The Honourable Mr. Justice Frank W. Cole has declared a mistrial in the case of a Delta man suing four Vancouver police officers for general and punitive damages for alleged assault and battery. Late Tuesday, the civil jury foreperson advised the Court that the eight person jury was evenly divided and could not reach a verdict in the case. Mr. Justice Cole declined Mr. Sanchez’s motion that he render a decision in the case himself, citing earlier comments he made to counsel in his Chambers on the merits of the case as possibly affecting the fairness of the process.

Luis Ronald Calderon Sanchez, 47, an award-winning poet and novelist with no prior criminal history, alleged that he was stopped by police while driving his wife home from work late in the evening of November 13, 1999. He and his wife testified that four VPD members assaulted him without provocation, took him to the ground, handcuffed him, threw him in a police wagon and carted him off to jail without giving him a reason for his arrest, reading him his Charter rights or advising him that he could contact a lawyer. He was released at about 2:30 a.m. the next morning after suffering another beating by guards in the jail. Three days later, he wrote a lengthy letter to the VPD Chief Constable describing what had happened to him. When he failed to receive an apology, he commenced the lawsuit.

Ronald Sanchez, a caregiver for the mentally disabled and a man who had witnessed brutality, murders and abductions by the police and the military in his native El Salvador, was never charged with any offence.

A new trial date has not yet been fixed.

Coretta Scott King, widow of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has died in Mexico at age 78. May she rest in peace.

The following obituary appeared in the Miami Herald:

After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Coretta Scott King was sometimes compared to Jacqueline Kennedy. The two bereft widows were living symbols of the great loss to America of inspiring, beloved leaders. But such comparisons were unfair to both women, who made different choices on dealing with their unwelcome status as widows of much mourned icons.

Ms. Kennedy withdrew from public life, while Ms. King, who died Monday at age 78, continued to champion civil rights and nonviolent social change. Not long after Dr. King’s death on April 4,1968, Ms. King expanded on his mission. In a speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the Poor People’s Campaign in June of that year, she spoke of her husband’s vision of equality and then of hers, which included ”women’s power” to fight “racism, poverty and war.”

Ms. King was a civil-rights activist before she married Dr. King. She grew up in rural Alabama and knew racism at its most virulent. When the young couple with one child was thrown into the center of the maelstrom of the bus boycott in Montgomery, where Dr. King served as a minister, her personal convictions and love for her husband compelled her to join the struggle.

Ms. King achieved much. She reared her children alone. She persuaded Congress to designate a national holiday in Dr. King’s honor. And she raised millions of dollars to build the center in Atlanta that memorializes Dr. King and promotes his principles and practices. Ms. King was a loyal wife, a good mother and something more — she was a good citizen who worked hard for peace and equal rights for all. We need more such good and brave citizens.

Since September 28, 1999, at least 168 North Americans have died after being shot by police or law enforcement Tasers. Sixty-nine people died in 2005, including five Canadians:

(Six more have died so far in 2006 after being Tasered, all in the U.S.)

