a weak spot in the fabric. The Crown corporation said that it has changed its procedures so the error -- turning on too many fans at once and over-inflating the dome -- can't be repeated. But exactly why a weak spot developed in the fabric remains a mystery. Until it really understand why the roof failed, Paveco's assurances that it won't fail again aren't worth much.
Officials at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort north of Vancouver say the collapse of a gondola tower was caused by water seeping into a welded and bolted joint and cracking the metal as it froze. (emphasis added) Doug Forseth, the senior vice-president of operations at Whistler Blackcomb, said experts inspected the damaged tower overnight. The support towers on similar Doppelmayr brand lifts, including the Wizard and Solar chairlifts, were checked and found without any problems. Provincial safety official were expected to conduct a second safety inspection with resort staff Wednesday morning before those lifts were reopened. ...
The damaged tower was constructed from two large pieces of metal tubing that were welded and bolted together, but somehow water managed to get inside the joint, said Forseth. The ice build-up caused the tower splice to rupture, an extremely unusual situation referred to as "ice-jacking," he said.
Thirteen people suffered minor injuries on Tuesday when one of the towers that supports the cables on the Excalibur Gondola near Fitzsimmons Creek partially collapsed, leaving three gondola cars dangling in mid-air. People were left stranded in the cold for about three hours while fire crews went gondola to gondola removing the 53 passengers from the 30 trapped cars.
The gondola undergoes an extensive safety check every year by the B.C. Safety Authority, and the last check was done within the past six months, according to a statement issued by Blackcomb.
The Excalibur Gondola, which runs from Whistler Village up Blackcomb Mountain, was built in 1994. It has an upper and lower section. The upper section of the gondola, which is independent of the lower section, was unaffected by the incident but was cleared immediately of guests.
... The accident comes at a terrible time for Whistler Blackcomb, which is owned by Intrawest Corp. Last week, the resort opened its new $52-million Peak 2 Peak Gondola, which transports skiers over a 4.4-kilometre span between the tops of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. At its highest point, the Peak 2 Peak Gondola is more than 400 metres above the valley floor.
The resort was preparing for the lucrative Christmas skiing season. However, if the Excalibur Gondola remains out of service, it will have an impact on the number of skiers that can be brought into the alpine areas of Blackcomb Mountain.
In addition, Whistler is cohosting the 2010 Winter Olympics with Vancouver, and this incident brings bad publicity just as the resort is trying to capitalize on increased global media interest in its facilities.
Finally, Intrawest’s parent company, hedge-fund manager Fortress Investment Group, has had a terrible year as a result of the global financial meltdown. On December 16, the New York-based investment company's stock closed at US$1.22, down from a 52-week high of US$17.32.
Fortress has been the lender for the billion-dollar Olympic Village project in Vancouver. The local city council recently provided a $100-million loan guarantee to try to ensure that the development will be completed in time for the 2010 Games. City officials have estimated that the project is $70 million over budget.
A pickup truck being loaded onto a small B.C. ferry rolled off the ramp and plunged into Nanaimo Harbour Tuesday evening when the ship unexpectedly left the dock. Driver Randy Nicifore, who was going home to nearby Gabriola Island, escaped unharmed after a deckhand gave him the signal to stop.
...The MV Quinsam makes regular 10-minute trips from Nanaimo to Gabriola Island, but sailings were suspended until at least later Wednesday morning, Marshall said. A water taxi was arranged to transport foot passengers. The vessel was almost loaded when it pulled away from its berth around 6:55 p.m. BC Ferries president David Hahn said the driver, who was shaken up, was offered counselling and has contacted an insurance company to replace his truck.
B.C. Ferries has contacted the Transportation Safety Board to carry out a full investigation.
In 1992, three people in a van died and one was injured when the Queen of New Westminster ferry pulled away early from Nanaimo's Departure Bay terminal while loading. The vehicle rolled off the ramp and onto the lower deck before it tumbled into the water. A Transportation Safety Board investigation ruled the ferry did not follow proper departure procedures and that there was a lack of communication between the ferry crew and the terminal. More recently, the safety board investigated the March, 2006 sinking of BC Ferries' Queen of the North near Prince Rupert and found staff had switched off the ship's global positioning system. The ferry, with 101 persons on board, sailed off course and ran aground. One couple is still missing and presumed dead. (emphasis added)
Vancouver Sun
Condo Ad Daily Flier
New ferry out of service for repairs after 39 days
April 28/07
Quote:
The ferry Northern Adventure will be removed from its route for repairs in May, just 39 days after going into service to replace the sunken Queen of the North.
...Those issues include a faulty electrical panel, a malfunctioning alarm system, non-functioning elevators and escalators, and toilets that "are not overflowing they're just not flowing as effectively as possible..." The refit will also address grey water backing up, rainwater flooding outside decks and water seeping into the ventilation system. It will also see a new radar system from Germany installed...The Greek-built ship underwent a $9-million refit in Greece to prepare it for the voyage to B.C. and another $9 million at Victoria Shipyards - with finishing touches in Richmond - before the job was completed March 31.
...Northern Adventure was built in 2004 and purchased last year for $51 million. (-- p. B2)
BC Ferries has apologized to a disabled Vancouver Island woman for the problems she recently encountered on the Northern Adventure, the replacement vessel now serving the North Coast.
Yvonne Kafka, who is recovering from knee-replacement surgery, had checked with the ferry corporation about her planned trip on the new ferry, and was told she wouldn't have to climb stairs. But when she boarded the ship earlier this month, she found the elevator was out of service, and there were technical problems with the motorized platform designed to carry people up stairs. As a result, she had to slowly and painfully use the stairs with the support of her husband.
"If they cannot provide the service, they just have to be truthful, and say, 'OK, right now it's not working, we cannot accommodate you.' I would not have put myself in that predicament," said Kafka.
Transportation investigators warned on Wednesday that marijuana use by ferry crews on Canada's West Coast was a clear risk to public safety, but the head of BC Ferries Corp said the government should require mandatory drug testing. The Transportation Safety Board issued a warning note to BC Ferries saying it had learned that several crew members on the ferry Queen of the North, which sank last year after running into an island, "regularly smoked cannabis between shifts, both on board and off the vessel." The federal agency said that while it heard about drug use during its investigation, there was no evidence the Queen of the North's bridge crew was under the influence of cannabis at the time of the sinking on March 22, 2006, which killed two passengers.
The board has not yet released its report on the cause of the sinking, but said the information on drug use was enough to make it warn BC Ferries to find out if it had problems on other ships and to address the issue with new policies. "Ferry crews whose performance is impaired by cannabis are a clear risk to the traveling public," TSB Chairwoman Wendy Tadros said in a statement.
BC Ferries is a semi-independent company owned by British Columbia and its ships serve as an extension of the provincial highway system, linking islands and remote coastal communities to the mainland and Vancouver. It operates one of North America's largest ferry fleets. BC Ferries Chief Executive David Hahn was disappointed the TSB did not call on the federal government to require mandatory and random drug testing, which BC Ferries does not use because of privacy concerns. "I'm convinced public safety trumps human rights," Hahn told a radio call-in program, acknowledging that testing was a more controversial idea in Canada than in the United States where it is widespread in the transportation industry.
Hahn wondered how the safety board determined crew members on the Queen of the North crew were smoking pot since no one was tested after the accident. The TSB has interviewed the ship's crew as part of its investigation. The safety board said it would monitor the ferry service's actions on drug use, but did not say it planned any disciplinary action against either the company or crew members who might have used marijuana. BC Ferries said its own investigation into the Queen of the North's sinking indicated it was caused by human error, and that some of the bridge crew may not have been at their posts when the ship ran into the island in the middle of the night.
One hundred and one passengers and crew were forced to abandon the sinking vessel and were rescued by residents of the isolated community of Hartley Bay. Two people are still missing and believed to have died when the ship went down.
Covering what the courts now call 'leaky condo syndrome' - B.C. 'BILLY-style
Canadian Geographic
Magazine Subscription
Futureville Vancouver has the fastest-growing downtown core in North America and is becoming a showcase for the greatest urban experiment since the 1950s
By Charles Montgomery
May, 2006
Charles Montgomery is an * award-winning writer and photographer who tells stories about people, landscapes, history and myth(From his shamelessly self-promoting website)
Here's a sample of that experiment'shortly after this building was completed:
Western Living Green and greener Energy efficiency ratings for a few cities in Western Canada
By self-appointed expert Marcie Good, a sports writer, for goodness sake, who claims to have "interviewed dozens of planners, environmental experts and critics and commentators," whatever that means, according to the text on p. 31.
August, 2006
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Vancouver's downtown has become a world-renowned model of virtuous development. (emphasis added) Here are Jane Jacobs' lessons carried out and elaborated: (-- p. 45)
And yes, here we go again with the B.C. bud-inspired rooftop gardens taunt to the multitudes who have lost and are losing still! everything to the B.C. government's biggest love interest, leaky condo developers. What's most offensive about this publication is the loss of what might be a few truly good ideas amid all the PUFF PUFF PUFF and BLOW of real estate advertising copy promoting the myth that Vancouver housing stock is just fine. The upcoming sister flier devoted exclusively to condos doesn't promise anything better, either.
British Columbians awoke to news that three police officers from seperate municipalities and towns are now facing charges for unrelated incidents: An RCMP officer in Merritt faces torture charges, a Mountie in Richmond is facing a child pornography probe, and New Westminster officer faces an assault charge.
The Merritt torture charge is believed to be the first time a Canadian police officer has faced such a charge. Const. Saxon Peters has already been charged with aggravated assault, unlawful confinement and two counts of obstruction of justice in connection with the alleged beating of an aboriginal man on Aug. 25, 2005...Peters is accused of beating Shuter, whom he suspected of stealing another officer's bicycle, and then leaving him to walk 10 kilometres back to town to seek medical help. (emphasis added)
... South of Vancouver, in the city of Richmond, B.C., the Mounties are investigating one of their own officers in connection with child pornography and other possible criminal activities. (emphasis added)
... Finally, east of Vancouver in the municipality of New Westminster, a police officer who remains under investigation for fatally shooting a 16-year-old in August 2005 has been charged with assault after allegedly kicking a handcuffed prisoner just weeks before the shooting. Const. Todd Sweet was charged Tuesday with assault causing bodily harm and suspended from the New Westminster force with pay in connection with the alleged kicking incident in June 2005. Details of the matter have only recently become public. ... Sweet - who has been the subject of either lawsuits, internal investigations, or both, in at least four separate incidents - had been on desk duty since he shot and killed 16-year-old Kyle Tait. Tait was a passenger in a stolen SUV at the time of the shooting, and Sweet has said he feared "significant bodily harm" because the driver was trying to use the vehicle as a weapon. (emphasis added)
A key piece of evidence bearing the DNA of Robert William Pickton and one of Vancouver's missing women was handled by police without gloves, a police officer said during Pickton's murder trial Thursday. Vancouver police Const. Rod Deighton told the B.C. Supreme Court jury in New Westminster that he was given a revolver with a plastic sex toy attached to the barrel to perform a forensic examination on it in March, 2004. The weapon was found in Pickton's trailer in the initial search of the pig farmer's Port Coquitlam property in February, 2002, the jury was told.
