Banner Responds to Courier Story

As to the article by Mike Howell which appeared May 27th in The Courier:

There are several sources providing information related to alleged shoplifters being beaten at Super Valu. The sources are not at the moment inclined to leave their names for obvious security concerns. The shoplifters themselves are equally uninterested in advertising their names or whereabouts, and the fact that Constable Chow can’t find anything in his files about these beatings may be connected to the fact that the store management did not call the police on the occasions when they were beating alleged shoplifters.

The police who know this beat I suspect are aware as to what happens at this location.

As to the implication I am leading this campaign to attract attention to myself, I consider this a low blow. The attention here needs to go to the cause of uprooting a criminal element in our community. And that won’t happen with apathy and grocery shopping at a location that has dubious means of dealing with people. And neither will it happen with reporters who toss soft lobs at the gang whose members have been charged with murder and drug dealing while hinting that this citizen (of no criminal record) is somehow to be suspect: “He describes himself as a script writer…”.

My publishing of The Wendy King Story resulted in the resignation of John Farris, Chief Justice of the B.C. Supreme Court, as it exposed him to be scandalously involved with prostitution, and my record as newspaper publisher/editor will show that I have always fought the hypocritical elitists, establishment corruption and advocated for the poor and homeless. The stories in the Banner are entirely in keeping with that history. The fact that I am the author of a 400 page novel also tends to suggest that I am somewhat more than a “script writer” which I mentioned in the interview as one of my literary activities.

I am disinclined to offer to reporters too much personal detail once again for security reasons.

Which brings me to my real argument which is with the very existence of the Hells’ Angels and what their activities are about. All throughout the short history of The English Bay Banner, I have repeated in one way or another my deeply felt objection to any member of the Hells Angels blithely doing business in the neighbourhood as though all the previous crimes of many of their members are just as well forgotten while we all go rent a Mary Poppins video from them and buy a popsicle for Johnny (before he gets hooked on meth).

-FOR COPY OF TEXT OF COURIER ARTICLE, SEE COMMENT POSTED BELOW.