Bella Dea wrote:When Canada stops dumping their garbage in Michigan, we'll stop sending our criminals there.
Ok, that was a cheap shot.
I think that he's a US problem and should be dealt with here. And I think Canada should stop sending it's garbage here.
tell the U.S. companies to stop bidding on it - and the townships to stop accepting it - and the governor to stop promoting the garbage-transfer process
on this side of the garbage argument - there is a group of us who blame Michigan politicos for a lot of the problem. as long as Michigan accepts (almost demands) the garbage, we can't get local government to pursue diversion. they don't need to. the Michigan alternative is still cheaper. gak.
~~~~
I'd rather we keep, and handle, the garbage - and the U.S. keep, and handle, the sex offender.
ehBeth wrote:Bella Dea wrote:When Canada stops dumping their garbage in Michigan, we'll stop sending our criminals there.
Ok, that was a cheap shot.
I think that he's a US problem and should be dealt with here. And I think Canada should stop sending it's garbage here.
tell the U.S. companies to stop bidding on it - and the townships to stop accepting it - and the governor to stop promoting the garbage-transfer process
on this side of the garbage argument - there is a group of us who blame Michigan politicos for a lot of the problem. as long as Michigan accepts (almost demands) the garbage, we can't get local government to pursue diversion. they don't need to. the Michigan alternative is still cheaper. gak.
~~~~
I'd rather we keep, and handle, the garbage - and the U.S. keep, and handle, the sex offender.
dammit woman you got my quote before I added my little quip to notate that I wasn't blaming canada.
Intrepid wrote:Mame wrote:ossobuco wrote:I don't understand that sentence at all. I'd be outraged if I were a canadian.
I haven't looked into the crime. Sort of afraid to. Was the fellow not a figure in the US government or a religion?
Osso, Sexpot is an American married to a Canadian woman with a Canadian child. They all live just across the Cdn border and he was teaching at this school in Buffalo, from what I recall from the news.
He was NOT banished to Canada as others here have said. He received 3 yrs probation and he asked if he could serve it with his family. The judge said, Yes, if they'll take you. That is not a certainty yet. Immigration still has not spoken on this issue.
Hope that clarifies things.
Nobody has the right to banish anyone to another country unless they hold citizenship there, and Sexpot doesn't... he's clearly an American.
Just one thing that you left out, Mame. If he did not take the deal to remain in Canada....he would have been sentenced to one year in jail in the U.S. I think that this is a major distinction.
Well, I think not being in jail would have been a prime motivator, for sure, but he also would have preferred being with his family. I cannot believe he got that pitiful sentence. I would never have given him that option, period.
I heard he has a job already but I forget exactly what - it's not teaching, though.
s'ok BellaD
I was glad
to have a chance to air my Ontario/Michigan garbage rant.
I'm starting to wonder if there's a politician out there who doesn't make me see red.
I agree with OmSigDavid. Let's banish U.S. criminals to other countries, and they can banish their criminals to the U.S.
There. What a clever and simple solution. Simply brilliant.
Let's hope you're tongue-in-cheek.
btw, I like your red nail polish.
Oh for heaven's sake, david, the guy's a U.S. citizen, not an alien. He's a foreign national in Canada.
Anyway, as I understand it, he could lose his P.R. status here because of his criminal conviction. I haven't followed the case, so don't know much of the details, but should think that his conviction falls under the "reportable" offence category. Reportable offences are those offences that are considered "serious."
That's determined by the maximum sentence that could be given, regardless of the actual sentence imposed. It's reportable if you did get a sentence of more than six months.
Since he has now been convicted, I expect he'll be called in for an admissibility hearing, when Canada Border Services Agency gets around to it. My guess? He'll be ordered deported at that time but will file an appeal. The system's sloooooow. He'll be here for a good long while yet.
ehBeth wrote:s'ok BellaD
I was glad
to have a chance to air my Ontario/Michigan garbage rant.
