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RCMP needlessly shut off traffic to bridge - even to life-saving ambulance service!
THE SURREY LEADER - 29 Sept., 2004
By Julia Caranci - Regional Reporter A pseudo-superhero managed to single-handedly close one of the busiest bridges in the Lower Mainland for several hours last weekend. Robin - also known as Hal Legere - donned safety ropes, a harness and a mask at 4 a.m. Saturday and climbed to the top of the Pattullo Bridge, which spans the Fraser River, linking Surrey and New Westminster. Legere said it was still dark when he made the climb - he had a short nap at the top while waiting for daylight. The masked crusader then unfurled a banner. Two supporters, Batman and Spiderman, waved signs in support of Legere while standing on a pedestrian overpass below. Legere and his sidekicks took part in the unusual protest as members of the Canadian branch of Fathers 4 Justice, an organization founded in Britain that, according to its website, pledges to mount a "non-violent direct action campaign for the basic human right of children to enjoy an equal relationship with both parents after divorce or separation." Police were notified of the protest at 6:30 a.m. and quickly moved in, closing down both sides of the bridge. Legere said he chose the Pattullo because it is a busy crossing - he hoped to reach as many people as possible, and was disappointed police closed the bridge. "That was their decision, not mine," he said. "There were no safety issues here. We're not into people getting hurt." Legere told a negotiator who scaled a fire ladder to reach him that he would remain atop the bridge all weekend. However, he eventually agreed to come down at about 11:30 a.m. Surrey RCMP Const. Marc Searle said his members were duty-bound to place themselves at risk to aid Legere, and anything could have happened. ["anything could have happened" SAY WHAT!!! Is this a thinly veiled police threat against Mr. Legere's life, OR is it a confession of police incompetence in dealing with a peaceful protestor who they were readily and immediately aware was safely harnessed to an inspection walkway?] "Nobility of cause does not obscure social responsibility," Searle said, adding the closure of the bridge was a frustration for drivers and could have severely hampered the progress of emergency vehicles. [SO WHY DID THE POLICE DO SO, THEN? At the absolute most, the police would have had to block two of the four lanes, and safely direct traffic over the bridge as they are [presumably] trained to do when, for example, accidents occur on bridges or other traffic arteries.] The action also tied up police, fire and coast guard personnel for the entire morning. [WHAAAA! In the meantime, police and government tie up TENS OF THOUSANDS of families [the heart and core of our nation] and their resources for YEARS in kangaroo courts, without lawful justification or authority. For example, the "For the Sake of the Children" [house/senate] report on reforms to the family law system has been consistently delayed by the Federal "government" since 1998; that is a SIX YEAR 'tie up'. Does the RCMP "leadership" view the temporary delay of weekend traffic [which they unilaterally perpetrated on the public THEMSELVES] for a few hours as a "public safety matter", but see no issue in the systemic abuse of 50 thousand children every year in Canada? The fact of the matter is, the Police see no problem in ROUTINELY tying up and delaying traffic for ALL MANNER of causes that they presumably judge as "socially responsible", but which are mostly motivated by a thirst to plunder cash from the public, yet now claim motives don't matter (?).] A charge of mischief has been recommended to Crown counsel. [So are the police going to charge themselves for needlessly closing the ENTIRE bridge; calling on the coast guard; and pulling away a handful of officers from writing up speeding tickets or finishing their coffee, given the fact that the evidence [which we just read] does NOT support their decision to do ANY of those things, save perhaps for directing traffic past one small section of a bridge?] Legere said his actions were necessary to focus attention on the issue of fathers' rights. [Or more specifically, the fundamental RIGHT of ALL
people to exercise their RIGHT of liberty and freedom from illegitimate
[UNLAWFUL] government aggression. Which we now see the RCMP wholeheartedly
supports.] "This is going to continue and it's going to grow. This
is just the beginning." See
how "Federal Government" is acting well beyond any legitimate authority it might
claim to form a federal government, and how we were fooled into excepting them
as having any authority or consent to govern us.
This is an illegitimate pirate government junta, with an illegitimate military
puppet police Gestapo enforcing their Roman Club rules and regulations on a FREE
people. WAKE UP! Will Canada welcome superhero's battle for justice? Man Dressed As Super Hero Scales Bridge September 25, 2004 He emerged from the mist around six this morning determined to draw attention to the issue of child access. So, wearing a costume any kid would appreciate, the middle-aged man dressed as Boy Wonder Robin, as in Batman and Robin, dropped a banner and refused to budge.   The result was a backlog of traffic in both directions. Anyone wanting to take the Pattullo was out of luck. That included cyclists who, like the media, were kept so far away from the scene, they couldn't even read the banner, and didn't know until we told them what the protest was all about. A similar stunt was pulled at Buckingham Palace just two weeks ago when a man wearing a Batman outfit snuck past security and scaled a wall. He also belonged to Fathers For Justice, a group bent on using non-violent civil disobedience in order to make its point. Robin, who tied up traffic, police, fire and the coast guard, couldn't be talked down. Finally, after several cigarettes and hours of conversation with a negotiator, a compromise was struck. Police would load the media into a paddy wagon and deposit them close enough to get the pictures that would get Robin's point across. It seemed like the solution both sides had been seeking. But that lasted all of five minutes, because according to Robin, the cameras weren't close enough.
Five hours after the road block went up, the bridge was re-opened. And with Robin under arrest, a spokesperson for Fathers For Justice was left to defend the decision to inconvenience so many people. [Speaking of "inconvenience": The "government" of Canada alienates more than 50,000 children from their parents [overwhelmingly Fathers] every year, through biased family law legislation. In December of 1998, a joint Senate/House committee recommended some two dozen reforms to "Family Law" that would have given children greater access to BOTH parents. The Liberals are "still studying the reforms".] http://www.bcctv.ca/topnews.jsp?id=/news/stories/2004/09/news-20040925-01.htm
RCMP set up 'speed check' on same bridge as F4J protest - pregnant woman dies.
Police release name of woman who died fleeing speed check
Global Broadcast News, Thursday, January 06, 2005
Surrey RCMP have released the name of a 30-year-old pregnant woman who was
killed in a car crash after she fled a police speed check Wednesday. Police say Cairns had initially stopped for an officer
checking speeds, but then suddenly drove away before crashing head-on into a
tree.
Fast grown into militant force.
Tue 14 September, 2004
Surrey Mayor wants harsh treatment for fathers who fight for right to see their children. THE NOW NEWSPAPER 29 Sept., 2004 'Boy Wonder' shuts down bridge By Tom Zytaruk The Surrey RCMP and New Westminster police are no superheroes for closing the Pattullo Bridge on Saturday morning, says a man who dressed up as Robin and perched on the bridge for nearly five hours to protest what he believes is court bias in child custody cases. Hal Legere - a.k.a. the Boy Wonder - was arrested after climbing onto the girders high above the bridge deck at about 4 a.m. Saturday and unfurling a large banner supporting Fathers4Justice. "A charge of mischief will be recommended to Crown counsel," Surrey RCMP Sgt. Dave Attfield said. The traffic congestion that resulted enraged even Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. "He's just seeking publicity," said McCallum, adding that "thousands" of motorists were inconvenienced by the stunt. "He should get treated as harsh as the courts can." But Legere doesn't agree. "The police, in order to establish the justification to charge me with something because of the political aspects of what I was doing, blocked the bridge," he said. But Surrey RCMP Const. Marc Searle said police had to close the bridge because they couldn't tell what Legere planned to do. "Safety is paramount," he said. "You always approach this with an abundance of caution." Fathers4Justice has been staging protests in the UK for some time now, "campaigning for children's rights to see both parents." But the group is new to Canada and the U.S. Some members dress up as comic book superheroes and stage zany public protests against what they perceive to be unnecessarily adversarial court systems that are biased against dads in child custody cases. Legere, 48, is a New Westminster steam engineer who shares custody of his three sons with his ex-wife, following court battles he says cost about $150,000 since the couple separated in 1998. Asked why he