Sickening Disgusting Infuriating

[Dee]

Police seeking revellers who urinated on Ottawa memorial (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2006/07/03/ott-warmemorialpee.html)

Ottawa police are looking for three Canada Day revellers photographed urinating on the National War Memorial.

Police have asked anyone with information about the three to come forward.

Det. Mike Walker said police have contacted the photographer, retired Canadian Armed Forces Maj. Michael Pilon, and will ensure charges are laid.

Pilon's picture, taken around 11 p.m. on July 1 after a fireworks display ended, has prompted outrage.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an Ottawa radio station and said the action was "thoughtless," but "it doesn't represent the views of any segment of Canadian society, we all strongly honour our vets."

Police said they could lay charges of mischief, being drunk in a public place and performing an indecent act in a public place.

Veterans want security for monument

The incident has renewed calls by veterans groups for better security to protect the memorial, located in the centre of Ottawa. It honours the country's war dead and holds the remains of The Unknown Soldier, returned to Canada from France in 2000.

"We've asked for people to be stationed here so that it can be stopped. And we'll be pressing for that in the future, and I must say that we'll be pressing much harder from now on," Royal Canadian Legion's Bob Butt said.

Pilon said he saw drunken revellers pouring beer on the site in 2005, and he's written to politicians and various government agencies in the past to ask that the monument be kept off limits on Canada Day, but without success.

This time, however, he's got pictures to support his pleas.

"I just happened to have my camera, and there they were. Quite eager to pose, I may add. I guess that's just one of the symptoms of having one beer too many."

The incidents came hours after Harper and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean hosted a huge ceremony at the site.

Addendum (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/cbc/s/05072006/3/canada-2-ottawa-youngsters-identified-war-memorial-culprits-police-say.html)

Ottawa police say they have identified two of three revellers photographed urinating on the National War Memorial after a Canada Day fireworks display but cannot name them because of their ages.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act prohibits publication of the names or photographs of accused persons under 18 in most circumstances.

The two youths are from Ottawa, police said on Wednesday afternoon in a brief statement accompanied by a photo of the third culprit, who appears to be 18 or older.

He is believed to be from outside the city but remains unidentified and is still being sought, the statement said.

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

I guess it just goes to show...Alcohol & commonsense don't always go hand in hand.... I wonder if there was a Memorial Port-O-John close by? When you gotta go you gotta go... regardless of political correctness.... This has all the markings of another thing blown WAY out of preportion...

best to all

R. from Pa

[ponytail]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it'd be about Rip Taylor!

Kind of lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "whiz kids.."

Seriously, doing it was disgusting enough, but taking a picture of it was really dumb.

[DaveM]

Not nearly as dumb as POSING for the picture.

[Dee]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it'd be about Rip Taylor!

Kind of lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "whiz kids.."

Seriously, doing it was disgusting enough, but taking a picture of it was really dumb.

Ooops! I should clarify (just assumed people would read the linked articles),

"The furor started when Michael Pilon, a retired major in the Canadian Forces, snapped photographs of the three young men about 11 p.m. on July 1 after a fireworks display had ended."

And yes Dave, people do insane things when sloshed. :p

[ponytail]

DOH! Don't know why I didn't get that...I read the item carelessly, I guess. The third sentence gave me the impression that police were pressing some sort of charges against the photographer, so I thought he was in it with them, somehow (incongrous though that seemed). Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[DaveM]

Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that the trio just might have been French Canadians?

[NinasSpaceChild]

I am not pro-war at all, but I respect that sometimes it is necessary, unfortunately, and also that many people have fought, suffered and died so that I can have the freedom that I have today. What they did, whether drunk or not, is a disgusting act and thoughtless and shows total lack of respect for people around them as well as for themselves.

[Dee]

Unfortunately Dylan, disrespect doesn't need a reason. That they were drunk at the time is no excuse. They have caught the third guy now and are proceeding with charges, one of which I hope will be supplying alcohol to minors. Hopefully the punishment for all of them will include some sort of educational work that enlightens them about the sacrifices made by men and women to achieve our freedoms.

War memorial vandal charged with mischief (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060706/war_memorial_060706/20060706?hub=Canada&s_name=)
Updated Thu. Jul. 6 2006 11:38 PM ET

One day after identifying three young men who were photographed urinating on the National War Memorial, Ottawa police laid a criminal charge of mischief against a 23-year-old man.

