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‘Whisper’ campaign sparks legal threats BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
teach, it’s just such a massive job,” she said. “It might be a pipe dream but I am hoping Buster might turn into the poster cat for kids to learn how to take care of a pet, what’s right, what’s wrong.” Through the years, Schumacher has volunteered with groups including the Royal City Humane Society, Pacific Volunteer Education and Assistance Team, and Action for Animals in Distress. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some local volunteers travelled to the United States to help animals that were left homeless by the disaster. Schumacher stayed at
A council candidate filed a complaint with city hall after receiving a “threatening” phone call from Coun. Lorrie Williams, but the veteran councillor says she was merely trying to put an end to a “whisper campaign” claiming she has Alzheimer’s disease. Scott McIntosh contacted the city after receiving an after-hours call from Williams in June. During the call, which was made from city hall, McIntosh said Williams was “very demanding and threatening” about whether he was going to run for council and she made “verbal attacks” that were directed at him and his family. “Her intention of this demented phone call was to intimidate me as a new potential candidate and attack my mother,” he wrote in a letter to The Record. According to McIntosh, he ended the call when Williams didn’t respect his request that she talk to him in a more respectful way. He said she called demanding an apology for telling people she has Alzheimer’s disease, which he denied. McIntosh said “numerous” people have told him they have concerns about Williams’ health, but he denied telling people she has Alzheimer’s and said he doesn’t know her well enough to make that judgment. Williams told The Record she called McIntosh after hearing from people, including one of McIntosh’s co-workers in the City of Vancouver, that he’d been telling people she had Alzheimer’s. “I am perfectly within my rights to ask someone why they are lying about me. I don’t regret it at all,” she said.
◗Buster Page 9
◗Williams Page 3
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Feline friends: Kristin Schumacher, a longtime volunteer and board member with animal rescue groups, has written a children’s book with the goal of teaching responsible pet ownership to children. A portion of the proceeds of Buster’s Winter Folly will go to Pacific Volunteer Education and Assistance Team, a New Westminster-based animal organization.
All for the love of Buster BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
Buster’s Winter Folly has been a labour of love for first-time author Kristin Schumacher. Schumacher, who had her first rescue cat Charlie at the tender age of three, has volunteered with numerous rescue groups through the years. It was through the Burnaby-based Action for Animals in Distress Society that she met Buster, the inspiration for her newly released children’s book. “What I am trying to do is to reach out to children,” she said. “This will be the first
in a series of books on how to take care of a pet, but not in a lecturing way, more in a story way.” Schumacher, a longtime volunteer and board member with animal rescue groups, wants to help teach children that animals are not disposable and they have feelings. Because of time constraints, Schumacher said it’s challenging for rescue organizations to get into the schools and teach kids that animals aren’t disposable and have feelings, so she’d love to get the book into the school system. “The most important thing I want to get through to the readers is it’s not that rescues don’t try to get into the schools to
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