Cop cleared in fatal shooting

The Office of the Police Com-plaint Commissioner has ruled Vancouver police Const. Lee Chipperfield didn't use excessive force in killing Paul Boyd during a 911 call on Aug. 13, 2007. Only I disagree.

Resisting arrest is a serious offence. Yet the law and more importantly the moral obligation governing the use of force addresses the concept of reasonable force. If someone pushes someone, pulling out a gun and shooting them in the head would not be an example of reasonable force. That would clearly be excessive.

In this case the police respond to a 9/11 call. Thanks for doing that by the way. It can be a thankless job as we all know. When police arrived at the scene after receiving a report of an out of control man on Granville, they came across Boyd.

One officer, while seated in a police cruiser, was approached by Boyd, who appeared to be holding a hammer. The second officer drew his gun, and ordered Boyd to drop the hammer and get on the ground.

Boyd, 39, complied, but when approached by police jumped up and struck the officer several times with a bicycle chain. Attempts were made to stop Boyd, but he ran into the street, swinging the chain. Const. Lee Chipperfield, one of the officers at the scene, fired several shots from his service pistol, with a fatal shot hitting Boyd in the head. Boyd was suffering from bipolar disorder and hadn't taken his medication that night.

OK bipolar not taking his meds. The police had no way of knowing that nor does it excuse his conduct. It just puts it into the perspective of mental health. He put what the police thought was a hammer down. Then he ran into the street swinging a chain. Shooting him in the head is excessive. In that case the officer should have pulled out his truncheon, trapped the chain and broken disabled the suspects knee.

If he had a knife and was making stabbing motions at the public that would have been more serious but what ever happened to putting one in his leg? Why do we always have to go for the kill shot and put one in his head or chest. Guy with mental health issues swings a chain and gets shot in the head. Then someone tells us it OK because the officer didn't do anything wrong. It's not OK.

My Wild Albertan Rose

We've all heard of the term my wild Irish Rose. Well yesterday the wild rose party of Alberta made the news. Everyone was making fun of them for their silly bus(t). They said it was a mistake and everyone was saying if they can't get a bus right, how on earth are they going to get the government right should they get the job.

I have two points on the matter. First, I don't think it was a mistake. I think some male capitalist in the party thought it was a good idea. They thought it was an eye catcher. Kinda like writing the word sex discreetly in an ice cube advertising some form of alcohol.

Second, the Wild rose party are supposed to be VERY conservative. More Conservative and separate from the "Progressive Conservative" party. Progressive, regressive. Tomato tomato.

When an older lady from the party was asked about the bus fiasco she said "We need to focus on heath care and we need to focus on seniors. That's what we need to do." Did I hear her right? An ultra conservative talking about protecting health care and Seniors? Why that sounds more like a Traditional Conservative than a modern Neo Con.

They even appear to be concerned about changing the drunk driving laws from .08 to .05 which I agree is stupid. We want to stop drunk driving. The people who are obviously driving impaired. Yes some alcohol can impair your driving but seizing your car after two drinks is insane.

Alberta’s Wildrose Party has come up with a unique way of fermenting populist anger against the ruling Progressive Conservative party. Wildrose members have recently been spotted giving away drink coasters outside of local watering holes, to protest the province’s new drinking and driving law. One side of the coaster features a slash through the number “.05” with the text, “drink responsibly,” while the other side has a red line through the letters “PC” and reads, “vote responsibly.” A novel campaign tactic, to be sure.

The coasters refer to a recently passed law, which will penalize drivers who have a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .05, even though the legal limit under the Criminal Code is .08.

“We’ve done polling on this and we know that two to one Albertans don’t want the .05 legislation. They don’t like it,” said Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson. “They think it’s a gross abuse of government power. It infringes on people’s rights and it doesn’t go after the real problem on our streets, which is people who are well over the legal limit.”

They've done some polling have they? Now we know they don't have anything to do with the Harper government. The Harper government doesn't poll their constituents like the Reform Party. The Harper government spends money on attack adds to brain wash their constituents.

