Category Archives: Crime

Canada vs pot

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 hey, like, go fight 'em, eh!

I know! You don’t see a headline like that every day, eh?

It seems that, like many another battle-scarred force before them, the Taliban has begun to take refuge in marijuana.

Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy — almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

It’s called the Mystery Machine, and they just forgot to run it through the car wash after investigating the haunted commune near Nelson, okay?

Actually, I’m just loving the idea that the Canadian DND purchasing department may soon be placing bale orders for the stuff to camouflage the armored vehicles. Who needs depleted uranium and kevlar when your APC is wrapped in a thick layer of BC Bud and Kandahar Candu, eh?

And, no doubt, a dense cloud of smoke.

“We tried burning them with white phosphorous — it didn’t work. We tried burning them with diesel — it didn’t work. The plants are so full of water right now … that we simply couldn’t burn them,” he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

“A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action,” Hiller said dryly.

One soldier told him later: “Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I’d say ‘That damn marijuana’.”

Amish-killer’s family speaks

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 Amish buggy

A little background, for those of you who may not have been following the story:

On October 2 of this year, Charles Carl Roberts IV stormed an Amish schoolhouse in West Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, forced the boys out and took 10 girls hostage. Police believe he intended to molest them and possibly torture them as well (according to the Trenchcoat Chronicles), but was prevented by the prompt arrival of the police. Roberts is believed to have been motivated by a long-simmering resentment against healthy girl children, stemming from the death of his own daughter as a newborn. He also claimed in multiple suicide notes that he felt crushing guilt for having molested family members decades ago, although nothing has turned up to substantiate that particular claim.

At one point, an Amish man said he learned, Roberts ordered the girls to do something and the older girls told the younger ones in Pennsylvania Dutch: “Duh ’s net! Duh ’s net!” (“Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”)

There was fear in the schoolhouse, but also a protectiveness, with the older girls looking out for the little ones, said the Amish man, who asked not to be named.

But there was something else going on in the schoolhouse that day, too, he said.

“The same fate, the same higher power, was at that site that was at Flight 93,” the Amish man said, referring to the plane that went down in Shanksville on Sept. 11. “That same power was at Columbine, too.”

Roberts shot all 10 girls before killing himself. Five of the girls died almost immediately, five others were seriously wounded. 

Amish girlsOver a million dollars has been raised to help the families of the children involved, and the hospitals who treated the wounded and dying have waived their fees, although for many of the families there will be ongoing medical expenses that will continue to be a burden. Part of the money has already paid to have the schoolhouse razed to the ground (Thursday); it will be replaced by a new building, in a different location, and the site will be turned back into pasture.

As reported at the time, the Amish community requested that the public forgive the shooter and support his widow and children as victims of this same tragedy. While Roberts‘ grave has been vandalized, there have been no reports of reprisals against his family, and the Amish have set aside a portion of the donations to assist the Roberts family.

This is their statement, via Trenchcoat Chronicles:

From the Roberts family:

To our Amish friends, neighbors, and local community:Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace, and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. The prayers, flowers, cards, and gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you.

Please know that our hearts have been broken by all that has happened. We are filled with sorrow for all of our Amish neighbors whom we have loved and continue to love. We know that there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives.

PSA: privacy concerns @ Vancouver Police Department

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Privacy Watchdog to investigate Vancouver Police

David Loukidelis, the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, will be investigating the Vancouver Police Department’s use of the PRIME database system for potential violations of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The investigation results from an appeal by David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, of the VPD’s refusal to provide information on PRIME.

In a letter to the Vancouver Police Department explaining the reasons for the investigation, Commissioner Loukidelis stated:

“The VPD has by this point given this Office a number of varying explanations as to why the audit report [requested by Eby] was or could not be produced. The VPD just yesterday advised, after recently offering the latest of several varying explanations as to why it could not be done, that the report can be produced after all. In light of the number, variety and nature of the VPD’s explanations, and the time it has taken to respond to the applicant’s request of July 2005, issues are raised as to whether PRIME is designed and operated in a manner that complies with ss. 6(1) and (2) of FIPPA.”

The investigation will look at six discrete issues involving the VPD’s administration of the PRIME system, including whether the force has the authority to operate the comprehensive information collection system in the manner that it does, whether security protections are in place to prevent unauthorized access to information, and whether procedures exist to allow individuals to correct faulty information entered into the database about them by VPD officers.

“The PRIME database system is an important crime investigation tool,” notes Eby, “However, that does not mean that VPD officers can put whatever information about whomever they wish into this database, nor does it mean that any VPD officer or staff member can access anyone’s information at any time. Privacy protections are required, and we’re glad this investigation will look into these important issues.”

