After 204 days, the wait is over!

Finally.

The Stanley Cup riot 2011 accountability clock has been deactivated and removed from this blog.

It took 204 days for someone to admit guilt on Jan. 6, 2012.



Let it be known that the first person was 20-year-old Ryan Dickinson.

He was charged Dec. 5, 2011 with participating in a riot, two counts of mischief over $5,000 and for breaking curfew on the night of the riot. He was arrested two days later by Coquitlam RCMP and spent Christmas in jail, according to a story in The Province.

On Jan. 6, Dickinson copped a plea bargain and entered a guilty plea in Vancouver Provincial Court for participating in a riot and breach of recognizance. He is to be sentenced Feb. 7 and the hearing could be broadcast, if the judge approves a government-driven Crown counsel application.

Dickinson was put on probation for a year in October after a separate assault conviction. He is, coincidentally, a sheet-metal apprentice who works at a window-repair company. The streets were riddled with broken metal and glass on June 15, when the Vancouver Canucks were embarrassed on home ice to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final.

No public officials, whether they be elected politicians or appointed staff, have taken fault for the poorly planned Stanley Cup fan zone in downtown Vancouver on June 15.

If one ever does, you'll read about it here.

After 168 days, the wait is over

The first 25 people charged in Vancouver Provincial Court with taking part in the June 15, 2011 Stanley Cup riot were announced Nov. 30, 2011. All are innocent until proven guilty. Here are their names and the additional charges.

Emmanuel Seren Alviar of Surrey, 20: two counts of mischief
Sean Charles Burkett of Surrey, 18: two counts of mischief
Oliver Cornelius Burke of Vancouver, 28: break and enter
Matthew William Cottrell of North Vancouver, 23: break and enter
Richard John William Dorosh of Surrey, 18: break and enter
Connor Blair Epp of Maple Ridge, 20: mischief
Kristian Toomas Johanson (aka Christian Johanson) of Vancouver, 20: three counts of mischief and two counts of break and enter
Kelly George Johnson of Surrey, 20: two counts of mischief.
Spencer Robert Kirkwood of Vancouver, 25: mischief
Timothy Tin-Chew Kwong of Burnaby, 30: arson
Sophie Carmelle Laboissonniere of Richmond, 20: break and enter
Anthony Joseph Karl Larsen of Surrey 18: break and enter
Matthew John Lennox of Vancouver, 24: break and enter
Nigel Boxuan Li of Vancouver, 19: mischief
Dylan Ray Lloyd Long of Surrey, 19: break and enter and mischief
Mobeen Mohammed of Surrey 33: break and enter
Alexander Keelty Peepre of Vancouver, 20: assault and mischief
Alexander Frederick Pennington of Burnaby, 21: break and enter
Alicia Price of Surrey, 22: mischief and arson
Robert Mitchell Snelgrove of Vancouver, 25: break and enter
Name withheld of Surrey, 17: break and enter
Jeffrey Ray Post of Maple Ridge 20: mischief
Jerry H. Wernicke of Vancouver, 28: mischief
Jensen Peter White of Seattle, 21: mischief
Lincoln Ray Kennedy Williams (aka Lincoln Kennedy) of Delta, 21: mischief and arson

According to a search on Court Services Online, none of the adults charged appears to have had any prior criminal record. Unless there are cases of mistaken identity or weak cases by Crown prosecutors, don't be surprised if there are plea bargains galore and conditional sentences: no criminal record in exchange for a year's probation and 100 hours community service or a like sentence. The courts are bursting at the seams, burdened by a lack of facilities, judges and sheriffs. For that reason, you could very well see trials (if any) happening in 2013.

Karanvir Singh Saran, 18, has the distinction of being the first person charged and processed, albeit in Surrey Provincial Court in a matter investigated by the RCMP. He got an absolute discharge Nov. 2 on a lesser charge of possessing stolen items. Joshua Lyle Evans of Calgary was wrongly accused by Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu of possessing a weapon. The 27-year-old's charges were dropped when witnesses said Evans was disarming a knife-wielding man. Charges of aggravated assault were also stayed for Burnaby 20-year-old Edgar Ricardo Garcia.

If you need a hint of what's to come, consider the variety of conditional discharges and dropped charges from the Feb. 13, 2010 anti-Olympic march. Willow Riley was the last to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court. She received a conditional discharge from a sympathetic judge who noted she had no prior criminal record.

Now, about those public officials who have yet to admit fault for the ill-conceived and poorly planned Stanley Cup fan zone...

Were there really 928 cops at the Stanley Cup riot?

Documents released to me by the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General include an email on the morning after the Stanley Cup riot from a senior RCMP officer, claiming there were 700 police officers from various agencies in downtown Vancouver on June 15, 2011. Read the story here. The email was sent to the British Columbia government's deputy Solicitor General, to summarize the police operation on that horrible night.

This contradicts the official version contained in the provincial report by John Furlong and Doug Keefe (ghost-written by Stewart Muir), which said there were 446 police to start, but the numbers peaked at 928. The Vancouver Police review said 606 were VPD and 169 RCMP, most of the rest included 52 Abbotsford, 24 Delta, 20 each from New Westminster and the Transit Police, 16 Port Moody and 14 West Vancouver.

