Who Killed Theresa?: 05/01/2006

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Our trip to the zoo today

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Reading Habits

Ok folks, I know you're all up on your True-Crime:

- your Ellroy
- your Ann Rule
- your "Lovely Bones"

But what do you read that doesn't go "bump-in-the-night"?

(I confess, I'm not much better... I'm currently plugging away at In Cold Blood and the bathroom reader is The Complete Edgar Allen Poe, but I'm looking for something a little off topic.

So what do you read when you're not reading True-Crime?

(thanks to Eric for suggesting the idea)

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that

I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ontario gets with the program

OPP & OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CORONER
UNVEIL NEW MISSING PERSONS AND UNIDENTIFIED BODIES/REMAINS WEBSITE

The Ontario Provincial Police and Office of the Chief Coroner have unveiled a new website aimed at enhancing their ability to solve missing persons and unidentified human remains cases.

This new website entitled, The Resolve Initiative, contains information about missing persons reported to the OPP in which foul play cannot be ruled out, as well as unidentified body/remains cases for the entire province of Ontario.

This new website entitled, The Resolve Initiative, contains information about missing persons reported to the OPP in which foul play cannot be ruled out, as well as unidentified body/remains cases for the entire province of Ontario. The public’s assistance is vital to the success of The Resolve Initiative and as such, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Office of the Chief Coroner are asking everyone who visits the website and has information regarding any of the cases, to contact 1 877-9FIND ME (1 877-934-6363), or visit http://www.opp.ca/Investigative/UnidentifiedRemains/index.htm.

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Thanks for the tip: S.S.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Feeling Low

I spoke to "Woman A" this afternoon. I hadn't made contact in over three years, but I needed her assistance with something. From the moment I identified myself I knew I had made a mistake. She sounded really tense (which made me tense). She kept asking me why I was calling. She finally said she didn't want to talk. She has a family, wants to move on with her life. This made me feel like a complete tool.

I hate those calls. They can ruin my whole day.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Thank god we only have about 1 sq kilometre to search

Bones are probably murder victim's
JAN RAVENSBERGEN, The Gazette

"Unable to let the matter rest, she then organized an appeal that brought in more than 400 volunteers. People who had never met the missing woman or any family members flooded into the region to extend the search area.

Their painstaking, meticulously organized search in October 2004 covered an enlarged grid, 300 square kilometres of terrain.

It also failed."

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Half-Baked

Isn't it just like government to take a good idea then only run 1/2 way with it:

Victims to be better compensated by province

Last updated May 9 2006 08:33 PM EDT CBC News

The Charest government plans to improve benefits to victims of violent crime.

Yvon Marcoux says new laws address the future, not the past.Justice Minister Yvon Marcoux presented Bill 25, which contains the first amendments to victims of crime compensation in more than three decades.

Public compensation for crime victims was introduced in Quebec in 1972. The law hasn't been touched since.
Changes will allow some relatives of kidnapping and murder victims to claim the cost of therapy. And funeral coverage goes from $600 to $3,000.

Marcoux says that amount has been frozen for 34 years, and that from now on, it will keep pace with the cost of living.

"For the future, this amount will be indexed. It is provided in the bill that the $3,000 will be annually indexed so it will keep pace with inflation," Marcoux said Tuesday.

Marcoux says a ministerial bylaw will eventually establish other compensation amounts, but that none of the new benefits will come into effect until after the bill is adopted and becomes law.

Past crimes not eligible

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu has been fighting for better coverage for victims' families since his daughter, Julie Bienvenu, was killed in 2002.

He argues retroactive compensation should be made available to families affected by past crimes.

"They're still in pain, they still need followup, they still need [a] psychologist's help," Boisvenu said of the victims' families.

However, the justice minister says Boisvenu's request will not be granted. He says new laws address the future and can't undo the past.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

These were my actual responses to the questions from the Stanstead Journal

Q1: How were you able to get the case reopened?

A: First, the police's standard line is always, "a case is never closed, when new information arrives we look into it (you'll hear that one if you call the SQ). True, the case file always exists, but they collect dust and get forgotten.

To your question; In 2002 I went to Sherbrooke and asked to see the file. The SQ showed me some of the file. When I asked why an officer wasn't assigned to the case I was told by then Corporal Robert Theoret that he had too many other priorities and that Theresa's death would never be solved. Shortly after that the 3 stories in the National Post were published (August 2002). This put pressure on the SQ and they agreed to look at my sister's file along with the files of Manon Dube and Louise Camirand to see if they should proceed with further investigations. In late September 2002 the Sherbrooke SQ publically annouced that there was no reason to further investigate the matter. I then filed a complaint with the Police Ethics board. About two weeks after that I received a call from the SQ headquarters in Montreal. They informed me that all three files had been pulled from the jurisdiction of Sherbrooke (because of incompetence on the part of the Sherbrooke SQ (their words)). They told me an investigator from Montreal had been assigned to the case and invited me to Montreal to meet him and to view the full contents of my sister's file, which I did. So that's
how it happened.

Q2: Why reopen it?

A: Because it had never been looked at from the point of view of a murder. You have to remember that up until 2002 when I began asking questions, everyone - the police, Champlain College, the Townships Community, even my own family - were resigned / content to leave this as a drug overdose death (blame the victim, it was her fault). It is important now to reframe the entire argument because of the discovery that it was murder, and because there were two other murders in the area within a 17 month period that also remain unsolved to this day. This raises serious questions both then and now about the moral fiber of the community and the ethical conduct of both the police and college.

Q3: How old were you in 1978?

A: In 1978 I was 14

Q4: Do you feel the police did an adequate investigation in 1978?

The investigator who headed up my sister's case was Inspector Roch Gauldreault. He was also the lead investigator on both the Camirand and Dube cases. All three cases remain unsolved. There is strong evidence that these were linked sex crimes, yet Mr. Gauldreault went on record to the CBC in 2002 saying he still thought Theresa died of a drug overdose. Do I think the investigation was adequate? No I think the
police were grossly incompetent and negligent in their duties as officers sworn to protect the public.

Q5: What were the links between the 3 young women, Theresa, M. Dube, and L. Camirand? eg dates and geographic areas:

A: That is a very involved explanation, and I've been thru it too many times. There is lots of detail about that out in the internet, your best bet would be to read the Post articles on the www.whokilledtheresa.com website. Also, see attached map.

Q6: Where were your parents living at the time?

A: My parents and I were living in Saint John, New Brunswick

Q7: Have you other siblings?

A: I have an older brother, Andre. He was 18 when Theresa died. He was also attending Champlain College. They both lived at the residence in Compton.

Q8: How did it affect your family? (I'm sure it had effects that I cannot even imagine. Please feel free to comment as much or as little on this very personal question.)

A: The worst thing is the repeated trauma that could have been prevented if authorities had done their job. You know, victimization does not come with the discovery of the death of a loved one. That horrible revalation is easy to bare with compared to everything that comes AFTER that. Theresa was murdered repeatedly, and we all suffered along each time. There was the discovery of her body in 1979. Then there was the slow systematic process by which the police deflected all responsibility onto her and blamed her for her death ("she had it coming"). Slowly you begin to believe this stuff. So that's two traumas. So next you have the discovery that the police screwed up (2002), that's a third trauma. Then there's that protracted time in the fall of 2002 when the police were busy deciding whether they should investigate, but finally came to the conclusion that they didn't see any basis for doing so; fourth trauma. Fifth trauma (but some vindication); Montreal police agree that Sherbrooke police screwed up.

Currently I'm into my sixth trauma in that through bureaucratic indifference the current investigators have AGAIN gone lax, so now we have this business of me and Sue Sutherland going to the Magog woods on June 17th to do the job the police are unwilling to do.

That's how it effects the family. Because she doesn't deserve to be treated with such indifference. No victim does; and if they can do it to her consistently for over 27 years, they can do it to anyone: this has more to do with the quality of police services the public should be willing to except today, now... then it does with anything having to do with Theresa Allore.

