From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #600 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, June 22 2007 Volume 10 : Number 600 In this issue: Young in Ontario Out of Doors Shooting victim feeling lucky Top court slams city's closed session 7 years for shooting Cop charged in massive $2M cocaine bust SHOOTING SUSPECT TURNS HIMSELF IN [LETTERS] Ottawa Sun, June 22/07 Trio wanted in string of thefts, mugging Judge riled at delay "[COLUMN]Violence in big cities bullies its way..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:07:16 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: Young in Ontario Out of Doors In a note of recognition and acknowledgment, the July 2007 Ontario Out of Doors magazine has an item by Barney Moorhouse: "Dennis Young, credited with uncovering the excessive cost overruns of the firearms registry, has retired. The former RCMP officer became MP Garry Breitkreuz's parliamentary assistant in 1993. Breitkreuz said Young filed more that 550 access to information requests and "his research exposed the $2 billion gun-registry fiasco"." Right on Dennis, hope you're getting settled after your recent move. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:39:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Shooting victim feeling lucky http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/06/22/4281195-sun.html Shooting victim feeling lucky UPDATED: 2007-06-22 03:06:54 MST By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA After surviving a close-range shooting allegedly at the hands of a disgruntled pub patron, Brad Pilling is feeling pretty lucky and says he won't let his brush with death force him to live in fear. Not even two days after the violent attack, the 37-year-old is buying a lottery ticket and getting back to business. "My surgeon said to me to 'go buy a lottery ticket,' " he said yesterday of the miraculous outcome of the near-deadly shooting outside his Beltine pub early Wednesday. "It was clean in and clean out," he said of the gunshot injury. "It missed all the bones and the nerves and the heat of the bullet basically cauterized it. "Considering what happened, I'm fine." Pilling, who owns Morgan's Pub at 1324 17 Ave. S.W., said he was simply asking a group of patrons who had been escorted out to leave the area because they were verbally sparring with customers outside. He said the encounter which ended with a bullet piercing his neck and blasting out through his upper back took less than a minute. Then and now -- Pilling, who has been in the industry for 20 years and owned Morgan's for 10, said he has trouble believing it happened. "You have to know it's a random act by a random idiot and you have to move on. I'm not going to be scared because of one person," he said. Pilling said the shooter levelled the gun, warning him to forget what he was driving before he fired and fled. "To be honest, I didn't think I'd been hit," he said. "I had a ringing in my ear and thought maybe he had fired a shot to scare me, that was the extent of it. I went back in the bar ready to work." He said he laughed when a bartender told him he had been shot but his blood-soaked shirt and the sight of an entry wound in his neck convinced him. Pilling is expected to make a full recovery from his injury and hopes the encounter with a stranger has little impact on his life. "I consider most of my customers like extended family ... we don't have incidents like this," he said. "Obviously, it's going to have a profound effect on my life, but thankfully I'm OK and I just want to get back to work."' Acting Staff Sgt. Joel Matthews said cops, with the help of witnesses, are following leads to find the culprit . He said the shooting, over a seemingly benign disagreement, "speaks to the mentality of the person (unafraid) to use a gun" -- a dangerous person cops want to get off the streets. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:25:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Top court slams city's closed session http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/22/4280740-sun.html Top court slams city's closed session Supreme Court says city broke law at meeting. By JONATHAN SHER, SUN MEDIA Fri, June 22, 2007 London city council broke the law when it met behind closed doors to discuss a development freeze, its conduct an echo of an era where secrecy reigned, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday. The landmark ruling, which legal experts say will serve as a stern warning for cities and towns across Canada, ends a legal battle more than three years in the making, a battle expected to cost London taxpayers more than $300,000. Writing for a unanimous court, Supreme Court Justice Louise Charron concluded city council discussed the freeze in "secrecy" and passed it, without debate, in public. "The city's conduct in closing the two meetings . . . was neither inadvertent nor trivial. (Its) council meeting Jan. 19, 2004, was conducted in a manner that is rather reminiscent of the problems reported more than 20 years ago that led to the passing of the statutory open meeting requirement," Charron wrote. London Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said she would not comment on the high court's findings until the city's legal staff explained the ruling in a report expected July 11. "I'm not a lawyer . . . With respect, don't try to push me in a corner to try to respond to something I'm not clear about." Her answer drew a sharp rebuttal from Alan Patton, the London lawyer whose client, developer RSJ Holdings Inc., prevailed over the city. "Anybody with a command of the English language can read the decision and understand. The seven judges of the Supreme Court couldn't have been any clearer." How much it will cost city taxpayers remains to be seen -- the city solicitor didn't respond yesterday to an e-mail and the mayor said she wasn't sure of the final tally. But Patton estimates it will top $300,000 -- and likely by a substantial margin. Though the judgment was based on Ontario laws, legal experts said it will be a wakeup call to all Canadian municipalities to conduct affairs in ways that are open, transparent and accountable. "The legislation may be from Ontario, but the principle and strong language doesn't stop at our borders," Toronto lawyer Brian Rogers said. George Rust D'Eye, a Toronto lawyer hired by the city, asked the court in a hearing held seven months ago to defer to council's decision to temporarily freeze development on Richmond Street between Huron and Grosvenor Streets. The court refused as Charron wrote, "The open meeting requirement . . . concerns a citizen's rights to observe municipal government in process and reflects a clear legislative choice for increased transparency and accountability . . . When a municipal government improperly acts with secrecy, this undermines the democratic legitimacy of its decision, and such decisions are less worthy of deference." Though council will follow the court's ruling, the mayor, who read the decision, still believes council did nothing wrong. "I don't believe that what we did was improper. We made the decision based on what we thought was best for the ratepayers . . . I still believe we followed our rules." Who's to blame for London's hefty legal tab depends upon who's speaking: - - DeCicco-Best blamed the province, saying the court battle was needed to clarify Ontario's rules for open meetings -- something the high court saw no need to do. - - Councillors Roger Caranci and Bud Polhill blame colleagues, especially a yet-to-be-named group Caranci says had a "vendetta" to get the two of them after they signed affidavits for Patton alleging council voted in secret. - - Coun. Joni Baechler blamed Caranci and Polhill for providing the affidavits to Patton. "I believe this became personal," said Caranci, who called on the mayor and Baechler to apologize for maligning his integrity. Neither would. "Why would apologize for my point of view?" the mayor said. "He can take issue. That's his right to do that. I guess that's the difference: I actually respect the fact there are people who have different points of views." "You're joking?" said Baechler. "The (case) started with Bud and Roger signing affidavits for Alan Patton against the city and the taxpayers." The responses didn't surprise Polhill, who said he and Caranci were vindicated by the court's decision. "Even the Supreme Court of Canada believed us." CHRONOLOGY - - September 2003: Old North residents complain to city hall about student housing. - - November 2003: RSJ Holdings buys a Richmond Street home and later applies to demolish it to build a fourplex. - - January 2004: The city's planning committee and council meet in secret to consider a temporary development freeze along Richmond. After the 0council session, the freeze is passed in public session without debate -- and is soon challenged in court by RSJ. - - January 2005: A Superior Court judge upholds the development freeze. RSJ appeals. - - November 2005: The freeze is nixed by Ontario's top court because council acted in secret. City council appeals. - - Yesterday: The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the city's appeal and orders the city to pay RSJ's legal costs. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:36:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: 7 years for shooting http://www.ottawasun.com/News/BreakingNews/2007/06/22/4282658.html 7 years for shooting Friday, 6 p.m.: Judge rejects plea for 3-for-1 sentencing credit By SEAN McKIBBON, Courts Bureau Fri, June 22, 2007 Juan Carlos Villagran’s “audacious lawlessness,” in blasting a sawed off 12-guage at a man in a car on a crowded street has earned him seven years jail. “Serious offences call for serious penalties,” said Justice Colin McKinnon yesterday as he rejected Villagran’s plea for three-for-one credit for pre-sentence custody and the Guatemalan immigrant’s pitch for a minimum four-year sentence. In March, McKinnon acquitted Villagran of attempting to murder Russell Ramclam in a brazen Dec. 30, 2005, shotgun attack on Preston St. He convicted him on the lesser offence of discharging a firearm with the intent to endanger life. At the time, McKinnon said there was insufficient evidence to infer Villagran had the specific intent to kill when he fired at the rear window of Ramclam’s car from 15 feet away. The trial heard from a firearms expert who said a birdshot shell would have had an effective kill range of less than 10 feet. Yesterday, as McKinnon ruled on sentence, he said Villagran’s actions could easily have resulted in a homicide on a crowded city street. McKinnon said he suspects Villagran has much stronger ties to Ottawa’s criminal underworld than he admits, given the fears expressed by witnesses at trial. However, he said the sentence would be grounded in proven facts. Among the aggravating factors McKinnon noted in the case was Villagran’s lengthy criminal record, his lack of remorse, and the fact the offence was committed while on probation with a condition not to possess any weapons. McKinnon imposed a lifetime weapons ban on Villagran. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:48:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Cop charged in massive $2M cocaine bust http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2007/06/22/4280565-sun.html Cop charged in massive $2M cocaine bust Firearms probe leads to stunning drugs seizures By KENNETH JACKSON AND LOUIS-DENIS EBACHER, SUN MEDIA Fri, June 22, 2007 Two kilograms of cocaine, a backyard marijuana grow op, pills and dirty cash make a pretty good criminal rhapsody -- but a cop's? Gatineau police allege it to be true. One of their own is accused of possessing 2 kg of cocaine after a traffic stop late Wednesday. Further investigation uncovered a grow operation, pharmaceutical drugs and more than $5,000 at his Gatineau home. Gatineau police say they're baffled, but they aren't saying why Const. Peter Vranas is accused of living a secret life of crime. "It's not something we understand. This is a big bust in Gatineau," said acting Chief Mario Harel. Police said the incident started over a firearms investigation that ended hours later when an officer stopped a vehicle on Cite-des-Jeunes Blvd. around 11:30 p.m. When the officer looked inside the vehicle, he saw a woman and two men -- one who looked all too familiar. The officer then found 2 kg of uncut cocaine worth more than $2 million on the street. If used for crack cocaine, the value nearly doubles. "On board, there were 2 kg of what appears to be cocaine. No firearms were located in the vehicle," said Harel. Police seized the drugs, money and the vehicle. At a press conference at Gatineau police headquarters yesterday, Harel confirmed Vranas, 41, is a veteran police officer of more than 20 years. But Harel wouldn't confirm how the accused men knew each other. "It's too early. We'll see what we can do with the investigation. We are expecting to lay more charges in this matter." Police said they began investigating after receiving tips about someone in possession of firearms. Around 4 p.m. Wednesday, police searched 80 Cognac St., the home of Claude Dorion, who police said was the other man in the vehicle. POT PLANTS IN YARD Police didn't uncover any firearms at Dorion's home and continued the investigation until the vehicle was stopped. Quebec provincial police will handle Vranas' investigation to ensure transparency. A search of Vranas' home yesterday afternoon uncovered 15 "mature" pot plants in his backyard and eight pills believed to be ecstasy. Both Vranas and Dorion appeared in court yesterday on charges of trafficking and possession. They are being held until Tuesday, when a complete list of charges will be made known. Vranas didn't say anything in court. It's not the first time Vranas has been in trouble with his employer. In 2003, he was suspended when he was charged with breach of trust and attempting to obstruct justice. He was acquitted of all charges in May 2005. Vranas then sued the City of Gatineau and its police force for $250,000. It's unknown what's happened to the suit. Police said Vranas had been on leave for the last year. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:50:25 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: SHOOTING SUSPECT TURNS HIMSELF IN http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2007/06/22/4280583-sun.html SHOOTING SUSPECT TURNS HIMSELF IN A 29-year-old Quebec man surrendered to police this week in relation to a September shooting near Maxville. Police said Daniel Patenaude turned himself in to the Lancaster OPP detachment Wednesday morning. Nine months ago, police issued a warrant for Patenaude's arrest following an armed robbery on Sept. 15 in North Glengarry Twp. Police allege the suspect shot and killed Patrick Lavoie, 33, of Montreal, during the robbery. Three other men face charges connected to the incident, which remains under investigation. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:52:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: [LETTERS] Ottawa Sun, June 22/07 http://www.ottawasun.com/Comment/Letters/2007/06/22/4280626.html Dalton McGuinty said, "We'll continue to talk to our police and ask them what it is more that we might do to make our highways safer, but at the end of the day there's one individual who sits behind the wheel in a car. It's like a loaded gun." I find it hypocritical that when a car is involved in killing people the premier blames the individual, yet when the death involves a gun it is the gun to blame. Both are inanimate objects that when misused cause injury and death. The difference is that cars kill at a far higher rate. Dugad Souter (Oh, but the government is eyeing tougher control on cars, too. Read on... ) RE: Street racers face crushing blow (June 21): I must tell you that us simple folk really question your news report of police being able to take any car that looks like a racing car off the street. Actually, I am amused. I would like to be the first to see a Corvette being taken away. It would be impossible, unless the courts can justify banning all the sports cars being made and sold in Canada. They have excessive horsepower and speed capabilities -- actually, much faster that most home-build cars -- right off the lot, brand new, from our auto manufacturers. So the question is, how fast do we have to go? Top speed and acceleration are the factors and unless mandatory horsepower and regulated speed control were put in all vehicles, I don't believe anyone will put a stop to it soon. I doubt that anyone will stop this anymore than making cigarettes illegal. It's called money in the government pot and jobs. Wayne Harapiak (While street racing is a serious problem, seizing all souped-up cars hardly seems to be a serious solution) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:55:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Trio wanted in string of thefts, mugging No weapons used, just greater numbers, and a willingness to use violence to get what they want... http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/06/22/4280847-sun.html Trio wanted in string of thefts, mugging By ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA Fri, June 22, 2007 Police released surveillance pictures of three suspects, Thursday. (Handout) Police released surveillance pictures in hopes of catching three young men wanted for robbing two teen boys and botching a second mugging within three weeks this spring. The trio warned the victims not to notify Toronto Police about the first heist in April on a TTC bus, and investigators believe others have been attacked but have not come forward out of fear. The victims were at a Burger King on Danforth Ave. near Victoria Park Ave. around 10 p.m. May 18, grabbing an evening meal on their way home from part-time jobs when they spotted the three who had mugged them of iPods in April sitting in the restaurant. The teens decided they should sit in an area covered by a surveillance camera and then the three thugs confronted them, demanding cellphones and money to buy food, police said. The victims said the robbers took off east along Danforth. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:57:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Judge riled at delay http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/06/22/4280850-sun.html Judge riled at delay But gang suspects denied release By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU Fri, June 22, 2007 A Superior Court judge rebuked the Crown and ordered it to pay $27,000 in legal costs to alleged gang members for failing to have timely bail hearings after the massive Project Kryptic bust last week. Justice Ian Nordheimer said yesterday that the bail hearings will take priority over all other trials in lower court next week and hinted if they don't take place the accused might be released. RELEASE DENIED Nordheimer dismissed an application to release the nine suspects "because it's not responsible or reasonable" to do so. But he criticized the lack of financial and personnel resources for bail hearings after massive police operations such as Project Kryptic that targeted the Driftwood Crips in the Jane-Finch area. The nine will receive $3,000 apiece from the order. "If resources are applied to the front end of the process (policing), then it has to be applied to the back end of that process," Nordheimer said. "The lack of institutional resources cannot be used as an excuse to violate the rights (of the accused to a timely bail hearing)." 'CONSEQUENCES' Bail hearings are scheduled for next week at Ontario Court of Justice and the lawyers will be back before Nordheimer on July 3 to report on compliance with his order. "There could be serious consequences if the Crown doesn't live up to this order. People may just be released without bail hearings," defence lawyer Ted Royle said. "There are scores of courts operating, adjudicating everything from speeding tickets and minor cases and these can be adjourned so that bail hearings can be held." Royle was one of the handful of lawyers who represented the nine accused men: Kirk Brown, 32, Jason Burke, 25, Howard Burke, 44, Omar Burke, 24, Kevin Davis, 27, Andrew Persaud, 20, Melvin Thomas, 28, Kevin Whitfield, 25, and Ricardo Robinson. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:59:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: "[COLUMN]Violence in big cities bullies its way..." Subject: "[COLUMN] Violence in big cities bullies its way onto the front pages" http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/06/22/4280853-sun.html Violence in big cities bullies its way onto the front pages of our newspapers -- but the stories that don't make it in are no less tragic By MARK BONOKOSKI Fri, June 22, 2007 "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them." -- Naked City, New York City police drama series, 1958-1963 On one day, it is the Toronto Police executing Project Kryptic with almost surgical precision, its collection of pre-dawn raids extracting more than 100 alleged gangbangers from the hardscrabble housing complexes within the Jane-Finch corridor. It is but one story among many, although its shelf life will be long. The Driftwood Crips just got kicked in the slats. It will keep the talk shows humming, and the presses rolling. HELTER-SKELTER Months before, on yet another day, the body of a young woman is found in an office stairway next to an exit of the Yonge-Bloor subway, all which was more than just a little unsettling to those who find safety in the helter-skelter of big-city bustle. Street gangs are one thing, a supposedly random murder is another. There is a certain comfort, after all, that comes with an everyday work crowd, especially when accompanied by the feeling that the discovery of a young woman's body in an office stairwell is one-off, and that big-city violence only happens to those who are unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and not paying attention. Like the young woman in the stairwell, for example, who, as it turned out, ended up being identified as a 33-year-old homeless woman named Bly Markis, known to many of her peers as "California." Murder is always worse when the anonymity is gone ... when there is a name, and then a face to the name. And it gets curiouser, of course, when the victim comes from a privileged background as did the reclusive philanthropist, Glen Davis, who was shot and killed in May, the only clue to his death being video surveillance of a mystery man leaving a parking garage at Mount Pleasant Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E., where Davis was fatally shot. Police, however, said Davis was "targeted." The hoi polloi could therefore breathe easier. They always can when the randomness is taken out of play. Their life as part of the rat race can go on. The devil has always been in the details, of course, and it is therefore often better for ordinary citizens not to know what the police blotter knows. For what they don't know won't hurt them, or so that expression goes. MANY SCENARIOS During the week leading up to the Project Kryptic arrests, for example, the police blotter told of many scenarios that never made the news pages. Dime-a-dozen robberies count only to the victim. Muggings, sexual assaults, swarmings. They all blend in after a while. The day before the Driftwood Crips went down, for example, a man with a gun entered a Scarborough home and robbed the owner of his video games. On or about the same time, a disguised man with a fake gun was robbing the Canada Trust in the 300-block of Bloor St. W. Shortly thereafter, a woman was robbed of her purse by three men on a subway platform along the University-Spadina line while another woman was robbed of her purse as she stood at a TTC bus shelter in the city's west end. Penny ante stuff. None of it made the news. Neither did the arrest of a 57-year-old superintendent of a Raglan Ave. apartment building for the alleged sexual assault of a female tenant, despite the fact the police highly suspect there may be more victims. The superintendent got off lucky. If not for Project Kryptic taking up so much air time and news space, odds are his alleged offence would have made the cut, with the super's name front and centre. But luck can also run out. The superintendent's name is David John Toope, and he is now charged with four counts of sexual assault. Police are asking anyone with more information on either Toope or the charges he faces to contact them at 416-808-1304, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477). All in all, during the week that was a bad week for the Driftwood Crips, there were 58 incidents that Toronto Police thought were major enough to warrant special mention in its daily occurrence sheets. Few made the news. ARGUMENT TURNED WEIRD It began on the Monday with a 45-year-old man being charged with 15 counts of break and enter and ended a week later with last Monday's newspapers touting the arrest of a 23-year-old man for second-degree murder after he allegedly ran down a stranger with his car after an argument turned weird. "Man mowed down steps from home," read the front-page headline in this newspaper. "Driver charged with murder." By today or next week, most readers will be unable to put a name to his face, let alone a face to his name - -- the helter-skelter of a big city just too much to keep up with. His name, for the record, was Daryl Sabado. He was 20. Things happen in big cities. Sometimes randomly, sometimes without reason, but they happen. The police blotter knows, but not all its stories are always told. New York City had eight million stories back when Naked City aired, but Toronto is catching up with stories of its own. This has been one of them. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #600 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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