no...that's a pretty long name there larry. <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

I did some research on mercury last week and found out that the reason the Mad Hatter was mad was because they used to process the felt for hats with mercury.

i was sitting here laughing thinking you'd made that up off the top of your head (no pun intended) "the clever rascal" and i got someone here telling me now with a straight face that it's true, that hat makers used to use massive amounts of mercury in their hat making and thus were made mad as hatters (as it turns out).

well slap me down a rabbit hole!

(hi jamie!) <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

Jake Rupert
The Ottawa Citizen


Friday, June 20, 2003
With the law against simple possession of marijuana nullified in Ontario, the federal Crown attorney's office for the area has decided to stay all prosecutions against people charged with the offence.

In the last few days, copies of letters have been sent to defence lawyers representing about 40 clients charged with possession of marijuana.

The letters direct the clerk of the court to stay the charges administratively, without a court appearance. Ottawa-Gatineau federal Crown attorney Eugene Williams said it is clear Ontario courts are bound by recent rulings nullifying the law, so there was no point in trying to continue prosecuting the cases.

"We assessed the law ... and we deemed that it wasn't in the public interest for a number of reasons to proceed with these cases," Mr. Williams said.

The prohibition against possessing marijuana became void a month ago when a Windsor Superior Court judge, sitting as an appeal judge, agreed with a lower court ruling that struck down the possession law for a combination of reasons.

This is a binding decision on courts, and, in the last few weeks, when faced with people charged with the offence, many judges have been simply quashing the cases because the law doesn't exist any more.

"We wanted a clean, non-confrontational approach to deal with this situation," Mr. Williams said.

The Crown is appealing the precedent to the Ontario Court of Appeal, but this won't be heard for at least a month with the ruling to follow sometime later. And an earlier attempt by the Crown to have the precedent set aside pending the appeal failed.

Ottawa is the first jurisdiction in Ontario to stay all possession cases. Others may follow suit.

Technically, if the appeal court overturns the precedent and reinstates the possession law, the Crown has up to a year to restart cases against people.

Because of this, the Crown's move to stay cases received less than stellar reviews from Ottawa defence lawyers yesterday.

"It's unfair for people to have to live with a charge outstanding against them," said defence lawyer Rob Lewis, who received eight of the letters. "These people deserve the right to be acquitted. They have a right to have the charge quashed and be found not guilty, which is what judges were doing."

He was also suspicious of the motive behind the stays, fearing the federal Crown may just be trying to buy time until the appeal is heard.

"The section is void. The crime doesn't exist. The stay means these cases will never get before a judge to have them quashed properly."

Mr. Williams said the motive behind the stays was to simply get rid of the cases and not waste court resources -- not to buy time with the idea of restarting them if the appeal court overturns the precedent.

If they did that, he said, there would be several legal flaws that would almost guarantee they would be thrown out.

... so now all these cases are in "legal limbo"? that stinks...

Hope it all gets sorted out quickly!

Canada Day in 4 days
ADG Day in 13 days
Sparky Day in 14 days

3 good reasons to enjoy some choklit cake. <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/yum.gif" width=15 height=15> <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

<img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/rolleyes.gif" width=15 height=15> I forgot to mention the 9th.. http://groups.msn.com/CanadianMedicalMarijaunaAssociation/medicalresearch.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=2243&LastModified=4675428620305833042&all_topics=1

I get the feeling that intelligence & common sense migrated north, from America, to Canada...maybe it's part of a NAFTA deal...common sense to Canada, Moose to the U.S.

I don't know if this guy even likes folk music, but he does seem to exhibit an Blunder-like disregard for 'what people think.' Possible British Blunderite? (At least he could bring some beefcake to the party so Nathen doesn't have to bring it all.)

Beverley, maybe you can meet up with him on your camping trip--this map shows his route going near Manchester and along the edge of Wales.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ceashel:
...
--this map shows his route going near Manchester and along the edge of Wales.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

wow! i didn't know you could go along the edge of a wale... that's one fish story!!! <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/looney.gif" width=15 height=15>

Actually, when we were stood at the till in some shop, waiting to be overcharged for basic food stuffs near our camp site we were looking at the papers in the stand and spotted a front page article about him. We didn't see him but the article said something about him making it all the way up to Scotland before he got picked up at the boarder. He had been aressted 10 times between Lands End and the Scotish borader for indeacent exposure, as he hadn't returnd anywhere for his court apperance the Scotish Police sent him straight back down South!!!

They had a story about him on our news the otehr day & I thought wow, I found out about it first here on Arlonet! Arlonet gives you the news first before anyone else does LOL! <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/wink.gif" width=15 height=15> <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15>

Hey Bev.......does this prove the theory about mad dogs and Englishmen and the mid-day sun???

What's the legend? I think the world is supposed to change when one of these appears. (?)