Friday, November 23, 2012 - North Shore News - A3
Gory details of 9 dogs’ deaths rile observers From page 1
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
Electric Avenue
CITY of North Vancouver firefighters Laine Nelson and Jeremy Broderick string lights at Park & Tilford Gardens in readiness for Nov. 30 when Mayor Darrell Mussatto will officially launch the shopping mall’s Christmas season. Entry to the gardens, which offers live entertainment every Friday till Dec. 28 is by donation with proceeds supporting the city and district firefighters’ charitable societies.
Police seek Victim Services volunteers Brent Richter brichter@nsnews.com
THE West Vancouver Police Department is looking for volunteers to provide the all-important human contact for victims in the wake of crime and trauma. The Victims Services unit and police are hosting an information session on Thursday Nov. 29 to orient potential new volunteers to the program and its responsibilities. “We’re available 24/7 for police and emergency responders,” said Bunny Brown, Victim Services program manager. “If there’s an incident where someone is experiencing any type of trauma, we’re there to respond and provide emotional support and practical information at the time,” she said. “Oftentimes, when someone is going through a particular trauma, they sometimes aren’t thinking clearly about what needs to be done.” Most commonly, volunteers are asked to assist police when notifying the next of kin in cases of sudden death. “It’s being able to help someone get through what in a lot of cases is the most difficult time in their life . . . but oftentimes, it’s just that immediate support that they need.” Volunteers accepted to the program will be provided with 60 hours of classroom and practical training in the new year. Victim Services is in particular need of volunteers who can speak Mandarin and Korean, Brown said. The information session runs Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the West Vancouver Police Department. For more information, email Brown at bunnybrown@wvpd.ca.
Real housewife of WV receives threats by text
Jody Claman hires bodyguard James Weldon jweldon@nsnews.com
ONE of West Vancouver’s real housewives has reportedly hired a bodyguard after she received a series of venomous text messages last month. Jody Claman, owner of the Glass House clothing store in Ambleside and a star of the Real Housewives of Vancouver reality series, received the rambling, typo-riddled threats in the second week of October from a sender who referred to herself as a “very close friend” of castmate and onscreen rival Mary Zilba. “Do some research on my past no one talks to my friends this way. Your done!” the person wrote in part, according to a transcript supplied by Claman’s lawyer. “Enjoy you deserve everything coming your way lolol Sweetie crack heads have nothing to lose and can’t wait to meet you . . . Good luck you couldn’t keep that trap of yours shut.” The writer went on to say she
photo Shaw Media
Jody Claman
would encounter Claman in the near future, and appeared to imply Claman could get hurt in retribution for something she had said or done to Zilba during a recent shoot for the show’s second season. “Don’t worry soon sweetie very soon. . . Oh btw Its terrible what u hear on the news these days about plastic covered ball pin hammers mutilated humans who would do such a thing. . Tying people up beating them then dropping their carnage off at the hosp.. Wow, I’d hate to be involved in any of that. . What is the world coming to.” The writer later chided Claman for reporting the texts to producers, and warned her to stay away from Zilba.
“If you so much as say 1 thing to mary tomorrow you will regret it I promise,” she wrote. “The only thing you say to her is sorry for being such a disgusting disrespectful disgrace of a human being.” “My client was afraid for her personal safety,” said Claman’s lawyer, Brian MacKay. “These are the only credible threats,” she has received in relation to the show, he added. Claman reported the incident to the WVPD and hired a bodyguard, said MacKay. The force investigated, and the sender was reportedly identified as a “passing acquaintance” of Claman’s, he said. “The producer did talk to the person, who admitted she had sent the text messages and . . . said she shouldn’t have,” said MacKay. “I am informed by the West Vancouver police that unless there are further incidents, they will leave the (file) as is.” Claman could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the WVPD said they would not speak to the file for privacy reasons. The Canadian spinoff of the popular American Real Housewives series first aired in April this year. Production began for a second season over the summer.
several dogs that did not die after being shot the first time but suffered terrible, painful wounds. In those cases, experts who later examined the dogs’ bodies concluded nine of them had remained alive until Fawcett either shot them again, or in one case used a knife to slice a dog’s throat because he had no bullets left, said Gregoire. Experts concluded one dog probably lived as long as 20 minutes before succumbing to its injuries. As the details of how the nine dogs had suffered were read aloud, one woman shouted at Fawcett from the public gallery, “You could have stopped anytime,” prompting a warning from the judge. Later, outside the courtroom, Jan Carroll described Fawcett’s actions as “intolerable.” In court, however, Gregoire stressed Fawcett was being sentenced for causing nine dogs to suffer — “Not 100. Not 300.” Shooting the other sled dogs was a “lawful business decision . . . whether the public or the court likes it or not,” she said. In court Thursday, Gregoire described the dire financial situation of the sled dog company and its inability to care for its large pack of sled dogs leading up to the cull. The animal cruelty head of the SPCA later told investigators “It would have acted if it had known the dogs were going to be slaughtered,” said Gregoire. But defence lawyer Greg Diamond told Merrick that Fawcett knew the SPCA would not be able to adopt the dogs. He eventually agreed to shoot them himself because “he felt he could do it compassionately. He didn’t want that burden placed on anyone else,” said Diamond. “He clearly failed to recognize the potential for things going horribly wrong.” Since the cull, Diamond said Fawcett has suffered nightmares and flashbacks. Fawcett’s family has also been subject to “horrible, graphic death threats” and had to go into hiding for their own safety, said Diamond. Diamond said Fawcett has been treated for being suicidal and still has “dark and fearful times.” On Thursday, someone in the court hallway called him a “murderer,” said Diamond. “He already feels like a murderer,” said the lawyer. Diamond said Fawcett has told him “I will never stop feeling guilty” for the suffering experienced by the dogs that day, adding, “A part of me died with those dogs.”