As promised, Jazmine Humble (in the photo above right) attended the protest Friday outside the provincial courtroom where the case against Rambo the-mutt-who-looks-too-much-like-a-pit-bull opened.
Jazmine, you'll remember, was bitten badly in the face by a Cocker Spaniel a couple of years ago, but is a dog and animal lover nonetheless. She knows Gabriela Nowakowska, Rambo's owner, from shopping at the Starky's store where Nowakowska works.
Jazmine's mother Natalie had promised her daughter that she and her twin brother Tristan, could take the day off school to express their opinion about Rambo. She escorted her children into the courthouse where they listened intently while the preliminary legal skirmishes ensued.
Some quick impressions of the event: Nowakowska has a knowledgeable and able lawyer, Anik Morrow, who is thoroughly familiar with the entire pit bull legal morass. She was not impressed with the "threatening" letter the City initially sent Gabriela saying the dog would be put down unless she provided proof in five days he was not a pit bull, which is a tricky proposition even for experts.
"Mississauga has a bit of a snatch and kill policy," Morrow told reporters suggesting some of the other 28 dogs the municipality has euthanized under the policy may have been intimidated into acquiescing, even though their animals might not have been prohibited dogs.
Nowakowksa, who is just 20, is in this — not for the legal precedent, nor for the animal welfare lobby, nor for the (unwanted) publicity — but for Rambo. From the first time I talked to her when she was in hysterics Dec. 27 outside the animal shelter where she had taped a desperate note to City officials on the door, she has said the same thing that she told reporters Friday: "I just want my dog back."
It will be a long and winding road to a resolution of this case, which could be overtaken and/or rendered irrelevant by the larger appeal case of the pit bull law.
Bailing Rambo out of the hoosegow is a double-edged sword for the defence. It's hard to agree to conditions to muzzle Rambo, have him remain housebound or post bond for potential liability insurance without raising the spectre that he is, indeed, some kind of danger to society.
The bail issue is likely to be debated in earnest at the next court appearance Mar. 14.
• • •
There is a very interested spectator at Mississauga City Hall these days reading all those front-page stories about whether or not the Harper Tories tried to lure independent MP Chuck Cadman to vote against the Liberals and bring down the Paul Martin government in May 2005.
The vote was 153-152 when the Speaker of the House carried the day for the Liberals after two independents, Cadman and Mississauga-Erindale MP Carolyn Parrish, supported the government.
"I made it clear when I left the caucus that I would be voting with the Liberals so they didn't even approach me," Parrish said today.
She doesn't know anything about any Tory offer to pay life insurance premiums but she does think she knows why Cadman voted as he did. "If an MP dies while the House is in session, his spouse automatically gets two-and-a-half times the salary. He was a really dedicated family guy. He would not have left his wife high and dry if he could help it. If you know you are going to be dead in three weeks what do you do? That's why he voted to keep the government going."
Despite the consolation she keeps getting from sympathetic constituents who keep asking her if she's bored with municipal politics, the Ward 6 councillor is very glad to be out of Ottawa, "where everyone preens and parades around. They remind me of roosters in the barnyard."
In contrast to federal government where it takes "forever" to get anything done, you can actually get things done promptly in municipal government, she says. Suppose that includes succession planning for the mayor?
• • •
Jeff Healey lived in Mississauga for four years until he moved his estimated 30,000 78s and thousands albums to a new house in Etobicoke, which had to have specially reinforced floors to handle the load.
Most of those 78s represented the roots of New Orleans jazz from a bygone era, an era that Healey grew up revisiting through the old records and then passing on to a new generation of fans through the radio shows he hosted.
Blind since the age of one because of a rare form of cancer, Healey died of the disease yesterday.
He got famous playing lap-top electric guitar and playing electro-blues but his true musical love was the period of classic jazz in the first few decades of the 20th century. That's what he featured on his weekly radio show My Kinda Jazz Monday nights and early Sunday mornings.
He often used to muse about how wonderful it was to make a living playing your own record collection. He started a similar show called Sugarfoot Stomp, which is still on CIUT at 5:30 p.m. Thursdays, hosted by Healey friend, bandmate and fellow encyclopedic collector Colin Bray.