When examining the gun, Deighton noted fingerprints and believed the weapon came to him from the RCMP firearms unit, the officer testified..."I contacted a Sgt. [Philip] Ziegler from the unit and the information I received was that it was extensively handled by this sergeant and his staff without gloves," Deighton testified. Upon learning that information, the determination was made to try fingerprinting the gun, he said. (emphasis added)
... During cross-examination earlier Thursday, the defence alleged Deighton had contaminated another portion of the exhibit. "And that testing disclosed that you contaminated those exhibits, correct?" asked defence lawyer Patrick McGowan. "This is the first I have actually heard that, my Lord," Deighton replied. "You haven’t been told that your DNA was found on each of those three pieces of plastic I gave you the numbers for?" Deighton responded that he had not. The defence also suggested Deighton's DNA was found on a hair clipper and other accessories. Deighton again said it was all news to him. ...
A North Vancouver man is considering his legal options after being grabbed, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by RCMP officers involved in a training exercise early Thursday morning, in a case of apparent mistaken identity. Luther Jurik said he was walking to the bus stop, on his way home from work from a late shift, when he was confronted by two uniformed officers who told him he was being arrested for second-degree murder. Jurik was arrested and handcuffed by two RCMP officers taking part in a training exercise in North Vancouver Thursday night. The Mounties thought Jurik was an actor, hired as part of a take-down scenario. "They told me to get down on my knees [and] put my hands behind my back. I did that. And they kept yelling, 'Get your hands behind your back, get your hands behind your back.' And I had my hands behind my back. I said, 'I don't understand what more you need me to do.' And they proceeded to handcuff me." Jurik told CBC News he was terrified that he might be shot with a gun or a Taser. RCMP Supt. Gord Thomlinson said Jurik matched the description of the actor they were using as a suspect in this scenario — who had already been arrested by other officers.
...The manufacture and export of worthless companies has become so relentless that regulators in both the U.S. and Canada are finding themselves in the dilemma of the sorcerer's apprentice: shut down one and three more pop up. The latest Vancouver company to be hyped by spam is PeopleLine Telecom Inc., which provides voice-over-internet telephone service. It trades on the pink sheets, which doesn't even require its listed companies to provide financial statements. Without financial statements, it's impossible for PeopleLine shareholders to know what the stock is worth. Still, the spammers have high hopes for this baby... PeopleLine president Edward Gallagher denies any responsibility for this electronic hype. He blames a U.S. investor relations firm he hired earlier this month. "I've filed a complaint with the SEC," he said in an interview this week.
Gallagher is a former RCMP commercial crime officer, but it is doubtful that he could serve as an officer or director of any company that trades on a Canadian exchange. In October, 2000, his former commercial crime colleagues paid him a visit and charged him with nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery in connection with Global Cogenix Corp., formerly listed on the Canadian Venture Exchange (now the TSX Venture Exchange). A trial date has been set for next March, but Gallagher insists the Crown is going to stay the charges. Given the length of time since his arrest, this appears to be a very real possibility. In Canada, investigations and prosecutions often go nowhere. (See also Highwater Power Corporation - News Release dated July 18/06 at globeandmail.com and the B.C. RCMP press release, Charges laid against former directors of Global Cogenix Industrial Corp., of the same date).
Emergency response - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Vancouver
Magazine Subscription
Who You Gonna Call? Dial 911 in Vancouver and you can expect to wait four minutes longer for help than you would in Toronto or Calgary. Why?
By Lindsay Ford
July/August 2007
Quote:
... It's 3 p.m. on a weekday afternoon; you live near East Hastings and Nanaimo, not far from drug-infested Pandora Park. You work from a home office and your gaze has strayed out the window. Two young men are trying to break into your car. The loop comes up again: "Thank you for holding. We're currently experiencing a high volume of calls." ... Deputy Chief Constable Bob Rolls of the Vancouver Police Department's Support Services Division points out theat "E-Comm is not the reason for our slow response time, expecially to priority-one calls. Dealing with high volumes of calls has always presented challenges. Our current problem is simply that we don't have enough officers for the volume of priority calls we respond to."
The Patrol Deployment Study, an analysis conducted in 2003 by the VPD and Simon Fraser University, examined 16 North American police agencies and their practices. It unearthed some unsettling information about Vancouver's emergency safety net. Of the 16 cities surveyed, Vancouver ranked last in police response time. For priority-one calls (such as serious assaults, home invasions in progress and "jumpers"), it takes police an average of 11 minutes and 25 seconds to respond. For priority-two calls, like overdoses and fights, figure on 34 minutes. For calls involving suspicious circumstances - crackheads trying to break into your car, for example - you could wait days. (emphasis added) (-- p. 21)
You may be middle-aged, have just a high-school education, and exercise less than an hour a week, but don't rule out a career with the Vancouver Police Department. As part of its new recruiting drive, police have posted an online survey where even the seemingly least qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Const. Tim Fanning, shown earlier in 2007, says the online survey is designed to direct people already interested in policing to one of the department's information sessions. As it turns out, clicking the worst-possible answer under every category still doesn't disqualify you. "Do you have what it takes to be one of Vancouver's finest?" is the question posed at the top of the survey, part of the VPD's push to hire 100 new police officers. The survey asks prospective recruits about a dozen questions on their age, education, leadership and security experience, fitness level and teamwork skills.
It turns out that somebody over 36, with just a high school education, no leadership or security experience, who barely exercises and may not work well with others, makes the first cut. (emphasis added)
When police investigate their brethren, their investigations are so flawed as to amount to corrupt whitewashes, especially here in Vancouver. Every VPD investigation of a death at the hands of a VPD member follows the same script...all the officers involved leave the scene, consult their union rep and joint lawyer and, weeks later, after other investigative results are in, their lawyer delivers typed statements on their behalf. The members involved, whether witnesses or perpetrators, are never interviewed right away and often are not interviewed at all. The opportunities for collision and tainting are rife. Police investigators would never conduct a criminal investigation of civilians this way. There is no wonder that no police officer in BC, in my memory, has ever been prosecuted for a death resulting from the intentional application of force.
Although it is mandatory for a coroner's inquest to be held in the case of every death in custody, the BC Coroner's Service is either incompetent or biased, or both, in the way it handles these cases. Though it has the power to conduct independent investigations, it merely collects the police investigative results. Why, I asked, do we have a former senior RCMP officer heading up an agency that has the responsibility for investigating deaths caused by actions of the police? At the very least, there is a perception of bias. (emphasis added)
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin, former head of the Ontario SIU (Special Investigations Unit) said that it is only a matter of time before BC leaves the "dark ages" and moves to a civilian investigative system. "Police should never, under any circumstances, be investigating themselves where there's a serious injury or death-full stop", he said. BC Solicitor General John Les, who was invited to the forum but declined to attend, reportedly called Marin's comments "juvenile" and "inappropriate".
Canada Border Services Agency officers who work in B.C. are being accused of posting inappropriate and offensive material, some of it directly related to their jobs, on the internet. The material includes jokes about guns and passports, an allegation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a "serial killer" and insults directed at French-speaking Canadians. "It's just revolting what is being posted … and the lack of action to stop them from doing that," said Chris Hughes, a former border officer from Victoria who revealed the material, captured on Facebook and similar sites, to CBC News. The postings also raise questions about whether some of the people trusted to guard Canada's borders are qualified to keep out terrorists and other criminals, he said. "This is a huge security issue," said Hughes.
Hughes and his former colleague, Levan Turner, both in their 40s, worked summers at the border until the government decided not to hire them permanently. They claim they were passed over in favour of younger, cheaper, student recruits. Hughes claimed he has been tracking website postings by several of those recruits ever since. In numerous posted photos, new recruits are seen drinking and partying at a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) centre in Rigaud, Que., where they train to become full-time officers, on taxpayers' money. One recruit wrote,"My tolerance for alcohol that I built up at Rigaud … is insane." ... One photo, apparently taken in B.C., shows a Canada Border Services Agency officer drinking from a keg while in uniform. Consuming alcohol in uniform, on or off duty, is a direct violation of CBSA's code of conduct. Another alleged officer, also pictured in uniform on the web, posted responses to a quiz — answering that she has cheated on a test, smoked pot and felt like killing someone. When a friend apparently asks her, online, if she has been issued a gun, the officer answers, "I think the prime minister should be getting on the phone, and calling a few people and getting that straightened up real quick," said Turner. The female officer also wrote: "I don't have a gun... YET!!! You will be the first one to hear about it when serial killer Harper gives me one." It seems she didn't like training in Quebec. In postings, the writer refers to the province as "the land of poutine and frog," and "f---ing French bastards."
"If they are playing around with Facebook, saying those things, what are they going to do when they get a gun?" asks Hughes. "What kind of jokes and pictures are they going to take with firearms?" A male officer, who posted his CBSA job title as "Bad Ass," did post a picture of the type of gun he expects to get, with the caption, "Soon enough, baby. Soon enough." That same officer wrote he is "incredibly excited that he got to arrest someone again." There are pictures of men necking and holding each other down, apparently as a joke. The photos are labelled "Victoria Rape." ... "If you were a terrorist and you wanted to get into Canada," said Hughes, "come when the students first go on the job." Hughes said he has been sending letters of complaint to the CBSA and to Day for months. He claims most of his concerns have not been acknowledged. ... The Canada Border Services Agency circulated an internal memorandum to employees on Aug. 24, warning about their participating in social networking websites. "Even off-duty conduct becomes a work-related matter if it jeopardizes the agency's reputation or programs," said the memo obtained by CBC News. "For these reasons, we would like to remind you that inappropriate behaviour by employees on such websites could result in administrative and/or disciplinary action," it said.
RCMP are investigating after two campus officers were caught on film playfully posing with young women and lending them handcuffs while on duty, a police spokesman confirmed Thursday night. Photos obtained by CBC News show the two officers from the University of British Columbia detachment posing with a group of women around the officers' squad car on July 1. Davor Kovac, a fourth-year business student at UBC, said he witnessed the two RCMP officers pulling up to a McDonald's on campus near a bus stop and questioning the women about open alcohol. ... "I said, just loud enough so they can hear me, 'This is the most unprofessional thing I have even seen,'" Kovac claimed. The two RCMP officers continued to take photos for 10 minutes and only stopped long enough to ask Kovac to pour out his drink, he said. "So I poured it out and then he went right back to posing with the girls," Kovac said.
A man who witnessed a Taser incident at Vancouver International Airport last Sunday said security at the facility and RCMP are to blame for the death of a distraught man in the terminal who didn't understand English. Lorne Meltzer, a corporate valet, told CBC News Thursday he was at the airport picking up a client just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday and found himself facing Robert Dziekanski. He said he tried to calm an agitated Dziekanski, 40, in the public arrivals area and unwittingly let the Polish immigrant back into the secure international arrivals area, using his pass to open the one-way doors.
