GIORGE’S DIARY - 8th July 2008
Category: Life

Had the coldest day of winter yesterday. Max of 11 degrees but stayed around 9 degrees for most of it. My hands were in pain all day. Despite all my noises about wanting to move to England - could I really cope with the weather? I mean, 8 degrees really isn't that cold, is it? But I always tell myself that I would get used to it, and try to ignore the voice in my head that tells me after 28 years of living in Australia I still haven't 'got used' to the excessive heat. Every time the chill hits me in the face, I try and remember last summer, especially those two weeks where the temperature didn't go below 34 degrees. We had one day after another over 40 degrees, and I very nearly didn't cope. No, I'll take winter any time.

I've started writing something new and it's feeling good. I needed to feel excited about something, about a journey, a story, instead of looking at it as hard work. I'm excited by this one, so hopefully it will turn out well. It's hard, writing. Trying to fit it in around a full time job and house and pets and boyfriend. For me, writing should come first, but it never does. It's why I despise my job and why I get angry if the house is a mess, becaues it's taking time away from the one thing I feel I'm good at. At least the one thing I want to do with my life.

I sometime wish I was passionate about something else. Something that brought me riches. Why couldn't I be passionate about being an accountant? (Hard to imagine because I hate numbers) or passionate about nursing or secretarial work? Why do I have to be passionate about something that is so unattainable?

Oh, gawd, just had a thought: what if I'm like those losers on Australian Idol who audition truly believing that they are an amazing singer, but it turns out that they're, well, shit. But they can't see it, and they're horrible. And then they get so angry with the judges that they throw tables over and go into the video room and complain and then yell at the top of their lungs the whole way out of the venue about how AI can't spot talent and they'll make them pay etc etc. Is that me? Is there going to be some Myspace 'worst of' show where my face will be placed up there while people snigger saying 'she thinks she can write!!'

Well now have put myself into right huff. Cup of coffee to soothe my soul. (and increase my nerves and give me yellow teeth).

06:54 PM - 3 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

INTRODUCING GIORGE’S DIARY - 4TH JULY 2008
Category: Writing and Poetry

Friday, 4th July 2008

So I'm crap at writing a diary. I never keep it up, and most of the important days in my life are left un-documented. Not saying my life is exciting or anything, it's rather boring. May lose a lot of readers for this. But don't worry, won't be doing just a diary, it'll be like SA...Great? segment and Crime Revisited segment. But at least this way, I can bringing you a little into my world. Feel nervous. Suddenly the thought of people finding out how many times I go to the toilet each day is quite horrifying.

For those who wonder: I go to the toilet quite often. But you don't need to be bothered with such basic knowledge of me.

Today is the 4th of July. A day for celebration in America. Picnics, fireworks, etc. Nice weather. Here it is supposed to be weather but weather is quite nice. It's sunny at least.

Friday's are my favourite days but they seem to drag on a bit. It's as if the universe knows I'm counting down the hours until I can leave the office (otherwise known as prison, but different from prison in that can leave every night and get paid for being here. Don't konw if it makes much of a difference).

Looking to tonight when am going to sisters house for Indian. Mmm. Indian. Will spend all day tomorrow with upset stomach and farting. People will need to keep away from me. Will be totally worth it. Ruby Raja's is the best Indian in town.

Back is still hurting after injuring it last week, and sitting in a seat all day doesn't help it.

Feel like throwing up but know it's just because haven't eaten. Stomach can't stand to be empty.

Got a comment pulled from another internet sight for being 'insensitive'. Not happy about it. Thought it was a ligitiment comment but people got upset about it. Got upset because my opinion differed from their own, thought it was a downfall of free speech. But there you go. Those rent-a-crowd people will always win in the end.

My cat Martini's birthday yesterday. She was eight years old. Hard to believe I've had her for (almsot) eight years. That's a long time. Martini and I have gone through so much together, it's no wonder she's a grumpy old cat. When she came along there was just her, and within months we had moved and got another cat. And then, just to upset her even further, we got a dog. Martini didn't handle either very well - she hid under a table for two weeks when I got Penelope - but she is doing well now, which is good considering since that time I've moved another three times.

I've put her through a lot but in the end she's in a much better place then where she was born - a horrible, dingy house with crap all over the floor. I think I provide a good life for Martini - I certainly hope I do.

Still considering the throwing up. Should really get some food in my stomach, first.

08:13 PM - 9 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

BAD PARENTS INVOLVED IN BIZARRE PREGNANCY PACT WITH DAUGHTER
Category: News and Politics

The need for some couples to have children is so great that they would do almost anything.

People who are well off can afford the costly treatment of in vitro fertilisation, which can year to work. Or, of course, there is adoption. Yet that process is also costly, and can be quite discouraging filing the mountains of paperwork that need to be filed and waiting for the gift of a child.

A couple from Brisbane, however, have found their way around these problems. The 35 year old man and 39 year old woman – who can't be named for legal reasons – had been trying to conceive a child for a number of years.

