The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 2

A2 THE OTTAWA CITIZEN BREAKING NEWS AT 0TTAWACITI2EN.COM MONDAY. MARCH 30, 2009 NEWS TODAY AT OTTAWACITIZEN.COM tomorrow in the citizen NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS POWERED BY CANWEST NEWS SERVICE Sign up for e-mail news alerts at fl i Purine ottawacitizen.comalertS- Share your news tips, story ideas, photos, video: Go to ottawacitizen.comtips E-MAIL hottipsthecitizen.canwest.com TEXT CITIZEN TO 741741 PHONE 613-596-6397 (596-NEWS) BLOGS Melanie Coulson, with the breastwork behind her, prepares to burn her nursing bra. Mat Leave Mom Wayne Scanlan says that former Senators' goalie Ray Emery could use a Smart Car. Hockey Scanner David Pugliese on soldiers in Afghanistan who are beginning to head home to CFB Petawawa. Defence Watch Eat, drink be informed Before you go out, check out our Food Drink site for tips on where to eat, what to eat, and what to drink.

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School principal Dennis Spencer of Pembroke was shot Friday in a carjacking. Roger Wallis of Saskatoon was shot last month on the resort island of Roatan. Honduras jor transit point for drugs GUATEMALA i smce the 1980s. Killings and public el SALVADOR Help for Melanie shootouts involving dealers occur frequently, sometimes NICARAGUA C0STAH- RICA PANAMA Pacific i Ocean as often as twice a week. Police and some of Spencer's colleagues believe BEUIE' Roatan MZf Roger Wallis shot on the way he was an unwitting victim in the drug wars.

30 kilometres from San Pedro Sula, site of the school's main campus. In all, the school has about 2,000 students and 200 staff, more than 30 of them from Canada, according to Schult, a Kitchener, Ont. native who is a high school vice-principal at the main campus. About 90 per cent of the students are from Honduran families and the remainder are foreigners many from Taiwan and Korea whose parents are working in San Pedro Sula's burgeoning manufacturing industries, he said. Schult described Escuela In-ternacional Sampedrana as one of the best schools in Honduras.

"Many of the leaders of the country have gone to EIS, and many future leaders are probably there now," he said. "A lot of our kids go on to Ivy League schools in the U.S." For about a decade, San Pedro Sula has been among the fastest-growing industrial cities in Central America, combining an influx of new industries with its traditional businesses coffee, bananas, beef, sugar cane, tobacco and forestry. "This is a big drug town, so BY JOANNE LAUCIUS it's quite likely drugs were somehow involved," said David Schult, a friend and a 'The Ottawa Citizen will create an account for donations to benefit Melanie Dale, a 30- vice-principal at Escuela lT1 Dennis Spencer- LaUma 1 shot 1 HONDURAS EL TegUClf fjtf NICARAGUA Sampedrana. "It was a random year-old disabled woman, to act of violence and Dennis got caught in it It's tragic." day. Details will be published on our website today and in Spencer's wife, Barb, who Tuesday's newspaper.

Melanie's story captured Pacific 1 was in Pembroke visiting one of the couple's two adult chil-. dren when her husband was attacked, flew back to Hon the hearts of Citizen readers Ocean Saturday, after her mother principal He met Barb, who is from Golden Lake, while he was teaching in Eganville. Spencer wrapped up his Valley career at Bishop Smith High School in Pembroke as a French teacher. He was always active in sports, playing hockey two or three times a week. Spencer inspired his two daughters to become teachers as well Lindsay teaches in Montreal and Leslie is in her fourth year of teaching French, also at Bishop Smith.

"Ironically, it has come full circle," she said. "Fm Dennis's daughter to everyone on staff." Spencer always encouraged his daughters to make their classrooms a safe haven for students. "His approach to teaching was always to remember that school might be the safest, most fun place for a kid to be." Spencer retired seven years ago, but decided before the first year was out that golf and hockey weren't enough to keep him busy. He worked in Mexico for two years, then signed on work in Honduras. Barb Spencer, a retired bank employee, joined her husband, but came home to Pembroke in advance of the Easter holidays to spend time with the couple's grandchildren, Dylan, After four years in Honduras, Spencer had recently signed on for another year.

He was involved in a project to build a two-room schoolhouse in a remote mountain area to replace a dirt-floored building. "He really wants to see that through. He didn't want to leave projects unfinished," said Spencer-Hitchins, who visited her parents in Honduras in 2007 with her children. Consular officials in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, are aware Spencer has been shot and will provide assistance to the family, spokesman Andre Lemay said Sunday. duras Sunday.

Holly Ritchie wrote the news In the meantime, Spencer's paper of her dilemma friends and colleagues from school have been lining up to Ritchie wanted to build a ramp on the back of her house, which isn't wheelchair visit the popular principal in hospital. accessible, so Melanie could go outside "and watch the The downturn in the American economy has led to in recent months, which "There has been anywhere from 10 to 50 people there at a world go by." Ritchie had already ex 'There has been anywhere from 10 to 50 people hausted all other avenues for funding. She had found vol there at a time to see him. He is a real good fellow. unteers to do the work, but estimated that materials The staff really love him.

I've never heard anyone would cost about $3,000. Within hours after the arti say a bad word about RON VAIR, Canadian who runs the school where Spencer works to San Pedro Sula "We have been broken into twice," he said Sunday. "We don't go out at night you just don't go anyway after dark. It's too dangerous, even if you're driving." Meantime, in Pembroke on Sunday, as Leslie Spencer-Hitchins said goodbye to her mother as she left to be with her husband in Honduras, she slipped a medal into her hand. Spencer won it last Canada Day in a 10-kilometre race the father and daughter had run together.

