RCMP: Rest in Peace -- Photos, Audio & Tributes -- & -- The Everyday Reality

"Eternal rest grant unto them, Oh Lord"

March 10 RCMP Funeral -- click on each photo to enlarge

"As many as 10,000 police officers from across the country and the United States crammed into the University of Alberta's Butterdome Thursday to witness the ceremony, which was broadcast nationally."

It was a moving ceremony, the most touching aspects of which were the words of family and friends in memory of their loved ones -- heart wrenching. These were such worthy, accomplished and decent young men.




Memorial honours Mounties 'who have given everything' Mar. 10, 05, CBC

EDMONTON - As RCMP officers bowed their heads and blinked away tears, the haunting bugle notes of the Last Post hung over the final moments of a memorial service for four constables gunned down in the line of duty last week.

Thousands of police officers, mourners and dignitaries gathered inside an Edmonton pavilion to honour Constables Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston, Anthony Gordon and Brock Myrol in the largest memorial service in the Mounties' history. [. . . . ]

LISTEN

Related:
Man who shot officers made calls to CBC: RCMP March 9, 05

Our Mounties maintain a noble tradition March 11, 2005, Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun

[. . . . ] Perhaps the most fitting tribute to the four who died so unnecessarily last week at the hand of James Roszko, is the one penned by Robert Service in his poem Clancy of the Mounted Police over a century ago: [. . . . ]

Rest in Peace, Constables Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol, Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston.

Mourning Canada's own sons Mar. 11, 05

[. . . . ] Yesterday's service opened with a chaplain reading from 1 Corinthians 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." [. . . . ]

A Slice of the Reality

Still on U.S. radar

Rice: Terrorists Trying to Enter U.S. Mar 10, 05, Liz Sidoti, AP / Yahoo

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said Thursday that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups are doing everything they can to get into the United States through Mexico and Canada [. . . . ]

Alta. Mountie killer offered cash to man to gun down rival with assault rifle March 9, 2005, Darcy Henton, CP

[. . . . ] He said Roszko suggested he use his .308-calibre HK assault rifle for the job -- a weapon the witness testified Roszko had let him use for target shooting. [. . . . ]

If this was the "rifle" some politicians have some explaining to do about the usefulness of the gun registry -- $1.2 billion that could have gone to increase manpower instead.

assault rifle -- Do not miss this photo





Painting a sad tale -- Artist Les Pomeroy has worked around clock since the tragedy, Mark Bonokoski writes March 10, 2005, Mark Bonokowski

THE PAINTING of the four fallen RCMP officers -- young men in red serge, their lives taken by a cop-hating gunman -- left by plane for Edmonton at dawn this morning, its destination being a place on the podium at the massive police memorial service later today [yesterday] at the University of Alberta.

[. . . . ] Artist Les Pomeroy had been working on the oil-on-canvas non-stop since the painting was commissioned late Sunday, and he worked through the night again Tuesday in a small 14th-floor apartment in the Pape and Danforth area which a friend lets him share, and where his bed is the couch.

This is of interest, also, about an artist considered so promising he acquired patrons.




From the Perspective of a Police Officer Ready for Retirement

"Spring Planting Season" March 10, 2005

Paul Wells -- "Bang On The Money"! March 09, 2005

Martin -- And The Mounties March 08, 2005





CHARTER ARGUMENTS STALL HIT AND RUN LEGISLATION -- LIBERALS, NDP, BLOC, SATISFIED WITH LENIENT SENTENCES FOR HIT AND RUN OFFENDERS

Randy White, MP
Abbotsford
Media Release

Ottawa - The Liberal, NDP, and Bloc parties took turns Tuesday criticising Bill C-275, Carley’s Law, that would have stiffened sentences for people who flee the scene of an accident after striking someone. The law proposes penalties ranging from 4 years in the case of bodily harm, and 7 years for bodily harm causing death.

The following statements on the Bill were given by Members in the House on March 8th:

PAUL MACKLIN (LIB) “Courts would find that the combination of the disproportionate minimum penalties and the elimination of the mental element would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is an integral part of the Canadian Constitution.”

RICHARD MARCEAU (BQ): “The Bloc believes that the judge is in the best position to analyze the individual’s reasons for leaving the scene and determine the appropriate sentence. . . moreover, the Bloc Quebecois also thinks that the minimum sentences proposed in Bill C-275 are exaggerated and out of proportion.”

JOE COMARTIN (NDP): “It is not a perfect system. Again I think the family will probably not accept that, but it is not a perfect system… the criminal justice system has failed them. But we know that day in and day out the system we have built generally works.”

DON BOUDRIA (LIB): “The end result is that guilty people are exonerated, because the judge felt that the sentence was too stiff.”

“I cannot believe it”, commented Abbotsford Member of Parliament Randy White in the House,“As I prepare to leave the House of Commons, I wonder if the Charter of Rights will ever be used for something really valid that all people in Canada want as opposed to an excuse for not doing anything at all.”

[. . . . ]




Inmate ran fraud from jail: Cops

A PHONE and unmitigated gall were all Dickson Motsewetsho needed to run an international telemarketing fraud from inside the Don Jail, police alleged yesterday. "Being that he is able to operate while in custody, I think it's fair to say he's very smooth," OPP Det.-Sgt. Joe Zwambag said. [. . . . ]

Gun registry 'colossal failure'

THE SHOOTING deaths of four Mounties proves the controversial gun registry is a "colossal failure," opposition MPs charged yesterday in the House of Commons. "It is self-evident that last week's multiple murder tragedy was not in any way prevented or impeded by the gun registry, although the gun registry was brought into effect primarily to deal with precisely this kind of tragedy," said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. [. . . . ]

2 slayings, grow op tied Mar. 10, 05

A TREMBLING, weeping, witness in a murder trial linked to a marijuana grow operation told a jury yesterday how she was caught in the middle between two men hell-bent on a pay-back scheme against each other. Clutching her arms tightly around her body, Minh Thuy Dang, 28, now serving prison time for conspiracy to murder and manslaughter, stood in the witness stand in a Barrie court and testified she thought hired thugs only meant to "beat up" her boss and part-time lover. [. . . . ]

Police mow down T.O. grass labs Jonathan Jenkins, Toronto Sun, March 10, 2005

OUTSIDE A Lawrence Ave. apartment block, a modest sign pleads, "Please Keep Off Grass." Inside, four people were arrested yesterday, allegedly for failing to do just that. [. . . . ]

Hells wheel into Steeltown March 10, 2005

THE STEEL City just got a little tougher with the emergence of a new Hells Angels chapter in a heavily fortified brick box in Hamilton's gritty downtown. The Hells Angels officially opened their 16th Ontario chapter in the former digs of the Satan's Choice on Lottridge St. with a party on Friday night [. . . . ]

Bailiff had no idea of killer's history -- re four dead RCMP officers




Witness laid trap for pair Mar. 11, 05

Search: Minh Dang, diamond, first-degree, Casino Rama


Casino Rama, aboriginally owned casino just outside of Orillia


The above relates to another article from Mar. 10, 05 "2 slayings, grow op tied -- WITNESS THOUGHT THUGS WOULD ONLY BEAT HER BOSS" -- by Tracy McLaughlin, Toronto Sun special




See also an article from Mar. 10 which I posted yesterday:

MPs set to war over pot -- Commons justice committee to review decriminalization plan Kathleen Harris, Ottawa Bureau, Mar. 9, 05