DO NOT HIRE!!!!!!!!

Another is the ability to pay taxes and other fees with a credit card, a benefit to those that collect points and air miles.

The RCMP fatalities inquiry into the deaths of four RCMP officers at Mayerthorpe, Alberta draws to a close. Provincial court Justice Pahl retires to his deliberations. This, the penultimate chapter of this tragedy, now written. It was the writing of this chapter that gave us a glimpse of those whose service to self and concern for career trumps truth and reality.

How remarkable that now, as errant children, the RCMP seeks to blame everyone else save themselves. This is not surprising as in the last decade we have watched as this once proud police force with an international reputation for excellence, professionalism and the dogged pursuit of justice has deteriorated into a corrupt, self serving, incompetent, murderous and duplicitous national joke.

Senior RCMP officers were in fine form throughout the hearing refining the manipulation of fact, sleight of hand and buck passing to an art form. RCMP deputy commissioner Rod Knecht was no exception and in top shape speaking to the “high level of training” the dead officers had received. Unfortunately, and largely ignored by the press, are volumes truthfully spoken to the utter lack of training of these officers, volumes of truth wrought from their deaths. This truth, amongst other realities, left Knecht untroubled. The inquiry adjourned, the doors to the courthouse opened, and Knecht, career intact, dabbing crocodile tears, comforting widows and mothers, met the press. We the Public were taken to task.

How remarkable that, with shrill voices and self righteous indignation, we are now tongue lashed by the relatives of the dead officers for not “developing” better relationships with the RCMP. These little jewels of chastisement fall from the lips of the dead officers parents in the face of the brutal execution of Robert Dzieka?ski in the Vancouver Airport. Five RCMP officers, in a killing that speaks more of the handiwork of the Mexican Los Zetas’ than the competent enforcement of law, tazered to death an innocent Polish tourist. The scene, caught on video tape, was not one to uplift Public confidence, no public relations bridge builder that, but rather one of Neanderthal thugs gathered around a man and, with great enthusiasm, murdering him. Subsequent to that little RCMP display of “Maintien Le Droit” one of the officers who participated in that killing couldn’t restrain himself from drunken revelry and killed an innocent man in a drunk driving accident.

A man is on his knees in Kelowna in a position of surrender being covered by a female RCMP officer, Buddy Tavares’ reward for obeying the commands of the RCMP was to be bum rushed and brutally kicked in the face by RCMP Officer Geoff Mantler.(evidently not Mantlers first brush with police brutality) Now that’s a real confidence builder isn’t it Const. Mantler? Bet that was cause for a big tee-hee down at the detachment wasn’t it?

Darren Varley, while drunken and combative, was executed in the cells of the Pincher Creek RCMP detachment by Officer Ferguson. This of course, was a result of the same incompetence and buffoonery so richly displayed in Mayerthorpe. Exactly what was Const. Ferguson doing in cells with a weapon, a firearm? That was a fly in the ointment the size of an albatross for Ferguson’s legal defence team and, remarkably, a complete departure from RCMP dictates, training and procedure.

Further to the north, in an act of physical contortion that would draw the jealous eye of even the most seasoned Cirque De Soleil acrobat, Const Koester managed to shoot Ian Bush in the back of the head…..even though Const. Koester, nearing unconsciousness as he testified, was being strangled from behind. I know……just think about that one for a few minutes.

Of course the subsequent investigation into this killing boggled the minds of the residents of Houston, BC. Evidence as experts routinely contradicted each other in an atmosphere worthy of a Kangaroo Court. A departing thought; one minute a young man is complying with the instructions of RCMP officers and quietly riding to the detachment in the custody of the RCMP, the next minute that same young man is dead. A death Ian Bush suffered at the hands of his custodians, the RCMP. Bet that was a real knee-slapper around the detachment water cooler ‘eh boys?

