21552 replies to this topic

[Holden West]

This is my favourite story of the day:

IMPAIRED WOMAN VISITS FIRE HALL

Mar 30, 2007

SAANICH POLICE SAY THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY A WOMAN TOOK HER TODDLER TO THE FIRE HALL FOR A TOUR WHILE INTOXICATED.

FIRE OFFICIALS BEGAN TO THE TOUR BUT CALLED POLICE AFTER NOTICING THE 27 YEAR OLD WOMAN WAS SHOWING SIGNS OF IMPAIRMENT.

SAANICH POLICE SERGEANT JOHN PRICE SAYS THEY TOOK THE MATTER VERY SERIOUSLY AND GAVE HER A ROAD-SIDE SCREENING DEVICE TEST.

SHE WAS THEN ISSUED A 24-HOUR DRIVING SUSPENSION.

POLICE SAY THE MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IS NOW INVESTIGATING THE MATTER.

- ERIN TRAINER

Police can't understand why she'd do this? Of course, it's because when you're drunk or high EVERY idea seems like a good idea.

[Ms. B. Havin]

I saw that -- whoa, weird, eh?

There's an interesting article in the T-C today, too, about an addiction expert who spoke at a recent conference: [url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=4feb5585-a3f1-40f6-9286-a85cd0b8b2a0&k=8229:7bf41]Expert: Education little help to addicts[/url:7bf41]. It's not really crime-related, but is interesting in terms of dealing with the questions around how many social workers and education campaigns do you devote to "solving" addiction problems; should "harm reduction" take something like this into account; should we differentiate between different "addictions," etc.

BTW, don't ask me about the scare-quotes, why I'm using them. I really don't know. Maybe the Easter Bunny is approaching...??

Re. education: I'm sure you all read/heard about that 22-year old UVic student who took a swig from what she thought was water at a house party on Herald Street & ended up dead 3 days later because it was really a bottle filled with "the date rape drug," colourless, odourless, etc. (but made from floor wax stripper and paint varnish or something like that). (Why was there a whole bottle of this stuff at this party? These people have to get unconscious to have sex or something??)

Anyway, she & her friends had been drinking and using cocaine. And she was studying drug addiction at UVic.

:roll:

Education?

[m0nkyman]

Folks, the best story of the day was on the front page. Bar none:

Fat cat goes wild; owner barricades self in bedroom
“We don’t know why he did it"
Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007

A dog owner will tell you cats have bad attitudes, even on the best of days. But an enormously fat black cat in Saanich took it a step further yesterday, launching into a rampage that forced its owner to barricade herself in the bedroom and call 911 for help.

Saanich police got the early morning call from a woman “reporting that her 18-pound domestic cat had gone crazy,” said Sgt. John Price.

The hefty feline — at that size, of equal girth to a small dog — had apparently started biting its owner.

The municipality sent out an animal control officer, teamed with a police officer. “For backup,” explained Price.

But, as anyone who has tried to give a cat a bath can attest to, a bad kitty is hard to subdue.

By the time help arrived, the feline had the run of the apartment. Its owner, a woman in her mid-30s, had sought refuge in the hallway of her building in the 900-block of Tolmie Avenue.

“It was going crazy, or wild,” said animal control officer Bill Storey, who was on scene. “Like the lady said, it would go after people. And it was.

“There were a few times it was charging right at you.”

Nevertheless, the animal control and police crew managed to avoid getting run over by the rampaging cat, and cornered it in the bathroom. Then then used a long pole to catch the feline, and put it in a bag. “It was very difficult to catch,” admitted Storey.

Everyone is at a loss as to what caused kitty to snap. “We don’t know why he did it,” said Storey. Local crews have seen the odd incident of cat craziness before, but this was “out of the norm,” he said.

The homeowner had adopted the animal from the SPCA five years earlier, say police.

Victoria SPCA branch manager Penny Stone said it was “quite odd for a cat to do that.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m more afraid of cats than dogs,” she said. “Cats are fast and sneaky. A dog always tells you what it’s going to do but a cat doesn’t.”

Police took the cat to the Elk Lake Veterinary Hospital, where a person who answered the phone would not divulge the animal’s condition due to “confidentiality issues.”

Storey said the cat was put down.

The cat’s owner was described as “traumatized and heartbroken” by the whole ordeal.

[Mike K.]

Sounds fishy on the eve of April 01.

[Holden West]

Heh, that kitty story was good.

Saanich Police: "Your kitty is misbehaving? We'll set a squad car right over!"

Victoria Police: "Ah, yeah. Good luck with that."

And that drug death--so stupid.

[Ms. B. Havin]

Here, [url=http://ufoseries.com/films/tiger.html:013bb]Kitty, Kitty[/url:013bb], here, puss...

[Holden West]

Ha, good catch. I knew it...

IT'S A TRAP!!!

Today's lesson:

When you want something cool from Mom, get her liquored up first.

And cats simply can't be trusted. If they're not scheming on their own, they're vulnerable to evil acryonymed organizations.

[aastra]

I remember a few years ago there was a cat terrorizing people in a lane over by the Oak Bay Rec Centre. It would just run up and chomp on people. It made the news but I don't remember hearing the resolution.

There's a website out there that does a good job of tracking animal attacks as reported by the media around the world. I remember one article from California several years ago: somebody had an adult tiger chained to a post at the back of his property, right beside a popular jogging/cycling trail. So people would be running through there and the tiger would suddenly appear and charge after them, only to be stopped by its leash. Can you imagine that? People were flipping out about it, for good reason.

[Holden West]

Evil....pure evil, I say...

Ferocious feline leaves woman bruised

(Copyright Times Colonist (Victoria) 1997)

By Jeff Bell Times Colonist staff John McKay/TC photo Sandra DeVine-Smith is licking her wounds - all 29 of them - after a rare cat attack in a quiet Oak Bay alleyway. She has been advised to keep a close eye on her bruised and reddened right leg, which took the brunt of the unprovoked feline assault, because of a danger of infection, she said Monday. She is calling for tougher bylaws against all "vicious" animals,not just dogs.

"There should be laws to protect people. I don't want this to happen to someone else, or to a child."

The unusual incident took place as DeVine-Smith was taking her silky terrier Rufus for an afternoon walk.

She had just shortened up on his leash after seeing a "Beware of Dog" sign when a cat in the alley behind the 2500-block on Foul Bay Road, between Cadboro Bay Road and Haultain Street, lunged at her from the side, presumably with its eyes on the diminutive Rufus.

"I've never seen anything like it. It was under a Volkswagen and took a six-foot leap at me, with God as my witness."

Instinctively, DeVine-Smith scooped Rufus up in her arms, sparing him any damage but taking the brunt of it herself.

"I started yelling 'Help, I'm being attacked by a cat!' I couldn't believe it."

A woman who witnessed the attack came to offer help and the cat bolted, but not before administering 29 bites.

Lynn West of SPCA said such an attack can be categorized as "odd" but not unheard of.

"They can and do happen," she said. "People are required to have their dogs and cats under control."

It reminded her of a series of attacks several years ago by a haywire rabbit holed up in the bush in Central Saanich. "It would lie in the bushes and attack when people walked by. It was actually a very vicious bunny."

Calls for tighter controls on cats can lead to emotional debate, West said.

"It's like waking a sleeping giant."

[VicHockeyFan]

Not a crime, but a 17-year-old fell off the upper sidewalk down into the lower causeway last night. Not yet revealed if he was US military.

[Willa]

He's a kid from a U.S. school choir, according to the cops.

[Baro]

If I was ever fighting a war against the US, I'd know these causways seem to be an effect weapon against against them.

Poor kid though. But seriously, this is like the 4th american in recent memory to fall off something around there. Do they not have changes in elevation marked by walls and railings down there? Are these people ridiculously drunk?

[Ms. B. Havin]

I don't believe this boy was drunk. It was hi-jinxing that went seriously bad. I feel very sorry for his family -- to raise a kid to that age, only to have him die like that, what a shame.

[VicHockeyFan]

^ He's dead?

[VicHockeyFan]

Visiting student injured in tumble
Times Colonist
Published: Monday, April 02, 2007
A 17-year-old youth visiting the city with a school choir from the United States has had his condition upgraded to stable after a Saturday night fall from the upper causeway at the Inner Harbour.

He had playfully jumped onto the causeway ledge behind the Tourist Information Centre at Humboldt and Government streets and was attempting to swing around a lamp post when it gave way. The rest of his school group watched in horror as he slipped and fell the equivalent of two storeys, suffering head and chest injuries.

Shaken students, teachers and chaperones received counselling from Greater Victoria Police Victim Services after the incident. The youth's family has been contacted and will be coming to Victoria to be with him.

[Ms. B. Havin]

Maybe I got it wrong, but I thought he died...? Crap, eh? I mean, what a waste. But maybe I'm mistaken?

[Ms. B. Havin]

Ah, ok, my mistake -- I just saw your update, VHF. Well, that's good news, then!

[Mike K.]

Where' holden and his image editing skills???

[m0nkyman]

For pete's sake. Counselling? 'Cause someone fall down go boom?

If someone dies, sure, counselling is appropriate, but I'm beginning to think that people can't deal with boo-boos anymore....

[renthefinn]

How come they always gotta blame it on the black cat?