Victims of Crime

Victims of Crime - Violence in Youth

Violence in Youth

Today is June 15th, I was visiting my mother at our local hospital. I decided to step outside for a bit while nurses tended to my Mother. As I was standing outside I happened to notice a girl in her 20�s hobbling out of the front doors on crutches with a brilliant purple cast. Her Mother was motioning for her to sit on a bench which was right near where I was standing. I could not help but make a comment about how cool they make casts these days and asked if she got to choose the color. Her Mother said no, but funny enough it would have been the color her daughter would have chosen. Being the chatty Kathy that I am I went on to say how you normally did not see people in casts this time of year, that it is normally in the winter as our city is very close to many of the top ski hills. Her Mother said it was a serious break, her tibula (correct me if I have spelled this wrong) she went on to say that her daughter didn�t fall she was assaulted by four girls! Well you can imagine how embarrassed I was, it was an awkward moment. Well I overcome my embarrassment very quickly as I was very curious/nosey as to what had happened to her as I had not read anything in the newspapers. It appears that she was at a bar/restaurant on the dance floor and talking to a guy and I guess there was a girl there who was his ex g/f. Before she knew it she had 4 girls attacking her. She did not even know these girls. The police were called and the officer did not lay charges! The officer told her that it would take several years to go through the courts and someone would have said that she antagonized the other girls or something to that effect and that nothing would happen. I could NOT believe my ears!! Since when did they make this police officer a judge and jury! Well I ended up speaking to the daughter for about 15 mins while her parents got their car from the parking area. The daughter said she could have been killed, and I said you are lucky but what will happen to the next person? These individuals should not get away with this, and I told her how strongly I felt about this. I said if you do not want to do it for yourself, do it for the next person who just might get killed by this girl/girls. Her mother pulled up in their truck minutes later and her mother thanked me. I only hope as a mother that she looks into this further. We can not turn a blind eye to this kind of behaviour because it could have turned out like my next story.

I am a volunteer at our local hospital. One afternoon I noticed a young guy in a wheelchair, he caught my attention as he was using his head to type a message on a computer screen. I went over to see if there was anything I could do to help. That was the beginning of our friendship. Since then I have gone in regularily to help him with his computer, read email messages, show him websites and update his Facebook account. His sister set him up a Facebook account so that he could keep in touch with friends, and find old ones. Lee he enjoys it very much., but due to his injuries he is unable to do this himself.

Lee was beaten at a bush party over 5 years ago. He is now quadriplegic and is unable to talk without the aid of a computer called a Dynavox. Since his accident he has had to live in the hospital as there is no facility available for him. You can hear a little about Lee by watching this video done by A-Channel News. The text from the video reads:

IT’S BEEN FIVE YEARS, SINCE LEE TURTON WAS SAVAGELY BEATEN AT A BUSH PARTY IN BARRIE. IN NEWMARKET, JONATHON WOMBACK IS STILL RECOVERING FROM A BEATING ALMOST EIGHT YEARS AGO. TODAY, THEY WERE AMONG THE VICTIMS OF CRIME HOPING TO GET HELP FROM THE HARPER GOVERNMENT. SEANNA SHOEMAKER REPORTS ON WHAT THE FEDS ARE DOING AND WHETHER THE VICTIMS THINK IT’S ENOUGH.

I can not remember when this video was taken, but it has been a couple of years and still nothing has happened. I can not believe that the Government can be so slow in helping victims of crime. I have talked to his father and he said you would not believe the papers that he had to fill out. He needed a lawyer to help him as it was so difficult. Not only did Lee�s father have to deal with the serious injuries that his son had endured, but then they had to go through a very lengthy trial against the person who committed the assault. Lee has been close to death many times. He is only 25 years old, but has lived at our local hospital for over 4 years as there is no facility out there for him. In this area we have very limited facilities to house people with Lee�s medical needs and disabilities. And the ones he could go to have very long waiting lists. Not only does he have to live in the hospital but they depend on generous donations from the church for the van that he needs to transport him to specialist appointments in Toronto, dentist and to see his family. Yesterday the electrics in the van were acting up and his father spent 15 minutes trying to get the lift to go up. The maintenance costs on this van are very expensive. Lee also takes supplements which are not covered under any plan and have to be shipped from the United States. His wheelchair must be constantly modified and maintained as Lee’s wheelchair is moved in and out of specially equipped vans. He also uses Dynavox in order to communicate. If you check the link it will give you an idea of the costs of purchasing a Dynavox. I have thought of many ways that I can help Lee and decided to launch a website where I will be donating half of all my revenue to Lee. You can check it out at www.mysinglesphoto.com. I have also posted a group on Facebook which I called Pay it Forward. so that I could spread the word about Lee through this popular website.

Charity is like blood, you have it in you to give. If you can not donate your time to this cause you can support him by buying a square on mysinglesphoto.

I will keep you updated on my progress and how much I raise for Lee.

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