Harper's new attack adds against Bob Rae are a prime example. First, it isn't anywhere near and election. Second, Bob Rae's response was right on the money. He said the Harper Government only destroy things. they only tear things down. They are not capable of building anything constructive.

I'm not a fan of Bob Rae. I think the party made the wrong choice at the leadership convention. I think they should have elected Trudeau Jr. Yet I agree with his response to the Harper attack adds. Although I don't agree with the fight fire with fire approach. That is the same message.

Saint Patrick’s Day

I guess people were expecting I’d have something to say about saint paddy’s day this year. An old post I made about Ireland was getting a lot of traffic. For me Saint Patrick’s day is about a lot more than getting drunk. It’s about a cultural reflection. Two traditional songs that come to mind are A Nation Once Again and The Town I loved so Well. Both powerful and moving.

Scotland has the Saber dance where highland dancers dance with their arms and hands raised. Traditional Irish dancing on the other hand is with the hands at the sides symbolizing being in bondage to a foreign enemy.

The Harp is a traditional instrument of Ireland. There’s a lot of harp music out there that is nice but I find kind of lame and boring. Loreena McKennitt on the other hand is a Canadian harpist that breathes new life into that wonderful instrument rekindling the ancient with a voice and melody that glows.

I remember going to see a local band called Three Row Barley perform at the Rusty Gull in North Vancouver several years ago. I really enjoyed them. They were very good. One of the lead singers was from back east. Two songs that stood out were the Majestic Shannon and Get up you drunken Bastard.

When I was at the Vancouver Occupation I had my bogran and was talking with someone with a tin whistle. Someone came up to us and asked us where we were from. I said I’m from Surrey but they’re from the Holy Land. Oh, Israel they said. No, Ireland I answered. It depends on where you’re from as to what you consider holy. Yet this is our home now and that makes this land holy too.

Charges dropped in one of the Truro murder cases

Charges against one of the accused in the murder investigation of outlaw biker Randy Mersereau have been dropped by the Crown. Crown Attorney Shauna MacDonald made the unexpected announcement in provincial court in Truro this morning that two charges against Leslie Greenwood would not be proceeding.

He is also charged in the Windsor jurisdiction with first-degree murder in the September 2000 deaths of Mersereau's brother Barry and his common-law wife Nancy Christensen. Greenwood remains in custody on those charges.

Dean David Whynott, of 541 Truro Heights Rd., also had his charge of accessory after the fact withdrawn last year in provincial court. He was charged with assisting Jeffrey Lynds escape custody between Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 1999, while knowing Lynds had killed fellow Hells Angel member Randy Mersereau. Mersereau’s body was discovered in a wooded area in North River in December 2010.

Jeff Lynds admitted to Randy's murder for the Hells angels but was not charged for that offense. He is said to have committed suicide in prison.

Outside the courtroom, after the charges had been dropped and Greenwood had been placed back in the holding cells, MacDonald said the ongoing criminal investigation in which five individuals are facing related charges prevented her from going into details.

“We have numerous accused and numerous charges involved in this operation and an investigation ongoing so I can’t comment a lot,” she said. “But we’ve had to do an assessment of when and where the best place to call evidence is in order to ensure accountability for everybody involved and at this time we felt it appropriate to withdraw these charges against Mr. Greenwood, bearing in mind he still stands charged with two first degree murder charges out of the Windsor jurisdiction.”

All this new information has us all wondering about Rusty Halls murder and his wife Ellen. Defence lawyer Al Begin said he too was surprised about the Crown’s change of heart when he was informed earlier in the week of the pending move. "First of all, I just want to put a stop to the rumour mill," he said, "there are no deals between Les Greenwood and the Crown." Time will tell.It always does.

Fatal stabbing a gang-related home invasion

There’s been more shootings in the Lower Mainland. The latest news is a couple of gang related home invasions. One was a stabbing in Fraser heights on Saint Paddy's Day. The other was on Feb. 26, when Kacey Rogers, 31, was shot dead in his home in the 14000-block Grosvenor Road in Surrey in what police said was a targeted attack linked to a home invasion.

