It's been a while since I've made a post. It's not lack of interest in this blog, but rather a ton of interest on my business side of life. For the last many months, we've been making tracks for an acquisition with sitebrand.com and that finally came to a close on March 19th! It's all good and I'm finally back.
I have to tell you about today! I've posted about David Dobson before - he raped, tortured and murdered 16 year old Darlene Prioriello back in 1982. Well today, Dobson had his first parole review. Unlike Ralph Power, he went for it but to everyone's delight, the board denied him the right to parole. Not even day parole at this point in time. What an experience it was. I am so drained. And I can only imagine how Darlene's family feels. Remember Terri from Bill C-13? Well Terri and I finally got to meet in person. She is the sister of Darlene who they call Dolly. Terri, as well as her daughter and mother made victim impact statements today. They were so strong, so meaningful.
Dobson was totally polished and prepared. He poured it on with sobs and he begged the family to forgive him. He is, after all, a new spiritual man. Aren't they all!?
I have to say that I was quite impressed with the overall parole review process - namely the 3 board members who ran the show so to speak. Wow they were good. They came prepared - i.e. they read through Dobson's thick file and they asked him very pointed questions.
Needless to say, he caught himself in many lies - ok inconsistencies.
It was a very long review - longer than the norm I guess. We were there as of 8 am and we didn't leave till almost 3 pm.
Why did I attend (and my parents)? We wanted to show our support. We live this nightmare too. We also wanted to better understand the process since we don't know how long Power will waive his right to a parole review. Remember he waived his first review last June/06. His next review will be scheduled for May/08 = next spring.
Karen Thompson - a comms person with the National Parole Board - was there today too. She is a good person. She does what she can given the constraints of the system.
The overall feeling at the conclusion of today's review was RELIEF. At least for now. Dobson will surely go for this review every two year....unlike Power who remains a mystery in this regard.
There were lots of media today - Globe and Mail, Toronto Sun, Kingston Whig Standard, CTV, Global...maybe even more. The room was packed and in fact, they had to turn interested observers away. How's that for nuts? I think they should simply find a bigger room!
Anyhow, I'm wiped, and ready to sign off.
Promise to be back soon! cg
