From The Editors

Stay away May

Posted by Phil Andrews

Our editorial today says Elizabeth May shouldn't run in Guelph -- unless she's prepared to call it home and make it so.

Yer thoughts?

Subcontractor bingo - without political oversight?

Posted by Phil Andrews

I fielded a call last week by a Guelph contractor who wanted several things explored in connection with the Isabel Warren case.

His central issue was the oddity of a tendering process that yields contracts that have to be approved by council but then is open to the winning bidder contracting out some or all of the work.

He was troubled by the winning contractor on the building project at issue being able to deflect blame and responsibility for the wall collapse because it seemingly did none of the work.

He wonders how it can be that council and administration believe they can assess the merits of the bidders on such tenders when the bidders may simply transform into general contractors that put out all the work.

He suggests the system invites savings-focused work and creates an accountability gap between council and the workers who ultimately take on the jobs because they're often not with the firms that won the municipal contract.

A cold case?

Posted by Phil Andrews

More than a year after the sudden death of Guelph's Corrine Burns, many questions linger.

The community is still unaware of whether Burns was the victim of foul play. She was the young woman found last May, in a local city park, by a Guelph public schooler.

We'll re-examine what's known about Burns and the case soon. We're also looking to update the status of the police investigation into her death.

Funeral coverage

Posted by Phil Andrews

The Mercury doesn't cover many funerals.

We will be at the memorial of Isabel Warren tomorrow. We had also tried to arrange to have a reporter travel to and from the event with the buses of individuals from her Bishop Macdonell High School family for a different perspective. The school declined to provide access required for that assignment.

We're told Warrens' family held a private ceremony on Tuesday.

We also deliberated on whether to cover the funeral of murder victim Dayna Jamieson tomorrow. We ultimately decided it was appropriate on many levels to do so.
One of many factors considered was the need to prominently follow the story of a suspected victim of domestic violence.
Today, her family requested that we stay away from the memorial.
We'll respect and abide by that wish.

Where to eat

Posted by Phil Andrews

Where to Eat in Canada's latest guide is out.

Three local eateries make the book.

Two are perennials: La Cucina, of Guelph, and Envers, of Morriston. The other is Artisanale. Artisanale's home address has made the book before -- when it was an arm of The Bookshelf.

Of interest is the absence of Bistro Six. The Guelph eatery had been a regular. It has been closed for months for renovations, according to signage at the restaurant.

It's a tough business.

A likely local contender for next year is foodie-world darling Borealis Grille.

Congrats to those in the book. We're working up some coverage.

Have gun column, will get letters that travel

Posted by Phil Andrews

Mercury Community Editorial Board member Paul Friesen offered a thought on long gun registry in today's Mercury.

So far, we've received about 20 critical emailed responses to it. None are from Wellington County.

We'll publish a sample in the coming days.

The feedback takes a general form: Mr. Friesen I diagree. Criminals don't register guns. The gun registry is an attack on law-abiding gun owners. It doesn't prevent crime.
The loop then repeats -- at least once.

Naming names again

Posted by Phil Andrews One of the challenging ethical decisions in our newsroom this week was when to publish the name of the victim in the tragedy at the south side city park this week. We knew unofficially the victim was Isabel Warren within hours of her death. We confirmed it with several credible sources - though city police, the school and the school board refused to identify the girl. There was an issue of notifying next-of-kin to be done. We knew Warren's mother had been informed. We tried to reach her family on the day of her death but failed in our attempt. We published onlined -- via our website and Twitter -- Isabel's identity shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday. Facebook memorials went up a few hours later. Of interest, the City of Guelph has provided several public statements in relation to the case and their various responses to it. It is yet to include Warren's name in any of these statements.

More on the Isabel Warren tragedy

Posted by Phil Andrews

We've heard today from a purported North America expert and advocate on safety at recreation facilities.

He suggest Warren isn't the first person -- or young person -- killed recently in North America by a concrete block bathroom wall collapsing.

He has no direct knowledge of the cause of this case. But, he said, there are frequently cases where outbuildings -- such as washrooms -- at public rec facilities receive less rigorous attention than the active features they're attacked to such as sports fields.

He wonders whether frost-thaw cycles may have invisibly weakened the wall in this instance based on what has taken place elsewhere.

His comments will frame coming coverage in the Mercury.

Exploring 'The Family'

Posted by Phil Andrews

The Guelph Police Service has seemingly elected not to speak with our reporters about a group known as 'The Family.'

The Family has been described fulsomely in the recent court proceedings of Paul McGraw.

McGraw was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison in connection with a series of crimes.

Court was told the crimes were linked to individuals commiting them because of the influence of McGraw and or The Family.

The Family has been rumoured to be connected to other violent, local, unsolved crimes.

We'll keep trying to dig at the impact of the McGraw conviction on The Family.

One would think if his imprisonment reflected its demise city police would want to chronicle how it came to crack such a comlicated and challenging case.

Meanwhile, the sister of McGraw insists there is no such thing as The Family.

Shocking no comment

Posted by Phil Andrews

We've finally heard back from a Taser-backed founder of a business that appeared at a recent conference run by a firm started by a Guelph police officer.

We wanted to interview the Taser-linked official about his business and about recent suggestions that firms like his and that of the Guelph officer bear further public scrutiny.

Alas, he informed us he no longer does media interviews.

Of interest, the session he led at the recent conference touched on how the media is guilty of not telling the whole story when it comes to things such as Taser use by police and whether it warrants more examination from a safety perspective.

No doubt, the no-interview policy is addressing that concern.

We would have covered the conference and or registered as a participant. But requests to be accredited or to register were denied.