According to the VPD Website, PRIME-BC is a database system that includes data from 9-1-1 call-takers, police dispatchers, officers attending an incident and follow-up investigators. Data is transmitted wirelessly to laptop computers used by investigating police officers. Once the information is entered it then becomes part of the police Records Management System (RMS).

To read the Commissioner’s decision to investigate, click here.

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For more information contact:
David Eby – (778) 865-7997

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About Pivot Legal Society

Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins.   We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Pivot Newswire, just send a note with that subject line to newswireatpivotlegaldotorg.

paging Boris Johnson

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 the foundation of Mike Nesmith's fortune

I’ve always been a fan of corrections. I think my all-time fave is from the formerly-amusing, now rather sad Tatler, and being the oldest magazine in existence it has, over the years, had to issue some doozies.

I think my favorite was the one that apologized for “errors” in a celeb schooldays reminiscence…one that characterized two boys as the sons of a “Costa del Sol gangster” and who entered said celeb’s room greasing a baseball bat with Vaseline and yelling words to the effect of “Who’s first? Bend over!”

And who were actually named by said celeb. Said later apologetic and corrective celeb. Rupert Everett, I think? If so, a much more promising debut in fiction than his subsequent unendurable novel. Everett is at his best doing straightforwardly hallucinogenic nonfiction, as some of his work for VF proves.

In any case, one of my longtime favorite sites is Regret the Error, which publishes corrections with a particularly good eye for the amusing. Amusing crow-eating warms the bitter, shrivelled cockles of my heart, and so I am going to give you an example of their choice choices in the correction field.

A correction from The Orange County Register, Sept 23:

Cannabis is a synonym for marijuana. Because of a reporter’s error, the word was misspelled in an article on Page 15 of the News section in the Sept. 22 edition of the Register.

The original sentence:

The pot growers had tapped into an irrigation line for landscaping around the gated community of Stoneridge, and had rigged up a network of white, 3/4-inch PVC piping to grow the cannibals.

Operation Minstead, I’ve got someone you should meet

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Burglar in balaclavaThe possibility exists that the Metropolitan Police are way ahead of me on this one, but the possibility also exists that they do not read Fark in London and thus have no clue.

So to speak.

Situation: the Guardian reports that the British police are looking for a sexual predator who specializes in the attacks on the elderly. They’ve got DNA, and they’ve traced it to a black guy from the Windward Isles of the Caribbean, although no specific black guy.

“We believe there may be links down the generations between our suspect and countries of the Caribbean. We know the offender has periods of non-offending that may suggest he is not always in the UK.”

The majority of those targeted were in their 80s – the oldest was 93. Most of the victims were women, although police revealed yesterday that 10 of those burgled were elderly men, one of whom was sexually assaulted.

The first offence linked to the attacker was in 1990, the latest in February 2005, and there could be more victims who have not come forward. In some cases, detectives only found out from family members after the deaths of elderly relatives that they may have been attacked years earlier.

Sordid and nasty enough, but there’s more.Bandit in mask

All of the victims were emotionally scarred, of course, as victims of rape and other sexual assaults always are, but some were physically severely injured as well, and at least one has died as a result of the injuries. The police are now trying to – get this – pluck at the shrivelled heartstrings of the perpetrator, in hopes that the guilt burden will force him to confess, perhaps by blinding him to the fact that a cop isn’t the same as a priest.

Detective Superintendent Simon Morgan said, “I would appeal to this man directly and say ‘Give yourself up. Your crimes have caused so much pain and misery to so many people. You know who you are. You know you need help. You know you have to stop’.”

Yeah. You know that’s gonna work.

Not to give up on the Oprah Strategy employed by the Brits, but I’d suggest trolling Fark once in awhile, because sometimes you can find some pretty useful stuff there.

Stuff like this:

A man convicted of trying to rape an 83-year-old woman was sentenced to eight lashes with a cat-o’-nine-tails, a punishment used by the British Navy in the 18th century and reinstated in the Bahamas 15 years ago.The View from Inside

Altulus Newbold, 34, was sentenced on Friday to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of burglary, attempted rape and causing harm…

Newbold was accused of breaking into a woman’s home on Cat Island in July 2004 and trying to have sexual intercourse with her. The woman told the court that she grabbed Newbold‘s genitals and “mashed” them. He bit her to make her let go and then fled the scene.

No thanks necessary. Although donations, particularly of chocolate, won’t be turned back.