From the Stanstead Journal - more to come

Compton Mystery Continues

The investigation surrounding the unsolved murder of a young woman, a nineteen year-old Champlain college student, continues after 27 years. This investigation is not being done by the Surete du Quebec, as one might assume, but by the brothers of Theresa Allore, the young woman whose body was found by a trapper in a Compton creek, entombed in ice, six months after she disappeared.

The brothers have been aided in their investigation by numerous individuals along the way: reporters, private investigators, specialists and lay people. John Allore claimed, by e-mail, that they have rarely been helped by the authorities involved, either in the police department or at the college. At the time of Theresa’s disappearance, the SQ and the college treated the case and the family indifferently, without compassion or sensitivity. Although requested by the family, no searches of the area were conducted. Important clues such as the finding of Theresa’s purse in her dorm room were discovered by a private investigator. Even though she was a grade A student who attended all her classes, the police and college officials suggested the possibility of drug use and deviant behaviour. When her body was found six months later, the police concluded that she had taken a drug overdose. They presented this conclusion to her family, and twenty-two years later, through their own investigation, the family would learn that the initial coroner’s report showed no evidence of drugs. It did , however, mention marks of strangulation.

This renewed investigation, began in 2001 by Andre and John Allore, has unearthed a lot more than simply a credible cause of death. Strong links were made with the murders of Manon Dube and Louise Camirand, which occurred in the same vicinity and around the same time, as well as several attempted assaults. If Theresa’s undergarments had not been destroyed by the police (it is unusual to destroy evidence when a case is still open), more links may have been made especially with the murder of Manon Dube, who’s underwear was also thrown out. Geoprofiling, a criminological technique, was used to analyse the case with the following results as reported by Kim Rossmo, an expert in serial crime and the pioneer of the technique: “the locations associated with these three deaths are intertwined, woven together in the landscape south of Sherbrooke. This offender was most likely based in Lennoxville or south Sherbrooke during the period from 1977 to 1978.”

Sue Sutherland, a criminology student at the Universite de Montreal has been following the case of Theresa Allore for several years. She is now organizing a massive search party to be held on Saturday, June 17th, to comb a section of forest in the Memphremagog MRC where clothing believed to belong to Theresa Allore was seen. Sutherland will conduct the search along with John Allore, friends of Theresa’s, and other students from Sutherland’s criminology course. Volunteers have also stepped forward as well as Quebec Secours, an organization that specializes in search and rescue. Thousands of fliers were distributed around the area last Friday in an attempt to recruit more volunteers for this labour-intensive task. The Magog police have agreed to help out with any necessary road closures.

John Allore calls this kind of initiative “do-it- yourself justice”. Although nothing can make up for the loss of a loved one through violent circumstances, and the added traumatizations to the family as a result of the authorities “blaming the victim”, Allore admits that “this now has more to do with the quality of police services the public should be willing to expect today, now, than it does with anything having to do with Theresa Allore.”

The SQ initially would not show the Allore’s their sister’s file, citing the information as classified since the case was not solved. At the same time, the SQ were not doing any investigating of the murder. After an intensive investigation by John Allore and National Post reporter Patricia Pearson finally began shedding light on the case, the SQ announced, in November 2002, that they would launch a full investigation (this investigation quickly petered out). They finally gave the family access to the entire contents of the police file. They also admitted that Allore and Pearson’s investigative work was accurate; Theresa Allore had been sexually assaulted and murdered by an assailant who may have been responsible for a series of murders in the Eastern Townships in the late 1970’s.

The search for truth, justice, and closure continues for Theresa’s family and friends and we wish them well.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Hey look! White People Voted the Best People in the World!

Sherbrooke, le 18 mai 2006

PRESS RELEASE

AFPAD MET WITH MINISTER OF JUSTICE YVON MARCOUX

AFPAD was amongst a number of organizations that met with the minister of justice on May 17 in order to exchange thoughts on Bill 25 and the the reform of IVAC.

The 2 hour meeting allowed for AFPAD to reiterate its dissatisfaction of Bill 25 because it does not allow for the psychological support for the existing families of murdered or missing persons. AFPAD substantiated its demand to the minister with information on many families from the four corners of Quebec whose lives have been dramatically scarred. The minister did not seem to be open to this request. AFPAD requested that the minister supply the economic study that supported the decision to exclude the existing families from Bill 25. The minister is going to comply with the request.

AFPAD has been invited to participate on a conultation committee (Table de concertation des organismes intervenant auprès des victimes criminels) that will be comprised of representatives from organizations serving vicitms of criminal acts. The minister intends to set this committee into place with the hopes of establishing a method of formal exchange between the minister and the people working in that milieu. AFPAD is the only organization present that represents the victims. AFPAD told the minister that it would participate on the consultation committee on condition that the minister would be open to provide a realistic endowment that would allow for services for the families of murdered and missing people.

AFPAD will continue to discuss with the minister the preoccupations and needs of these families that it represents and hopes that the Minister of Justice will modifiy Bill 25 in order to reflect not just a law that is economically viable but that also endorses social solidarity.

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu
Père de Julie assassinée en 2002
Président

Nice Job Sue

Sue Sutherland was on the evening news in Quebec last night concerning the June 17th search.

You can see the program if you go here and click to your right on "Jeudi 18 Mai"

For a written version of the story click here

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Sharron Prior

If you haven't noticed Doreen Prior - the sister of Sharron Prior - has been commenting on this blog for quite some time. What Doreen has been far too modest to tell you is that she is a survivor, her sister went missing in Longueuil on March 29th, 1975. Three days later her body turned up in a field. She had been raped and beaten.

Like my sister and Manon Dube the Prior's were told that all the evidence that could have yielded dna results was disposed of by police (in 1995). Then in 2004 the Priors were told that some evidence had (miraculously) been found. When the Prior's pressed the police for answers as to why the police had not properly catalogued evidence they were met with bureaucratic excuses.

Also... in 2004 Longueuil police went to a warehouse in the area where Sharron disappeared and recovered dna samples. It is the police's belief that Sharron was held in this warehouse for a period before she was murdered.

This is one more case of Quebec police incompetence in all of our struggles to discover the truth of what happened to our loved ones.

For more information please check out Sharron's website.

Dancing on Jimmy's Grave

Not since Capone's vault...

It may take weeks? Doesn't the FBI have some real crimes to solve?

Doesn't the media have some real criminals to expose?

The Yankee Buffalo

Once they roamed the Prairies, these mighty beasts that stink
But now the Buffalo Sabres will soon become extinct
Watch the Hurricanes chop-chop-chop, and cut them down to size
See the Sabres stop-stop-stop competing for Lord Stanley's prize

Saturday will be sweet-sweet-sweet as we tailgate at RBC
We'll drink cold beer and raw red meat as we cheer the Canes to victory
So Buffalo beat Philly, a lame team of walking wounded
And the Sens, king chokers from the East, since 92' when they were re-instituted

Real men beat real hockey teams, not these powder-puff brigades
Watch a Hurricane take out NY, and cut in two your Buffalo blades
Your Sabre rattling can't move the South, remember Deliverance and Ned Beatty?
Cause unless I've missed my guess with this, I know a Buffalo that's going to squeal like a piggy!

A Buffalo, A BUFFALO? Is worthy of the cup?
Well there's a gale force from below that's going to shut you down and shut you up
And like a fart that comes into this world, born without a sin
The "mighty" Buffalo Sabres will break like the wind

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Apart from budget surpluses and Oilers successes is there any good news coming out of the West?

Missing B.C. girl feared abducted
Last Updated Wed, 17 May 2006 17:29:33 EDT
CBC News

RCMP are treating the disappearance of an 11-year-old British Columbia girl as a possible child abduction.
Carmen Kados was last seen Tuesday evening when she left her home in Armstrong, a small town just north of Vernon, to go to a video store.

Carmen's family began searching for her, and the girl's mother called police when two hours had passed and there was still no sign of her.

RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce said investigators found the girl's scooter, the movie and other personal items behind an Armstrong cheese store just a block away from the video outlet.

Two RCMP dog teams have been called in to help, as has a police helicopter. The RCMP are also organizing search-and-rescue groups to go door-to-door through the small community.

