Safely in England again...

Well we are in England..on our last leg to Russia... it will be our last legs if we don't get some good sleep! Erica , as usual, did a great job of maneuvering Heathrow and picking us up. We had a great flight...can hardly wait till tomorrow. Had a great meal and good times with Erica, one of her friends and the boys and Emily. Lots of laughs! Keep tuned to davidanderinjames.blogspot.com for uptodate pictures of us in Russia!

Almost Christmas Now...

I just blogged my heart out now its time for something happy.

Christmas is coming!!!!!!!!!

One week away and Andy and I will be heading to England then Russia. (Have I mentioned that before?) I have been packing and repacking trying to get all the little goodies people have given us for David and Erin into a reasonably sized suitcase! There's still room!

We hope all of you who know us and read this have a very joyful Christmas!

I can't promise Christmas cards but we will do our best...some of you don't even know where we live!

Be assured we love you and you are important to us...

life just gets in the way...and we are terribly disorganized!

Thank you Amy...

The following blogs relate to Amy and her more than 3 year battle to protect others.
I'm proud of you Amy. If your parents had been brighter way back when, this would not have been your battle but ours. You have helped us 'smarten up'. God's heart is furious and grieved against injustice of all kinds...but especially when it involves children. There is a final 'court' coming and there will be nothing hidden there! AMEN!

Letter to the Editor...

For those of you who don't know: Andy and I were in Thunder Bay Dec 12, for the sentencing of Lorne Gibson, a man from Dorion that sexually assaulted Amy when she worked for him as a young teen. Below is the newspaper article written after the sentencing, followed by Amy's letter to the editor with her reactions, and then some of my thoughts. I always find relief in venting on paper. I may send the first one to the newspaper also.

Senior sentenced for sexual assault By JIM KELLY Dec 13, 2005, 22:50

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A 72-year-old Thunder Bay-area man was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day Monday for sexual exploitation involving a teenage girl.
Superior Court Justice Helen Pierce gave him a concurrent conditional sentence after he was earlier found guilty of sexual assault on another teenage girl.
One of the complainants was between 14 and 17 when the sexual exploitation was committed between Oct. 30, 1990, and Aug. 31, 1994, while the second complainant was between 12 and 14 when she was sexually assaulted between Jan. 1, 1985, and Dec. 31, 1987.
In handing down sentence Monday, Pierce said the man was a first-time offender and had expressed remorse for both offences.
While caring for his infirm mother, he also volunteered, prior to sentencing, with two community services in Thunder Bay.
“He has shown himself amenable to community supervision and he is personally deterred,” Pierce said.
She said in her judgment that the consensual nature of the sexual exploitation offence must be considered.
The man must abide by a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew except for a medical emergency for himself or a family member.
He must attend out-patient counselling for sexual misconduct and will be on three years probation when the conditional sentence has been served.
He must also register with the national sex offender registry and submit a DNA sample.
Other than apologizing to the victims, he is not to have any contact with them or their families.

Earlier evidence showed the two girls worked for him in a variety of tasks including doing paperwork for his insurance business.
Pierce issued a court order prohibiting publication of information that might identify the complainants, including the name of the accused.
Defence counsel Lee Baig said reformatories are not designed for elderly convicts such as his client.
“They find those institutions very dangerous, very threatening and a very difficult place to exist.”
Baig hired criminologist Matthew Yeager of Ottawa to interview his client, the client’s family and others.
Yeager ordered a forensic evaluation which was performed by Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital’s Dr. Robert Sheppard.
Yeager told Baig that Sheppard had found no evidence of long-term pedophiliac interest and that the man was a “low-threat, low-risk” individual.
Yeager said Sheppard concluded there was no sexual deviance.
“What happened was the result of poor judgment, isolation and the breakdown of his marriage.”
Crown counsel David MacKenzie said the sentence should be proportionate to the gravity of the offence.
“There’s no question he has committed serious offences,” MacKenzie said. “He betrayed the trust of two young girls.
“The impact on the victims warrants a serious sentence.”
MacKenzie said incarceration of some sort was necessary.
The victim who was sexually assaulted said she was disappointed with the penalty.
“I know he is a danger to the community still,” the woman, who is now 32, said outside court Monday.
“House arrest is basically a slap on the wrists considering the crime took place in his house.”
She said she still suffers post traumatic stress, almost 20 years after the assault. She is taking medication for depression and anxiety and is seeing a counsellor.
The other victim, now 29, said every aspect of her life has been affected.
“I lost a relationship because of this mess,” she said, “and he gets to sit in the house where the crime was committed.”
She said she didn’t understand how the man could say the acts were consensual.
“It’s absolutely disgusting that people get away with things like this. If he robbed a bank, he’d get 25 years.
“But when is a human being considered less than material things?”

© Copyright by Chronicle Journal.com

Amy's Response to Sentencing...