Meltzer has a security pass to the secure international arrivals area, as a personal assistant to a Vancouver businessman who often has clients fly into town. "I think the responsible parties are the Vancouver Airport and the RCMP for not having other negotiating tactics once he's at the heightened state," said Meltzer, who was the person who called in RCMP. He said he clearly warned them the man didn't speak English. Meltzer claimed the officers gave Dziekanski two commands in English and within seconds Tasered him after he held a stapler in an apparently threatening manner. "He [Dziekanski] raised the stapler in the air and they [RCMP] said, 'Put your hands on the desk,' in English," Meltzer said. Meltzer said the RCMP were too hasty to use the Taser and he refutes the police claim that the area was too crowded to use pepper spray, because "it was empty."
Dziekanski was Tasered by RCMP and later died. Police and a witness conflict in the number of jolts the man is alleged to have received. RCMP insist that the man was zapped two times, but Sima Ashrafinia, who was at the airport and recorded the incident on her cellphone, told CBC News on Monday that RCMP officers stunned Dziekanski four times. An autopsy by the B.C. Coroner's Service on Tuesday did not find the cause of death, citing no trauma or disease was found. Officials are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests and microscopic examinations.
Here's the kicker: In the video also posted at the site, Meltzer, a frequent airport visitor, says that after 10:45 p.m., there is no airport security!
Were translation services in Polish available at the time of the incident?
The leaked report by VPD Det. Fiona Wilson-Bates is to be released Monday morning. It says that police have become the "de facto" front-line mental health workers of the city. During a 16-day period in September 2007, police tracked their response to emergency calls. They found that one-third of the calls involved people with serious mental health problems. More and more, police say they find themselves trying to get medical help or a place to stay for mentally ill people, and it's gobbling up millions of dollars in police time. The result is that money is being spent on crisis management, instead of long-term solutions, said Kerry Jang, a University of British Columbia psychiatry professor. "So, for example, a police officer answers a call for someone who has a psychotic break on the street and takes them straight to the emergency department,'' Jang said. "They are obligated to stay with that person until they are seen, so of course that could be [many] hours.''
Still, by producing the report, the police have added an important voice to those calling for better, more co-ordinated services for mentally ill people, said Julian Somers, Director of the B.C. Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction.
1) A mental health care facility that can accommodate moderate to long term stays for individuals who are chronically mentally ill. Of the 2,100 people that Vancouver Coastal Health Authority estimates are not adequately served in the Downtown Eastside, up to 500 are most at risk. These are people who are chronically mentally illwith disabling addictions, extreme behaviours, no permanent housing and regular police contact. This resource should be readily accessible and available for those who are both mentally ill and addicted.
2) What has been termed an “Urgent Response Center” by Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, where individuals can be assessed and triaged according to their needs along with additional resources to support the facility. VPD members have contact with mentally ill people at an alarming rate (up to almost half of all contact calls in some areas of the city). This is an opportunity for people who are mentally ill to receive treatment. A facility does not currently exist that is readily accessible and available for police to take a mentally ill person in the absence of jail or hospital. This would be a location accessible to police that would provide mental health, addictions and housing support for individuals who came in contact with officers and for whom jail was not appropriate. This initiative is only recommended in conjunction with additional resources to support the facility (i.e. beds for a short term stay, addictions and mental health counsellors, access to a long term care facility, etc.).
3) Increased services for people who are dually diagnosed. It is estimated that up to 70% of all psychiatric admissions at St. Paul’s Hospital involve a person who has multiple addictions and that over 50% of people with a mental illness abuse illegal drugs and alcohol. These statistics indicate, particularly in the context of the Downtown Eastside, which is home to Canada’s largest open drug market, that treatment for concurrent disorders is essential. This includes mandating the existing mental health clinics to provide service to people who are mentally ill and drug addicted, regardless of which affliction is most prevalent.
4) A continued increase in supportive housing in Vancouver. An estimated 70% of Vancouver’s inner city population who are either homeless or living in single room occupancy hotels have mental health issues and 23% have a diagnosed mental illness (City of Vancouver, 2007).
5) For St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital to speed up the admission process for police who have arrested an individual under the provisions of the Mental Health Act (by negating the need for the emergency physician to initially examine the patient, for example). One of the contributing factors to patrol members being less likely to arrest an individual under the provisions of the Mental Health Act is the lengthy time delay at both St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital in admitting a mentally ill individual.
6) Enhanced ability to gather data on all calls for service that are mental health related to facilitate further research on this matter and to establish benchmarks to track change for police in British Columbia. The VPD does not currently gather details about police calls for service that involve people who are mentally ill that is readily accessible for extraction and analysis via police computer.
7) A system, much like PRIME, that has readily accessible details of an individual’s mental health history and addresses privacy concerns, for British Columbia mental health service providers. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is one of several regional health authorities in British Columbia. Internal information sharing practices are a barrier to mental health care within Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and this problem is greater when an individual crosses health authority boundaries. (-- p. 62)
Supporting police efforts - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
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Fear factor It's no secret that the Vancouver Police Department is stretched to the limit. With gang-style shootings and meth labs keeping public officers busy, business is exploding for the local private security industry - almost double the size of the VPD - which is picking up the slack, assisting in arrests and even going undercover to hunt down bad guys.
By Andrew Findlay
January, 2008
On the corner of Hastings and Cambie streets, another emaciated male exhibits the jerky spasmodic contractions of someone in the throws of cocaine psychosis. He sips on an extra large 7-11 cup and dips constantly in and out of the alley between Cambie and Abbott streets to cut crack deals behind a dumpster. Two of his customers, sad, greying 50-somethings, emerge from the alley. They park it on a retaining wall in the middle of the square (Victory Square) and spark up a crack pipe. Less than 10 metres away, a well-dressed woman sits on a bench and obliviously taps away on a laptop - or prerhaps she is simply resigned to this carnival of corruption in downtown Vancouver. In 15 minutes Goertzen, 30, and 28-year-old Mota have identified at least a half dozen people by first and last names, mostly drug- and alcohol-addicted thieves on the perpetual treadmill of chronic repeat offending. ... Goertzen and Mota switch into active surveillance mode, then make a call to the District 2 dispatcher at the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) to report a suspect in possession of a bag of stolen property. Mota is put on indefinite hold by the dispatcher as Clint (perp) heads east and out of their beat. Goertzen and Mota observe him for a few minutes then, shrugging their shoulders, decide to drop it. Clint vanishes with his wine.
It would take a veritable army of people to tag, monitor and trail the dealings of these seedy characters and the numerous petty and more serious offenses that occur on an average day in downtown Vancouver. (emphasis added) ...
... The private security industry is booming in B.C. Its foot soldiers are everywhere, and for the most part it's far from glamorous work - riding mountain bikes around Granville Island, keeping a lonely midnight vigil over desolate industrial parks, working the nightclub doors and going nose-to-nose with intoxicated patrons, monitoring closed-circuit TV from windowless rooms, sniffing out insurance fraud and unearthing evidence for civil litigation. They could be the guys and gals in the bright banana-yellow jackets or dressed, like Goertzen and Mota, as skater kids, carrying out cover surveillance in the downtown core while you and I go about our daily business. ... In 1991, we had a mere 4,084 licensed security workers. By 2005, boosted partly by new licensing requirements, had ballooned to 11,684, greatly outnumbering the public force, which currently sits at 7,678 members. ... police officers are outnumbered by a factor of two to one. And this ratio is only expected to spike with the Olympics, when private firms will line up at the 2010 trough and take on the mundane but necessary details of site security and crowd control. ...
One thing is clear: issues around conduct, misrepresentation and use of force by private security are starting to surface. In 2006 inspectors with the Security Programs and Police Technology Division responded to 214 complaints against private-security workers and issued 63 violation tickets, mostly for individuals working without a valied licence. ... Also up for discussion is the possibility of authorizing security personnel to carry restraining devices such as handcuffs and chemical spray, something current legislation does not permit. (emphasis added) ...
In 2006, recognizing that the character and nature of law enforcement in Canada was evolving, the Law Commission of Canada (which lost its federal funding in September, 2006) turned its microscope on the topic of private security, churning out a 200-page discussion papert entitled In Search of Security: The Future of Policing in Canada. ... "Private-security personnel are acting more like police in public spaces and that worries me," (Murray Mollard of the largely ineffective and unresponsive B.C. Civil Liberties Association unlike many of its counterparts in other jurisdictions throughout North America) Mollard says. "Although I think the new legislation (the Security Services Act, Bill 15) is a good step, I don't think it goes far enough in terms of conduct, competency and accountability."
A fugitive who escaped from a pre-trial centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C., by posing as another inmate bought a newspaper to read about his exploits on Friday. But he'll have to finish reading the story behind bars. Dean Sykes, 39, offered no resistance when a car he was driving was pulled over by RCMP officers on Highway 1 near Hope early Friday morning, Const. Tara Harrington of the Fraser Valley RCMP said. Harrington said Sykes stopped at a market in Bridal Falls early Friday morning to pick up a paper, and joked to the clerk that he looked like the man pictured on the front page. The clerk agreed — and then phoned police after Sykes left the store.
Sykes was mistakenly released from custody when he attended the Port Coquitlam provincial court on Aug. 5, posing as another inmate, Timothy Broadbent, 42. Sykes, still pretending he was Broadbent, was returned to the North Fraser Pretrial Centre, where he was subsequently released from custody.
Sykes attempted to use Broadbent's ID when he was arrested by Hope RCMP, Harrington said. He was arrested on a charge of escaping lawful custody and is being held at the Hope RCMP detachment. Broadbent was in court again today on a new charge: assisting in Sykes's escape. The original charges that had him in court on Aug. 5 and Aug. 7 were mischief and possession of a break-in tool. He was represented on those days by duty counsel, who would never have seen him before, which could explain why court staff didn't realize Sykes had taken his place.
Sykes's escape was the second from the facility in less than a year. Dressed as a janitor, kidnapper Omid Tahvili walked away from the centre on Nov. 15 with the help of prison guard Edwin Ticne, who later pleaded guilty to his role in that escape.
A decision on whether to hold a public hearing into the conduct of Victoria's former police chief will be made next week, B.C.'s police complaint commissioner says.
Dirk Ryneveld had ordered an RCMP investigation into allegations made about the behaviour of Paul Battershill last fall. The investigation found no criminal wrongdoing, but a disciplinary hearing that had been scheduled was cancelled when Battershill resigned on Wednesday. Ryneveld said Thursday the fact that Battershill is no longer a police officer might prevent him from holding a public hearing into the matter. At issue, the commissioner said, is whether the public interest would be served by pursuing the matter.
"Quite clearly, the public is very interested but would a public hearing, with all the attendant costs and legal arguments as to jurisdiction … be in the public interest? [That] is something I have to wrestle with," Ryneveld said. Ryneveld said the case underlines the flaws in the B.C. Police Act, which the provincial government has promised to fix. Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, chair of the city's police board, said Thursday details about the allegations against the former chief — and the RCMP investigation into those allegations — cannot be released under the act.