10 human heads latest grisly find in Mexico's drug wars

Authorities in a town in Mexico's Guerrero state made a grisly discovery Sunday, finding 10 severed human heads near an open-air market, officials said. More gory gang related violence in Mexico.

We’ve talked about the extreme nature of the gang related violence in Mexico before and how it appears that their criminals have no respect for the sanctity of life. The violence keeps getting more and more deranged until one is forced to ask oneself who on earth are they trying to impress?

When someone commits a deranged act of criminal violence, that most certainly does not earn them the respect and admiration of the public. Fear yes, but respect and admiration, absolutely not. People don’t admire someone like Robert Pickton or whoever else was involved in the murder and mutilation of sex trade workers from the Downtown East Side. People don’t admire deranged murderers who hack up dead bodies just for kicks. People are repulsed by it. People question the metal stability of those who engage in it.

Ya gotta wonder, don’t these guys fear God? Life most assuredly does not end at death. Do they really think they can scare God? Why on earth would God be scared of these deranged criminals? They can’t even stand in his presence. Do they really think they can fool God? Do they think saying a couple of Hail Mary’s or a couple of Our Fathers will save them when they have committed a brutal murder? Do they think after they rape someone’s daughter and say Abracadabra, I believe in Jesus, that all will be well? Guess again. The devil knows who Jesus is and that knowledge doesn’t save him.

The bottom line is that we are free to make choices and we are accountable for the choices we make. If we have caused pain and suffering we will experience what we have done for ourselves. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and no matter what we have done there is a road back to redemption, but it isn’t as simple as some people think. When we start to glorify deranged acts of brutal violence, then we are asking for eternal justice to stop us from digging ourselves a bottomless pit.

I remember being back in Ireland many years ago. I was in a town called Limerick in a strong IRA area. It was actually a branch of the IRA called the INLA. I was sitting down having a heart to heart with a guy who claimed he was a mercenary and was just back from Lebanon. He talked about the violence and how he witnessed someone take the lord’s name in vain and someone else blew his head off because he thought the guy was religious.

I said to the guy, have you ever thought about a career change? He was a bit surprised by the question and said like what? I said gee I dunno, farming maybe? To my surprise he sighed and got all sincere. He said I thought about farming. My father’s a farmer, my brother’s a farmer. I tried it but it just wasn’t for me. Then I thought to myself I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. This guys two choices for career plans was being a farmer or being a mercenary?! Isn’t there something else in between those two extremes he could try?

Then I think about the brutal violence in Mexico and I say God help them. Not just the good, God fearing people of Mexico but the deranged criminals who are begging to be wiped off the face of the earth by committing those deranged acts. God help them because their time is short. They don’t have to wait for some far off judgment. Some other gang will give them a taste of their own medicine long before that. Sometimes justice isn’t so slow. Buyer Beware. As ye so, so shall ye reap. Word.

One group appears to be willing to call a ceasefire for the Pope's visit. Nice, but not nice enough.

Judicial Arrogance not up for Review

The Vancouver Province is reporting that the judges don’t want their independence to be under review and claim that they need to educate the stupid public about what it means to be learned in law. No big surprise there. No doubt the police didn't want a civilian body to deal with police complaints either.

Before a judge becomes a judge they have to be a lawyer first. At one public demonstration about judicial unaccountability, one man comes up to me and says, all judges at one time were lawyers. At what point does a crooked lawyer become an honest judge? Is there some kind of epiphany that’s supposed to take place because I’m not seeing it.

Judicial arrogance is nothing new. Lawyers and judges think they are better than everyone else because they are learned in the law and the public isn’t. That makes them better in their eyes. That’s why they refer to each other as their learned friend in court. I remember getting in a fight with one lawyer once as we were arguing in front of the trial coordinator about what direction the judge gave us for our next court date. I referred to him as my friend then proceeded to state my objections.