The girl has blond, shoulder-length hair and blue-green eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt, light blue shorts and green sandals.

Police are asking members of public to report any suspicious activity they may have noticed in Armstrong on Tuesday night.

This phrase caught my interest:

"As the death is unexplained we must treat this as a homicide until the circumstances direct otherwise."
RCMP
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Another body found in Alberta
Canadian Press

SHERWOOD PARK, ALTA. — RCMP announced Tuesday that remains of what appears to be a woman have been discovered in a farmer's field east of Edmonton — the same general area where the bodies of several prostitutes have been found in recent years.

The remains were found around noon by a young couple out for a walk in a lightly wooded area near a farmer's field.

Project Kare, an RCMP task force investigating the deaths of dozens of women involved in high-risk lifestyles, has been called in to investigate.

"While it is currently not certain that this is a death that falls within the Project Kare mandate, they will remain actively involved until the status of the investigation is further known," RCMP said in a news release.

However, the release also said "at this point there are not a lot of details known to investigators."
RCMP stressed there was no evidence yet to link the death with "any active or historic" homicide investigation.

"It would be unwise to jump to any conclusions as the circumstances of this death are in the preliminary stages of the investigation," said the release.

"As the death is unexplained we must treat this as a homicide until the circumstances direct otherwise."

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

Last week, Thomas George Svekla, 38, of High Level in northern Alberta, became the first person arrested by Project Kare.

He is charged with second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body in the death of Theresa Merrie Innes of Edmonton.

Ms. Innes, 36, was last seen alive in High Level last August. Her body was found May 7 in a home in Fort Saskatchewan, more than 700 kilometres away.

The Edmonton Sun reported that Mr. Svekla had contacted one of its reporters in 2004 to talk about Rachel Quinney, a young prostitute whose body was found east of Edmonton that year.
Reporter Andrew Hanon said Mr. Svekla told him he was a person of interest in the Quinney case, and complained that RCMP were treating him and his family unfairly.

According to Mr. Hanon, Mr. Svekla said he stumbled over Ms. Quinney's body while partying with another prostitute in a remote wooded area.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Well done Pierre!

PRESS RELEASE

Sherbrooke , Quebec

May 15, 2006-05-15

Today I wish to confirm my retirement from professionnal life, following a 33 year career within Quebec’s Public Administration. From now on, I want to devote myself entirely to the development of AFPAD (l’Association des familles de personnes assassinées et disparues),which I established in 2005 along with three other fathers, Mr. Bolduc, Surprenant and Carretta, who were going through a similar situation. Bear in mind that AFPAD’s mission is to provide support and advocacy for the families of murdered and missing persons. AFPAD’s preoccupation within the next few months are very important projects such as the opening of a permanent office in Montreal and the launching of a financial campaign with the hope of gaining the support of Quebec’s corporate sector.

I truly wish to thank the Quebec Government for all the support and deep comprehension it demonstrated to me and my family since the murder of my daughter Julie in June 2002. I was also touched by the sympathy shown by my employer following the death of my second daughter Isabelle in December 2005. I’ve had a professional life filled with challenges and consider myself privileged to have worked alongside truly competent people in the seven departments and the six regional districts of Quebec to which I was assigned.

I wish to thank all of you whom I supervised and whose qualifications made me appear as a competent administrator. Employees, partners, customers, media…please know that you have always been at the heart of my concerns as a servant of the State.

I also wish to inform you that in the last few days I’ve signed a contract with LES ÉDITIONS DE L’HOMME, this meaning that in the upcoming year, I will produce a book about the lives of my daughters Julie and Isabelle and about the association I preside. This book will represent a testimonial to life for my family and a message of hope to all the families which have to bear such an ordeal that is likely to shatter their lives. Monsieur Jean Couture, an independant consulting-editor, will accompany me in the writing of this book

Finally, I will continue giving conferences and presenting testimonials to schools, aid to victims’ organizations and resource centres dedicated to the rehabilitation of criminals, in particular those working with young offenders. I have yet another project, which is to collaborate with the Québec media to improve r my communication skills, but mostly to be able to touch as many hearts that I possibly can, those hearts which have been mistreated by life.

I wish to thank all of you for your help.

For more information :

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu
Phone : 819-620-3554
E-Mail : sos@afpad.ca
Internet : http://www.afpad.ca/

Letter to the Editor
In Yesterday's Sherbrooke Record

I would like to respond to today's article regarding the murder of my sister, Theresa Allore and attempts to recover evidence in a forest near Magog.

Mr. Louis-Philippe Ruel of the Sherbrooke Surete du Quebec states that "We have done all the investigations we can in this case and we have no new evidence."

Mr. Ruel refers to events and a case of which he has no experience, knowledge or expertise. May I remind the people of the Eastern Townships that the case file on my sister was taken away from the Sherbrooke SQ in 2002 when they were humiliated in their failure to surmise the factual basis for my sister's death, which was murder. Montreal investigators referred to Sherbrooke detectives as "juniors" who had no skill in solving complex crimes. For the past 3 1/2 years that file has resided at the headquarters of the Surete du Quebec in Montreal (and I might add the Montreal SQ isn't doing any better of a job finding answers to my sister's death).

I have reviewed the case file on my sister, and I have also talked to the Montreal investigators; at no time did the Surete du Quebec conduct a search of the woods near Magog, nor did they ever have any intention of searching those woods.

The SQ better think long and hard about their intention of being "near the site" on June 17th. Ms. Sutherland has the assistance of Quebec Secours and other experts skilled in forensic evidence recovery. At this point I would consider any interference on the part of the Surete du Quebec as reduntant, disruptive, intrusive and above all self-serving.

John Allore
brother of Theresa Allore
Graduate Student / Justice Administration
North Carolina State University

Monday, May 15, 2006

The Mysterious Case of Jacques Turcotte

[ UPDATE: Would it make you think twice if I told you Suspect # 2 in Theresa's case worked with and despised Jacques Turcotte, and that Roch Gauldreault headed up the Turcotte investigation? ]

Between the disappearances and murders of Louise Camirand and Manon Dube, - 8 months prior to when Theresa Allore went missing - there was another disappearance in the same Sherbrooke region. On Friday the 13th of January, 1978 - just two weeks prior to when Manon Dube disappeared - 21 year old Bishop's student Jacques Turcotte exited a campus pub and was never seen alive again. Month's later his body was found in a snow bank.

Is there some sort of connection with Turcotte's death? I let news accounts from that period tell the rest of the story:

The Touchstone
January 26th, 1978

Strange Disappearance
By Ian Craig

A mysterious disappearance has occurred on our campus. Friday, the 13th, with its reputation as a bad day, may have some truth to it.

A young man partying at the Bishop's Pub on Friday has not been heard or seen, since he parted from the pub leaving his coat, prescription glasses and watch behind.

The Lennoxville police working together with Quebec Provincial Police have not yet found any clues to his disappearance.

He has been identified as Jacques Turcotte, 21 years old, present address 180 Candiac St., Sherbrooke. He stands 6ft. tall, 225 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

If you have seen him or know any information that may lead to his whereabouts, please call the police at 562-4448, night 562-8333.

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The Campus
February 10th 1978

No New Leads on Missing Person
By Nelson Wyatt

The Quebec Police Force SHerbrooke detachment reports that there have been no new leads in the disappearance of Jacques Turcotte, 20, of Sherbrooke.

Turcotte, missing since the night of Friday, January 13th, was last seen at the Pub by a friend at 11:46 pm

He is described as being six feet tall, 225 pounds with curly black hair and glasses. At the time of his disappearance he was wearing a black simulated leather jacket, a tie dye tee shirt, blue jeans and work boots.

QPF officers on the case found Turcotte's winter coat and other personal effects in the Pub.

Anyone with information on Turcotte's whereabouts or who may have seen him are asked to contact Investigator Real Chateauneuf of the QPF Sherbrooke detachment at 565-8111

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Sherbrooke Record
Date unknown

Turcotte autopsy performed

Although pathologists can't determine exactly what killed Jaques Turcotte, whose frozen body was found in a field near Bishop's University Friday morning, they say he likely died of exposure.