In an interview with the editorial board of the Victoria Times Colonist on Thursday, Lowe said even police board members were not given full access to the report. Lowe told the newspaper that, after reading the report, he gave board members only the information he felt was necessary for them to reach a decision on whether to approve Batterhill's resignation. The nine-member police board decided that it had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership. On Wednesday Lowe said that the board had accepted Battershill's resignation effective immediately.
In its decision, the board cancelled the disciplinary hearing, promised never to discuss the accusations against Battershill, and agreed to pay $15,000 toward his legal costs. The board also issued a statement saying the probe had found no evidence of any criminal or financial wrongdoing.
Lowe said the board signed a deal with the former chief to not disclose the contents of the investigation. Lowe was asked by reporters why he would agree to the conditions after having promised taxpayers several months ago to disclose as much as he legally could. The board agreed to the settlement because "we felt it was in the best interest of all involved," Lowe told CBC News on Thursday.
Lowe said it's up to Ryneveld to either release the details or call a public hearing. But Ryneveld said the Police Act does not prevent Lowe from disclosing the details in the case.
An officer in the New Westminster police department (GlobalBC identified her as Tomi Hamner) faces charges of impaired driving after allegedly crashing an unmarked police vehicle into a highway sign. RCMP said in a news release Thursday the officer was arrested Oct. 16 following a single-vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Highway in North Vancouver. She was released on a promise to appear in North Vancouver Provincial Court on Dec. 17. She was the only occupant of the vehicle and there were no injuries. New Westminster police spokesman Sgt. Ivan Chu ... confirmed she was a secondary school liaison officer. ... Word of the incident follows the news of an RCMP officer facing charges of impaired driving causing death after a collision in Tsawwassen on Saturday. Orion Hutchinson, 21, was killed while riding westbound on his motorcycle on Sixth Avenue when he collided with a Jeep. ... Delta police have so far recommended two charges -- impaired driving causing death and exceeding .08 blood-alcohol content. The officer facing charges, who has not been named by police but has been identified as Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson, is to appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 15.
Media reports have identified the officer as RCMP Corporal Benjamin Monty Robinson, who is one of four Mounties who were at Vancouver airport when Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died after being stunned by a Taser on Oct. 14, 2007. The lawyer for Mr. Dziekanski's family says the shadow of the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Mr. Dziekanski is hanging over the investigation into last weekend's fatal collision.
Three Metro Vancouver police officers were arrested Wednesday for an alleged robbery and assault after an altercation involving a newspaper delivery man, Vancouver police said. The three off-duty officers were arrested without incident by Vancouver police, who were responding to a 911 call at 2:30 a.m. about a fight in the 600 block of Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, Const. Jana McGuinness said. The three officers are from the West Vancouver, New Westminster and Delta police departments. Their names and ages are not being released. "The men were initially arrested for assault and robbery … and the investigation is continuing," McGuinness said. "We are not at a point where charges have been laid or where we can recommend anything to Crown counsel." The newspaper delivery man, 47, of Surrey, was believed to be working at the time of the fight outside the Hyatt Regency Vancouver hotel on Burrard Street near Georgia Street, McGuinness said. "What led up to the altercation is still something investigators are looking into. We don't want to speculate at this point. There's some more interviewing to be done," she said. An ambulance was called to the scene, but no one was taken to hospital.
The three officers were co-operative McGuinness said. They were released Wednesday night without charges being laid. ...
... Mark Gorst and Shannon Werry have ample evidence indicating who the thief is, but even so, RCMP have told them charges won't be laid. "It's frustrating … and there is a lot of anger," said Werry. "Because you know who it is — and you have the proof that you need — and nothing happens.
"I didn't know most of the money was stolen — until two years afterward," said Gorst. "We've been told — because it's been such a time delay — the statute of limitations on certain crimes means I am on the hook for everything."
"[Identity theft and fraud] is a level of crime that you don't know about until you know about it — which is sometimes too late for legal boundaries," explained Cpl. Lea-Anne Dunlop of the Chilliwack RCMP. If more than a year has passed since the initial crime, she said, the bar to get charges approved by the Crown is higher. "We have to play within the confines of the legal system that exists," she said. "It is sometimes unlikely a long time after an offence that a charge will be approved."
Gorst said collection agents call him several times a day, about two-year-old charges on several credit cards. He firmly believes an ex-roommate obtained those cards in his name, then collected the bills at his old address. "I owe $20,000 on credit cards I never applied for and never used," said Gorst. "I have no credit. I have nothing in my name. I can't own anything, because it could be seized by creditors."
Werry says it's far too late for the credit card companies to forgive the debt. "There’s a time limit. Most credit cards, you have to report it within so many hours or so many days."
The couple first noticed something was wrong in 2007, when hundreds of dollars were siphoned out of his RBC account electronically. Gorst said he had never set up online banking. Once he was able to log on, he discovered someone had listed his roommate as a bill payee — and then transferred money into their account at another bank. He filed his first report with the RCMP at that time. Gorst said he was told it was a matter for his bank to handle. (emphasis added)
When he later noticed he was not receiving GST rebates, Gorst contacted the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA eventually sent him a letter it had received, signed with his forged signature, asking that all tax credits and refunds be paid into a TD Canada Trust account that was not his. His former roommate's return address is listed on that letter. After his bank called to say his ex-roommate had tried to cash a large cheque by forging his signature, he called the person to confront them — and recorded the conversation.
"Please stop forging my signatures? Please, I am just asking nicely," said Gorst on the tape. "You didn't need to forge my signature." The ex-roommate responded, "How did you expect [a cheque] to be cashed?" The conversation ended with the person saying, "You are going to wish you never met me," before hanging up on Gorst.
After he discovered the credit cards he didn't know about this year, he went back to the RCMP, armed with a pile of new evidence, including the tape recording. Gorst said he was told the financial crimes were too old to pursue. He was advised to hire a lawyer and take civil action, which he said he can't afford. ... The RCMP said it did try to pursue charges, related to threats, but Crown counsel did not approve those charges.
RCMP Cpl. Dunlop said it is "common" for police to be unable to make charges stick in identity theft cases. The crimes are intricate and often hidden for long periods, with the help of technology, she said, so the laws need updating. "... Identity theft and fraud are not listed as specific crimes in the Criminal Code, putting Canada behind the U.S. and Europe.
... Gorst said he's hit several brick walls, trying to get information from creditors. When they ask him to verify his identity, he said, he often doesn't know the phone number or other information they have on file. "If I don't give them the proper information they don't tell me anything — because of privacy," he said. "So, I could have more cards out there I don't know about." ... To add insult to injury, Gorst said, he's also paid a higher price for reporting the crimes. The CRA made him pay back some of the tax credits paid out in his name, which he said wouldn't have happened if he hadn't written to them. Collection agents didn't start chasing him, he said, until he contacted TransUnion Canada, to check his credit rating. He gave his real address and phone number, he said, and the credit agency passed that information on to collectors.
Application of limitation period to crime in Canada:
Quote:
Canada has a criminal-limitations period only for summary (less serious) offenses. The period is six months from the date of the offense which includes thefts under $5,000. Thus, for instance, a Canadian can be charged with an "indecent act" only within six months of the time of offense, unless both the Crown and the defense agree. In the case of indictable (more serious) offenses, for example if a hypothetical assailant committed sexual assault, the assailant could be charged any time in the future. (From Wikipedia accessed Oct. 8/09)
An elderly Vancouver woman has died in hospital, days after she was accidentally left overnight in a car that had been towed. (emphasis added) The 85-year-old woman may have suffered a medical condition when she pulled into a no-parking zone on Wednesday. Her car was towed to an impound lot, but no one knew she was inside because the windows were frosted over. Almost 24 hours later -- and after a frigid night -- an employee of Busters Towing discovered the woman, after scratching off some of the frost to check the vehicle's identification number.
Vancouver Police Const. Tim Fanning called the incident a "very unfortunate circumstance," and *cleared the tow truck company of any wrongdoing in the woman's death. "The police investigation has concluded that everyone did as much as they could, that there was no wrongdoing at all," he told reporters.
...This is the second time the company has towed a car with someone inside. In 2003, an employee accidentally towed a Lexus with an 11-year-old girl. Her mother feared she may have been kidnapped. (emphasis added)
Quote:
*Note: We're curious to learn how B.C. courts will feel about a mere police constable apparently 'clearing' the towing company from any wrongdoing in this incident - especially when operations manager Ron Wood said, according to the story, that "the company will examine ways to prevent any further incidents." Watch and learn.
122 A collector (113 In this division, "collector" means a person, whether in British Columbia or not, who is collecting or attempting to collect a debt) must not do any of the following, whether on the collector's own behalf or on behalf of another person, directly or indirectly:
(a) unless there is a court order to the contrary, remove from inside the debtor's private dwelling any personal property claimed under seizure, distress or repossession, in the absence of the debtor, the debtor's spouse, the debtor's agent or an adult resident in the debtor's dwelling;
(b) seize, repossess or levy distress against personal property that is not specifically charged or mortgaged, or to which legal claim may not be made under a statute, court judgment or court order; (emphasis added)
(c) remove, seize, repossess or levy distress against personal property during a day or during the hours of a day when removal, seizure, repossession or distress is prohibited by the regulations.
No clue in the story whether Busters had any legal claim over the vehicle in question that would have authorized its removal. If not...
Quote:
Damages recoverable
171 (1) Subject to subsection (2), if a person, other than a person referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e), has suffered damage or loss due to a contravention of this Act or the regulations, the person who suffered damage or loss may bring an action against a
(a) supplier,
(b) reporting agency, as defined in section 106 [definitions],
(c) collector, as defined in section 113 [definitions],
(d) bailiff, collection agent or debt pooler, as defined in section 125 [definitions], or
(e) a person required to hold a licence under Part 9 [Licences]
who engaged in or acquiesced in the contravention that caused the damage or loss.
V6T News Top Court Questions Method of Collecting Parking Fines at UBC
February, 2007
Quote:
* More on the mysterious, multi-layered and ultimately unknowable government of that unique parcel of Vancouver land known as the University Endowment Lands (UEL).
A judge in the Supreme Court of British Columbia has questioned the way in which the University of British Columbia collects fines from motorists tagged for car parking infractions on campus. ... the judge (Goepel, J.) allowed Mr. (Daniel) Barbour to have his lawsuit certified as a class action, which - if successful - could cost the university up to $4 million in the repayment of parking fines collected since UBC parking regulations were *made effective by a resolution of its board of governors Sept. 1/90. ... Mr. Barbour and all the others eligible to join in the class action may expect a potential recovery on average of $40 each. Mr. Barbour must now decide firstly if he can afford to proceed with the class action, and secondly, if he wishes to proceed. The procedure would begin with notification to motorists who have paid parking fines to UBC in the last 16 years of the proposed class action. Mr. Justice Goepel called the issue who should pay the costs of notification "contentious." (-- p. 15)
The provincial New Democratic Party says the high number of private colleges and institutes under investigation or suspension in B.C. is proof that deregulation has not worked.
In the past two years, 140 private schools, colleges, institutes and academies have closed, and 140 have been temporarily suspended — more than half of the 500 private schools registered with the province. (emphasis added)
NDP advanced education Critic Rob Fleming says the problem is the Liberal decision to allow the industry to regulate itself...Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell, however, says that the number of suspensions proves self-regulation is working, and that many schools are able to fix their problems and continue operating. As for the large number of closures, Coell says that's normal for the industry.