Usually I caught Jeff's show on Sunday mornings which it ran from 7- 9 a.m. He often packaged wonderful "theme" shows on the singing of (Buffalo's own) Harold Arlen or the small group sessions of the Ellingtonians. Best of all was when Jeff would start a session by saying, as he often did, "now here's a guy who was extremely influential who never got the recognition he deserved."
Then he play a couple of sides that would blow you away and come back on to say, 'Yeah, see what I mean?'
Interviewed Jeff once on the phone in 2003 before a November gig at the LAC. He explained how, while he made his living playing rock and blues, jazz lived in his soul.
“People are lifelong followers of this music,” said Healey. “There’s nobody I know who just dabbles in it. People have really stuck with it. It will get you early if you let it.”
He let it and the rest of us who had a chance to enjoy the rewards of his passion, were the richer for it.
Comments (12)
Brad Algar of Peterborough Humane Society will make run to border with "illegal" Ontario "pit bull" puppies.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=935147
Why?
[quote]The Humane Society must do the "right thing" and comply with the law, Algar said.
"But the right thing is not killing animals because the government says we must kill the animals," Algar said. [/quote]
Here`s hoping that Brad Algar runs for political office somewhere.
Mayor of Mississauga perhaps??
Premier of Ontario???
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 8, 2008 11:59 AM
Posted on March 8, 2008 11:59
Me, again, John.
Tossing this out to Mac's Gang.
Me, again, Mac's Gang,
Great noise there but --
You wrote:
Mac's Gang. McCallion HAS thought about it. At length. For three decades.
She has shaped the Province --believe it.
How else can you explain the Power of Ontario municipalities and nothing in the way of Accountability mechanisms in place?
There's a lot of "Uber Alles" goin' on inside those Mississauga Council chambers.
Bow wow, WOOOFFFF.
Posted by The Mississauga Muse | March 6, 2008 3:58 PM
Posted on March 6, 2008 15:58
Rambo Inc.
I suggest you consider having Rambo incorporated in the Province of Ontario.
Name the corporation something along the lines of, (you will have to do a title search for each of the names, the simpler the better) Rambo Inc., My Pet Dog Named Rambo Inc., Gabriela’s Rambo Dog Inc.
Declare Rambo as the primary asset of the Corporation.
State that preserving the structural integrity of this primary asset is the main function of the Corporation.
Declare all monies received (donations, money out of pocket etc.) as income of the Corporation.
Declare all costs such as legal fees, publicity, transportation, fines, fees and food as expenses.
File the Corporations taxes at years end.
For a small fee and with title search in hand you can line up at Government Services Ontario, in downtown Toronto and get incorporated within a few hours.
The benefits? Rambo Inc. would, like all Corporations, have natural person status.
Posted by Stephen Wahl | March 6, 2008 3:37 PM
Posted on March 6, 2008 15:37
[quote]Take it from me, Mac's Gang --someone from German ancestory.
"Just following the rules and doing your job, no matter what" is FAR FAR WORSE than incompetence.[/quote]
Oh I know Muse.
The Pibble Lobby as we`re called have to be careful using that analogy.
One person brought that up at the committee hearings and she never heard the end of it.
I knew the answer to my question before I asked it.
Sadly a lot of people don`t know the answer to that one.
That`s what is really frightening here!
Do your job no matter what???
Hazel,that`s crazy!
Sit down,have a cup of tea and think about that for a minute.
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 6, 2008 12:52 PM
Posted on March 6, 2008 12:52
Here`s another Ontario Owner and dog being threatened by their city due to Bill 132
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/34/please-help-us-save-our-dog
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 6, 2008 1:28 AM
Posted on March 6, 2008 01:28
Nice touch Hazel
[quote]Hazel McCallion is the mayor of Mississauga and a dog-owner.[/quote]
But you`re just the owner of a dog,not a "special" dog.
If you were the owner of a "special" dog,you`d be barking a very different tune.
The world is watching Mississauga and they are being asked to write,email,phone and fax your office continuously.
Humanity comes before a job or the law.
That`s something you politicians need to learn.
http://www.mississauganews.com/article/11835
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 6, 2008 1:13 AM
Posted on March 6, 2008 01:13
Hey there, John,
This is for Mac's Gang.
Hey, Mac's Gang! You wrote:
Take it from me, Mac's Gang --someone from German ancestory.