An autopsy performed yesterday revealed no signs of violence on Turcotte's body. The 22-year-old Sherbrooke resident was last seen at Bishop's University Pub Jan. 13. Agent Real Chateauneuf of the QPF Criminal Investigations Bureau, who has headed the Turcotte case, agreed the young man likely froze to death.

School Days

Anon asked me about other sexual assaults that might have occurred in Compton.

Yes, I have had a few. Because if its prior history as a private girls school, King's Hall was long considered fertile pick grounds for young girls.

One incident especially comes to mind. It was emailed to me by the victim. In October, 1969 a young female student went out to hwy 208 to smoke a joint. A local boy named Bernard St. Laurent (yes, one of THOSE St. Laurants) exposes himself and began to chase her. Terrified, she ran back to residence. The caretaker of King's Hall told her it had happened before.

In 1973 the King's Hall girls school amalgamated with Bishop's College School in Lennoxville. Residents from Compton packed it up and moved into the Bishop's facility. The Champlain CEGEP residence known as "Compton", was thus born in 1974 and remained open until the spring of 1980.

I have received many documented reports of Champlain students at Compton being drugged with horse tranquilizers then either being molested by fellow students or residents of the Compton village (with horse farms all around it's not hard to imagine where the tranquilizers came from).

Also, I'm sure there were many unsavory things going on in residence, what with the lack of supervision; but my brother remembers one terrible event where a female student was basically "gang-raped" by some boys.

The Hockey Somnambulist

Did you ever get the feeling that you're all hockeyed out?
The Ides of May are on us, the season's past for one last shout?
Have you had that sense, you've reached mid-point, too tired for two last bouts
Did you ever have that feeling that you are all hockeyed out?

The Canes have clinched yet one more round, ho hum, ho hum-hum hee
Now ticket prices have been doubled, you're all tapped out to pay the fee
And hockey's best-of-seven pace just crawls away at time
By the time they reach the finals, RBC will have your one last dime

Do you have that sinking feeling that all the games just feel the same?
Last night you enjoyed the victory, but didn't it seem like any other game?
If I have to hear The Boss and "The Rising" anymore I'll scream
Get to game seven of the finals! "til then, can I watch a baseball team?

'Cause winter's frozen pastime is wasted in this heat
I want Lord Stanley's glory, but first we've got Buffalo to beat
And the Sabres won't rollover like some other teams upended
But for god sakes fellas, its nearly June, put a fork in it! End it!

So did you ever have that feeling that you truly are all hockeyed out?
Sixteen games drag on and on, you've replaced Summer lager for cold hard stout.
And the droning voice of Joe Beninati has cast your world in doubt,
Did you ever have that feel that you're all hockeyed out?

Sunday, May 14, 2006

'To the living, we owe respect. To the dead we owe truth'

Cracking cold cases often very laborious

BY Brianne Dopart : The Herald-Sun
bdopart@heraldsun.com
May 13, 2006 : 9:29 pm ET

DURHAM -- Sometimes it's a case without evidence. Sometimes all of the witnesses have passed away or relocated without leaving any trace of forwarding address. As a cold case investigator, Delois West often deals with incomplete case files, cases where the lead investigator has retired or died or cases where evidence is so old it's no longer usable.

To sharpen her skills and pick up some new ideas for pursuing cases that seem to present no obvious leads, West, along with Detective Anthony Smith and a Durham Police forensic technician attended a course at the North Carolina Justice Academy presented by experts from Naval Intelligence.

The classes, like "Sexually Motivated Homicides of the Elderly," and "Crime Scene Reconstruction," were free to all law enforcement.

The Herald-Sun is documenting Durham personnel's participation as part of its Open Files series, which examines unsolved homicides in the Durham area.

Smith, who West says gets incredibly passionate about all of his cases, says he learned several things at the school that he could immediately apply.

"They did a lot of case overviews, just putting out some techniques they used that worked," Smith said.

One of those techniques, Smith said, has to do with knowing where to draw, and where not to draw the line.

"Once you get to the end of the case, it is was it is," Smith said, "Sometimes your witness has passed away, your evidence has evaporated. You have to weigh your evidence and see if it reaches probable cause. You have to have a very good working relationship with the district attorney and other support agencies, like the medical examiner's office."

Understanding and identifying where in a case police need to seek additional support is key, Smith said.

"With cold cases it's always, 'Did I do everything? Is there something I can check?' And until you get to that brick wall, you have to keep evaluating what you have," he said.

Another thing to remember, West said, is that there are some big advantages in cold cases that investigators don't have in "fresh" cases. For instance, "with a cold case," she said, "time is actually on your side."

In many cold cases, information from witnesses will be different years after the original interviews, complicating the case.

"Relationships change," West said, adding that because there isn't a great deal of evidence in many cold cases, "You rely a lot on your interviews."

Most important, West said, the class gave her some inspiration, including a Voltaire quote presented at the beginning of the course that caught the investigator's attention.

" 'To the living, we owe respect. To the dead we owe truth,' ... I just like that," she said.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

The Shadow of the Curse of the Devil

Put the brooms away me boys
The Canes have other plans
They'll win it all on Sunday night
For Mom and all your clan

Buy your tickets now me friends
Cause' Sunday'll be quite cheery
They'll win the division for you and me
And Johnny and Tripp Tracy

May 14th is good Mother's Day
Celebration for the masses
The Canes will come out loud and strong
And kick the Devils' asses

So what! We lost one 5 to 1
A charity I say
When Sunday comes we'll beat the drum
It'll be an NJ doomsday!

Puck glory is a fickle friend
Your up and then you're down
The Devils they've run out of luck
We'll run them out of town

Put your red shirts on me girls
Don't be so dower and stoic'
Cause when this Sunday comes me girls
We'll drive them back to the Passaic

So Brodeur had a so-so game
No need to stand and cry
'Cause when this Sunday comes me friends
They can kiss our Carolina asses goodbye!

We'll leave them in the dust good friends
As we move toward Lord Stanley
And when the lights dim in the RBC
The Devils will retreat home gladly.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Vingt-sept ans plus tard, il veut élucider la mort mystérieuse de sa soeur
Caroline Roy
Le Journal de Montréal
23/04/2006 09h29

Theresa Allore est retrouvée morte, à moitié nue, près d'une rivière de Compton en Estrie. La police conclut à un décès par surdose, mais la famille croit plutôt à l'assassinat. Vingt-sept ans plus tard, son frère retourne sur la scène du crime, espérant élucider le mystère.
«Je sais que 27 ans, c'est long. Mais j'espère juste retrouver un restant de vêtements, des boutons, une fermeture éclair», dit John Allore au cours d'une entrevue téléphonique de sa maison en Caroline du Nord.

Le 13 avril 1979, cinq mois après sa disparition, le corps de Theresa Allore est récupéré près de la rivière Coaticook.

La jeune femme de 19 ans étudiait alors au collège Champlain à Lenoxville.

À l'époque, la police suggère que la victime ait été abandonnée par des amis après avoir succombé à une overdose.

Dans son rapport, le coroner est incapable de déterminer la cause exacte de sa mort, son corps étant trop décomposé par l'eau. Il suggère toutefois qu'elle aurait pu être étranglée. Le rapport de toxicologie ne rapporte aucune trace de drogue.

Afin de trouver des indices, John Allore veut ratisser une partie de la forêt, où des vêtements de sa soeur ont été aperçus par des chasseurs une semaine avant la terrible découverte.

«Les chasseurs n'ont jamais pu retrouver l'endroit précis où ils ont vu les vêtements. J'ai toujours voulu aller voir moi-même dans cette forêt», explique M. Allore.

Pour préparer le terrain, il fait appel à Sue Sutherland, une étudiante en criminologie de l'Université de Montréal. Cette dernière doit recruter des bénévoles pour les aider durant la battue, qui se déroulera le 16 juin.

«Il faut être réaliste. On regarde surtout pour les vêtements. C'est la police qui s'occupe d'abord de l'enquête», dit Mme Sutherland.

