FEATURED EVENTS

SouthCoastToday - Community news matters...
all rights reserved 2014   
Box 917  Shelburne, NS B0T 1W0  
editor[at]SouthCoastToday.ca

You are here

Citizens encouraged to attend Shelburne council meeting Wednesday night

Racial incident to be addressed by RCMP commander
Community activists are encouraging Shelburne residents to attend the Town Council meeting on Wednesday evening to express their concerns about the repercussions of a racially-charged incident on Halloween night.

The Council has invited Shelburne RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Ben Parry to attend the 7:00pm meeting to discuss the incident with Council.

The incident, which invloved racial slurs, a beating, a hit-and-run which left two young men in a ditch then a hospital bed, has been the topic of much discussion around town and online and was the subject of a generally unfruitful public meeting with the RCMP.

Cade E. Benham, 19, and Steven E. Davis, 21, have been charged with aggravated assault against Ryan Williams following a fight at a party in Welshtown, near Shelburne. Parry told the the Chronicle Herald that the identity of the driver who alledgedly ran down the boys was never in question, but that the Crown prosecutor is being consulted for opinion on whether or not charges are possible against the driver.

People should attend Council meeting
Louise Delisle is a long-time civic activist and long-standing member of the Shelburne Council Committee on Anti-racism and Discrimination. She told SCT that it is important for any interested citizens to attend the Council meeting to hear what explanation the RCMP has regarding their efforts to investigate the incident. "People should come to the council meeting and hear what the RCMP has to say."

"The police have to be held accountable, like everyone else," Delisle said. "When something is wrong in a community, you have to work hard to make it right."

No special training for Shelburne RCMP
The Committee, says Delisle, identified issues with the RCMP and invited the detachment to send a member to a Committee meeting. Cpl Darren Stevens attended a May meeting and was informed by the Committee that there were obvious gaps in the detachment's ability to grasp some of the issues extant in a racially mixed community, especially one with a population of black teenagers. The Committee advised Cpl. Stevens that the detachment was in need of training in this area and were assured by Stevens that training would occur.

Sgt. Parry told SCT that he was unaware of that commitment and that no such training had occured.

No disclosure on charges or vehicle siezure
Many people in Shelburne have questioned the action - or inaction - of the RCMP in investigating the incident, which Sgt. Parry told SCT they consider a "very serious" one. Although the two teenagers hit by the car have been charged with assault for the beating at the party, Sgt. Parry would not disclose whether the driver of the hit-and-run vehicle had been questioned or charged. The Sgt. would also not disclose whether the vehicle had been seized for any forensic testing.

"This issue - and issues like it - serves to separate our community more," said Delisle.

"The RCMP have dropped the ball in this case," she added. People are getting their information second and third hand, Delisle said. "The police," she added, "have to fulfill their obligations like everybody else."

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS