The RCMP's stumbled onto stolen treasure in a Fall River home, historic pieces like a letter from General James Wolfe dated 1758 and worth nearly $18,000. Over 800 artifacts, apparently stolen and with an estimated value of over $1 million were found in the home of James Tillman, no stranger to the legal system. The haul included rare first editions and an 1819 watercolour of Province House. That letter by the way, written by Wolfe before he launched his siege on the French fortress of Louisburg, was found in Tillman's car after he was pulled over last summer for breaching conditions of his house arrest on other charges. It was tracked to Dalhousie University's archives and led police to search Tillman's home. He's now facing charges and the RCMP is working now with the FBI to identify some of the owners of the stolen goods.
Wow! And to think if Tillman hadn't gone for a drive that day last summer, we might never know about this.
Michael Ryan told my News 95.7 radio show yesterday afternoon it's not true, none of it. He's referring to the accusations he abused his wife Nicole for years, leading her to try to hire a hit man to kill him. Did you ever hold a gun to her head I asked, did you ever hold a knife to her throat and did you ever dig graves for her and her daughter and threaten to kill and bury them. No he replied. The Nova Scotia courts and the Supreme Court of Canada have all suggested Nicole Ryan lived in an abusive relationship, a reign of terror but Michael Ryan disputes those findings and says the courts never called him to testify. Nicole's lawyer Joel Pink says he has no doubts it's his client who is telling the truth, "the evidence is the evidence" he tells the Canadian Press. A classic he said she said battle. Who do you believe?
Brrrr! Looks like we'll have to put up with another day or two of these freezing temperatures. It's been in the -30 degree range with the wind chill the last couple of days. An end's in sight by the weekend and the weather gurus say February is expected to be warmer than normal. But hey, this is Canada and it is winter. What else would you expect?
A sad commentary on the public school system comes out of Memorial University in St John's. A Memorial professor gave her students a pop geography quiz, handing out a blank map and asking her students to identify continents and oceans. The results were abysmal. Many couldn't even identify North America.
How pathetic is that?
Have a great day. Get involved. And if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
Rick Howe
