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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-08-08, Page 66 Times–Advocate Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Opinion Forum News "A Deal With The Devil" Peter Whitmore, facing trial for 15 charges involving a 10 -year-old Saskatchewan boy and a 14 -year-old from Manitoba, seemed the surest of candidates to be labelled a dangerous offender. He was arrested at an abandoned farmyard near Kipling, Saskatchewan a year ago for the most sordid of charges: three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, plus kidnapping, abduction of a person under the age of 14, unlawful confinement, uttering threats, possession of a pellet gun and a knife, pos- session of child pornography and making child pornography available to his alleged victims. Almost indisputable evidence and the appalled horror of a nation amounted to a slam-dunk case. Yet, incredibly, crown laywers announced they would bargain dangerous offender status away. The best of the return concessions is that the boys involved will not have to testify at the trial. After that, everything else seems dubious. Whitmore would spend the rest of his life under some form of supervision. (Why wouldn't he anyway?) Whitmore also agreed to a life sentence if convicted. Director of public prosecutions Murray Brown actually indicted the legal system itself when he explained his rationale: "Life sentences are just a very, very, very rare thing in this country," he explained. "If somebody is prepared to say, 'I'll agree to a life sentence,' and we have some reasonable assurance that the court's going to impose that, then it just wouldn't make sense to go dangerous offender." "Oh, really?" is the first of many questions that follow a statement like this. Why would a country like Canada, that already banned capital punishment, also have a vir- tual ban on life sentences? Have we run out of perverts and murderers? And if Whitmore isn't a dangerous offender, who is? Whitmore, who caused Saskatchewan's first ever amber alert, was convicted at least three times since 1993 of sexual offences against eight other children. In his first con- viction 14 years ago, Whitmore was found guilty of abduction and five sexual offences involving four Toronto boys. Shortly after his release from prison less than two years later, he abducted an eight-year-old Guelph girl and took her to Toronto. After getting out of jail on those charges, he was found in 2000 in a Toronto motel with a 13 -year- old boy. Less than two years later, he was found with a five-year-old boy, and a so- called "rape kit" containing zip -tie handcuffs, duct tape, latex gloves, and lubricant. In 2004, the parole board said he had a 100 per cent chance of re -offending. Yet, author- ities lost track of him soon after his three-year sentence was finished. Guess what hap- pened next? Yet, after this crown deal, Whitmore will be eligible for parole after just seven years. Dangerous offenders are released less than two percent of the time. In Canada most federal prisoners serve no more than 40 per cent of their sentences before being granted full parole. "I guess this is our fault," said the ten year old's boy's father regarding the deal. "But there's no way we're putting a 10 -year-old boy on the stand to be cross-examined by Whitmore and his lawyer. He's been through enough." No, it's not your fault. It's the legal system that has failed too many times. Prosecutor Brown actually said, "Frankly, if somebody that we were thinking about doing a dangerous offender on agreed to a life sentence, I would be hard pressed to explain to the public why I would spend the resources to pursue a dangerous offender proceeding." Au contraire. It's so much harder to explain why dangerous offender status was bar- gained away. As lawyer and child advocate Norman Boudreau said, it was "a deal with the devil." i Letters to the Edztor i By LEE HARDING , Regina Update from SH mayor Due to the extreme dry weather con- ditions, a ban on all open air burning is being initiated throughout the Municipality of South Huron. This ban will be in effect until fur- ther notice. Any fires caused by a vio- lation of this fire ban will result in charges to cover the cost of the fire department as a result of their response. This warning was sent out by mail to all residents of South Huron on Aug. 1. This sounds like a drastic measure and I must agree that it is. Please be advised that these measures would not have been put in place if we didn't feel they were absolutely necessary. We are experiencing the driest sum- mer in recent memory and there is an extreme fire risk at this time. This past week the fire department has responded to three fire calls relat- ed to the dry conditions. One was a cigarette butt thrown out of the win- dow of a moving car, one a field was lit from a car passing through, and another was a spark from an unat- tended fire. With the grass and fields in a sun burnt and dry condition, fire quickly spreads. There is a real poten- tial for a major tragedy with regard to loss of life, buildings and crops. Remember, the person who starts a fire is responsible for any damage that may occur as a result of that fire. For your safety and that of your neigh- bors and friends, I am asking you to please respect this ban and be very careful with fire dur- ing these times of extreme drought. This ban is only temporary and will be lifted as soon as the conditions allow it to be lifted. To change these conditions, we need suf- ficient rain and time to turn the dry vegetation to a green state that cannot catch fire easily. We need your co- operation. Be assured that we are not alone — some of our neighboring municipali- ties also have a ban for their resi- dents. Keep praying for rain, as none of the old reliable methods of getting rain is working this year such as washing your car, washing your windows and harvesting wheat. Please be patient and hopefully we will be back to normal conditions before too long. Ken Oke Building community partnerships Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron would like to express our gratitude to the staff and clients of Community Living South Huron. Over the past several months Community Living South Huron has volunteered their time, staff and resources to host several events, bringing together participants and staff of both agencies to share in fun and friendship. Community partnerships such as this benefit all those who are involved, and the volunteers and children of our agency have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to meet new friends and participate in fun filled activities. Thank you, Community Living South Huron — it is community partners such as you who help 'Make the Difference' for the children we serve. DIANNE BEACH Executive director Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Huron Open agriculture letter August 1st was supposed to be `Barley Freedom Day' for Western Canadian farmers. Unfortunately, a Federal Court ruling prevented that from happen- ing. It's a setback for sure, but not the last word on this issue of freedom by a long shot. After meeting with the Prime Minister in Charlottetown, PEI last week, I can tell you that our Conservative Government is preparing to move forward. One way or another, we are going to provide marketing choice for farmers. This Government has been clear and unwavering in its commitment to choice, starting with our election campaign in December 2005. That commit- ment was recognized and in the 2006 General Election, a Conservative MP was elected in the vast majority of ridings within the CWB region. We have been clear, open and transparent in moving toward this objective. Also, the plebiscite held last winter was dramatically clear. 62% voted to end the Board's monopoly. On the strength of this strong democratic mandate we began the regulatory process. It was logical for us to think that since barley was moved into the CWB by regulations it could be taken out the same way. If farmers needed any further proof about the positive impact that marketing choice would have on their bottom line, they need look only at what happened to prices following the court decision. Many barley growers were looking at record prices for their grain, but the court decision wiped millions of dollars of potential off of their balance sheets. A monopoly may work for some farm- ers, but thousands of others will be sure to tell those folks in the ivory towers of Winnipeg (and the provincial governments who funded them) of the frustra- tion and outrage at what it has cost them personally. Their disappointment is palpable, and I share it wholeheartedly. I am pleased to learn that the Wheat Board has finally recognized that the status quo is no longer an option. As Mr. Ritter has said, it can't be "business as usual." Farmers and governments will be watching closely to see if those changes are real and substantial, or merely window dressing. If the Wheat Board won't take care of people, we'll do it ourselves because we are the real friends of farmers. Farmers gave us a clear message – a mandate for change – a change to mar- keting choice while preserving a strong, yet voluntary, Wheat Board. This is what western farmers want. And this is what Canada's New Government is going to deliver. CHUCK STRAHL Minister for Agriculture and Agri -Food & Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board Ready for the Exeter rodeo EXETER — Fun is the only word that can describe last week at Playground. The Bingeman's trip was a huge success! Your kids had a great time. The leaders even went on some crazy water slides with them just to spice things up. Thanks to all who came out. We ended off "Total Wipe Out!" by building amazing sand castles. Congratulations to all the winners. Later in the day, we headed to the Exeter Fire Hall. The kids got soaking wet testing out the fire hoses. Thank you so much to Chief Morgan for having us out. The Rodeo is a couple of days away now. Yee Haw! We've been preparing for it all week. Tuesday the youngsters made their own western vest and went on a walk in the wild for "Wild Wild West." Today the kids dressed the leaders up as clowns using the dress -up clothes they had to work with. We looked pretty ridiculous, but it was so much fun. Tomorrow, Thursday, we get to "Camp Out on the Range." We are going to set up camp and spend some time in the outdoors doing rodeo activities. A nice dip in the Exeter Pool should help us cool off from camping out in the morning. Thanks to the pool staff for having us. Friday is something your kids won't want to miss — it's a water gun relay! Caution ... water will be involved, so wear your swim suits in preparation for the big race. See you there, campers. Parents, we want to end the summer off with a roar. I've been hearing lots of kids say they've been to African Lion's Safari. That's fantastic! However, if they haven't been with this year's Playground staff, they won't want to miss this trip. This last trip for Playground is taking place Thurs., Aug. 16. We leave at 9 a.m. sharp and return at 5 p.m. Please pack your child a labeled bagged lunch so it can be easily kept cold in the coolers provided for the bus trip. Don't for- get a bathing suit, towel, sunscreen, and most importantly a hat, if possible. It might be a warm day. Questions? Maggie is available at 235-2361. CASEY CYR EXETER PLAYGROUND LEADER