The other lawyer snapped. He went on this tirade about this and that then insisted I wasn’t a lawyer, I was unrepresented. The trial coordinator was surprised as she thought I was a lawyer and told me I’m not allowed to refer to him as my friend which obviously gave the implication that I was a lawyer. I said I am the other party and I am representing myself. I have the same rights as any other lawyer. I can’t call him my friend? He’s not my friend? How about buddy? Can I refer to him as my buddy? You could see the steam spewing out of the other lawyer’s eyeballs. He was furious.

Right before that he tried to get me to withdraw my application. We had made cross applications in court. He saw I was winning so he withdrew his application. I said to the judge that I had also made an application and have already served the other party with it. If they want to withdraw their application, I want to proceed with mine. He freaked. He asked me to withdraw and I just said I’m sorry but I believe proceeding with my application is the right thing to do. He came unglued and started yelling and freaking out right outside the courtroom.

After he left a friend noticed me and said Hi. I jokingly said sorry you had to see that. They asked why the other lawyer was so upset. I said he’s losing and he knows it. He wants me to withdraw my application and I said no. I joked and said when the other lawyer starts yelling at you, that’s a good sign. It means you’re right and they’re scared so they want you to back down. When the other lawyer is laughing at you, that’s isn’t a good sign. It means you’re screwed.

Aside from being arrogant, judges don’t want to be accountable because they don’t see interpretation of the law as a survey of public opinion. On the surface that argument has merit. Interpretation of the law isn’t a matter for Pontius Pilate to survey the mob. However, we do have a problem and their arrogant denial of that fact isn’t going to help solve the problem.

Right now we have no real mechanism to get rid of a bad judge. We need one. Peter Leask is a prime example. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand what justice is and isn’t. Giving someone house arrest for trafficking cocaine is not right. I don’t care how much watered down jurisprudence you’ve memorized. The law answers to natural justice. Most lawyers and many judges have no concept of natural justice whatsoever.

I remember back when we started this blog and website there were several demonstrations calling for more judicial accountability. One group kept showing up with signs that boldly declared : “Judges are the Problem.” They printed up T-shirts that said “Revolving Door makes Judges Accomplices” and “100% Contempt for BC Judges.” Their beef was property theft.

They had a guy named Jamie Pool in their neighborhood who kept ripping them off. The police knew who he was. Every time he was arrested he was given less time served not more. This infuriated the residents, understandably so.

In the United States they have a policy called three strikes you’re out. After making the same mistake three times, you get the book thrown at you. In contrast the VPD launched a proposal called 30 strikes and you’re out. As ludicrous as that sounds, they weren’t kidding. Our current system has a huge problem with chronic offenders. That still needs to be addressed.

Some people, mostly judges, claim you’re not allowed to criticize a Judge. Retired Judge Wallace Craig disagrees. He has seen the judicial pendulum of justice swing in the wrong direction and he claims that criticizing judges who make bad decisions is a moral duty. I agree. If our arrogant court judges aren't publicly accountable, then we don't have a democratic system. In the United States court judges are elected and can be impeached. Here they are untouchable.

Winnipeg Hells Angels President busted in Flatlined

Police arrested 11 suspects in the culmination of an extensive undercover project called "Flatlined" which involved targeting high-level drug sales throughout the province. They include current Hells Angels president Dale Sweeney and his brother Rod, a full-patch member.

Interesting to note that when Gerald Blanchard was busted for his involvement in an international crime ring involving theft and fraud, police also found "various papers and phone numbers" for local Hells Angel Dale Sweeney.

I guess Dale Sweeney took over after Dale Donavon and Sean Wolfe went to prison for selling crack through the Zig Zag crew. Sure sounds like a criminal organization to me.

State of the Rebellion

The large banner add in the middle of Neil Hall’s book has got me thinking. We’ve been doing this website and blog for a while now. Three years and over three million hits later, what have we really accomplished? I’m sure some would say absolutely nothing. The blog has been a complete waste of time. Yet it has raised public awareness about the Hells Angels’ involvement in the drug trade and the BC gang war.