I'm starting to wonder if there's a politician out there who doesn't make me see red.
nope
Dem, rep, lib they're all the same and they all have the same agenda: their own. who cares that half the freakin' country is without health care. Or that kids go hungry in every city in America. Or that elderly people are abused and dishonered in nursing homes all over this country.
Politicans piss me off. I wish, just once, someone would get up there and say: "I have no promises to make. I can't guarantee anything. I will probably fail you. Keep your expectations low. Vote for me. I'm the guy who doesn't make false promises."
dagmaraka wrote:I agree with OmSigDavid. Let's banish U.S. criminals to other countries, and they can banish their criminals to the U.S.
There. What a clever and simple solution. Simply brilliant.
We already have enough lunatics Dag...what do we want with other countries nutties?
aaah. i misunderstoon, aparently. omsigdavid wants to only send u.s. criminals abroad and then lock up the borders.
sounds fair, doesn't it? after all, u.s. is the belly button of the universe, why should they not be able to practice this innate right?
The United States represents 4.6 percent of the world's population, but houses nearly 23 percent of humanity's prison population.
.
state governments shoulder an estimated $40 billion a year tab to operate their prison systems
.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/math/incarceration_story_9-05.html
Looks like they got around to it.
I heard on the drive home that he was detained by CBSA, though I'm not sure where they arrested him. At the border crossing or actually at home.
American Sex Offender Arrested By Canadian Border GuardsThursday October 26, 2006
He now truly seems to have become a man without a country.
Canadian officials have arrested Malcolm Watson, the Buffalo area sex offender whose 'exile' to Canada angered many of this side of the border.
The 35-year-old was detained at the crossing point between the two countries Thursday, after he returned from a parole hearing in the U.S.
It's not exactly clear what he's been charged with or why he's being held.
The case drew international attention earlier this week when the seminary teacher pleaded guilty to having sex with one of his 15-year-old students. In a deal that still rankles many, Watson was able to work out an agreemnent where he'd serve three years 'exile' in Canada instead of a year behind bars in Western new York.
Since then, there has been ongoing controversy about the legality of the sentence, as well as what the Canadian response should be.
Watson had been living with his wife and children in Ft. Erie but his status is now uncertain.
He was only allowed to back to the States to see his parole officer. But on his first visit since the sentence was imposed, border guards stopped him from returning here. The Canadian Border Agency has steadfastly refused to comment on the latest twist, referring all calls to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.
But his office isn't talking, either.
Watson's lawyer is. Oscar Smukler claims he didn't even know his client had been arrested and blames too much publicity for vilifying his client.
"The press has made him out to be some kind of high-risk criminal," Smukler contends. "He was convicted of having kissed a young lady and touched her breast outside her clothing."
If Watson winds up being deported to the U.S., his plea deal is void and he'll wind up serving jail time.
That wouldn't bother the authorities in the Queen City.
"The agreement that he spend time in Canada was one that he asked for," Erie Country District Attorney Frank Clark pointed out earlier this week. "We would be just as happy for him to spend his time right here."
Thanks intrepid.
He doesn't have to charged here in order for them to detain him.
I think he's being held for an admissibility hearing...who knows when they'll schedule that...judging by the press interest and the relatively quick arrest, perhaps it won't take that long. In any case, he'll have a detention review (kind of like a bail hearing) on Tuesday probably, and if he doesn't get released then he'll have another D.R. seven days after that...and another, 30 days after that...and every 30 days until they either release him into the community or they effect his removal. The A.H. could be scheduled for the same day as one of his detention reviews, or they could schedule it for later. Months later. Next year even.
I realize that I presumed he was a permanent resident here in an earlier post. Anybody know?
If he is, and if he hasn't ever received a custodial sentence of two years, he'll retain appeal rights.
CBC radio news bit: detention review scheduled for today and he is a permanent resident.