dressed as Robin, Legere, Fathers4Justice co-ordinator for B.C., said "the whole idea that it came from is fathers are superheroes to their children." He said he was prepared to stay up on the bridge - with his 10 foot by four foot banner - all weekend, until police told him to get down. Legere said he showed police his safety harness and WCB-approved safety lanyards, and suggested that they should move their cars as they were causing "unnecessary blockage of traffic." Legere said he expects similar stunts across the county if some changes aren't made to the family court system soon. "We're fed up with the crap," he said. Maple Ridge resident Rob Robinson pulled the group's first protest stunt in Canada in May, when he dressed up as Batman and perched atop a 120-foot-high crane in Burnaby for 18 hours. His stunt netted him a mischief charge. As for Legere, he said, "I thought what he did was great. Spiderman's a-coming, that's all I can tell you." Steve Osborne, national co-ordinator of Fathers4Justice, says fathers are losing contact with their children all over Canada. "We have no effective mechanisms to enforce access orders," he said in an interview from St. John, New Brunswick. *Publisher Steven W. Malkowich smalkowich@thenownewspaper.com Editor Corry Anderson canderson@thenownewspaper.com http://www.thenownewspaper.com/issues04/094204/news/094204nn1.html The mysterious case of the disappearing BBC webpage? http://men.typepad.com/mens_hour/2004/02/the_mysterious_.html
In researching for related items about the last post
Fathers 4 Justice meet Minister as Civil Disruption Looms I looked for pieces on
Fathers 4 Justice. I found a webpage reported as on the BBC website but it
wasn't there. You get " Page Not Found ".
So I went to the BBC search itself. BBC Search for "fathers 4 justice". The third item down is Caped crusaders stand up for dads except it isn't there. There's a cached version which includes "Police crackdown".
Looking around this is the only place on the BBC website that mentions the raids. The arrests are mentioned elsewhere but not the raids. The raids are mentioned in other places. Yahoo Police raid "superhero" fathers in protests. Police said raids had been carried out at addresses in London and in the south and west of the country and London Evening Standard Arrests halt fathers' rights demos The group campaigning for the rights of fathers separated from their children has called off protests planned for today after police raids on the homes of its members. Now maybe there's a minor problem with one webpage on the BBC site or maybe the BBC doesn't want to say that the fathers are being treated badly in any way, in other words it's just a bunch of men complaining about nothing. Maybe I'm paranoid or maybe they're out to get me. Probably both. Here is the
cached version on Google.
In his spare time, Jolly Stanesby dons a Spiderman costume and climbs tall buildings - from 100-foot cranes to the Royal Court of Justice. It is a strange compulsion - but this is more than just a hobby. Rather, it is a new form of political demonstration carried out on behalf of Fathers 4 Justice (F4J). F4J is calling for radical reforms of the ways child access is decided, claiming courts are inherently biased against fathers. The group has threatened ongoing civil disobedience unless its demands are met, and irate fathers - all dressed as superheroes - have been spotted dangling from tall buildings all over Britain in recent days. Absolute nightmare The protests are not easy - he did not get much sleep during his week on the Tamar Bridge - but he believes they are the only way of bringing the issue into the spotlight. "We live in quite a selfish society... we like to get on with our own lives, but this affects everybody," said Mr Stanesby, from Ivybridge in Devon. Head to head Matt O'Connor, who founded Fathers 4 Justice following a "pretty horrific experience" in the family courts, agrees. "The injustice was so shocking that I felt compelled to do something to try and bring around a change in the law," he said. Mr O'Connor says the current system is too adversarial. "It puts you head to head - it's a winner takes all thing," he said. "To prove who's the best parent you have to prove who's the worst." The attention won by F4J's caped crusaders has brought the group two meetings with Lord Filkin, the junior minister for family justice at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). "What we want to see is a blueprint for family law," says Mr O'Connor. "Family law doesn't just need tinkering with," he said. "We're after a total and fundamental top-to-tail revolution, to change the way we've been thinking about children and families." But while the DCA confirmed Lord Filkin had held "private, low-key discussions" with F4J, it suggested major legal reforms were unlikely. Christina Blacklaws, chair of the Law Society's Family Law Committee, concurred, saying that changing the law was less important than educating and informing parents. "It's not about fathers' or mothers' or parents' rights