B.C. Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell has asked the RCMP to reopen an investigation into the financial dealings of a Surrey private business college that closed last year, leaving some former students to be hounded by government bill collectors for repayment of student loans. Surrey RCMP opened an initial investigation into the affairs of Barkel Business College, (which merged with MTICC in 2006) in 2005.
... Victoria-Hillside NDP MLA Rob Fleming and Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains said they have received dozens of complaints from former students who are being harassed for repayment of student loans that went directly to Barkel to pay for courses they claim they never fully received.
"This was money that went directly to the college -- was deposited in its bank account - for courses the students never received," said Fleming. "The ministry suspected irregularities in the way student loans were being disbursed in 2004, which led to an audit. These students are now being held liable for all the money that was pocketed and the government wants the money back from them," he said.
He said the audit resulted in an order suspending direct deposits to Barkel Business College.
Some students have debts as high as $35,000, he said, adding 125 have banded together and are using a credit counselling service to represent their interests with the provincial government...Bains told the house many of the students were new immigrants who were "manipulated into signing certain agreements wherein the ministry would send funds directly over to the college on their behalf. ... They ended up not getting the education they were promised and ended up under huge debts."
Containing sexual abuse at school - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
The Vancouver School District has decided not to release a private consultant's report on the controversial Quest outdoor education program. The school board commissioned Victoria lawyer Don Avison to write a report on current policies and practices after criminal charges were laid against former teacher Tom Ellison ... found guilty in December, 2006 on five sexual misconduct charges stemming from incidents involving female students in the Quest program ... in the late '70s and early '80s while he ran the Quest outdoor education program. He was acquitted on nine other charges.
In a statement released Wednesday morning, the board says that under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act it can only make public the recommendations contained in the report. The board released a summary of those recommendations that refers only to the board's current policies, and not policies in place when the Quest program was active.
Laura Anderson, a former Quest student, and one of Tom Ellison's accusers, believes the board may be trying to dodge responsibility for what happened 25 and 30 years ago. She told CBC Wednesday morning she is frustrated the board won't publicly discuss why the Quest program was allowed to continue for so many years.
... Avison found the board's current policies are good overall but he recommends the board make more explicit reference to appropriate gender supervision for activities that involve overnight travel ... he recommends discipline record checks for all new hires, in addition to the criminal record checks already required, and that all employees be trained to understand the board's policies on how to handle student allegations of abuse. (emphasis added)
Here's that summary:
Quote:
Summary of Recommendations
Mr. Avison's recommendations may be summarized as follows:
1. Policy and Protocols
- Use the Trek Program policy document as a model for all field study, outdoor and alternative education programs.
- Incorporate the Inter-Agency Protocol and Procedures for Investigating Alleged Physical and/or Sexual Abuse of Students by VSB Employees into the Board's Policy on Reporting Child Abuse.
- Ensure the Policy on Supervision of Students makes more explicit reference to appropriate gender supervision for activities that involve overnight travel.
- Ensure protocols are in place for appropriate and timely reporting to the College of Teachers.
- Implement protocols requiring discipline record checks for prospective employees, in addition to the mandatory criminal record checks which are already undertaken.
2. Training
- Provide all employees, including prospective administrators, with in-service training on the Inter-Agency Protocol and Procedures for Investigating Alleged Physical and/or Sexual Abuse of Students by VSB Employees and other Child Protection Initiatives.
3. Code of Conduct
- Implement a "VSB specific" Code of Conduct for all employees and volunteers.
4. Record Keeping
- Ensure there is consistent documentation of allegations and investigations of abuse.
- Update procedures for record keeping, including retention of personnel records.
Quote:
Note that parents are NOT among the various classes of persons invited to consult on these policies. Interestingly, STUDENTS (the potential victims, most of whom of are unable to vote or even drive) will be cavassed via their 'school representatives,' whatever that means:
Quote:
Dialogue with Students
In addition to addressing Mr. Avison's recommendations, the Board is taking other initiatives to further ensure all students enrolled in our schools feel informed and supported in reporting concerns of abuse. To this end, the Superintendent will be holding a series of dialogues with student representatives to discuss current policy and procedures with respect to abuse allegations. Through these dialogues, students will have opportunity to provide their perspectives on policies and procedures, and specifically, on reporting concerns of abuse. By the end of February, 2008, the Superintendent will be reporting to the Board with recommendations drawn from these dialogues.
Isn't it time for a program of anonymous post-secondary-style course/instructor evaluations like this one?
Quote:
A teacher who admitted to professional misconduct for tipping 10 students to questions and answers on the Social Studies 11 provincial exam last year will not face discipline from the body that regulates the teaching profession. Nor will a teacher who initiated phone sex with a student, or a teacher who reached into a girl's back pocket as she leaned over near his desk, called a boy sexy and held a girl's hand, making her uncomfortable. Those decisions not to discipline were among seven disciplinary decisions from the B.C. College of Teachers.
The decisions were posted on the college website this month. They've prompted an outcry from critics who say the college's refusal to discipline is circumventing a new law requiring it to create a public registry identifying all disciplined teachers.
"They're not disciplining them and therefore they don't have to publish their names on the registry," said Cathy Abraham, who was on the college's governing council in 2003-04 by government appointment. Carl Ratsoy, a teacher who served on council as an elected member and later as a government appointee until 2004, said the decisions amount to "a backroom deal -- a handshake. The discipline process has degenerated into a non-discipline process."(emphasis added)
However, three of the seven decisions did include discipline:
- Michael Richard Hernandez received a reprimand and promised to quit teaching after an assault conviction for having an inappropriate relationship with an 11-year-old, which included placing candies on her face and removing them with his mouth.
- Howard Wallace Lee agreed to cancellation of his teaching certificate after he had an inappropriate relationship with an international student that included French-kissing on two occasions.
- Chi Yung Luu was barred from holding a teaching certificate for an indeterminate period after he was convicted in the U.S. of criminal voyeurism for videotaping boys in a change room at a sports facility. Luu served seven months in jail on that charge. He was later handed a 12-month conditional sentence for possession of child pornography after a search of his home in Canada. The case of Luu, who was teaching in North Delta at the time, was widely publicized.
The college does not identify disciplined teachers' schools or school districts. A seventh decision, involving an unnamed teacher, was so vaguely worded it was impossible to know why the teacher was investigated, except that it had to do with offending students' ethnic sensitivities. In all seven cases, the teachers had previously been disciplined by their school districts, but those decisions are not made public.(emphasis added)
Districts are required to report all discipline to the college so that it can regulate the profession in a way that maintains public trust. On its website, the college says it strives to maintain public confidence "through transparent processes and accountable decision-making." But Abraham and Ratsoy say there is no transparency and no accountability. "It's not quite a Star Chamber, but it's headed down that path," Ratsoy said in an interview. College spokesman Richard Walker said the criticism comes from people who don't have full details about any of the cases. "It's very dangerous to leap to assumptions based on narrow facts," he added.
While declining to comment on individual cases, Walker said the three-person committee that adjudicates almost every case that lands before the college makes decisions in the best interests of students. The members this year are two retired teacher-union leaders, Jim Gill and John Grain, and lawyer Tim Dunford, who represents parents. That committee handles most discipline through "consent resolution agreements." If those agreements include a reprimand, a suspension or a certificate cancellation, they are considered discipline. Of 29 agreements signed in recent years, 18 did not include discipline. The college does not release details of those agreements and they are not obtainable through freedom-of-information legislation. In some cases, the agreement specifies what details may be made public.
Although the college did not impose discipline in the phone-sex case, it did identify Mark Edward Dyck as the teacher who telephoned a student to talk about sexual intercourse and his sexual fantasies. Dyck admitted to professional misconduct and promised not to teach for two years.
Walker denied suggestions the college is trying to keep teachers' names off the discipline registry, comparing that concern to a conspiracy theory. "There are some people who believe the worst, no matter what," he added.
Education Minister Shirley Bond has said she expects the discipline registry to be in place within a year. The college has asked her to change the law so that names would be published only for teachers who caused physical, sexual or emotional harm to a student. (emphasis added)
Keeping schools in good, safe repair - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
The Hampton Journal Crisis at University Hill Secondary School Top school suffers from dreadful conditions Parents press school board for overdue change at school Premier Gordon Campbell attended. Hundreds of students squat on floor to eat lunch daily. Some smell rat feces while eating in school corridors.
By John Tompkins
Feb. 25/08
... I was able to witness how the regrettable lack of a cafeteria at U Hill results daily in hundreds of students being forced to sit on the floor of two long corridors that run through the school in order to eat packed lunches brought from home.
... "On the days when it rains, we have to find places to sit on the floor where it is dry," the student said.
... "The worst is the smell of rat feces in the corridors when we're eating lunch on the floor." ...
A total of 560 students attend U Hill with another hundred or so who live at UBC or on the University Endowment Lands (UEL) forced to attend school elsewhere because its buildings - including nine aging trailers - are not enough to house them.
The school, referred to as a 'trailer park' by some students I talked to, was built to house only 325 students and is suffering from severe overcrowding. (-- p. 1)
Yes, and then in the March 10th issue:
The Hampton Journal
University Hill Secondary School
Students smell mold in portable classrooms Keeping portable classrooms clean is impossible. Keeping them at the right temperature is impossible. Some students wear several layers of clothing to keep themselves warm in winter at the school Premier Gordon Campbell attended.
By John Tomkins
Students smell mold in the portable classrooms which make up so much of University Hill Secondary School that some students call their school a 'trailer park.' ...
Problems with the portables persist not only in regard to the smell of mold and travails of keeping them clean; it also persists in regard to keeping the portables properly heated. (-- p. 1)
TransLink's new fleet of 39 trolley buses has been out of service for almost one month, and the transit company's mechanics can't figure out what's causing the vehicles to lose their power steering.(emphasis added) The trolleys were grounded late in January when some drivers reported a temporary loss of power steering at intersections.
TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Vancouver's trolley buses are custom made and complicated, and every trolley bus the company has bought since 1948 has come with technical difficulties.
"Obviously, it's unfortunate, because you want to have as much service out there as possible, particularly when there's so much demand for transit service. However, this is one of those situations that is not uncommon," Hardie said.
He disagreed with the suggestion the lack of trolleys has meant longer waits for commuters
Transit riders were still calling the Early Edition's talkback line about excessive wait times March 5/07 when we tuned in.
Jim Houlahan, vice-president of CAW Local 111, which represents bus drivers, said that with the equivalent of 30 buses missing from Vancouver trolley routes -- 39 New Flyers are off the road and TransLink has found only nine or 10 replacements -- service is suffering. But Hardie said TransLink is not getting many complaints. "Service is so frequent that three or four fewer trips a day would hardly be noticed," he said.
Another warranty issue is close to being resolved. New Flyer buses have been unable to use their bicycle racks at night because when a bike is put on a rack, it partially blocks the headlights. Hardie said the "mask" -- the panel on the front of the bus below the windshield -- has been redesigned and replacements should be installed shortly. "It simply involves moving the lights a little bit more to the outside so the bike doesn't get in the way," he said.
