News: Union Offers Bus Driver Beating Reward

Vancouver Sun

Published: Friday, November 30, 2007

VANCOUVER - The union representing bus drivers is offering a $2,000 reward for any information leading to the conviction of people who swarmed and beat a Coast Mountain bus driver on Halloween night.

The unidentified driver was dragged off a bus and hit after she threw some Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters near Commercial Drive and Napier Street.

A couple of passengers on the bus intervened and stopped the attack. But the driver was physically injured and emotionally traumatized.

Her union, Canadian Auto Workers, Local 111, said the woman is back driving a bus on a different route, but it will not release her name because she is still fearful of her attackers.

The union is calling on federal MPs to pass a private member's bill that would mean stiffer sentences for people convicted of assaulting on-duty bus drivers and other transit workers.

The bill proposed by Burnaby-New Westminster NDP MP Peter Julian would allow judges to impose sentences of up to 20 years for assaults on public transportation workers.

"Our members shouldn't be driving in fear," CAW Local 111 president Steve Sutherland told reporters Friday.

"You shouldn't be afraid to go to work because you might be assaulted."

Sutherland said he expects the number of attacks on drivers in Metro Vancouver will exceed the 241 assaults that occurred in 2006.

"There's no doubt it's getting worse," said Sutherland. "We're getting more brutal assaults and we're getting them for no reason."

Video: Remembering the Parade of Lost Souls 2007

Parade of Lost Souls Pictures

Thanks to Soressa Gardner and Dennis Bolen for sharing!

News: SPCA

Shelters keep black cats under wraps until after Halloween

Chantal Eustace, CanWest News Service

Published: Monday, October 22, 2007

Black cats are the underdogs of the feline world, especially when it comes to Halloween when the shadowy furballs get associated with things like witches, ghouls and plain old bad luck.

That's why many cat shelters, including the Vancouver SPCA, won't let anyone adopt a black cat during the week leading up to Halloween.

"You never know, so it's best to avoid [potentially bad] situations," said Vancouver SPCA manager Mark Takhar. Some people, he explained, may want a black cat, not as a pet, but because of what it represents.

So as of Wednesday, no one will be able to adopt the eight black cats waiting for new homes, Takhar said. Adoptions will have to wait until after Nov. 1, when the Halloween ban is lifted.

Vancouver's SPCA isn't alone in this cautionary practice. Many humane societies throughout North America do not adopt out black cats around Halloween.

Read the whole story here...