In a sign the Dexter government plans to tough out criticism of its handling of the Talbot House fiasco, the Department of Community Services (DCS) has posted the report of its controversial organizational review of the much admired Cape Breton addiction recovery centre. In response, the Talbot House Society's board of directors released a detailed, point-by-point response to the DCS report. You can read the DCS report here; the response of the Talbot House board here. I have only had a few minutes to scan both of these documents. I am struck by how much the DCS report relies on third-party hearsay that the...

16 April, 2012

I don't know which is more disturbing: The NDP Government's success in persuading a Supreme Court justice to impose a $5,725 fine on a man found innocent of the crime with which he had been charged; or Finance Minister Graham Steele's crowing about this 'victory" in a news release. [caption id="attachment_8539" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Acting Justice Minister Graham Steele [not exactly as illustrated"]"][/caption]CBRM's finest didn't have the goods on John Joseph Reynolds.They raided his Sydney Mines apartment last February, seized a bit of pot and and some hidden cash, but they couldn't prove he was selling marijuana, and they knew it. So they withdrew...

22 September, 2011

In a local triumph for social media, Donnie Calabrese got his computer back today, 145 days after it was scooped up in a CBRM Police investigation of someone else, and one day after Donnie wrote a Facebook post about his frustrated attempts to reclaim it. From Donnie's Facebook wall today: Dear Friends, Got a call from the police at 11am. Got my computer back at 12. This has been one of the greatest most uplifting experiences of my life. I have infinite confidence in the competence and fortitude of all of my friends. I thank everyone who shared this, got angry,...

17 May, 2011

Five months ago, Cape Breton Regional Police seized a computer belonging to Donnie Calabrese, a young self-employed musician, writer, events coordinator, and community volunteer. Here's his account of what followed, posted today on his Facebook page: On December 22, 2010 the police nabbed my computer. They were executing a search warrant on a case unrelated to me, in fact unrelated to anyone in my dwelling, and had to take all of our computers. Drag. The fellows who came to the house were regretful. My plight did not fall on deaf ears. "Yeah, this happens, we need to take all the...

16 May, 2011