Houlahan said the new trolley buses are getting mixed reviews from drivers. They have "tremendous acceleration" from a dead stop and there are fewer places for standing passengers to hang on to at the front of the buses, and that makes it difficult for some people to keep their balance. Hardie said he had heard the same thing "anecdotally," but it had not been identified as a big problem. However, he said TransLink will work with drivers to make sure passengers with balance problems are seated before the bus starts moving. Houlahan said drivers have also noticed a glare problem at night when the inside bus lights reflect off the windshield; unlike other buses, the new trolleys don't have a dimmer switch for the inside lights.
...The report by Coast Mountain Bus Service, a TransLink subsidiary, shows more than half the buses tested after regular maintenance, had not been fixed properly before being sent back out on the roads. Some of the "serious deficiencies" identified by the company include damaged hoses, leaks and loose and chaffing wires. The report acknowledges that fires have been caused by these kinds of defects in the past.
SkyTrain's president is apologizing to commuters after a mechanical problem shut down the system Wednesday in B.C.'s Lower Mainland — a chaotic situation that led to one man being fined while trying to get home to his wife, who was in labour.
SkyTrain stations have been very crowded since the snow arrived in the Lower Mainland. "I think the only thing we can say is we apologize," said Doug Kelsey, who noted that commuters were already dealing with bad weather and overcrowded trains.
...A motor on one of the trains malfunctioned on Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain reaction that shut down all SkyTrain service on the Expo line for more than an hour during evening rush hour.
...They included Bryce Westerhof, at the Broadway station, who jumped onto the outside connection between two SkyTrain cars as the trains started moving again. "I got a baby popping out, right now. My old lady's in labour. I'm trying to get home," said Westerhof, who was pulled off the train and fined by transit police.
Westerhof told a CBC Early Edition reporter he was outraged at having to pay a penalty for imperiling himself, other passengers and taxpayers, who would inevitably foot the liability bill resulting from such antics. Yes! And rather than increasing the penalty for dangerous riding, Kelsey told the Early Edition April 27/07 that the the transit company will spend money to study what type of barriers might be added to train cars to shield B.C. 'BILLIES from their own intellectually-challenged, anti-social *behaviors.
Quote:
* Note: Yes, that's behaviors plural. Not only do some riders insist on 'riding the rails,' Kelsey said B.C. 'BILLIES also enjoy holding the train car doors open, the single biggest cause of SkyTrain delays.
Yes, and now this:
Quote:
The Vancouver Sun
Tired Real Estate Booster
Bus accidents jump 43% Running red lights, speeding, talking on cellphones,
hogging the road -- some of the police complaints about
bus drivers
By Gerry Bellett
Oct. 5/07
Quote:
All 3,000 Coast Mountain Bus Co. drivers have been ordered to take refresher driving courses following a deluge of complaints from the public and Vancouver police and a huge increase in accidents. The number of preventable accidents involving Coast Mountain buses has jumped by 43 per cent in the past four years, according to documents obtained from Coast Mountain under freedom of information legislation.
Other documents showed the major complaints from the public and police include:
- Drivers deliberately running yellow and red lights and using the "honk-and-run" tactic -- drivers leaning on their horns to clear out intersections when they run yellow or red lights.
- Drivers bullying other road users by cutting them off or forcing them out of their lane using the "Thanks for the brake. Please Yield: It's the law" sign on the rear of the bus as justification.
- Drivers hogging the road, preventing other motorists from passing.
- Speeding buses.
- Drivers talking on cellphones or listening to Walkmans or MP3 players while at the wheel.
A preventable accident is described by Coast Mountain as "a contact between a motor vehicle and anything, where the driver of the vehicle did not take reasonable action to avoid a collision."
A Vancouver woman says she was left unattended for two hours in the front seat of a bus after she suffered a stroke during a ride in June. "I felt very scared … I just prayed and hoped someone would help me," said Nadine Laughlin, who is now partially paralyzed. Her family is seeking "some sort of an explanation and an apology," said her husband, Mark Laughlin.
In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, the woman said that at about 11 a.m. on June 22, she boarded a No. 22 bus, which runs from MacDonald Street to Knight Street. She was sitting in the front left seat behind the driver, with a blind separating the two. Laughlin said she felt something was wrong with her body and then the stroke came over her. "I was trying to get the driver's attention or some other person on the bus who would help me," she said. "There were people on the bus and they didn't help me."
... Eventually, the bus reached the end of the route on Knight Street and Marine Drive, where the driver was supposed to check the bus. Laughlin said she was "really angry at the bus driver" but was not certain if the driver saw her before he continued on his return route.
During the return ride Laughlin said she began to vomit but still no one helped her. It was only after she "threw herself on the floor" that an ambulance was called. (emphasis added)
... The company (Coast Mountain) said drivers are supposed to check for passengers at the end of the line and it will further investigate what happened.
When it comes to effective stroke care, time is truly of the essence, says Harold Adams, MD, director of the Stroke Clinic at UI Hospitals and Clinics and professor of neurology in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.
"The longer without intervention the stroke goes, the more brain injury there is and the greater likelihood of severe residuals and an unhappy outcome," Adams says. "Time-to-treatment is critical. Don't wait for the symptoms to go away, call 911 and get to the hospital."(emphasis added)
... Early treatment starts with someone recognizing the stroke symptoms and getting the person having a stroke to the emergency room as quickly as possible. However, stroke affects the brain and often the person having the stroke is not thinking well and does not recognize that there is a problem. Ensuring that a person having a stroke receives the rapid medical intervention that might minimize the damage often falls to people around that individual--family or co-workers--who need to understand what is going on and get the individual to the emergency room.
Symptoms
The usual symptoms of strokes include:
Sudden onset of some sort of neurological problem
Transient loss of vision in one eye
An episode where part of the body becomes numb, heavy or clumsy
Paralysis or sagging of one side of the face
Slurred speech or speech that doesnt make sense
Weakness and numbness is usually confined to one side of the body
In the first few hours following a stroke, the goal is to treat the stroke such that the patient largely recovers, thus lowering the risk of complications, eliminating the need for rehabilitation and providing an opportunity to start treatments that help lower the risk of recurrent stroke.
About 80 percent of strokes are associated with a blood clot blocking an artery and depriving part of the brain of an adequate blood supply. This type of stroke is called ischemic stroke or infarction.
For patients who have an acute ischemic stroke, the opportunity to limit the neurological damage is very time sensitive. In particular, if a clot-busting drug, which has been available for about eight years, can be given to the patient within three hours of the stroke onset this can limit the extent of brain damage and can lead to good recovery. (emphasis added)
Although a devastating ischemic stroke can happen without warning, some patients will have a warning sign in the form of a transient ischemic attack (TIA). The difference between a TIA, sometimes known as a mini-stroke, and a full-blown stroke is that TIAs generally resolve themselves without causing substantial or permanent brain damage. However, a TIA is a warning of an impending stroke and intervention needs to be moved forward rapidly.
Interventions
Interventions that can help to prevent ischemic stroke in people who have warning signs include blood-thinning medications such as aspirin and warfarin and surgical procedures like carotid endarterectomy (removing a narrow portion of the artery) and angioplasty (stenting).
The van that was carrying 17 people when it rolled over on Highway 1 near Abbotsford last week had only two seatbelts, RCMP investigating the fatal crash said Thursday. Three farm workers died as a result of the accident, and 14 other people in the van were injured. Eight of them remain are in critical condition in hospital.
Some of the passengers were thrown from the van, which was designed for 10 people. Three women farm workers died when the van crashed near Abbotsford in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. Const. Dave Babineau also said the upholstery had been removed from the standard equipment bench seats, leaving bare wood. (emphasis added)
Quote:
Note: CBC Early Edition reported March 16/07 that RCMP spot checks of farm worker transport carriers yesterday revealed a variety of safety infractions resulting in a number of immediate vehicle suspensions. At least two of those vehicles were permanently taken off the road.
The Vancouver Sun
Farm vans fail safety checks 37 per cent of vehicles did not
meet standards in spot inspections
By Chantal Eustace
April 14/07
Quote:
...During a nine-day blitz between March 15 and 23, government inspectors pulled over 180 vans for random spot checks. Sixty-seven vans failed to meet safety standards.
...Some vans failed for more than one reason, with 51 failures because of mechanical violations - including brakes, steering, suspension and tires. Another 18 failed because of load security violations, a wide category that includes failure to secure items in the passenger compartment, poorly secured seats or a lack of proper seatbelts. Nine vans also failed inspection because the driver did not have the correct class of licence.
The government inspectors worked with the RCMP and WorkSafe BC during the blitz. (Transportation Minister Kevin) Falcon said violators faced penalties, including fines and impounded vehicles, until they corrected safety problems. (From Westcoast News, p. B11)
Quote:
The Vancouver Sun
Condo Ad Daily Flier
Letter of the Day Farm labourers need government protection
from exploitive contracting system
By Daivd Fairey
Labour economist, Burnaby
April 28/07
Quote:
...The seasonal and irregular demand for labour in agriculture creates the need for some form of labour supply agency for the mutual benefit of both farm workers and producer employers. However, the present system of for-profit labour contracting, for a primarily immigrant work force (mostly women and the elderly), is fundamentally flawed. Despite the many known abuses and violations, this sytem remains largely unregulated.
Farmers complain about the increasing difficulty to recruit local workers for fuit and vegetable harvesting. To effectively deal with this shortage, they first must accept that Canadian workers are no longer prepared to work under their feudal system of employment - the discrimination, extortion, extreme hazards and low pay that prevail in the farm labour contracting system and bring agricultural employment conditions into the 21st century and local workers will return to the fields, orchards and greenhouses.
A new system of publicly or cooperatively operated farm labour hiring halls and pooled dispatch and transportation is needed to replace the current abusive system. (-- p. B2)
Canadian industries and governments defend the SAW (Seasonal Agricultural Workers) program as necessary due to domestic labour shortages and an unstable workforce in agriculture, rationales that fuel the expansion of migration as part of global restructuring. Instead of improving labour conditions in seasonal agricultural work such as wages, sanitation and safety to attract domestic labour and expanding the family reunification program, governments and the BC agricultural industry use the SAW program to recruit a growing number of Mexican migrants who are younger and primarily male, and unable to complain about working and living conditions for fear of deportation. (emphasis added)
A word about condos on prime agricultural land:
Quote:
Canadian Geographic
Magazine Subscription
Resculpting the Homestead (Photographer Peter) Sibbald's grimly eloquent photographs
convey the sheer brutality with which suburban developers
bully and subjugate the languid countryside we naively think
of as immutable.
By John Lorinc
May/June, 2007
Quote:
"Post-agricultural" may be a more precise characterization. Between 1971 and 2001, Canada's urban areas gobbled up 15,000 square kilometres of farmland - an area three times the size of Prince Edward Island. And according to a recent Statistics Canada study, by 2001 more than 11 per cent of Ontario's best agricultural land had been turned to urban use - about double the proportion from 30 years earlier. "Once consumed," the study says, "this land is, for all intents and purposes, permanently lost for agriculture."