"Just following the rules and doing your job, no matter what" is FAR FAR WORSE than incompetence.
if you have a good-hearted person incompetent person, you can always train him. If he's not swift enough to train properly for the job, a good-hearted incompetent person is still better because he'd admit to errors that he's made. He'd accept responsibility.
Take it from someone who's heard the NAZI stories.
That Mr. "Just following the rules and doing your job, no matter what"?
He's the STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.
Believe it.
Posted by The Mississauga Muse | March 5, 2008 7:12 PM
Posted on March 5, 2008 19:12
What a spin!
Dog owners are fighting in the courts to save their beloved canine friends, spending thousands of their hard earned dollars, as their/ our tax dollars are paying for this ongoing slaughter.
This horrific ordeal exists if your dog may somehow, look "substantially similar" to a pit bull?
Bottom line, if racial profiling is wrong, why is not canine profiling?
Can common sense win out here?
Why cannot responsible dog owners absorb the cost of a temperament test, confirming their dog (of any shape, size, or breed) is not a danger, and then apply for a dog licence?
Posted by Liz Sullivan | March 5, 2008 6:45 PM
Posted on March 5, 2008 18:45
Apparently compassion and placing a phone call aren`t in the job description at
Toronto Animal Services.
A person doesn`t usually hire a lawyer to fight for a dog`s life then allow a deadline to slide by.
I don`t know which is worse
Incompetence or "Just following the rules and doing your job,no matter what"
I hope some heads roll!
[quote]Dear ...,
There was no intent to be dishonest. The deadline for serving a motion for appeal in Divisional Court is 15 days, not 30 days. Munchie's owners retained a lawyer who's obligation it is to ensure that his clients are well versed on the court process. I had no reason at all to believe that this lawyer had not informed his clients appropriately. Additionally, I gave an interview to the Toronto Star that was published in the February 23 Saturday edition. The article clearly stated the appeal deadline day, so again, there was no intent at all to be dishonest or withhold information. If Munchie's owners were not properly advised, I feel dreadful about that. If that in fact is the case, its clearly unacceptable. However, at this point, I don't know what has actually happened. Thank you for your interest and opinions in this case. As you can imagine, I am responding to a number of emails and will not be able to continue this correspondence with you.
Mary Lou Leiher
Supervisor Toronto Animal Services
(416) 338-6686[/quote]
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 5, 2008 12:07 AM
Posted on March 5, 2008 00:07
Between Jeff Healy, Randall Hill and Chuck Cadman, the theme of this week’s bent around cremations.
The author behind Bill 132 should have had , at the least, the dignity to personalize Munchies cremation ashes in an Urn before lacking in moral scruples decide to preserve 2000 pet cemeteries for premiers when Bill 25 comes up.
http://www.mainelyurns.com/pet-urns.html
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=295&isCurrent=false&ParlSessionID=38%3A2
Posted by Wayne Nagy | March 4, 2008 10:39 AM
Posted on March 4, 2008 10:39
RE: Rambo; After reading that Toronto Animal Services put down Munchie, before his appeal period was over, with no notice or warning to his owners, if I were Ms. Morrow? I would be demanding bail from the crown and not leave court without it. If not, Rambo, "the little pup who didn't do anything" may die before HIS time also.
Posted by Fayclis | March 4, 2008 12:54 AM
Posted on March 4, 2008 00:54
The lobby is also very concerned for Rambo but individual owners have to join the lobby and look at the bigger picture in Ontario.
I blog on behalf of Rambo and he should go home but the public has to realize that over 2000 Rambos have already been slaughtered in Ontario.
I believe Jasmine is a very bright young girl and she sees the bigger picture.
One dog usually draws you in to this BSL battle.
Let`s hope the rest of Ontario starts to "get it" and I commend Gabriela for fighting this in court.
The world is watching this case.
BadRap has mentioned Ontario in their latest blog entry.
That`s big time!
They know about Rambo and Munchie!
http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/2008/03/highs-lows.html
Hang in there Jasmine and Gabriela.More and more people around the world are getting angry!
You`re not alone in this fight.
Not by a long shot.
Posted by Mac`s Gang | March 3, 2008 6:42 PM
Posted on March 3, 2008 18:42