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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Runners convene for Merritt race By Michael Potestio
Kamloops. He was one of the last to cross the finish line but when the crowd, which had amassed back at the starting line in Voght Park, saw him heading to the finish, everyone cheered. Oborne even went back to jog a bit with Butcher. Butcher started running marathons when he retired at age 66 and said his daughter was a big inspiration for him. “She’s done the Ironman [triathlon] and she led the way. [She] said, ‘Dad, why don’t you run?’ so I did,” said Butcher. Families came out to run as well. Helen Asseltine and her eight-yearold daughter Paige finished the 5K race together. Her husband Graeme and six-year-old son Isaac were not far behind. Even her mother-in-law, Bernice Asseltine, 82, took on the 5K race at the Country Run. “This was her first 5K and it was our first time doing it together,” Helen said about running the race with her daughter.
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OFF TO THE RACES Seven-year-old Calvin Little leads a pack of runners in the 5K at the Merritt Country Run on Sunday. The races attracted participants from all walks of life and from as far away as Ontario. Ian Webster/Herald
Merritt held its fourth annual Country Run Sunday and the event saw people of all ages participate in the 5K, 10K and half-marathon runs. In total, there were about 300 participants, said event organizer Mary Jorgensen. The 5K had 157 runners, and the 10K attracted 100 participants. Thirty-three people ran the halfmarathon. Former Rotary Club of Merritt president Darch Oborne participated in the half-marathon race. The 68-year-old is an avid runner, having completing three marathons in 53 days just two weeks ago. When asked how he manages to run so much in such a short period of time, Oborne answered, “You gotta do it while you’re young. “Relative to tomorrow, I’m young,” he told the Herald. Another relatively young runner to take part in the half-marathon was 78-year-old Bruce Butcher from
See ‘Country Run’ Page 3
Family of Darcie Clarke defends NCR Reform Act Mother of triple murder victims says Bill C-54 protects victims’ rights By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
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Family members of a woman whose children were murdered by their father in Merritt in 2008 are speaking up in support of the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act. The act would change the release reviews for those found not criminally responsible from annual hearings to hearings every three years, which Darcie Clarke’s family members say will correct an imbalance in the current review system. “What is being proposed is what
we – the families of victims all across Canada – have been asking for: people found not criminally responsible get better supports than are currently in place; the community as a whole receives the protections [it] deserve[s]; and the families of victims finally get more time to heal,” reads a statement released by Clarke and her cousin, Stacy Galt, on the victims’ advocacy website 4darcie.ca. Allan Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder for the murders of his and Clarke’s children, 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-
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ing, it gets royal assent and becomes law. “This is a bill that reminds the courts and provincial review boards that victims matter. In fact, it is more than a reminder that victims matter — it will hopefully soon be the law,” the statement says. The bill also addresses imbalances in the legislation surrounding those found not criminally responsible, including that there is no legal obligation to notify members of the community if a high-risk offender leaves or escapes from a facility, and treating and classifying those with lengthy violent histories differently
than those with mental disorders, the statement says. In 2011, the B.C. Review Board granted Schoenborn escorted visits into the community from the Port Coquitlam psychiatric facility where he was being held. That permission was revoked after opposition from Clarke’s family, who said she was living nearby. Schoenborn’s request to transfer to a psychiatric facility in Selkirk, Man. was approved by the B.C. Review Board in February, but has yet to be carried out. Clarke’s family opposes that move as well, saying she has family in the Selkirk area.
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old Max, and five-year-old Cordon. Clarke and Galt have worked with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Attorney General Rob Nicholson and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore on the bill for nearly five years. They say the changes will bring victims’ rights into balance with those of people found not criminally responsible. The bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons late last month with a vote of 242 to 34 and will now be reviewed by a committee and reported on before its third reading. If the bill basses its third read-
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