Sibbald's grimly eloquent photographs convey the sheer brutality with which suburban developers and highway construction crews bully and subjugate the languid countryside we naively think of as immutable. Hills are literally moved, vistas reorganized for optimal lot configuration. All evidence of farm life is eradicated. No match for the economic might of the building industry, all this land is *efficiently stripped and sealed, thus rendering it unrecognizable to those who once may have lived and farmed on it. (-- p. 64)
ALR protection - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Say no to development anywhere in this province to your peril!
NDP leader Carole James has suspended MLA Michael Sather from caucus for threatening to vote against the treaty negotiated with the Tsawwassen first nation. The federal and provincial negotiated treaty, which the NDP has said it will support, is expected to be introduced in the legislature this fall. ... James said the temporary suspension will last through the fall sitting of the legislature.
In July, Tsawwassen band members voted 130 to 50 in favour of the treaty, which is the first modern urban treaty to be ratified in B.C. Under the agreement, members will receive cash, a share of the salmon fishery and land -- some of it prime agricultural land expected to be converted for port-related development.
Sather, MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, was among three NDP MLAs who spoke out against the treaty because it will allow the removal of 182 hectares of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve. It was a NDP government elected in 1972 that introduced the Agricultural Land Reserve as a way to protect farmland from development. James said the two other rebel MLAs, Corky Evans (Nelson-Creston) and Guy Gentner (North Delta), "will respect the NDP caucus decision on the Tsawwassen treaty."
But on Friday, Gentner said he could never support land being taken out of the ALR. "That's a position I've always held. Let's not forget it's Gordon Campbell who's bastardizing the ALR. He's the guy who's been ripping the hell out of it," said Gentner. He said he didn't know why he, too, hasn't been suspended.
Quote:
Canadian Geographic
Magazine Subscription
No reservations The Landmark Treaty of British Columbia's Tsawwassen
First Nation will abolish its reserve, add to its land base and end
the tax exemption that has long defined Indian identity in Canada. Opposition is fierce, but the province's chief negotiator argues that
the agreement will give Tsawwassen what they seek most - control
of their destiny.
By Katherine Gordon
April, 2008
... Farmers in Delta are fiercely protective of the municipality's dwindling agricultural lands and want to prevent possible development on the property the Tsawwwassen will assume as part of the treaty, much of which falls on prime vegetable and berry farmland. Farming associations criticized the transfer, as did most Vancouver area municipal governments and several members of the provincial legislature. ... In 2004, the municipality (Delta) launched legal action against the provincial government in an unsuccessful attempt to stop it from signing the treaty.
Opposition to the agreement from other First Nations has been equally emphatic. Numerous groups have asserted that the Tsawwassen's treaty lands lie withinin their own traditional territories and should not be transferred until their own rights to those lands have been addressed. The Semiahamoo First Nation in nearby White Rock and an alliance of Vancouver Island First Nations launched legal proceedings in June 2007 in an attempt to halt further progress on the treaty. Their case was rejected in the B.S. Supreme Court in November, 2007.
Closer to home, at Canoe Pass on the Fraser River, where the Tsawwassen will have ownership of several parcels of land, Raymond Wilson is at the forefront of a drive by the Hwlitsum First Nation to gain its own land. Fearful that there will be none left for his people, Wilson has fought the Tsawwassen every step of the way during the past 14 years. He, too, has so far been unsuccessful.
Nor is the opposition just local. First Nations from the Fraser Valley that have begun their own treaty negotiations have banded together with those on Vancouver Island in an attempt to force governments to change what have, until now, been non-negotiable mandates, such as the policy on removing the tax exemption. A unified front, they say, is essential to success; in agreeing to accept such policies, the Tsawwassen First Nation has let them down.
Others outside the process are just as adamant. ...
In addition to the external resistance, 30 Tsawwassen residents actively opposed the deal. ...
Some feared losing their government overseers, on whom they have come to depend. "We'll be losing INAC's responsibility for us," says Bertha Williams. ... "Who will we turn to then?"
... She considers the tax exemption to be part of her identity. "It's who we are now. There's no other place in the world where people have a special status like this." (-- pgs. 57-60)
Beyond the Outer Shores The Untold Story of Ed Ricketts, the
pioneering ecologist who inspired John
Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell
Hardcover
By non-'Billy Frostback Eric Enno Tamm
Quote:
Having depleted the ocean, we are now trying to domesticate it by "farming" fish. The U.S. government is even proposing new legislation to privatize the ocean within the two-hundred-mile Exclusive Economic Zone by promoting fish farnming in much the same way that pioneers settled the West. In the words of one newspaper reporter, who obtained a draft of the proposed legislation, "Look out at the boundless ocean, and envision a new Iowa - homesteaded by fish farm colonies... with row upon row of undersea cages roiling with swimming livestock."
Today, the outer shores of the North Pacific represent a tragic microcosm of the world at large. In British Columbia, pristine inlets are being turned into the aquatic equivalent of industrial feedlots with thousands of fish crammed into tiny floating pens. The fish are particularly susceptible to disease and sea lice infestation, are fed pellets and dyes to color their flesh, and contain a level of toxic PCBs seven times higher than in wild salmon. Production from this type of industrial salmon farming soared from 15,500 tonnes in 1990 to 89,000 tonnes in 2002, while wild salmon catches plummeted.
What remains of the wild fisheries, including groundfish, black cod and halibut, among others, are being privatized. The fish in the ocean are being divvied up into individual quotas owned by corporations and so-called "arm chair" fishermen who trade and lease their quotas for profit. Tenant fishermen, not unlike the tenant farmers depicted in The Grapes of Wrath, often pay usurious "rents" equivalent to 70 percent of the revenue from their catches to the quota owners. Poorer rural and aboriginal fishermen have been pushed off the sea, as quota holdings are consolidated in the hands of a rich few. Of the 1,006 quota licences in B.C., for example, only thirteen are owned by people living on the outer shores of Vancouver Island.
... Are we slaves to a great industrial machine, or "monster" as Steinbeck called it, or are we a species living in mutual dependence with our natural environment? It seems we have failed to heed the one biological truth so evident in the various writings of Ricketts, Steinbeck and Campbell: humans, like other animals, live in communities. Our traditional knowledge, connection to place, dependence on clean air and water, and intergenerational bonds are part of a lifecycle that has allowed us to thrive in nature and persevere despite history's travails. Destroy this organic entity or try to replace it with the harsh mathematics of a corporate ledger or sever a community's connection to the land and sea, and you'll ultimately destroy what makes us human. We will become the brutal machines we have created. (From Epilogue, pgs-. 313-314))
A study appearing in the Dec. 14th issue of the journal Science shows, for the first time, that parasitic sea lice infestations caused by salmon farms are driving nearby populations of wild salmon toward extinction. The results show that the affected pink salmon populations have been rapidly declining for four years.The scientists expect a 99% collapse in another four years, or two salmon generations, if the infestations continue.(see summary and links below)
“The impact is so severe that the viability of the wild salmon populations is threatened,” says lead author Martin Krkosek, a fisheries ecologist from the University of Alberta. Krkosek and his co-authors calculate that sea lice have killed more than 80% of the annual pink salmon returns to British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago. “If nothing changes, we are going to lose these fish.”
Previous peer-reviewed papers by Krkosek and others showed that sea lice from fish farms can infect and kill juvenile wild salmon. This, however, is the first study to examine the population-level effects on the wild salmon stocks.
“It shows there is a real danger to wild populations from the impact of farms,” says Ray Hilborn, a fisheries biologist from the University of Washington who was not involved in the study. “The data for individual populations are highly variable. But there is so much of it, it is pretty persuasive that salmon populations affected by farms are rapidly declining.” According to experts, the study also raises serious concerns about large-scale proposals for net pen aquaculture of other species and the potential for pathogen transfer to wild populations.
“This paper is really about a lot more than salmon,” says Hilborn. “It is about the impacts of net pen aquaculture on wild fish. This is the first study where we can evaluate these interactions and it certainly raises serious concerns about proposed aquaculture for other species such as cod, halibut and sablefish.”
The data are from the Broughton Archipelago, a group of islands and channels about 260 miles northwest of Vancouver that is environmentally, culturally, and economically dependent on wild salmon. To pinpoint the effect of salmon farms, the study used a large dataset collected by the Canadian federal government’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Fisheries and Ocean Canada) that estimates how many adult salmon return from the ocean to British Columbia’s rivers each year. Extending back to 1970, the data covers 14 populations of pink salmon (Onchorhynchus gorbuscha) that have been exposed to salmon farms, and 128 populations that have not.
Sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) are naturally occurring parasites of wild salmon that latch onto the fishes’ skin in the open ocean. The lice are transmitted by a tiny free-swimming larval stage. Open-net salmon farms are a haven for these parasites, which feed on the fishes’ skin and muscle tissue. Adult salmon can survive a small number of lice, but juveniles headed from the river to the sea are very small, thin-skinned, and vulnerable. In the Broughton Archipelago, the juvenile salmon must run an 80-kilometer gauntlet of fish farms before they reach the open ocean.
“Salmon farming breaks a natural law,” says co-author Alexandra Morton, director of the Salmon Coast Field Station, located in the Broughton. “In the natural system, the youngest salmon are not exposed to sea lice because the adult salmon that carry the parasite are offshore. But fish farms cause a deadly collision between the vulnerable young salmon and sea lice. They are not equipped to survive this, and they don’t.”
Salmon bring nutrients from the open ocean back to the coastal ecosystem. Killer whales, bears, wolves, birds, and even trees depend on pink salmon. “If you lose wild salmon there’s a lot you are going to lose with them – including other industries such as fishing and tourism,” says Krkosek.
“An important finding of this paper is that the impact of the sea lice is so large that it exceeds that of the commercial fishery that used to exist here,” says Jennifer Ford, a co-author and fisheries scientist. “Since the infestations began, the fishery has been closed and the salmon stocks have continued declining.” (emphasis added)
“In the Broughton there are just too many farmed fish in the water. If there were only one salmon farm this problem probably wouldn’t exist,” Krkosek says.
“Over the years the number of farmed fish has increased,” says Morton. “There used to be only a few farms, each holding about 125,000 fish. But now we have over 20 farms, some holding 1.3 million fish. The farmed fish are providing a habitat for lice that wasn’t there before.”
The researchers observed that when farms on a primary migration route were temporarily shut down, or fallowed, sea lice numbers dropped and salmon populations increased. “Even though they have complicated migration patterns they all have one thing in common – overall, the populations that are declining are the ones that are going past the farms,” says Mark Lewis, a mathematical ecologist at the University of Alberta.
“There are two solutions that may work – closed containment, and moving farms away from rivers,” says Lewis. Closed containment means moving the salmon to pens that are completely sealed off from the surrounding environment in contrast to the open-net pens currently in use. In a May 16, 2007 provincial government report, the B.C. Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture recommended a move towards closed containment within 5 years.