En 2002, John Allore a réussi à faire rouvrir le dossier auprès de la Sûreté du Québec. Depuis, l'affaire est classée dans les cas non résolus de la section des homicides.

La SQ appuie les recherches de John Allore.

«Si c'est pour aider notre enquête... Mais pour l'instant, on n'a pas de preuve que c'est un acte criminel», affirme Chantal Mackels, porte-parole de la SQ.

À la fin des années 70, deux autres meurtres ont été commis dans la même région où Theresa Allore a été retrouvée.

Who needs the SQ when you've got Rossmo

I forgot to mention that I received an email from Kim Rossmo wishing everyone good luck on June17th.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Round Two, Game Three

Like past greats in victory's shower
Dryden, Sawchuk, Johnny Bower
Behold the new champ, in his red sweater
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

Winning is a fleeting mistress
Favors some, leaves others distressed
Squeeze too tight you'll soon regret her
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

Cam-the-man, loose and ready
Nerves of steel, moves like spaghetti
In his crease Marty looks fettered
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

A lexicon of hockey truths
Hurricane "H" for hockey virtue
The Devil "D"s a scarlet letter
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

Playoff time fills fans with glee
We watch our team win happily
Like a daytime double-header
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

A two-man team hath no depth
Jersey Devils look inept
Elias, Gomez; cherry-pickers
Brodeur's good but Cam Ward's better

Now a game-four prophesy
In the third Canes take the lead,
Watch Whitney bag the empty netter
Brodeur's good, but Cam Ward's better

Check it out

A little bird has told me there is a story in today's Sherbrooke Record about Sue's search.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

"She was abandoned in the wilderness by her murderer and was covered by snow for 161 days... How cruel is the human heart?"

Sherry Xu, mother of Cecilia Zhang.

Today Min Chen admitted killing Zhang in what is being described as a "botched-kidnapping".

Champlain College's Grand Experiment

Anon writes: "hey john, hey mm - i remember a little over a year ago, when i first read this blog/website, there was something either by john or patricia pearson that really disturbed me... that 'compton was an experiment' !!! - i was really disturbed by this - i was part of an experiment - and there's absolutely nothing to be done about it now..."

Answer:

Yes, this is in fact exactly how administrators at Champlain College viewed the residence at Compton, Quebec; as a grand social experiment for students promoting self-sufficiency. If you read all the old press articles for the 6 or 7 years when students were housed at King's Hall the thrust of everything is how great it is that young teenagers are being responsible for themselves: they cook their meals, they put themselves to bed, they run their own social activities... all this kind of 70s social-psycho-babble-crap that seemed to be "in vogue" at the time (you have to remember that all three administrators, Campus Director Bill Matson, Director of Student Services Gerald Cutting, and Assistant Residence Director Jeanne Eddisford had backgrounds in behavioral psychology).

Still, one wonders how much of this was "spin" and trying to make the best of a horrible and horrific situation.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Marx was right (Groucho that is)

I spent a great evening last night with a friend of mine. We have - and have not - a lot in common. Like me, he is chasing down an ancient crime. Like me, it involves the murder of a relative. I normally am not thrilled by such proximity, but in truth it's our distance that keeps us talking.

My friend's crime is much older than mine: the systematic genocide of Jews in Nazi Germany. It involves his relatives - many of his relatives, but chiefly his great-uncle - who were marched off to concentration camps. I told my friend about the wonderful sense of anticipation I experience whenever I return to Quebec on the eve of tracing down some clue; and of the unending headache I experience when I've had enough and board the plan home practically gasping for air. He smiled and nodded his head in agreement. This is his experience whenever he returns to Europe.

To paraphrase Woody Allen (who was paraphrasing from another comedian), "I don't want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member." This is true. I well recall my first experience being surrounded by crime victims at a conference. It was a "buffet", the who's-who" of murderers, albeit from the receiving end. I felt exhilarated. Then later ashamed, a little sick in the stomach.

Recently, through email, I hooked up with a woman whose sister had met with an unfortunate ending similar to Theresa's. We exchanged emails. Then she suggested we should talk on the phone. "No thanks", I replied "I kind of like the distance. I'd prefer not to get to know you."

Healthy for me? Definitely. Fortunate for her? Possibly. But I'm still glad I have my holocaust friend who helps me view grief through the illuminating prism of a foreign experience.

Caniacs aren't Brainiacs

Is it any wonder Caniacs are confused when the editors of the News and Observer are such idiots:

"The Breezer" is Colorado Avalanche defenseman Patrice Brisebois.

"The Beezer" is former goalie John Vanbiesbrouck.

Hey N&O! Learn the game and maybe we'll let you play.

Puck Bard

Mental Health Reform Problems in NC

Easley proposes $90 million reform package, but advocates say it's not enough.

Ode to 9 goals against Brodeur

Tick-tick-ticking, ticking clock,
Counting down, Carolina tick-toc.
Brodeur focused, set for the bout
Brodeur say, "Me shut 'em out".

At 6:20 he may be right,
Devils put the puck in flight.
Lang'brunner say, "first goal is mine",
Tick-tick-ticking, ticking time.

Brodeur fall, he hit the decky,
18:18, here come Recci,
Puck deflects, puck is in,
Canes have tied, but have no win

Sand is running, seconds ticking,
Here comes Gomez cherry picking,
Gomez shifting, use his sticky
Boy these Jersey devils are tricky!

20 seconds still remaining,
Hopes are dashed, crowd is leaving,
Williams weaving, Staal he spies,
3 seconds left, Canes have tied!

Overtime, Canes fans roar,
Marty Brodeur back for more,
Marty grumpy... huffy-puffy,
This time Marty show his stuffy:
"Me no get beat by no rookie,
This time Marty close the booky."

Brind'Amour, big and bruising,
Open ice, sees Wallin cruising,
Takes the pass from Rod the beast,
Marty ready at the crease,

Wallin deaking, Wallin rushing,
Marty's legs they turn to mushy,
Wallin pushes, crash the net,
Did his skate the puck deflect?

Goal contested, in review,
Up to T'ronto, Raleigh boos.
Ref now says it's understood
time defeated, goal is good!

England's slap-dash Justice System

Law and disorder
Apr 27th 2006
From The Economist

Tony Blair may have had worse weeks in politics but it is hard to think when. The first of three articles looks at Labour's confused record on criminal justice

EARLIER this week, Tony Blair and Charles Clarke, the home secretary, corrected some misapprehensions about Britain. It is not a police state. Nor is it a gulag, a fascist state or a nation in which the rule of law has been overthrown. Such calumnies, they complained, have been put about by journalists and a retired judge who make Labour out to be more authoritarian than it actually is.

Proof, of an odd and unwelcome kind, was soon forthcoming. On April 25th, Mr Clarke admitted that, since 1999, 1,023 foreign convicts who ought to have been considered for deportation after serving their sentences had simply been released onto Britain's streets. Among them were three murderers and nine rapists. Fully 288 had been released since last summer, when the Home Office became aware of the problem. The tabloid press, which dislikes foreign criminals even more than the home-grown kind, was apoplectic. Britain, a police state? If only.

The problem, as the Home Office lamely explained, is that there are a lot of foreign prisoners to cope with. Their numbers have increased steeply in the past decade, from 4,300 in 1996 to at least 10,300 this spring. The inept, over-stretched prison service failed to let immigration officers know that many convicts were nearing the end of their sentences. Sometimes they did, but the similarly incompetent immigration service failed to act.

The scandal, which may yet cost Mr Clarke his job, illuminates some important features of Labour's record on law and order. Since 1997 the government has pursued a tough criminal-justice agenda. It has added new and draconian laws to the statute book, the kind that outrages judges and liberal newspapers, including this one. As a result, the prison population has risen (see chart). But the bigger, more complex criminal-justice machine that has resulted is unmanageable and, in some respects, worse at protecting the public.

