North Bay Nugget from North Bay, Ontario, Canada • 8

CANADA Thursday Dccambar 6 2007 Survivors recall blast that rocked Halifax jg 1 HE NORTH BAY NU86ET sky 'Ilie explosion levelled everything within two kilometres of edge and hurled the Mont anchor more than three kilometres inland Some 160fl homes were destroyed and in the days after the blast hundreds or badly maimed people would succumb to their injuries The final death toll reached 1951 Collins then a nine-year-old boy recalled walking to his desk at his north-end school when the blast rang ouL He says something struck his head knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose learned later that the building was pretty badly smashed says Collins who lived with his mother and brother at the lime "While 1 was unconscious I must have gotten out of the building got out on the street and got home to my own backyard I guess my brain took me home" When he arrived he found his younger brother safe in his bed but buried beneath plaster Ilis mother also survived Jim Simpson a kxl researcher dedicated to preserving the memory of the explosion says this year's anniversary could be the most difficult yet He says some of the surviving victims are no longer able to attend commemorative events including the one held every Dec 6 at the Memorial Bell Tower in a city park not far from the BY MELANIE PATTEN 'll IK I YI)IAN HALIFAX Gordon Collins nr Halifax vividly recalls I lie morning IK) years ngn wlicn a massive Inirxl or lliv smoko aiul while-lint shrapnel ripiHsl through I lu1 Kii't oily's north ond killing more Ilian IJXX) iHiiplo Kill I lie says ho roars Iho logiioy ol' I ho I lalirax Explosion onoor Hu win's! disaslors in Canadian history will rado when ho is no longer ahlo to share his memories ooplo slionld lx taught about tlio oxplosion lieeausc it was a critical event" says a sofl-siokon Collins wlio was a young schoollioy IVc (51917 "I don't think il will he (iinxii1anl) anymore lieonuso by (lie time it reaches UK) veal's all us survival's will have (lone" 'Ilic explosion tile lai-gest manmade blast hcroi-e Hie advent the atomic IhiiiiI) was triggered alter the lino a Ik'lgiau relief vessel collided in Hie liarlNiiir with the Mont lllane a French freighter laden with munitions inoliiding 2(XIOOO kiloginms or TNT At 0:04 um alsiiit 20 minutes alter Hie impact caused a (Ire'ahoard the Mont Hlanc the morning's calm was shattered by a violent deafening blasL Hundreds or people including bystander who had gathered to watch Hie vessels bum were killed instantly Another 9 (XX) were injured or blinded by shuttered window glass or scalding luniks of jagged metal that fell troiii the The aftermath of the Halifax Explosion is shown in 1917 Gordon Coffins of Hahfhx vividly recalls the morning 90 years ago when a burst of Are smoke and shrapnel ripped through this port city But the 99-year-old says he fears the legacy of the Halifax Explosion will fhde when no longer able to share his memories the Canadian prrss 97 used to speak to students about her recollections of the explosion Hie Halifax woman who suffered a stroke in recent years no longer speaks to audiences but sgys she remembers the blast "like it was yesterday" burnt my mother's house right to the ground all the homes in the north end were mostly on says Murphy-Hartnett wincing slightly as she remembers the blast that left her sister blind "I was lucky I only had a little cut over my right eye I was very lucky Some kids had a lot of Nine decades have done little to ease Murphy-Hartnett's mind when she sees activity in the harbour get scared when we see a lot of boats because (in 1917) my aunt went upstairs and she said two Mg ships in the she recalls "And when they banged and the explosion went" raises questions experts with them and killed them The Grown maintains he then cut up the bodies fed some of their remains to his pigs and took the rest to a Vancouver rendering plant Williams decided to separate the 26count indictment in August 2006 during pre-trial arguments He ruled that trying all the counts at once would pose an unreasonable burden on a Jury "I am satisfied that the interests of justice require severance of counts from the present indictment" Williams wrote Williams determined Pickton should be tried on six charges first ruling the evidence in those cases was materially different than the evidence inihe other 2a i 1 den are paramount a situation where you are dealing with many many counts it can potentially become overwhelming fix' the Jury in trying to separate the evidence and apply only the evidence relevant "he said not all that common that Judges will sever counts but of course nothing common about this case" Last year the Crown in the Pickton case opposed severance But Victoria lawyer Michael Mulligan said the ruling have saved the Oown from themselves" to try all of these things as one could have created very significant said Mulligan But Alan Ybung associate professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School said trying the 26 counts together would have been tidier the point of view of the administration of Justice always better to try to resolve all outstanding claims at one time" said Young more efficient mid it avoids the possibility of inconsistent Young said since the mountain of evidence is going to hard enough on the jury the 26 counts might as well have been considered together of spreading the trauma among 24 (jurors) well Just keep it to the original 12" he said The official position is that there will be a second trial but observers have doubts HIE CANADIAN PRE8S waterfront "The survivors are quite he says "1 would like to see more people come out to different things I'd like to see younger people" SimpBon who gives lectures cm the explosion at schools Bays he believes there are only about 10 survivors left in the Halifax area A decade ago upwards of 50 came out to memorial events Years ago Edith Murphy-Hartnett Splitting trial VANCOUVER When Justice James Williams decided last year to split the case against accused serial killer Robert Pickton into two-the decision appeared to be the most expeditious way to cut short a trial which could have gone on for well over a year But it also put the administration of the case into murky water raising questions about whether the same