But let’s not stop with murder, why the activities of the RCMP are nothing less than a carnival of corruption and incompetence. How about the allegations of pedophilia and child molestation that went uninvestigated? There was the outright fraud committed by senior RCMP commissioners including RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli. In fact, retired RCMP Staff Sgt Ron Lewis testified that his investigation into the fraud was met with “obstruction, lies, inaction, delays and roadblocks created by commissioner Zaccardelli. This was when Zaccardelli wasn’t too busy spending over 80,000 dollars of the taxpayers’ money on office renovations.

The criminality of the RCMP seems to know no bounds. From witness tampering, destruction of evidence, fraud, drunken driving, child molestation, criminal negligence, underage prostitute solicitation, assault, the list goes on. In light of this it is no wonder that in an investigation involving the death of four RCMP officers the senior RCMP commanders would do everything in order to twist the entire matter into one utterly predictable, obscene, self serving and exculpatory charade.

How remarkable that we, the Public, are somehow, in a mind numbing twist of logic, to blame for not developing warm and cozy relationships with law enforcement officers whose daily conduct evokes images of jack booted thugs whose handiwork lent support to a spirited Germanic orator who, after the eradication of the rights of Germany’s citizens, dabbled in genocide and world war. Exactly how much whisky must one consume to arrive at that conclusion? I have only two words to describe that rationale and logic; utterly laughable.

We are taken to task and given direction by the remaining family of the dead officers. We are lectured, nay, instructed, from the bully pulpit of self righteous grieving relative, to develop relationships with the RCMP and call them when we have information. I strongly disagree with this assertion. Why would a Public, justifiably fearful and wary of its police force, extend a hand of trust and cooperation when that hand has been repeatedly bitten and slapped away? Why would we entrust our children to the protection of a police force that has brutally murdered the same and then lied about that murder? Why would we ignore and turn a blind eye to the outrageous and injurious actions of those men and women whose sworn duty it is to uphold the law and protect the citizens of this country? As so brilliantly illustrated in Mayerthorpe, why in the name of Christ would we seek the assistance and protection of those who can’t even protect themselves? Common sense and decency dictate it is not we the Public who have bridges to build and hands to extend.

As for the four dead officers they paid for their stupidity, for their failure to follow procedure, for their failure to remain in a tactical stance in a dangerous, still fluid, still unfolding situation, with their lives. Conducting themselves with all the caution and tactics of drunken cowboys on Rosko’s farm that day they set the game in motion and it was one stacked against them. They did not deserve to die but they got what they themselves and their superiors had paved the way for.

Those who remain behind need someone to blame. They need to blame something with a pulse for to blame a faceless system, a dead murderer and a self serving corrupt law enforcement bureaucracy is not enough. While the loss of life is tragic, it is not the fault of the community, it is not the fault of the judicial system, it is not the fault of a pair of town dullards. The fault rests squarely on the dead officer’s shoulders, on the head of a homicidal lunatic and at the doorstep of the senior echelons of the RCMP.

In closing, truer words were never spoken, “the RCMP is horribly broken”. The RCMP is a shadow of its former self. The days of Sam Steele are long since gone and were Superintendent Steele alive today he would turn away in disgust at the malignant farce his beloved police force has become ‘neath the stewardship of Knecht, Zaccardelli and others.

As our national police force (RCMP) your reputation for criminality, murder, zeal, incompetence, corruption and stupidity is well deserved; it is a reputation you have unceasingly and diligently cultivated for over 2 decades. You are an international disgrace to Canada and a national embarrassment to Canadians. You, as we are, should be ashamed of yourselves.

Sincerely,

Don Laird

Edson, Alberta

She also said that the provisional budget was out of sync with the water and sewer bylaw thereby justifying the amendment to take away the discount for seniors as well as the one for year round residents.

Unbelievable!

For one thing, first reading of this preposterous amendment was not adequately advertised and secondly the so called council meeting went ahead with the knowledge that only one councillor will be present and the other on the phone.

My fear is that they will use this half-baked meeting to say that a public hearing was held, despite the fact that most of council wasn’t there to hear it.