Meanwhile, the two other teenage suspects will escape criminal sanctions and will instead be dealt with under special provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, said a news release issued Thursday.

Officials say the act encourages the use of alternate punishments for non-violent offences.

"The Ottawa Police Service investigators, after looking at a number of statutes, decided to proceed with the charge," said the news release.

Images of people snapped urinating on the memorial after the holiday fireworks Saturday night sparked outrage across the country, as well as calls for guards to be stationed at the monument.

Ottawa police Const. Steven Desjourdy said, however, that public pressure did not influence police into laying the charge.

Police have not released the name of the 23-year-old man, who lives outside the Ottawa area. He reportedly contacted police.

The National War Memorial, unveiled in 1939, initially symbolized the response of Canadians in the First World War but has since come to commemorate the sacrifice of all Canadians who have served in times of war.

[NinasSpaceChild]

I hope it is educational and involves serving the community in some way too. I think we too easily throw people into prisons, young offendors units etc, without trying to find the root of the problem, and this only achieves more destruction.

[moe75]

I've thought about this incident for days. My great uncle was gassed at 20 years of age in Belgium in 1916. He lies in a lonely grave south of Ypres where likely none of his family has ever visited him. What those boys did to the monument says a lot about us as a society and what we're willing to tolerate in our young. These boys have no idea what they did was wrong, and what I suspect is worse, they don't really care. My grandfather fought for the better part of three years in the trenches of Belgium and France, came home and raised a family. Every once in a while you could catch him staring off into the middle distance, and you knew his mind was elsewhere and with his friends long gone. Those old vets could never talk to anyone but each other of their pain and memories. A lot of them were never the same and drowned themselves in the local legion.

I visited my Uncle's virtual grave marker (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=nicholson&GScid=1992242&GRid=11098140&)the other day (shortly after the pissing incident) and thought about his young life cut so tragically short. I suspect he joined up all full of piss and vinegar, raring to go and kill the "Hun". What he faced was a modern military machine which chewed up young volunteers like him by the millions.

Every November 11th, the old veterans parade down Elgin Street to that same National monument. We applaud them as they pass by, but I suspect there are elements within the crowd who would like nothing better than to lob something into the line of old men. This element will always be with us I'm afraid.

[Dee]

I saw the third guy (the 23 year old) interviewed on TV last night.

I must say, he did seem completely embarrassed by and sincerely apologetic about the whole thing, admitting that he'd drank copious amounts of beer and liquor. He doesn't recall the incident at all. Blackouts I know well from my drinking days.

He said he only found out about it when friends called him the next morning and told him his peeing picture was on the front page of the newspaper. :eek: Can you imagine?

[Dr Mike Pilon]

Hi this is Dr Mike Pilon, the fellow who took the photos on Canada Day. Last year I was taking in the destivities in downtown Ottawa and a few people were sitting on the tomb of the unknown soldier. I took it upon myself to tell them what it was. All were embarassed.
This June 02 I wrote the mayor of Ottawa, my alderman and Provincial and federal reps as well as several Government agencies including the National capital Commission, Veteran;s Affairs and a few others. Not one reply..I wrote a follow up e-mail to remind them that I did expect a reply..
On Canada Day my wife and I spent the weekend at The Chateau Laurier and had a great time. At 10:30 after the fire works I went to the Cenotaph to see if there were many roving drunks and to take night shots. All was quiet and they had a nice cordon around the tomb...but before 11:00 PM three separate people urinated on the Cenotaph. It really wasn't an act of disrespect..it was three drunks..
The blame lies with politiciand and officials who seem to disregard the people they work for..namely us.
I have heard the issue will ne "addressed" but to be honest I am a bit sceptical. So I have contacted some of the suits..told them I willorganize something and do it...I would like to see cordons around the Cenotaph, some sort of military security for the day and most importantly an educational aspect...I have been working on getting history and graphic arts/ video students to make up presentations to be shown on large TV screens which would be in tents on the site.. I think a number of companies might want to sponsor this as the furuore this year would be good PR for anyone willing to come forward...
If I can get this off the ground I will present the idea to the Heritage minsitry . The suits will whinge but the hell with them :)
If you like this idea contact your MP and the Minister of Heritage the Hon Bev Oda...thanks
Mike
www.drmichaelpilon.com