“If industry says it’s too expensive to move the fish farms or contain them, they are actually saying the natural system must continue to pay the price,” says Daniel Pauly, Director of the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Centre, who was not involved with the study. “They are, as economists would say, externalizing the costs of fish farming on the wild salmon and the public.”
Morton, who has been studying the impacts of aquaculture for 20 years, says that, “Wild salmon are enormously important to the ecosystem, economies, and culture. Now it is clear they are disappearing in place of an industry. People need to know this and make a decision what they want: industry-produced salmon or wild salmon.”
Quote:
Science:
14 December 2007
Vol. 318. no. 5857, p. 1711
DOI: 10.1126/science.318.5857.1711
Quote:
Rather than benefiting wild fish, industrial aquaculture may contribute to declines in ocean fisheries and ecosystems. Farm salmon are commonly infected with salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis), which are native ectoparasitic copepods. We show that recurrent louse infestations of wild juvenile pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), all associated with salmon farms, have depressed wild pink salmon populations and placed them on a trajectory toward rapid local extinction. The louse-induced mortality of pink salmon is commonly over 80% and exceeds previous fishing mortality. If outbreaks continue, then local extinction is certain, and a 99% collapse in pink salmon population abundance is expected in four salmon generations. These results suggest that salmon farms can cause parasite outbreaks that erode the capacity of a coastal ecosystem to support wild salmon populations.
1 Centre for Mathematical Biology, Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
3 Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
4 Salmon Coast Field Station, Simoom Sound, BC, Canada.
* Deceased.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mkrkosek@ualberta.ca
Well, it was bound to happen again, given Vancouver's resurging reputation as a haven for white-collar scoundrels, and the inability of local regulators and police to contain the growth of this sleazy trade. On March 22, Washington Post reporter Doug Struck, a veteran of the Iraq conflict, described how Canada's lax extradition laws and Vancouver's brisk penny stock trade "help make Vancouver a grifter's haven."
"Vancouver prefers to revel in politically correct politics, a squeaky-clean environmental image, and a laid-back mood fostered by persistent melancholy rain. But it also is a haven for some of the most wanted fugitives in the world and for con men working scams in the shadow of the law," he wrote. Much of this centers on penny stocks, often worthless financial paper traded on the U.S. over-the-counter market. These stocks are sold by salesmen in high-pressure boiler-room telephone or Internet solicitations." He noted that one-third of the 35 companies that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission froze in an anti-spam campaign earlier this month had links to B.C.(emphasis added)
"The gathering of suspect characters in Vancouver is encouraged by Canada's lengthy legal procedures concerning deportation, which can forestall expulsion for years," he wrote. He singled out Rakesh Saxena, who is both a financial fugitive and penny stock hustler, having spent the past 10 years in the Vancouver area fighting extradition to Thailand and promoting worthless stocks that trade mainly on the U.S. over-the-counter markets. In a phone interview from his Richmond home, where he is under house arrest, Saxena admitted to Struck "there are a lot of question marks" about trading in shell companies. "Basically it's all arbitrage of buying something here and selling it there. You can say it's shady, but it's not illegal."
...(All of this is reminiscent of 1989, when Forbes dubbed Vancouver the "scam capital of the world," and Barron's remarked that Vancouver has a reciprocal arrangement with the United States: "We send them our acid rain, they export their worthless securities to us.") (emphasis added)
... Dilbagh Gujral, who has been banned from trading and promoting stocks in B.C., indirectly controls and is underwriting the shares of Hydrogen Power Inc., a Seattle company that trades on the OTC Bulletin Board, and Edward Clunn, who has also been banned in B.C., is the largest shareholder of Infotec Business Systems Inc., a bulletin board firm incorporated in Nevada.
..."In March, the SEC halted trading in 35 companies hyped in spammed e-mails; roughly half were from Canada. So far 700 outfits on the OTC Bulletin Board and pink sheets have been linked to the Vancouver area."(emphasis added)
The manufacture and export of worthless companies has become so relentless that regulators in both the U.S. and Canada are finding themselves in the dilemma of the sorcerer's apprentice: shut down one and three more pop up. The latest Vancouver company to be hyped by spam is PeopleLine Telecom Inc., which provides voice-over-internet telephone service. It trades on the pink sheets, which doesn't even require its listed companies to provide financial statements. Without financial statements, it's impossible for PeopleLine shareholders to know what the stock is worth. Still, the spammers have high hopes for this baby... PeopleLine president Edward Gallagher denies any responsibility for this electronic hype. He blames a U.S. investor relations firm he hired earlier this month. "I've filed a complaint with the SEC," he said in an interview this week.
Gallagher is a former RCMP commercial crime officer, but it is doubtful that he could serve as an officer or director of any company that trades on a Canadian exchange. In October, 2000, his former commercial crime colleagues paid him a visit and charged him with nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery in connection with Global Cogenix Corp., formerly listed on the Canadian Venture Exchange (now the TSX Venture Exchange). A trial date has been set for next March, but Gallagher insists the Crown is going to stay the charges. Given the length of time since his arrest, this appears to be a very real possibility. In Canada, investigations and prosecutions often go nowhere. (See also Highwater Power Corporation - News Release dated July 18/06 at globeandmail.com and the B.C. RCMP press release, Charges laid against former directors of Global Cogenix Industrial Corp., of the same date).
As Saxena told Struck: "With due respect, [Canada] is not the place I would choose to live. From my perspective, it's a backwater." But all things considered, he said, "I think I made the right choice."
The Vancouver Sun
'Spamalot' Web sweep nabs 2 B.C. firms U.S. regulators suspend trading after
probe into e-mail stock promotions
By Michael Kane
April 14/07
Quote:
U.S. securities regulators have suspended trading in shares of two more B.C. companies as part of the "Operation Spamalot" probe into whether stock promoters are using mass e-mailings to inflate share prices.
Trading was halted in Peopleline Telecom Inc. and Irwin Resources Inc. until April 26, the Securities Exchange Commission said in a statement issued in Washington Friday. Principals of the two companies face unrelated fraud charges as former directors of Global Cogenix Industrial Corp. Edward Gallagher, CEO of Peopleline, and Irwin Liem, a director of Irwin Resources, are accused of fraudulently issuing stock in Global Cogenix in 1997 and 1998 to their personal benefit, said Cpl. Larry Liu of the RCMP 'E' Division Commercial Crime Section.
It is alleged that Gallagher fraudulently obtained 935, 000 shares (book value $467, 600) and Liem 590, 000). The court date is set for March 8/08. (From the Business section, p. D3)
It's not a new reputation, either:
Quote:
Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack
Hardcover
By deceased Frostback literary noise,
Robertson Davies
Quote:
To Amyas Pilgarlic, ESQ.
Dear Pil:
... Upon arrival in Vancouver, the first thing to meet my eye was a notice, signed by the Chief of Police, warning me against confidence tricksters. It told me in detail how I might expect them to work. I would be approached, first of all, by someone who would try to make friends: this would be "The Steerer" who would eventually steer me to "The Spieler," who would sell me Stanley Park or the harbour at a bargain price. Not long after I had read this I was approached by a crafty-looking woman carrying a handful of pasteboards. "Juwanna buy four chances on the Legion car?" she cried, blocking my way. "Madam, you are wasting your time," said I; "I know you for what you are - a Steerer." She shrank away, muttering unpleasantly. Never let it be said that Marchbanks failed to heed a warning.
The Globe and Mail
Another otherwise dull Toronto daily
Witness waited to report
finding skull, trial told Vendor 'did not have time' to tell police
about human remains, Pickton jurors hear
By Robert Matas
March 21/07
Quote:
Roadside vendor Bill Wilson waited more than 24 hours before reporting to police about finding part of a skull across the highway from his stand, the Robert Pickton trial was told yesterday.
He had no doubt that he had found human remains in the grass, between the highway and a creek, he told the court in response to questioning by defence lawyer Peter Ritchie.
But he went back to his roadside stand (where he sold bird houses and assorted whirly-gigs he mahde in his own woodworking shop) after spotting the skull and continued working until closing. Afterward, he went to a doctor's appointment, did some shopping and then went to play bingo, Mr. Wilson said.
"I just did not have have time...to report to police that day," he said. The next day, Mr. Wilson returned to his roadside stand. Finally, around 5 p.m. he closed up the stand (a few kilometres west of Mission, on the edge of Highway 7) and went to the police, he said..."It had nothing to do with me," he said, adding that it was his "bad luck" to find it.
...He flipped the skull over with the edge of the water bottle and realized immediately that it was definitely a human skull. Some flesh was still around the eye socket of the half-skull, and nose cartilage was still attached, he said. (-- p. A8)
...and responding to crime - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Vancouver has the slowest 911 response according to study of 16 cities:
Vancouver
Magazine Subscription
Who You Gonna Call? Dial 911 in Vancouver and you can expect to
wait four minutes longer for help than you would
in Toronto or Calgary. Why?
By Lindsay Ford
July/August 2007
Quote:
...It's 3 p.m. on a weekday afternoon; you live near East Hastings and Nanaimo, not far from drug-infested Pandora Park. You work from a home office and your gaze has strayed out the window. Two young men are trying to break into your car. The loop comes up again: "Thank you for holding. We're currently experiencing a high volume of calls."
...Deputy Chief Constable Bob Rolls of the Vancouver Police Department's Support Services Division points out theat "E-Comm is not the reason for our slow response time, expecially to priority-one calls. Dealing with high volumes of calls has always presented challenges. Our current problem is simply that we don't have enough officers for the volume of priority calls we respond to."
The Patrol Deployment Study, an analysis conducted in 2003 by the VPD and Simon Fraser University, examined 16 North American police agencies and their practices. It unearthed some unsettling information about Vancouver's emergency safety net. Of the 16 cities surveyed, Vancouver ranked last in police response time. For priority-one calls (such as serious assaults, home invasions in progress and "jumpers"), it takes police an average of 11 minutes and 25 seconds to respond. For priority-two calls, like overdoses and fights, figure on 34 minutes. For calls involving suspicious circumstances - crackheads trying to break into your car, for example - you could wait days. (emphasis added) (-- p. 21)
Photo of Science World poster at the bus shelter at 4th Avenue and Collingwood in summer, 2006 courtesy http://www.bccondos.ca.
We saw the tarps covering the big metal sky dome of Science World's deafening, over-priced movie theatre all winter, '06. No big loss, right? To find out what went so horribly wrong with this bastion of B.C. building innovation, check out the link at
The Champions of the Future campaign was created, first and foremost, to respond to the emergency repairs urgently needed to renovate our 20-year old science centre. (emphasis added) Thanks to our dedicated supporters, we have secured the funding to proceed with some of the most urgent emergency repairs.
What have we done so far?
- Installation of a new cooling system.
- Renovations of under deck, installation of cathodic.
- Protections system, and hangers for the water and fire main.
- Installation of a new section of the roof.
- Dome restoration.
- Dome lights soon to be installed.
Although we are pleased with the progress on the facility renovation, there is still extensive work to be done for the building to continue current operations in the next few years. There also remains an even longer road of renovation if Science World is to be ready for the world stage by the 2010 Olympics. (emphasis added)
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