at all, it's about children's rights, and that's embodied in the Children's
Act," she said. Ms Blacklaws said any changes would come about "not because of the publicity that Fathers 4 Justice have caused, but because this is a concern that anybody involved in the family justice system has". "We all have the same concern, which is that the system works well for children," she said. Serious reform: Some fathers' rights campaigners have refused to give F4J's radical demonstrations their full support. Jack O'Sullivan, a spokesperson for the Fathers Direct support group, said: "We agree that the family court system needs serious reform." But he added: "We're not advocating the reforms they're advocating." "There is room for peaceful protest in our society," he said. "But the danger is that this type of conflict makes it more difficult for some people to listen to justified complaints." [Why? Justice is non negotiable, and the "conflict" is solely the responsibility of the courts, who are committing blatant assaults on our fundamental rights] Police crackdown: The F4J protests have caused traffic chaos as the authorities closed roads beneath the demonstrators on safety grounds. In response, the police have begun a crackdown on F4J, arresting demonstrators and raiding the homes of a number of those involved. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens had earlier said: "We have got to put a stop to this type of event that causes incredible inconvenience [and] costs an awful lot of money." "The Spiderman stunt involving the crane also had the added complication of health and safety implications," the police chief said. Mr Stanesby seems unconcerned, though. "I've been tortured, that's what it feels like," he says. "If I was put in prison at the moment it'd be a relief from all this." "I want to be a proper dad to my daughter, and I won't give up until I'm allowed to be." So police forces are invading the homes of Dads fighting for their inalienable right to love and care for their children? And we call ourselves civilized? One wonders, therefore, when the first Dad will be shot dead by blind and obedient Government Police Forces? Will the gloves come off, then?
URL: http://tinyurl.com/52vom THE TELEGRAPH (UK) 'Spiderman' closes London Eye in child protest The fathers' rights campaigner who he staged a six-day crane-top vigil dressed as Spiderman at Tower Bridge has now brought the London Eye to a halt.  David Chick gained access to the tourist attraction before 4am this morning by claiming to be a workman, according to a spokesman for pressure group Fathers 4 Justice. He then climbed to the top of the 450-feet structure dressed as Spiderman in protest at being denied access to his four-year-old daughter. London Eye shareholder British Airways said it did not know how Mr Chick evaded security but described the breach as "unacceptable". A spokesman said: "We don't know how he gained access to the wheel. He obviously got past security somehow but it wasn't as straightforward as saying he was a maintenance man. "It will be looked at as part of a full investigation by the London Eye Company and we are taking this matter very seriously. We have extremely stringent security measures in place and will be looking urgently at how he got past them. It's unacceptable." Mr Chick has not seen his daughter since March 1, 2003, after his former partner denied him access - despite a court order allowing him two hours each fortnight. Today, he said in a statement: "My protest has moved forward, and has had to move forward, because nothing has changed to right the wrongs of one parent blocking an ex-partner access to their children in defiance of a court order." Mr Chick added he was not a "troublemaker or attention seeker" but was simply trying to maintain a normal father-daughter relationship. "The British justice system has completely failed my child and I," he said. "To those who have been inconvenienced by my protest, I apologise. Police were called to the wheel, billed as the world's highest observational wheel, at 3.49am this morning. The area has been cordoned off and the London Eye will remain closed while the father-of-one continues his protest.
Photo: Spiderman, acting on behalf of Fathers 4 Justice, was seen on the lawn of the Capitol of British Columbia this summer. English 'Bobbies' beating up grandmothers in effort to impose police nanny state!
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