Neil Hall’s book The Hells Angels vs the Million dollar rat has helped document the connection between the East Vancouver Hells Angels and the Vancouver drug trade. Something that Wally Oppal didn’t want discussed. Not just Ron Lising and John Punko’s involvement in the cocaine trade. Their ties to Kerry Ryan and the meth trade as well. Last December the OMGU busted up a series of meth labs ran by bikers. We all know which bikers they are referring to. They also ran a meth lab in Kelowna that was a large production point for the interior.

It’s not just a matter of a few members of the Hells Angels getting caught selling drugs. It’s a matter of the Hells Angels using their name and reputation to enforce for the drug dealers that sell their drugs. This is not new and this is not limited to Surrey and Vancouver. It has become the past practice in Quebec and Winnipeg as well as small towns across the entire country.

Not only have we established the Hells Angels involvement in the local drug trade, we’ve also established their use of violence to control the drug trade as well as the Stripper agencies in BC and the prostitution. Some sources claim that a prostitute can’t be a prostitute in Maple Ridge unless she worked for the Hells Angels. The Hells Angels use of violence in the sex trade industry is very concerning as well as their connection to the Pickton farm.

Another thing we’ve discussed on the web site and blog is how the drug trade has infiltrated higher levels of government as shown in Operation Fast and Furious. Operation Fast and Furious made the news when government agencies were caught selling the Mexican cartels guns and brought back tons of cocaine as payment. The big outrage was selling the cartels guns that were used to murder a US border agent. Yet bringing back tons of cocaine into the US as payment for those guns was equally disturbing.

This web site has discussed the fact that government agencies involvement in the drug trade is nothing new. Gary Web exposed it and documented it. That is what they were doing out of Mena, Arkansas for years. Barry Seal was a CIA operative directly involved is the drug trafficking and money laundering. Bo Gritz confirmed that this was even going on during Vietnam. Strange how every time I link to the video, it's taken off the Internet.

Clearly, if we want to address the concerns the public has over the Vancouver gang war and the crack and crystal meth sold on the street, we need to confront the secret government agencies that are involved and profit from it. Which as we recently demonstrated is even tied to the dark side of the Mossad.

The Hells Angels vs The Million Dollar Rat

We’ve talked a bit about Neal Hall’s book Hell to Pay when it first came out. It came out around the same time that documentary about the East Vancouver Hells Angels was on TV. Well, I’m at Chapters the other night having a peek through the True Crime section. I was looking for the book by Julian Sher, The Road to Hell.

They had the Sixth Family there. I picked up a copy of Neil Halls book and I say to myself ya know I really oughta fork out the money and pick one of these up because it obviously has a lot of pertinent information about the Hells Angels connection to the drug trade here. I start flipping through the pages and take a look at the photos in the middle section. They have pictures of Glen Hehn, David Giles, Ron Lising, Kerry Ryan, all the familiar faces.

Then on the last page of the photo section the top picture jumps out at me. Hey, I recognize that picture. I made it. It’s a photoshopped picture of Peter Leask with bugs bunny rabbit ears on a Looney Tunes background. It explains that the picture was from the Gangstersout blog under the heading Peter Leask should be hanged for treason after Peter Leask came out with yet another watered down decision involving the Hells Angels. My eyes just about popped out of my head as I was somewhat shocked. That was a pretty bold photo credit.

So once again I will site the book, The Hells Angels vs the Million dollar rat, and say it is worth a read. People laugh and say Michael Plante screwed up his life for nothing as there were no real convictions out of that whole effort but I beg to differ. It did clearly show how very involved the Hells Angels are with the local drug trade. That adds to the case law establishing them as a criminal organization.

As for Michael Plante, I didn’t realize he worked the door at the Newton Inn in Surrey before he went to the Orange Number 5 in East Van. I hear he was a bit of a hot head. I don’t know where he is now but we do need more people in Surrey coming forward with things they know about the dark side of the drug and prostitution trade. People are already starting to spill the beans about the Surrey House of Horrors.