Playing Tag

For police officer Const. Lee Jones, graffiti isn’t a game

SASKATOON - Saskatoon's only full-time, anti-graffiti cop knows what he'll find even before he drives down the east-side alley. The usual suspects are there, scribbled on broken-down backyard fences and rusty dumpsters - tags that Const. Lee Jones has file folders full of, tags he's photographed dozens of times before, tags he never wants to see again.

  One, in particular, catches his attention.

  It reads "F--- Lee Jones."

  On Saskatoon's only free wall behind the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, where graffiti artists are allowed to spray paint without consequence, there used to be an elaborate caricature of Jones as Looney Tunes cartoon Porky the Pig, handcuffing Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, screaming "That is not art!!!" while pointing to a tag of his own name, which includes a jelly donut standing in for the "o."

  It lasted for five months.

  "I just laughed," Jones says, his British accent hidden behind almost a decade on the Prairies. "I think of it as a begrudging respect. They seem to think it demoralizes me, but it only makes me work harder."

  In recent years, Saskatoon has become a backyard playground for graffiti artists who are part of an emerging hip-hop subculture. There are many different types of graffiti - from gang markings to romantic declarations - but the most common type in Saskatoon is hip-hop style.

See Vandalism or Art? / A5

Drowning death of seven year old boy “Shouldn’t have happened”

SASKATOON – A seven year old boy was one of three climbed the fence to cool off in the artificial Lakeview Lake during the year’s hottest day several weeks ago.  Despite being a strong swimmer for his age, the boy slipped under the water and drowned before he could be rescued.  At request of the parents, the boy has not yet been named by police.

  His death is the eight time a boy of age seven has drowned in the lake since its creation almost thirty years ago. 

  The last life the lake claimed was Yadit Taressa in February of 2005, also seven years old.  His parents, who have since moved out of the city, have campaigned to have the pond filled in, a move opposed by some area residents.  Their efforts did lead to a eight-foot wire fence being erected around the lake.

  According to Barbara Jameson of the local community association, the most recent death “Shouldn’t have happened.  We’ve know the lake was a hazard for years now, and it is high time it be removed.”

Police identify man presumed drowned at Paradise Beach

SASKATOON – A Saskatoon man presumed drowned at Paradise Beach has been identified by RCMP as Manyok Angeth.

  The 21-year-old man, originally from Sudan, was with friends Tuesday evening at the popular spot along the South Saskatchewan River south of the city, better known as bare-ass beach for its nude sunbathers. Angeth was attempting to swim across a narrow channel with a friend when the current pulled him under. The friend made it across.

  RCMP and Saskatoon Fire and Rescue arrived at the scene around 8 p.m. and conducted searches that night until it became too dark. They returned Wednesday and Thursday, searching with underwater divers, boat patrols and along the riverbank.

  Searchers continued to patrol the river Friday, but divers were not used.

  Meanwhile, the body of drowning victim Deven McKenchie, 19, was pulled from Buffalo Pound Lake, 200 kilometres south of Saskatoon, Thursday afternoon. Search and rescue teams had been scouring that lake since he disappeared while swimming with friends around 4 a.m. Tuesday.

  McKenchie was last seen by friends drifting into a current at the inflow of the lake, when he went underwater, said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Brad Kaeding, noting alcohol was likely a factor in the incident.

Crop Circle Museum Vandalized

ESTEVAN – Believers in the paranormal might have other theories, but Bert Roach says it all comes down to “mean-spirited hooliganism.”

  Roach came up with the idea for the Canadian Crop Circle Research Museum which opened last month.  The crop circle museum is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada – and possibly even further afield.

  The southern Saskatchewan community of Estevan is a hot spot in a world of crop circles, and is now home to its very own museum for the subject.

  Well, it’s really more of an exhibit inside the existing Souris Valley Museum for now.  But, much like the crops that give rise to the phenomenon, the site is meant to grow.

  Roach is disappointed by the targeted vandalism(none of the rest of the Souris Valley Museum was disrupted), but promises that the set-back won’t stop him for long.

Police seek public’s help in stabbings

SASKATOON – The Saskatoon Police Service is asking for the public’s assistance in finding the person(s) responsible for a stabbing that occurred on July 14th in the area of Avenue B North and 33rd st W.

     The incident happened between 03:00 and 03:30 in the morning in the parking lot adjacent to that intersection.  A male was stabbed in the chest during an altercation with unknown person(s).  No description is available for the assailant(s).

  Police are also investigating another stabbing after officers found a man with stab wounds early Wednesday morning.

  While on a routine patrol at around 2:30 a.m., police happened across a 24-year-old man with stab wounds at Avenue D South and 19th Street West. He was taken to Royal University Hospital, where police say he is in stable condition.

  Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the attack.

     Anyone with information is asked to call the Saskatoon Police Service at 975-8300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.  Information can also be provided on Crime Stoppers secure website at saskatooncrimestoppers.com.

Discovery of Middle Asia Cities Recasts Ancient History

RAVENNA, ITALY - New discoveries at dig sites in Middle Asia are rocking the archeological world and redefining the origins of modern civilization.

  Numerous sites in modern-day Iran and the surrounding region suggest that a vast network of societies together constituted the first cities, whose residents traded goods across hundreds of miles and forged parallel but strikingly independent cultures.

  Archaeologists have thought that modern civilization began in Mesopotamia, where the large Tigris and Euphrates rivers bounded a fertile valley that nurtured an increasingly complex society.

  The social structures, wealth and technologies of this society slowly spread along the Nile and then the Indus rivers in the 3rd millennium B.C.

  The findings at the new sites may have shaken conventional ancient history to its very foundations.  The key findings were discussed at a recent archaeological conference in Ravenna, Italy.

See Rethinking Ancient History / E4