team of Grown and defence lawyers win remain to try the second case and even whether the Judge himself will stay And if they how long will it take to get a new team up to speed? WiH original rulings about 100 stand? How long will the tribal on 20 charges take? Then the moral obligation to the 20 other victims and their families and their need to have someone answer for those deaths Despite the lingering questions one superior court Judge believes Williams made the right decision "'Hie chances of a trial containing 26 counts going off the rails are so high that I think Justice Williams did absolutely the right said the Judge from another province who did not want his named used Pickton was arrested in February 2002 after a massive investigation and was charged with killing 26 women who had disappeared over the years from drug-infested Downtown Eastsida The Crown alleges Pickton picked up women and took them to Ms sprawt ing property in suburban Port Coquitlam with the promise of drugs had sex Chretien hit an excruciating low point in 1997 when it paid Mulroney a Ill-mHllon settlement to cover his legal and professional fees The Liberals apologized for the so-called letter of request but not for the RCMP probe into Mulroney and Airbus which continued another six years before ending without charges Liberal MP Paul Szabo head of the ethics committee now probing related circumstances said Wednesday that Schreiber must be questioned on apparent inconsistencies THE CANADIAN PRESS So last January a seven-man five-woman Jury began hearing evidence on charges Pickton killed Sereena Abotsway Mona Wilson Andrea Joes-bury Brenda Wolfe Georgina Papin and Mamie Frey The second indictment accuses him of murdering Cara Ellis Andrea Bor haven Kerry Koski Wendy Crawford Debra Lynne Jones Tiffany Drew Sarah de Vries Cynthia Feliks Angela Jardlne Diana Melnick Jacqueline Mo Donell Diane Rock Heather Bottomley Jennifer Furminger Helen Hallmark Patricia Johnson Heather Chinnock Tanya Holyk Sherry Irving and Inga HalL Vancouver defence lawyer Mark Jette a veteran of many criminal cases said considerations for the jury's bur A court shcrifT patrols the grounds outside BC Supreme Court In New Westminster BC as the Jury continues to deliberate the verdict in the first degree murder trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton Wednesday Plcklon is facing six counts of first degree murder In connection with missing women from downtown east side the Canadian press Schreiber documents include threat Vtotsge Whtos by PATTY FEDELI Reprints of her Monday Nugget series 6th-century Chinese military treatise Art of appear repeatedly among papers time has come that you bring the whole battle with me to a peaceful and saUsfying he tells Mulroney in the May 8 letter Questions have long swirled around the 1988 purchase of 34 Airbus jets worth L8 billion by then-Crown owned Air Canada Mulroney sued for defamation after a 1995 letter from the RCMP to Swiss authorities was leaked It revealed the Mounties were linking the former Tory prime minister's name to kickbacks connected to the Aktau deal The Liberal government under Jean Quebec opposition parties want Charest to testify on Schreiber link BY SUE BAILEY llIK CANADIAN CHESS OTTAWA Amid almost 4000 "pages of sometimes bizarre and often obsessively detailed documents Karl- ficinz Schreiber wains Bilan Mulroney (hat ixiticnee conies to an is my last he Rays in a letter to Hie former prime minister "dated May 8 2007 am prepared to disclose that 1 was asked liy Fred Ik meet to transfer "hinds to your lawyer in Geneva (Airbus) that you asked me through my lawyers to commit xijury to protect 'you and more is in your hands what is going to liapixn" 'Hie roferenro to Airbus and Doucct ex-eliief of staff seems to eonl indict Srlireilxir's testimony from a day earlier Indore the Commons all-parity ethics coinmillee SchreilxT is due hark Thursday for a I bird day of grilling by probing the eiivumslanccs around his dealings with Mulroney SchreilxT tabled four thick hinders or dix'iimenls Tuesday and testified that lie paid in throe cash in-i stall neats to Hie former prime minister i more than 14 years ago including one while Mulroney was still an MP had nothing to do with Airbus kickliaeks Lilieruls seized on Hie May 8 letter as a kind of "smoking gun" that indeed Airbus was somehow involved In il SchreilxT rails against Hie foil-' lire of Coiiservalive Justice Minister Holi Nicholson to Hie improper and illegal extradition case against iernian-C 'anadian former arms dealer wauled on fraud and tux evasion charges in Germany faces I extradition us early as next month and is cumiilly out on bail Photographs of Hie cover of (lie QUEBEC Opposition parties in the legislature ganged up on Premier Jean Charest Wednesday urging him to testify at a Commons ethics committee to explain his links to lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber Schreilier told the commiUee Tuesday he paid $30000 in cash to brother to help fond the current 1993 leadership bid for the federal Progressive Conservative party Charest has said he did nothing wrong and that his recollection is that the amount donated was $toooa But Opixuiilinn Leader Mario Dumont said in the legislature that comments have raised enough quesUons that Charest should ask for a chance to give his side of the slmy at the cUiics committee in Ottawa and also at a special commission of inquiry always been his dream to lie in the Action democratique du Quebec leader said "Now he has a The premier reiterated he know the German-Canadian businessman and that he had no recollection of ever meeting him "The contribution was made in accordance with the laws and practices of the Charest told the national assembly I have notMng to add to Other Action democratique members satisfied with answer and pressed him on the discrepancy in the two amounts ADQ member Eric Caire targeted George MacLaren who was chairman of the financing campaign for Conservative leadership campaign in 1993 and later served as delegate general to London alter Charest became premier rilRCANAIXAN PRESS BOOK SIGNINGS: Hallmark Northgate Saturday December 8 1 :00 3:00 pm Northgate Square- Saturday December 15 1 :00 3:00 pm ALL PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT THE LITERACY COUNCIL.