About 3 weeks ago a 14 year old Innuit boy from Nain on coastal Labrador went missing on his snowmobileWhen he didn't show up at his appointed time his parents phoned Air-Sea Search and Rescue and asked for assistance.They were told that the helicopter in Gander(which is on the island part of the province)couldn't go in case another call for help came.(Imagine getting this kind of reply when you call for an ambulance)Over the next cvouple of days repeated calls for help were ignored.They even speculated to his parents that most likely he had gone through the ice and there was no need to look for him-imagine that!!!Finally Universal Helicopters-who were disgusted with Search and Rescue I guess-sent one of their own helicopters to search for him.They found his abanddoned snowmobile on the sea ivce far from his home.It was only then that Search and Rescue got off their arses and went to look.They found the boy,after perishing from hypothermia over 12 miles from his snowmobile.So strong was his fight for survival that he trudged that distance through mostly thigh and waste deep snow to try and find some kind of sanctuary.Of course public outrage was instant and scathing.The Department of National Defence said that they did everything by the book and that there was nothing more that they could do.Any fool could see that this is absolute hogwash.Heads should roll for this but it all goes back to Prime Minister Harper who has been trying to stick it to NL since the province didn't elect one member of his party in the last election.This isn't just me saying and thinking this,the whole province has found out how cruel,petty and vindictive he has been since.Just days after the election he announced that he was closing down the Marine Search and Rescue Centre in St. John's.This flies in the face of logic.We have thousands of people working in our offshore from oil rig workers to fishermen and ocean research vessels.To add insult to injury just yesterday a foreign seaman got injured on a fishing vessel and Search and Rescue dispatched a helicopter immediately.Tonight there were huge protests all over Labrador and Newfoundland too.Our people are dying for no other reason but politically motivated vengeance.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Absolutely outragous! Someone should lose more than just a job over this.

Common sense is no longer common. Passion for fellow man has been replaced with selfishness, or unwillingness due to fear of legal recourse.

The lunatics are running the asylum.

Terrible story. The crime was Apathy.

So sorry to read that Derek, no words can help an occurrence of this sort. I am baffled by the behavior of politicians and their bureaucracy's in dealing with human beings. In the USA, more time, resources and money is spent in the defense of animals, plants and insects than on caring for the citizens. I guess the words "save yourself" are truer now than when they were first thought of centuries ago. My condolences to that boy's family and friends. Peace and love.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Sounds like a good opertunity for some hotshot lawyers to file charges against all responsible parties. There must be laws on the books to cover such an outrage. Nothing short of prison should be in order for this one. I don't know about your part of the world in particular,but unfortunately all to often, Indigenous peoples are left with little or no representation. Damn
----Danny,

I just saw a documentary about another lost life due to Newfoundland government bungling:

A woman murdered her boyfirend int he USA. Then fled to her home in Newfoundland. She was there given custody of their child while awaiting extradition hearing. She was allowed to be out on bail, that I think was only partially paid ( by her psychiatrist who was later charged with misconduct).

The Grandparents of the child (parents of the murdered boyfriend) had a long legal battle for custody. The killer made them jump through hoops just to get split custody with her, pre-trial. The murderess made them do all sorts of grotesque things just to see the boy and split the custody (spend time with the killer, daily phone calls). They bore up under her tyranny, and the legal red tape and court delays for the sake of the child (Zachary) for 1-2 years, I think. They figured she eventually would go to trial and wind up jailed for in the USA for killing their son, and then they could get full custody.

However; just before the extradition hearing, she tied Zachary to her belly with a sweater and jumped into the Atlantic.

After an extensive review, the Newfoundland government determined it was at fault, as well as the poor performance by child welfare there that allowed Zachary to be in the hands of his killer Mom and have his life snuffed out too.

At the end of the documentary it said Grandparents are pushing for a law that would not allow custody of children for accused killers in the future while they await trial. Something to that effect.

To really show how misguided their sense empathy is,this one tops it all.A puffin(a colourful Atlantic seabird that's indigenous to NL)was discovered somewhere in Ontario,the government spent thousands and thousands of taxpayers dollars repatriating this bird to Newfoundland and they patted each other on the backs congratulating each other on what great animal lovers they are.Every winter polar bears come ashore in Labrador and the Northern Peninsula of the island and the government spends hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars to hire helicopters to fly the tranquilized bears either back to the icefloes or to an uninhabited part of Labrador.There is absolutely no denying that the Harper is standing by twiddling its thumbs while our people-especially those who make a living on the sea-either live in peril or die.they have proven time and time again that our lives and safety means nothing to them.This has happened way too often to be coincidence it is purposeful vindictiveness.As far as I'm concerned the Prime Minister and his henchmen in the Armed Forces should be charged with criminal negligence causing death.I'm not alone in this thinking as many have stated the same sentiments on radio and TV talk shows, public opinion forums and letters to the editors in several of our newspapers.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Lunginsam,there was a call for heads to roll in the Zachary Turner case too yet nothing was done except for the standard reply-"We'll are looking into it."Red flags went up all over the place and people in the know begged and pleaded that Shirley Turner not be given custody of Zachary as she was too mentally unbalanced but the social workers would have no part of it for they were trained professionals and what did other people know anyway?This haughty,holier than thou attitude got little Zachary killed.A man who had struck up a platonic friendship with Shirley Turner even warned authorities that she was disturbed, apparently she had read more into his offer of friendship and started stalking and harassing him even parking outside his house at all hours of the night and one day she had phoned him dozens of times-she had made his life so unbearable he had to move to a secret location.Zachary's grandparents were wonderful throughout the whole thing and the whole province took them under their wings with their support.They have written a book about the whole ordeal with the hopes that the right people read it so this type of horror doesn't happen again.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Miscarriage of justice is not unique to Newfoundland. Right here in good old western Washington USA. In the past week or two,a suspected Murderer was granted In Home Visitation with his kids. The maniac seized the opertunity and killed his own two little sons and set fire to himself and his boys. All this because of some INEPT JUDGE making a stupid mistake. Something must be done to change the system that will allow such a terrible thing.
----Danny,

I know what you mean Danny it's an absolute tragedy that this kind of thing happens at all but it seems it's becoming common place.Maybe if judges,payrole boards etc. were held accountable for crimes commited by people that they let out they'd think more seriously about giving these menaces their freedom.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

guitslinger - good post
I totally agree with you.
It is shameful that happened & shameful that we now have a fascist (Harper) running our country.

Now he wants to allow the police to have free access to personal information without obtaining a warrant from a judge. Harper wants free access to all our hard drives & all internet traffic from everyone at the whim of any cop in the guise of protecting law abiding citizens & fighting crime.
Shame.

This is only the beginning, Canada is in trouble with him as a Prime Minister

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Our past premier Danny Williams had Harper pegged as a deceitful,mendacious,perfidious,
vindictive petty autocrat several elections ago when during his campaign he came to Newfoundland and promised to reinstate the Atlantic Accord giving us total control and ownership of the oil revenues on our offshore as well as our share of equalization payments.Of course NLers voted resoundingly for his party but as soon as he got in and Williams brought up the subject with him Harper not only said that none of it was going to happen but that even as he signed the proclamation he had no intentions whatsoever of honoring it.How in the name of God can people vote for such a bare-faced liar?The man doesn't have a shred of decency or an honest bone in his body.These lies are even on the Parlimentary record but he never made any apologies-so deep is his contempt for Newfoundland and now it's gotten to the point that decisions that he has made cost several lives already-so it doesn't matter to him how many of us die because of his personal vendetta against the province.The man is dangerous and it's time for the rest of Canada to see him as he really is.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.