Labour ministers like to say that their criminal-justice policies are attuned to public concerns, and this is true. The government tends to proceed by identifying a menace, be it terrorism, knife crime or teenage rowdyism. Against the protests of civil libertarians, it then creates new powers to deal with this menace. A team of civil servants cajoles the police into using the new powers. Statistics are collected, and, with luck, the menace is shown to wane. Mr Blair was at it again this week, pledging to let the police seize the cars of suspected drug dealers unless the owners can prove they came by them lawfully.

Since the mid-1990s, criminal-justice bills have appeared at the rate of two a year—roughly double the 1980s rate. That is, in itself, a problem. “The amount of new legislation is so huge that very few full-time judges are fully aware of developments in the law,” says one criminal-court judge. Once senior wigs get around to scrutinising the new laws, they often find things that need to be clarified, or changed.

Creating more crimes has created more criminals. But the prison population has been driven upward mostly by stiffer sentences for old-fashioned crimes. In 1993 49% of those sentenced in the Crown Court and 6% sentenced in magistrates' courts (where less serious offences are dealt with) received custodial sentences. By 2002 the courts were putting away 63% and 16%, respectively. This is not because they were dealing with more heinous crimes. In 2002 magistrates handed custodial sentences to one in four of those who stole from cars—the classic petty offence. In 1993, just one in 20 met that fate.

Results Are In: Two "A"s

I got a 94 in Ethics and a 91 in Research Methods

Until next Fall...

The Shuffle Off To Buffalo

Ottawa postponed hockey for Dora-The-Explora
The Sabres beat them anyway, and showed the Sens the door-a

Monday, May 08, 2006

Question from Missy:

Q: "JOHN...Has your family ever thought about launching a lawsuit against the SQ and/or Champlain College? (Maybe you've already addressed this somewhere else in your blog...and I missed it.) I know it's been done in the United States--I'm not sure about Canada. If such a lawsuit were possible, would there be a statute of limitations?"

A: Oh wouldn't I LOVE to.... Ya, but civil actions don't carry the same weight in Canada as in the U.S.A. You would basically have to prove them liable for negligence or incompetence. Now I know there is evidence to corroborate this, but it isn't what would be considered "legal" evidence.

Is There a Doctor in the House?

Nice piece from the Journal about how the U.S. is dealing with the mentally ill by incarcerating them:

03 May 2006
NO WAY OUT
by Gary Fields, Wall Street Journal

Trapped by Rules, the Mentally Ill Languish in Prison For Such Felons, Parole Is Rare, Recidivism Is Probable; Lack of State Hospitals 'It Scares the Hell Out of Me' LEXINGTON, Okla. -- Jesse James, a mentally ill prisoner, squinted into the gleaming sunlight toward the six-story guard station towering over Joseph Harp Correctional Center.

"Kojack is up there in that tower right now, listening," said Mr. James, looking up. "He's got a rifle too. He wants me dead."

Kojack isn't "Kojak" of the famous TV series. Mr. James, 59 years old, who is bipolar, paranoid and schizophrenic, believes that a medical aide called Kojack -- spelled with a "c," he insists -- has been stalking him for decades and has implanted a listening device in his prostate.

Nearly 16 years after robbing a convenience store, Mr. James has been rejected for parole three times. Because his sentence tops 100 years, parole is his only path out of prison. At his next hearing in December 2007, he will likely be rejected again. He has a history of prison-rule violations, stemming largely from his illness, and even if his record were clean, there are few qualified institutions to take him in. That alone would be grounds to deny his application.

For years American prisons have been grappling with a surge in the ranks of mentally ill prisoners, caused in part by the shuttering of state-run mental-health facilities a generation ago. The Joseph Harp prison spotlights an often-overlooked aspect of that problem: how it has become self-perpetuating. Once imprisoned, mentally ill inmates are rarely paroled. Some "max out" their sentence, serving at least 85% of their term, and are released. With nowhere to go, and with a recidivism rate higher than that of the general prison population, they often end up back where they started.

Of the mentally ill prisoners housed at Joe Harp, as it is known, none are likely to be paroled, says James Keithley, the prison's psychologist and clinical coordinator. And then, if a violent inmate completes his sentence and is discharged, "Where do I send him? Mama don't want him," Dr. Keithley says. "If they act up here, you know what will happen if they're released. It scares the hell out of me."

In recent years, Oklahoma has had a dramatic increase in mentally ill prisoners, in part because it only recently shuttered state-run, mental-health facilities. According to the state, the number of inmates on psychiatric medications more than tripled between 1998 and 2005 to 4,017. The system's budget for such medication climbed even faster, growing from $154,000 a year to more than $2 million, in part because of the growing number of medications available. By comparison, the overall prison population rose 14% to 23,205.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates there are 300,000 people suffering from mental illness in state and federal prisons, compared with 70,000 in state psychiatric facilities. "Our jails and prisons are our largest mental-health facilities now," says U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a Republican from Ohio who has co-authored bills to create federal programs to improve services for mentally ill inmates. Dr. Keithley, 50, has worked in the prison world since 1983, leaving once for several years to get his Ph.D. His voice is low and soothing, an asset when trying to coax information out of reticent patients. When he receives an emergency call to assess an inmate threatening nurses and doctors at a county hospital an hour away, he rearranges his schedule so he can drive there. "There's no such thing as a normal day here," he says.

For male prisoners in the state, Joe Harp is the primary facility providing mental-health care. About 440 of the prison's 1,100 inmates are on psychiatric medication. Officials here estimate that medication in total costs $30,000 a month. The guard tower, the tallest structure for miles around excepting the water tower of a nearby prison, looks down on scores of inmates standing in line for their evening medication. It takes more than two hours for the last inmate in the line to make his way to the infirmary.

Among those are about 100 inmates from the intermediate unit, one of two mental-health sections at Joe Harp. Prisoners there have been stabilized to some degree and are temporarily allowed out of their unit.

Even these inmates can be unpredictable. Last year, one tried to commit suicide by tying an electrical cord around his neck and jumping from the second tier. Misjudging the distance and length of cord required, he hit the deck of the first floor. As the lone officer on duty ran to the area, the inmate limped back upstairs and jumped again. He misjudged the distance once more and broke his foot. Another time an inmate set a fire in his cell and took the responding officer hostage, periodically slashing him with a blade from a disposable razor.

Prison Within a Prison The most unstable inmates are housed in "Fantasy Island," the nickname for the acute-care unit. Surrounded by a 12-foot fence, it's a prison within a prison for 108. The walls, made of unbreakable glass, allow staff to see most of the unit at a glance. There is a four-point restraint table where uncontrollable inmates can be tied down until they're calm.

With temperatures in the teens one day earlier this year, few inmates ventured outside. Many milled around a recreation area in the zombie-like gait of the heavily medicated. Others, visibly agitated, paced back and forth and stared through the glass.

Those considered too unpredictable and uncontrollable ever to be free are locked behind thick doors with small windows. Screams, moans and chanting are normal. The noise level rises as the sun goes down and before the medication kicks in. One inmate believes he is in a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam while another screams that communists are taking over the facility. He believes two of the officers on the unit are Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro.

A couple of years ago, one resident of the acute-care unit sculpted figurines out of his feces. Another feigned a catatonic episode and nearly bit off the tip of an officer's nose. Earlier this year, officers had to forcibly remove and shower an inmate who refused to clean himself.

The prisoners in "Fantasy Island," almost never get paroled. Behind each decision is a hard question: Should the prison records of the mentally ill be treated like those of any other inmate?

"The [parole] board here in Oklahoma is conservative towards these types of issues and unfortunately they judge the mentally ill like they judge the rest of the inmates in the system," says J.D. Daniels, deputy director of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. The board looks at the initial crime, the overall institutional record -- which, in the case of the mentally ill, is often poor -- and whether the inmate has anywhere to go if released.

Many states, responding to budget pressures and changing ideas about how to treat mental disorders, closed their residential mental institutions. Oklahoma was one of the last. It shuttered Western State Hospital in Fort Supply in 1997 and turned over the inpatient psychiatric hospital at Eastern State Hospital in Vinita to the Department of Corrections, a process completed in 2001.