Asst. Comm. Craig Callens, author of the June 16, 2011 email to Clayton Pecknold, did not respond. Callens apparently forwarded my email query to communications officer Supt. Ray Bernoties, who distanced the RCMP from Callens's math by claiming Callens didn't include off-duty members or municipal cops. Bernoties also claimed Callens didn't intend to be exact and that the numbers in the VPD report should prevail.

But I never got answers to simple questions from Bernoties. Such as, did he actually read the Callens email that I obtained? As you can see below, Callens carefully accounted for the municipal officers (even though the individual force numbers were redacted). He even went so far as to show how suburban RCMP detachments sent reinforcements to the municipalities that were short their own members because officers had been dispatched to the riot. People in senior positions, such as Callens, don't make mistakes easily.

Other questions? What were the discrepancies (all figures, except for the total 700, were redacted)? How could a high ranking RCMP officer go wrong in such an important message to a top provincial official?

There is nothing in the Callens email to indicate his total of 700 officers was an estimate or inexact.

Is this a case of bad Mountie math or "move along, nothing to see here"?

I hope the Vancouver Police, RCMP and/or Solicitor General ministry will be transparent and publish a line-by-line list accounting for each and every set of "boots on the ground" to show exactly how many police were really on duty to quell the 2011 Stanley Cup riot.

Stanley Cup riot police numbers: the morning after

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry

Behold, the plans for the Vancouver Canucks 2011 Stanley Cup victory parade!

The Canucks were going to celebrate Vancouver's first Stanley Cup since 1915 with a parade on land in downtown Vancouver and through the waters of False Creek.

But, alas, plans went awry. The team lost three of the last four games, including Game 7 at home, and locals rioted.

Read the plans here:


2011 Stanley Cup Parade, Celebration Plans

Riot report ghost writer reluctant to talk about BC Rail briber

I got a call from Stewart Muir on Friday afternoon. Turns out he was the ghost writer for the report on the 2011 Stanley Cup riot that bears the names of John Furlong and Doug Keefe. Furlong, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics boss, hired him, he said.

The former Vancouver Sun deputy managing editor didn't seem very enthusiastic when I asked him about whether his wife, Athana Mentzelopoulos, influenced or was informed about the content of the report. His denial was emphatic, yet defensive.

It's not an unreasonable question. Muir is a veteran journalist who obviously knows our job is to watch those in power and keep an eye on those close to them. He has a family connection in the Office of the Premier. Mentzelopoulos was hired in August as Premier Christy Clark's deputy minister of corporate priorities. Mentzelopoulos was a deputy minister under ex-Premier Gordon Campbell and even served as a bridesmaid at Clark's wedding. Clark is a big Canucks' fan and enjoys the support of donors like Canucks and Rogers Arena owner Francesco Aquilini.

You can read my story on Muir here.

Before I finished the interview, I took the opportunity to ask about records mentioning Muir and Mentzelopoulos that are displayed on this blog entry by Alex Tsakumis.

Tsakumis managed to obtain expense reports filed by OmniTrax lobbyist Erik Bornmann that were collected by the RCMP in their investigation on the corrupt 2003 sale of BC Rail to CN Rail.

Bornmann was an admitted briber of public employees while he worked as a lobbyist for the BC Rail bidder. He was never charged in the BC Rail affair, but he agreed to become the star witness against ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk. Those two men accepted cash and gifts from Bornmann in exchange for information about the BC Rail sale.

Basi and Virk mysteriously copped a plea bargain in October 2010 just when the trial was about to get interesting. The B.C. Liberal government, under then-Premier Campbell, agreed to pay their $6 million legal bills, despite the fact they were guilty. Auditor General John Doyle is examining the highly unusual transaction.

Bornmann was admitted into the Law Society of Upper Canada, meaning he can practice law in Ontario, after this 2-1 decision. Read BC Railscam ace chronicler Bill Tieleman's blog here.

Bornmann's records on the Tsakumis blog show that Muir met with Bornmann on three occasions for what appear to be expensive meals, in the months before the BC Rail privatization was announced and the infamous raid on the B.C. Legislature happened:

July 8, 2003: "Entertainment Stewart Muir/Athana" $366.44
July 15, 2003: "Entertainment Stewart Muir and guests" $319.21
Oct. 7, 2003: "Entertainment - Business Editor - Vancouver Sun" $774.18

I sought Muir's comments on his infamous host and whether it was simply a traditional "reporter-source" relationship. (I was hoping he might have some insight about the scandal that dominated headlines in British Columbia for more than seven years.)

"I haven't seen the material," Muir said.

I offered to email him a link, but I told him I didn't have his email address. Could I have his email address? He didn't seem interested.

"You can Google it," he said.

I have no proof whatsoever of any wrongdoing by Muir or Mentzelopoulos. Just because they met with Bornmann does not mean you or I should think less of them.

I remain interested in what Muir might have to say about those meetings with someone who eventually became known as a central player in the BC Rail scandal.

If he wants to comment, he does not have to Google my contact information.