1. Jan. 2: Gregory Saulsbury, 30, Pacifica, California
2. Jan. 5: Dennis Hyde, 30, Akron, Ohio
3. Jan. 8: Carl Trotter, 33, Pensacola, Florida
4. Jan. 28: Unknown man, Chickasha, Oklahoma
5. Jan. 31: Jeffrey Turner, 41, Lucas County, Ohio
6. Feb. 10: Ronald Alan Hasse, 54, Chicago, Illinois
7. Feb. 12: Robert Camba, 45, San Diego, California
8. Feb. 18: Joel Dawn Casey, 52, Houston, Texas
9. Feb. 20: Robert Heston, 40, Salinas, California
10. March 3: Shirley Andrews, 38, Cincinnati, Ohio
11. March 6: Willie Towns, 30, Derland, Florida
12. Mar. 12: Milton Woolwolk, 39, Lake City, Florida
13. Mar. 17: Mark Young, 25, Indianapolis, Indiana
14. April 3: James Wathan, Jr., 32, Delhi, California
15. April 3: Eric Hammock, 43, Fort Worth, Texas
16. April 8: Ricky Barber, 46, Carter County, Oklahoma
17. April 22: John Cox, 39, Bellport, New York
18. May 3: Keith Graf, 24, Phoenix, Arizona
19. May 5: Kevin Geldart, 34, Moncton, New Brunswick
20. May 6: Stanley Wilson, 44, Miami, Florida
21. May 6: Lawrence Berry, 33, Jefferson Parish, La.
22. May 13: Vernon Young, 31, Union Township, Ohio
23. May 17: Lieroy Pierson, 55, Rancho Cucamonga, Cal.
24. May 20: Randy Martinez, 40, Albequerque, New Mexico
25. May 23: Lee Marvin Kimmel, 38, Reading, Pennsylvania
26. May 23: Richard Alverado, 38, Tustin, California
27. May 28: Richard T. Holcomb, 18, Akron, Ohio
28. May 28: Nazario J. Solorio, 38, Escondido, California
29. June 4: Unidentified male, 33, Sacramento, California
30. June 7: Russell Walker, 47, Las Vegas, Nevada
31. June 11: Horace Owens, 48, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
32. June 13: Michael Anthony Edwards, 32, Palatka, Florida
33. June 13: Shawn Pirozzi, 30, Canton, Ohio
34. June 14: Robert Earl Williams, 62, Waco, Texas
35. June 24: Carolyn Daniels, 25, Fort Worth, Texas
36. June 29: Unidentified male, Miami, Florida
37. June 30: Gurmeet Sandhu, 41, Surrey, B.C.
38. July 1: James Foldi, 39, Beamsville, Ont.
39. July 7; Rocky Brison, 41, Birmingham, Alabama
40. July 12: Kevin Omas, 17, Euless, Texas
41. July 15: Otis G. Thrasher, 42, Butte, Montana
42. July 15: Ernesto Valdez, Phoenix. Arizona
43. July 15: Paul Sheldon Saulnier, 42, Digby, Nova Scotia
44. July 16: Carlos Casillas Fernandez, 31, Santa Rosa, CA
45. July 17: Michael Critchfield, 40, West Palm Beach,FL
46. July 23: Maury Cunningham, 29, Lancaster, S.C.
47. July 27: Terrence L. Thomas, 35, Rockville Centre, NY
48. August 1: Brian Patrick O’Neal, San Jose, California
49. August 3: Eric Mahoney, 33, Fremont, California
50. August 4: Dwayne Zachary, 44, Sacramento, California
51. August 5: Olsen Ogoddide, 38, Glendale, Arizona
52. August 26: Shawn Norman, 40, Laurelville, Ohio
53. August 27: Brian Lichtenstein, 31, Stuart, Florida
54. Sept. 18: David Anthony Cross, 44, Santa Cruz,CA
55. Sept. 22: Timothy Michael Torres, 24, Sacramento,CA
56. Sept. 24: Patrick Aaron Lee, 21, Nashville, Tenn.
57. Sept. 26: Michael Clark, 33, Austin, Texas
58. October 13: Steven Cunningham, 45, Fort Myers, Fla.
59. October 20: Jos Perez, 33, San Leandro, Cal.
60. Nov. 1: Miguel Serrano, 35, New Britain, Conn.
61. Nov. 13: Josh Brown, 23, Lafayette, La.
62. Nov. 17: Jose Angel Rios, 38, San Jose, Cal.
63. Nov. 20: Hansel Cunningham, 30, Des Plaines, Ill.
64. Nov. 26: Tracy Rene Shippy, 35, Fort Meyers, Fla.
65. Nov. 30: Kevin Dewayne Wright, 39,Kelso,Wash.
66. Dec. 1: Jeffrey Earnhardt, 47, Orlando, Florida
67. Dec. 7: Michael Tolosko, 31, Sonoma, California
68. Dec. 17: Howard Starr, 32, Florence, S.C.
69. Dec. 24: Alesandro Fiacco, Edmonton, Alberta

This list has been compiled from media reports, including statistics and reports generated by The Arizona Republic newspaper. For further information, please see www.azcentral.com/specials/taser

If the Liberals lose this election, and it appears they will, they only have themselves to blame. Many voters have been completely turned off by the “culture of entitlement” that had run rampant in Canada’s natural governing party. The poster boy for the notion that one should be able to earn a luxurious living off political connections is David, “I’m entitled to my entitlements”, Dingwall. This Liberal hack resigned his position last October as head of the Royal Canadian Mint amidst concerns over his $750,000 in annual expenses and is apparently negotiating severance with his Liberal pals in the Privy Council Office. Last Friday, January 13, 2006, the PCO responded to my inquiry by stating, “Discussions between counsel for the Government of Canada and Mr. Dingwall’s counsel are ongoing”. What are the odds that these discussions will be completed before Monday, election day?

David Dingwall

In my opinion, Prime Minister Martin should immediately instruct Government negotiators to refuse to entertain the payment of severance to Mr. Dingwall. If he doesn’t, he hasn’t learned anything from the Gomery Commission. Canadians are fed up with cronyism.

“By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.”

Seventy-six years after his birth, the world needs Rev. King’s ideas more than ever.