The idea was that community agencies would take over treating and monitoring these patients but in almost all cases they haven't picked up the slack. The number of long-term, non-criminal psychiatric patients housed in Oklahoma's state facilities is about 200, a fraction of the 1,300 they held in the 1980s, according to the state's department of mental health. Griffin Memorial, the remaining state hospital, houses about 162 of those but generally only for two weeks at a time until patients are judged stable enough to be released into the community.

There are private and community facilities where families can pay to have a patient placed, but most are not for the indigent. These organizations are also reluctant to take in people released from prison with mental problems, Dr. Keithley said.

Jesus House, which helps people who are homeless and mentally ill, is one of the few shelters in Oklahoma City that takes in ex-felons. The facility has 70 beds and usually has one or two ex-felons among the residents, says Executive Director Jan Mercer. "I could fill up another couple hundred beds if I had them," she says.

Corrections and mental-health officials are trying to ease the situation by developing new programs, such as mental-health courts that would steer some mentally ill defendants away from prison.

In his prison photos, Mr. James, the Joe Harp inmate, looks like a 1920s gangster. In person, he is a small, thin man with weather-beaten features. A native of southern Oklahoma, just north of the Texas border, he committed a raft of burglaries in the 1970s and, not yet diagnosed, spent until 1990 in Texas prisons.

On Aug. 16, 1991, he went into a Colbert, Okla., convenience store shortly after 8 p.m. and pulled a knife on the clerk. He fled on foot through the back door with checks and cash from the register. A state trooper caught him a few minutes later less than a mile away trying to hide in some weeds. Drunk, he confessed immediately. He wanted to flee his nemesis -- Kojack -- he says now.

Since then, Mr. James has spent time at several facilities in the prison system where he often violated behavioral rules. Infractions range from smuggling contraband such as cigarettes to disruptive behavior and disobedience. He also has several attempted escapes on record. Once he tried to hop the 12-foot fence surrounding the acute-care unit. The guard tower has authority to shoot but the officer that day recognized Mr. James and stopped. "He wasn't trying to escape," Dr. Keithley explains. "He was trying to get away from Kojack." Mr. James's most recent infractions include refusing to provide a urine sample. Last June, he was caught smoking -- tea. Smoking of any kind is banned.

All this weighs heavily against his chances of parole. His file reads: "There's no place for him in the community. The defendant's mental illness compounds the defendant's unpredictably causing him to be a great threat to society."

In conversation, Mr. James is lucid as he talks about living outside on his own. He gets agitated, however, when talking about Kojack. He says he has lost weight because he can't sleep. Kojack has "been bugging the hell out of me. He's taken my life from me."

Warden Mike Addison says Mr. James would have to be paroled to a mental-health unit, and since there aren't any government-run places like that available, "he'll stay here with us. He'll be with us the rest of his life."

Michael Bruton is a mentally ill prisoner who has been paroled a few times before winding up back in jail again. His crimes have been minor -- usually involving worthless or stolen checks totaling no more than $800 -- and his behavior in prison often exemplary. In the past, he lived with relatives or in state mental institutions.

The fifth of seven children, Mr. Bruton left school without graduating in 1972 and enlisted in the Army. There, he had a nervous breakdown, according to Mr. Bruton and his prison records.

As he was being discharged, military doctors suggested he take Thorazine and Cogentin, two drugs that help control schizophrenia and the tremors that come on when he gets nervous. It was the first time any medication had been suggested for him. For years after, he resisted the idea. "I used to be ashamed to take medication because they teased you," he says, referring to people in general. "They'd say you're doing the Thorazine shuffle."

Instead, Mr. Bruton turned to alcohol and drugs. His first crime came in April 1976. Then 20, he was living in El Reno, Okla., when he wrote a $20 check to a crafts store in town even though he didn't have a bank account. He wrote another check for $40 to a grocery store and a third for $21.50 to another business.

Over the years he would go back to jail or prison for infractions from setting his cell on fire to stealing $15 worth of gas from an El Reno Wag-A-Bag grocery store. He stole a Wizard sewing machine from a family member.

With his spotless, wrinkle-free uniform, neatly trimmed goatee and amiable manner, Mr. Bruton is well liked here. He greets people as an old friend and shakes hands vigorously.

Mr. Bruton's smile vanishes, though, when he talks about his imaginary gunfights. On many mornings, including that day, after Mr. Bruton makes his bed and heads to his job picking up trash in the yard, he imagines he is a gunfighter, say prison officials. With knees bent and hands hovering over a make-believe holster on his hips, Mr. Bruton stares at his adversary, usually one of the guards. Then, as prison officials describe it, he laughs hysterically before sobbing uncontrollably.

Asked about the incidents, the 6-foot-4 inmate, with braids dangling from his scalp, stares menacingly before blurting out: "What are you talking about? I don't do that...I'm not Quick Draw McGraw."

Mr. Bruton, 50, has been in jail since 2000 on a 10-year term for using a stolen credit card. He is scheduled for a parole hearing in May 2007 but he likely won't get out because of his lengthy, albeit non-violent, record as well as his mental-health status. Even if he crosses those two hurdles, he doesn't have any place to go. His mother, with whom he used to live, suffers from schizophrenia and is in a nursing home.

Dr. Keithley says he would rather Mr. Bruton be paroled and put on supervision than be allowed to finish his sentence and simply dissolve into the outside population. "The parole board doesn't necessarily see it that way," the doctor says. "He deserves to have a better life than being crazy."

Maurice Smith is one of the prisoners who most worries Dr. Keithley. Mr. Smith, who is schizophrenic, has been at Joe Harp on a drug-possession charge since June 2004 and has been in and out of prison since 1989. At the age of 16, he was convicted in an adult court for dropping a rock on a passing car from a train trestle. His other crimes included car burglaries to fund a drug habit.

Mr. Smith has been eligible for parole but was passed over. In September, though, he will be released after completing his sentence.

His record doesn't suggest he's a violent man, but he talks about how he has threatened his mother with a knife when she hasn't given him money. He also gouges himself with his fingernails, according to prison records. At 5 feet 9 inches and less than 130 pounds, he is a small man and looks older than his 33 years. He says his fear is to be moved into the general prison population where he couldn't protect himself from stronger inmates. "I can't fight," he says.

"When the day comes for him to be released, we've got to let him out," Dr. Keithley says, sighing and shaking his head. The doctor says he'll refer Mr. Smith to whatever treatment is available in Tulsa and will warn the man's mother that he may be violent. He also plans to introduce Mr. Smith to the Program for Assertive Community Treatment, a pilot program that tries to monitor ex-offenders.

The prison will discharge Mr. Smith with two weeks of medication that Mr. Smith says he won't take, because a "genie in my rectum" told him he doesn't need it. He says he has heard the genie for as long as he can remember. Throughout his life, he says, he has used drugs and alcohol to quiet the voice.

Having served his time, Mr. Smith won't be under court supervision. "I won't have to take any drug tests," he says. Asked why that's important, he answers bluntly: "Because I want to do drugs. I like crack and marijuana and drinking."

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Judge Johnny Say: "Just keep it in your pants, son."

Wake up; Maggie's got something to say to you (about depression).

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Southern Hospitality

The Canes they did a tap dance, on the Devil's game,
New Jersey came to Caroline, they'll leave the state in shame.
They call us Southern crackers, we're inbred yokel goofs,
Can rednecks play the frozen game? 6-0 is the proof.
Ric Flair is our spokesman, we like it just that way,
Wrastlin' and the Nascar are other sports we play.
Good old boys and moonshine, Tarheel barbecue,
Hockey can't be played down here? Son, the joke's on you.
A hurricane can clear a path of misery and dread
Now Carolina's found a place, deep in Brodeur's head.

On the Eve of Round Two Game One

Commodore, Commodore let down your hair.
That helmet's too small for your great red affair.
Don't trim your lid, please don't spray it with Nair.
Commodore, Commodore let down your hair.

Duck Days

Theadore blew it
We always knew it
He opened his legs and the puck it went through it.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Wild Wild East

With penalties mounting,
The goals they kept counting.
Nobody snores,
When Connolly Scores.
Overtime's ready,
Senator's steady.
18 secs in,
Buffalo wins.

