"Two Men Seriously Injured in Baseball Bat Attack"

Two Men Seriously Injured in Baseball Bat Attack

By: James Weldon

North Shore News

December 5, 2010

            This news article from the North Shore News talks about two men who are in the hospital due to serious injuries from being attacked with baseball bats in Lower Lonsdale on December 3, 2010 at 5 in the morning.  The whole attack started based on an argument that got out of hand and one of the two victims ended with a fractured skull. The two men that attacked the 20 and 21 year old men left the scene before the RCMP could get there. Once again, it is assumed that alcohol was the main factor that caused this attack in Lower Lonsdale. Apparently, the attack was in a Squamish neighborhood where the people do not like to get involved in these things and are “hesitant to come forward as witnesses” making it harder for the police to find the people who were responsible for this. If we see these things happening in our neighborhood, we should take the initiative and tell the police as soon as possible. It is up to us to protect our community and keeping it quiet might keep us out of trouble in a way but at the same time gives these people the freedom to do this anytime because they know we won’t tell the authorities. The fact that his has been increasing at a fast rate is something that puts all our lives in risk and we should all do whatever is possible to make life safer for us and for those around us. Mostly always these problems involve alcohol in one way or another and its not that young people need to stop using alcohol but they need to be more responsible if they are planning on drinking.

http://www.nsnews.com/news/seriously+injured+baseball+attack/3930125/story.html

"Teens Arrested in North Vancouver Driver Assault"

Teens arrested in North Vancouver driver assault

By: James Weldon

North Shore News

November 29, 2010

On November 27, at around 1a.m. two teenagers, both 17 were on a Coast Mountain bus around 15^th Street and Grand Boulevard, when they got into a fight with the bus driver. The fight seemed to have gotten out of control, putting the bus driver in the hospital. The reason for this attack is still unknown, but it is suspected that both teenagers were under the influence of alcohol. Both attackers were taken “into custody" shortly after this incident, and the bus driver was sent immediately to Lions Gate Hospital with serious head injuries. The suspects, a boy from North Vancouver and a girl from Coquitlam, were released to their parents a few hours after the arrest. It is expected that the bus driver will recover quite soon and although the injuries were serious they don't seem to have caused major damages to the victim. This news article shows us the many risks that come with being a bus driver. We mostly always think of bust drivers as people whose jobs are quite easy, but never think of how exposed they are to danger. These people spend their nights driving us around, but many times these busses have little or no people traveling in them, which is when things can get dangerous for a bus driver. Bus drivers often deal with people who have been drinking and are not thinking straight. These kinds of situation make a bus driver’s job more complicated than just driving around. Seeing things like this is what we need in order to truly appreciate how much bus drivers do for us and how much they expose their lives to just drive us around. Hopefully, this will be something that supervisors for these people will take into consideration and try to make it safer for bus drivers to go to work.

http://www.nsnews.com/news/Teens+arrested+North+Vancouver+driver+assault/3902228/story.html



"UN Extends Afghanistan Mission"

"UN Extends Afghanistan Mission"
By Marco T' Hoen
Epoch Times Staff
Oct 14, 2010

                The UN has three objectives that made them extend the Afghanistan mission for another year which was a unanimous decision between the members. Their three objectives are first of all to “reduce the capability and will of the insurgency,” second is to aid the “growth in capacity and capability of the Afghan national security forces (ANSF)” and third to improve the development of the government and the economic situation in the country.  With this decision of extending the mission in Afghanistan came a necessary increase to the number of troops in the mission. It is good that they want to help improve government in Afghanistan but the fact that so many children and women are dying and kids are being used for combat is not a good way to show the people that these troops are there to help them out. Also there has been an increased connection between “terrorism and illicit drugs” which is not good for the troops that are being sent to Afghanistan according to the Security Council. With the increase in “terrorism and illicit drugs,” the soldiers need faster training and they need to be self-sufficient inn a really short period of time. Although their need for bigger troops and more soldiers is understandable, training these soldiers too fast might not be a good idea. The might be physically ready but not feel secure or comfortable enough to go to Afghanistan and face the situation after such short training periods.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/44211/

"Cholera Epidemic Spreads Beyond Haiti's Borders"

"Cholera Epidemic Spreads Beyond Haiti's Borders" 

Date: November 18, 2010

The Epoch Times

By: Marco't Hoen

Dominican Republic citizens have been infected with Cholera due to visits they made to Haiti where the cholera epidemic has killed many people already. Protestors against the U.N. are blocking roads which slow down the process of those who are sick getting medical attention, and that is why many people have died up to date. People traveling from Dominican Republic to Haiti should be aware of the health conditions in this country as these can affect them no matter how short their stay may be.  Haiti is a country where people don’t have much resources and where illnesses spread quite fast. It is good that the Dominican Republic government has requested that employers from both the construction and tourism industry do not hire employees from Haiti to avoid the spread of cholera in the country. According to the Epoch Times, “over 1,100 people have died in Haiti as a result of cholera and 18,000 people are currently hospitalized.”  These statistics are scary for a country as small as Haiti. Citizens from the Dominican Republic “blame U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal” as they truly believe these people brought cholera to their country. It is unfair to blame it on someone else because even though they may be sick with cholera, but locals are still traveling to Haiti knowing the conditions and knowing that they will most likely get sick during the trip.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/46112/