"I said to tell him, We'll do another one of these'," said Spencer-Hitchins. Spencer, who turns 59 on Thursday, was born in Bryson near Shawville in the Pontiac, where his mother, two brothers and a sister still live. He spent his entire Ontario teaching career in Catholic schools in the Ottawa Valley. Spencer taught at St. the island of Roatan.

Wallis lost two vertebrae and part of his spinal cord in the shooting, and will be a "quadriplegic at best," his brother said two weeks ago. The Foreign Affairs website also notes that because "a large percentage" of the Honduran population is armed, travellers should not resist robberies "as perpetrators may use violence." Carjackings and robberies occur frequently on Honduran highways, adds the website, which cautions against riding intercity public transportation. "Do not stop to attend to a body on the roadside," it goes on to to say. "Report it to the next police point instead. Incidents have occurred where thieves have posed as victims of road accidents." Schult says crime has become much worse in the five years since he and wife moved cle's publication, individuals and organizations came forward with more than enough time to see him," Vair said.

"He is a real good fellow. The staff really love him. I've never money to cover that amount. By the end of Sunday, more than $5,000 had been pledged, with other readers asking heard anyone say a bad word about him." Spencer was principal of Es in turn has triggered a surge in crime. Canada's Foreign Affairs Department website warns that foreigners are often the targets of criminals in the San Pedro Sula area, as well as the popular resort islands nearby in the Caribbean.

Roger Wallis, a 71-year-old architect from Saskatoon, was shot in the neck last month on cuela Sampedrana's smaller elementary school campus, which is located on a historic former United Fruit Packaging Co. plantation in La Lima. It's a mountain community about what else they could do to help. "It's amazing. To get a response like this is shocking and embarrassing," said Ritchie.

"Melanie burst out laughing this morning, then she burst into tears. To have things going our way finally is wonderful." "The joyful photo of Holly and Melanie on our front page Sunday is one I hope brightened mornings as it did mine," said Citizen editor-in-chief Gerry Nott. "The rapid and generous outpouring from so many groups and individuals speaks loudly about the kind of compassionate city this is." Show: No conflict, O'Brien says Continued from PAGE Al The councillor said the mayor should declare himself in conflict of interest and ab stain from any future discussion or vote in council regarding the trade show. was sold. Cullen, who believes the ban should be extended to Lansdowne, has said he will table a motion, immediately following the trade show, to bring the issue to council so that politicians and public can debate it.

O'Brien said there is no conflict of interest whatsoever in his support of the trade show, despite his role within Calian. "I'm no longer involved in the day-to-day management municipal facilities. But O'Brien now contends the ban "was not a comprehensive ban on all defence and security trade shows as some have suggested." A legal opinion prepared by city staff concluded the ban no longer applies to Lansdowne Park, which was sold to the former regional government in 1999. That deal did not require the region to adopt city policies, so the arms prohibition ban did not "survive" when the facility The two-day event will be the first of its kind to take Stay tuned: The Citizen plans to create an account for Melanie and we will publish details for how you can donate. Volunteers who wish to help build the ramp are asked to send an e-mail to: jubconstructionrogers.com place on city property in 20 years.

In 1989, in response to an uproar over the ARMX trade show at Lansdowne Park, city council voted to ban arms exhibitions at all CORRECTION weapons, and he stands behind his support of keeping Canadian soldiers safe. Cullen said city council's motion in 1989 was clear and broad-based, and O'Brien needs to separate his personal financial interest from the public interest. "The public should know that his comments reflect a bias that come from having a financial interest through his company in this trade show." Richard Sanders, co-ordi-nator of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, who have launched an online petition urging council to respect its earlier ban, said O'Brien's position in the community forces him to declare his interest in Calian. "He has his right to his opinion, but he also has a position of authority in the community, and if he makes statements which are in favour of certain corporate interests, then he should declare his conflict of interest," he said. The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries contends that its trade show represents an important way for companies to support the efforts of Canada's armed forces and security services.

The trade show is not open to the public. The 2008 version, held at the provincially owned Ottawa Convention Centre last year, attracted 6,500 people who brought about $5 million into the local economy. in that company, (which) is the reason I can quite frankly and quite clearly say I have no conflict of interest," he said. Tm not involved in the decisions to enter or be part of any marketing activities as part of Calian Technology." The Ottawa Presbytery, a group that represents 65 local United Church congregations, has written to the mayor, asking him to ban the trade show. In a letter to opponents of the trade show, O'Brien noted that the products presented at the event often have broad civilian applications in the areas of safety, security and emergency management.

"It is clearly in the public interest to promote the development and distribution of such expertise," he wrote. O'Brien said the decision by Ottawa's city council in 1989 was made when Canada was not involved in an armed conflict, and that the ARMX show was geared more towards offensive weapons thanCANSEC. In an e-mail to the Citizen, O'Brien said SED Systems will have a small booth at the trade show, at which they will display a product used for perimeter security and surveillance, fire suppressions systems for extinguishing fires in military vehicles, and a product that extends the power and distance of military communications. He said Calian does not manufacture any offensive What is Mimi Surada is not the wife of Japan's ambassador to Canada. Surada was misidentified in a photo caption on page A3 on Sunday.

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