Thoughts on a Friday afternoon

The time is drawing near
The fans all reappear
Eight teams they really blew it
It's time to get down to it
The Canes will wipe away
The Devils wimpy play
The Senators will crumble
Against the Sabres mettle
Can the Oilers win?
Defeat that sharky fin?
What's Colorado's chances
Against those Ducky dances?
The time has come for you
To sit and watch Round Two

Thursday, May 04, 2006

A switch of allegiance

Colesy's in a neck brace they say it's getting smaller,
He must be feeling useless, wearing that stiff collar,
If the Canes can just hang in there 'til Colesy gets much better,
We might enjoy a third round with Eric in his sweater.

Gazette calls SQ "simply an irritant to taxpayers"

I couldn't have said it better myself

The GazettePublished:
Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Surete du Quebec is costing Quebec taxpayers a lot of money. It's bad enough to lose $40 million in revenue because SQ officers are handing out fewer traffic tickets as a pressure tactic to protest slow contract negotiations.

But it turns out, a recent press report says, that hundreds of SQ officers have been receiving generous perks, many of them tax-exempt.

At least 350 non-unionized lieutenants, captains, inspectors and inspectors-in-chief use unmarked police cars as their personal vehicles. The cost of the vehicles, including gas and insurance, is paid by the force. The rationale for this lavish subsidy is that these officers are on call 24/7.

That's not all: rank-and-file SQ members pay no unemployment insurance premiums, an annual saving of about $800. When assigned to assist investigations in plainclothes, they receive a $6-a-day allowance. Their lunch hour is paid, but if called for duty on their lunch hours, they are paid extra.

There's no overall figure as to how much all this is costing Quebecers. But we're not talking about the price of a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Police sources complain that the 5,000 unionized SQ members are "disillusioned" by lagging contract talks. And they have a point. The last contract lapsed more than four years ago, and the two sides remain as far apart as ever; Quebec is offering the same wage hikes as for the rest of public-sector employees, 2 per cent a year, or 8 per cent in total since 2002. The SQ is demanding nearly twice that much, 15 per cent over four years.

But the issue of these perks is not on the table, and it should be. After all, these perks are income.

They are, in fairness, simply an irritant for taxpayers, not in the same league as the long catalogue of serious abuses that the Poitras commission chronicled in its blistering 1999 report.
But it would be useful - and easily done - for instance, to keep a log of just how much use of these cars falls within police duty, and how much for personal use. And Quebec should count all perks as income - just as it does for every other citizen.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Hard Cheese

Life in prison = No virgins for Moussaoui

Game 6 - Hurricanes 2, Montreal 1 (ot)

Ode to a defeat in Six

It's all over now, the Habs are defeated,
Some say it is only because the Canes cheated.

The reffing was biased, the penalties doubled,
But that wasn't the worst of Montreal's trouble.

Williams high stick met with Koivu's left eye,
Since then both the Habs and their scoring went dry.

Sundstrum, Steve Begin, Higgins, Rivet.
Would somebody please put the puck in the net!

Kovelev's circling, seeking relief,
While Rabiro tries best to locate the crease.

Carbo and Gainey just stood there and stared.
This series was wilder than Commadore's hair.

It's over, it's over the Habs have rolled over
Souray's hit the links in his shiny Ranger Rover

Theo advances while Cristobal stays,
Is Montreal doubting the worth of the trade?

It's all over now, Canes enjoy all your revels,
'cause you'll go out in four when you next meet the Devils

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Excerpt from Tory Federal Budget

RCMP Federal Policing (Including the RCMP National Training Academy)
The Government has committed to enhancing front-line law enforcement capacity in Canada. The RCMP, as Canada’s national police force, maintains a strong and vital presence in all provinces and territories. RCMP officers help protect Canadian families and communities by investigating threats from organized crime, terrorism, drugs and cross-border smuggling.

Budget 2006 provides $161 million over two years for the RCMP to expand the number of police officers across the country, and for the Department of Justice Canada to hire additional federal prosecutors. This funding will enable the RCMP to fill 1,000 vacancies by 2010. These new police officers and prosecutors will focus on law enforcement priorities such as drugs, corruption and border security (including gun smuggling).

The new RCMP officers will receive world-class basic police training at the RCMP National Training Academy (Depot). Budget 2006 provides $37 million over two years for the RCMP to expand the Depot to accommodate these new officers and build the capacity to train more officers in the future. This funding will finance the construction of new buildings such as barracks, classrooms and a dining hall. This funding will also be used to strenghten the field coaching program to ensure that all Depot graduates are paired, during their first posting, with veteran officers who have completed the RCMP field coaching course.

Correctional Service Canada
In support of the Government’s efforts to address serious crime and to ensure that jail sentences match the severity of the crimes committed, Budget 2006 sets aside funding for Correctional Service Canada to expand correctional facilities to address the expected increase in the federal inmate population. A new medium security institution and additional maximum security capacity may be needed.

Youth Crime Prevention
Too many youths are becoming involved with guns, gangs, drugs and other crimes that lead to increased crime in Canadian streets and communities. While law enforcement is important, effective crime prevention is also needed for youth at risk. Budget 2006 provides $20 million over two years for communities to prevent youth crime. Additional details will be announced shortly following consultations.

National DNA Data Bank
The RCMP’s National DNA Data Bank is an important resource for Canadian law enforcement agencies, as it helps police across the country to identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent. Budget 2006 provides $15 million over two years to increase the ability of the RCMP to populate the Data Bank with DNA samples from a greater range of convicted offenders, such as sex offenders, as well as with DNA samples from a greater range of crime scenes.

Victims of crime
Canadians who have become victims of crime deserve to have a strong advocate for their rights within the justice system. Budget 2006 provides $26 million over two years to give victims a more effective voice in the federal corrections and justice system, and to give victims greater access to services such as travel to appear at parole hearings. Additional details will be announced at a later date.

Emergency Response
The terrorist bombings last year in London and the hurricane landings on the U.S. Gulf Coast vividly illustrate the importance of a coordinated emergency response capacity across all levels of government and sectors of the economy. Budget 2006 provides $19 million per year to Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) to enhance Canada’s capacity to respond to catastrophes and emergencies of any kind. The funding will permit PSEPC to maintain round-the-clock readiness levels in its national operations centre, enhance its presence in provincial and territorial operations centres and response activities, liaise with key international partners in emergency situations and increase the coverage of its monitoring. This will improve PSEPC’s ability to coordinate and deal with emergencies that extend across provincial, territorial and international boundaries.

True Grit

On the eve of what will no doubt mark the Habs' exit from the playoffs, Bob Gainey and company might want to learn some lessons from another game six, the Red Wings vs. the Oilers. Not only did last night's 4 - 3 victory for the Oilers mark one of the most unlikely upsets of the playoffs, this was also the most exciting game I have seen in the last two weeks.

Down 2 - 0 going into the third, the Oilers rallied for four goals, the one that took the lead happened with just over a minute to play. Like Carolina, the Red Wings had depth and weapons that out matched their opponents, but the Oilers would not give up; they played with desperation and simply willed the upset to occur. And Edmonton was rockin': I've never heard a crowd that loud or that supportive of their team.

There is talk going round that the Canadiens collapse was predetermined by management. The story goes like this: By winning the first two in Carolina the Habs achieved their goal of getting three games on home ice; big money for a hockey club that wasn't even supposed to make the playoffs. The Habs are a market success. Everyone of their home games were sell outs this year. But their chances of winning the cup are improbable and players are getting injured; why not fold up the tents and bank on next year.

This, of course, is horseshit. Contrast this with the Oilers who also didn't stand a chance going into this, but are now legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup final. No, the Habs have folded because they've stopped playing like a team; and the Canes have just gotten better and better. Though appearances would suggest that the last three games were close (2-1 (ot), 3-2, 2-1), in reality Carolina has dominated Montreal. Let's hope for a quick merciful death tonight so Les Boys can do what they have their hearts set on: playing golf.

Who Killed Theresa?