I wonder if he'll be granted a release offer.
Canadian judge releases American sex offender
27/10/2006 12:29:20 PM
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An Ontario judge has released an American sex offender from custody after an immigration hearing this morning. The judge ruled Malcolm Watson is not a high-risk offender.
Convicted American sex offender Malcolm Watson is seen during court proceedings in Niagara Falls, Ont. on Friday.
The hearing for Malcolm Watson was held in Niagara Falls, Ont. after he was arrested Wednesday trying to re-enter Canada from the U.S.
The judge ruled he was not a high-risk offender.
On Monday a U.S. judge sentenced Watson, 35, to three years of probation for a sexual offence involving a 15-year-old girl. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Watson is allowed to serve out the sentence while living in St. Catharines, Ont. He is only allowed to return to the U.S. for probation hearings.
Watson attended the hearing with his wife. He was wearing a white dress shirt and looked relaxed, smiling from time to time during the proceedings, according to The Canadian Press.
Under the conditions of his release, Watson must continue to reside with his wife and three children at their St. Catharines home, and must check-in with officials whenever he crosses the border.
The federal government wants Watson sent back to the U.S.
On Thursday, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Watson was arrested Wednesday as he tried to come back into Canada after a Buffalo, N.Y. court appearance.
Day said it is unacceptable for U.S. courts to exile convicted criminals north of the border.
"We don't want to see Canada become a haven for pedophiles or anyone else committing a serious crime," Day said outside the House of Commons on Thursday.
"We don't want U.S. courts getting the notion that we just take people here that they would have put in jail."
Watson is a landed immigrant who has lived in Ontario with his wife and three children for the past four years -- most recently in St. Catharines.
He was charged with sex offences after he was found in a car with a 15-year-old student. He was a teacher at the all-girls Buffalo Seminary at the time.
Watson pleaded guilty Monday to sexual abuse in the third degree and endangering the welfare of a child.
A judge approved a plea bargain that allows him to serve out his sentence in Canada.
Watson's lawyer, Oscar Smukler, has accused Canadian politicians of blowing the case out of proportion for political reasons, and said the media has made him out to be a high-risk offender, when he is nothing of the sort.
"He was convicted of having kissed a young lady and touched her breast outside her clothing," Smukler said.
In Canada the age of consent is currently 14 -- although the Conservative government has moved to raise it to 16. Watson's relationship with the student would only be considered illegal in Canada if sex occurred.
U.S. authorities don't consider Watson a sexual predator because they found no other victims. Instead, the former English teacher is considered a "level 1" sex offender.
Watson was detained by request of the Canadian Border Service Agency, on suspicion he had contravened the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a government source told The Canadian Press.
The Immigration and Refugee Board will also review Watson's case. If he is considered inadmissible, he could be deported back to the U.S. His current sentence would then be considered null and void.
So basically, it's a tempest in a tea pot.
I think it's mostly media hype...and I agree with the offender's lawyer who suggested Day and the P.M. were just making political hay.
The only thing that seems strange to me is that he's been given a country wide boundary condition except for the purposes of attending probation appointments, if the accounts I've read so far are accurate.
That seems a little unusual, though I know people can complete probation reports from Canada to the United States by mail. I've just never heard of a restriction that limits their presence in the
entire country of which they are a citizen.
From Intrepid's article:
Quote:In Canada the age of consent is currently 14 -- although the Conservative government has moved to raise it to 16. Watson's relationship with the student would only be considered illegal in Canada if sex occurred.
I'm not sure that last part is true, but I'm also not sure what the equivalent charge could be since the age of consent is 14. Sexual exploitation maybe?
I feel for this guy's wife, but really feel bad for his kids.
Yeah, you have to wonder what's going through their heads...why would any grown-up have a sexual interest in such a young person unless they're perverted? And when you think of what they could lose, it really boggles the mind.
Would you stand by your spouse if they admitted to this?