This is how Amy felt after the sentencing of Lorne Gibson in Thunder Bay.

re: Senior Citizen Sentenced (December 13th)

I am one of the victims in this case but due to a
publication ban your paper is not allowed to print my
name or the name of the man guilty of this crime.  I
wish it could.  It was my aim in coming forward to put
an end to the secrecy ... to expose this sexual
predator to the community of Dorion and in doing so
hopefully save others from the trauma I suffered while
in his employ.  While the 'guilty' verdict in June was
a huge affirmation of my pain the sentence on December
12th was completely invalidating - a slap in the face.
Especially disturbing were the findings of Mr. Yeager
- the man hired by the defence to determine the
current risk that the guilty man posed to the
community.  Mr. Yeager claimed that risk of
reoffending was 2% based on clinical studies and
testimonies given by the accused and members of his
family and community.  What Mr. Yeager failed to do
was interview any of the other young girls who had
worked for the accused in the time since the crime
against me.  Had he done this he may have found that
there were many others who were sexually assaulted or
molested by the accused. In fact, the very reason I
came forward was because I discovered someone very
dear to me was being molested while working for the
accused, and this was as recent as 2002.  It behooves
me to understand why any of THIS information failed to
surface.  Had he done his job thoroughly and
objectively Mr. Yeager would surely have come to a
vastly different conclusion and the accused would be
behind bars today - leaving the community of Dorion a
much safer place!

~ a victim revictimized


Amy Rish (nee James)
(403) 443 7584

This is how I felt...with a clarification that we are not looking for revenge, or retribution. I'd be the first to react warmly to Lorne 'if' he showed any signs of remorse or repentence...but he doesn't. (Saying 'I'm sorry' to those examining you to see if you are remorseful just doesn't cut it!) All of us there have a measure of anger, frustration and disappointment, which in my case, comes out harshly and with sarcasm. My apologies...but it is my 'venting' space!

Re: SENIOR CITIZEN SENTENCED....
Yesterday I watched as the wheels of justice crushed two well meaning, sincere young women whose only desire was to see other girls like themselves be protected against who they believe to be sexual predator. Why else would they go through the three years of mental anguish, the humiliation of telling their story in a court room, the further humiliation of a defense who treated them with sarcasm, disdain and patronizing disrespect? But justice was blind...at least the judge was...because she only had the evidence that was allowed. Not the testimony of a young girl who worked for the accused as recently as three years ago, (it was felt it wasn't strong enough to withstand the cross examination, not that it wasn't true!) not the police report because there was a plea bargain that kept that report and the full statement of one of the witnesses from her sight, ) not the testimony of others who wouldn't come forward because they knew the trauma, stress and humiliation they would face...and for what? A slap on the wrist, a home confinement from the hours of 7pm-6am, community service with lots of opportunity to meet destitute young women ripe for the picking! No, judge, citizens of Thunder Bay, justice was not done. He is not out of circulation, in our opinion (and with good reason) he is not remorseful (I wish to God he were), he is a predator and you don't even know his name!
Charlotte James

RE: SENIOR CITIZEN SENTENCED
My hat is off to the policepersons who spend hours and hours investigating crimes of a sexual nature, especially against our young people. They work hard trying to keep our young people safe from sexual predators. They get little help, people are afraid, ashamed, they can't take the stress of telling; but they go on, gently probing for the truth. But all too often they get to court with their well documented findings only to have it all come crashing down, thrown out, plea bargained away, because of our justice system. Oh its all legal and above board...but its wrong. We are paying these people to do a thankless job but are we willing to back them, to stand with them and say STOP to sexual predators...ENOUGH hurting our children? To even thank them?
I say THANK YOU to the police person who worked this case. You did a fantastic job. Keep up the good work! Don't get weary of well doing!
Charlotte James
Calgary

I write the following in response to the absurd, inane and blatantly false things people said to me during this ordeal....what they 'knew' from hearsay.
DORION, THUNDER BAY, ARE YOU THERE?
A man in your community has been accused and convicted of sexually assaulting children.

Were you there to support the victims, to hear the truth, to support your police force, to find out who the perpetrator was so you could protect your children? If not there's a problem. The judge, let alone the victims, don't know you care...your protection agency feels it is alone in this fight. This man is to be registered as a sex offender...yet allowed to live amongst you and your children, no jail time, confined at night to his home..where oddly most of his known 'indiscressions' took place. This man and others like him are in your neighborhoods.

Please purposefully increase your awareness of this problem and decide that you have a responsibility to help your community stop sexual predators, especially from having the freedom to grossly violate the innocence of your children and then walk virtually free to do it again and again.
Charlotte James

Even Amanda's dog, Jake, got in on the week of celebrations. First Brad's birthday, then Ethan's birthday, and finally the church Christmas program and supper. Its been great and fun! Keeping us all busy! Now the girls (Sierra and Ocean) and I are trying to do Christmas Crafts.....
This weekend Andy and I will be in Thunder Bay for two days ... hope to see lots of friends. Then its two weeks till Christmas AND RUSSIA!!!!!!!!!! 

Ethan put on quite a show with his new horse! We alternated between laughing and fearing for his life! He is 'all boy'! 

Ethan's second birthday!!! 

Brad's 11th...Ocean loves everything about birthdays! 

My favorite job...babysitting Ocean!!!!  

Bradley's birthday.....No more cake!!!! 

Another week has gone...It won't be long till we are in Russia. In a week we'll be in Thunder Bay for a very quick visit. We have snow and very cold right now in Calgary. Amanda and I have our parts of the house decorated for Christmas. Bradley and Ocean and Sierra helped me downstairs. Its a GREAT Christmas house.