On two occasions they had succeeded, but their two boys were born with congenital disorders.

So the woman – who had daughter from a previous relationship – together with her husband came up with a plan to get the child they always wanted.

The fear of passing on a disorder to a child of her own had the 39 year old Brisbane woman come up with a most bizarre and sinister plan.

She and her husband convinced her then fifteen year old daughter to have a baby, which they would raise as their own.

The girl would be impregnated by her step-father, using a syringe filled with his sperm – a cheap way of artificial insemination.

When this was unsuccessful, it was decided that intercourse was the only other appropriate action. So the 35 year old man starting having sex with his step-daughter up to three times a day between April and August of 2006.

What makes this case even more troubling is the fact that the girl had already been sexually abused by the man since the age of twelve. The 'pregnancy pact', it seemed, was the perfect opportunity for the step-father to get his satisfaction without having to keep it hidden.

Upon turning sixteen, the girl had had enough, and filed a complaint with the police.

Her mother and stepfather were arrested and charged with one count each of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child – charges they've plead guilty to.

Unfortunately, this couple did not see that their desire to have a child at any cost has all but ruined the life of another child. This torment is something the teenager will have to live with for the rest of her life.

GOpinion:

It's not even worth giving my GOpinion on this one, as it's plane to see how horrible it is. Feel free to share your thoughts on this story with us, together with any stories you may have of bad parenting. Does it exceed this?

05:49 PM - 16 Comments - 28 Kudos - Add Comment

THE GIRL, THE BRIDGE, THE SUICIDE SITES
Category: Web, HTML, Tech

A twenty-three year old woman from England has chosen San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge for the place to take her life.

Olivia Crowther, a former student of Sussex University who was hoping to have a career in publishing, went missing from her London flat, causing her parents to worry. When they had not heard form her for a number of days – which was very unlike Olivia – the went into her flat and logged on to her computer, trying to see if there was any evidence of what her final movements might be.

The discovered that Olivia had purchased a ticket to the American city, and, most alarmingly, they also discovered that Olivia had been surfing suicide sites which detailed which buildings and bridges were the best to take your life from.

California Highway Patrol found the body of Olivia only one day after she had arrived in San Francisco.

Family and friends cannot believe what has happened. All of them were adamant that she had showed no signs of depression or anxiety, and came across as a happy girl.

Campaigners in the UK said that websites such as the ones Olivia accessed before she took her life have been linked to at least 30 suicides in young people in the past six years.

So are the sites to blame? Would someone who was simply feeling a little blue be encouraged to go ahead and take their life after reading information contained in these sites?

So I Googled 'Suicide' to see what I would find on the subject. It came up with 99,100,000 results in 0.08 seconds. The first page displayed by Google were suicide prevention sites, offering help and counselling for those thinking of taking their own life.

So then I Googled 'How to commit suicide'. In 0.18 seconds it gave me 3,160,000 choices.

The most disturbing was actually the Wikipedia page. There you find a list of suicide methods, with straight-forward language and factual information. Not anywhere on that page was there a reference of seeking help if you wish to commit suicide. There was no where on that page that said perhaps this isn't the best course of action.

I then went to the site titled '10 ways to commit suicide'. The description of the site said, and I quote: 'ps – don't commit suicide. A permanent solution to a temporary problem, etc.'

On the page itself, the Google ads weren't for anti-depressants or clinics to help you get over your depression. They weren't for Lifeline or other such phone-in counselling services.

No. The adds displayed were for companies that wanted to teach you how to become a life coach. Earn 250k!. Maybe it's me, but I'm guessing those that are depressed enough to want to kill themselves are perhaps not going to be the best candidates for a life coach.

Should suicide-friendly sites be like cigarette packets and have warning labels? Don't try to commit suicide because this might happen to you… and yes, the outcome that most people want when they try to commit suicide is death. But it often doesn't turn out that way. When it goes wrong, you'd probably find yourself in a much worse sat then when you began.

I once met a girl who was left a total paraplegic after jumping off a building at school. Before the event, she had texted all of her classmates, telling them she was going to commit suicide. She gave them the time and date, and a group appeared to watch her fall, not to her death, but to a life of living in a rehabilitation home because her mother doesn't want to look after a disabled person. Her legs, always skinny, are now just bones, swinging lifelessly from her chair. She didn't finished her schooling, didn't get to go on to university, and didn't get to kill herself. I'm sure now she regrets ever being so foolish. Now she would be a poster-child against suicide. Put her as a warning on the suicide sites.

I once worked for an Orthopaedic Surgeons who would carry around a photo album of his surgeries to show to patients. It was filled with polaroids of open knees and hips. Yet at the back there were some pictures that truly frightened me. Like the photo of the girl who had come in one night with one of her wrists slights neatly through. The doctor had to reattach every single tendon in her wrist – it was like sowing electricity wires back together. And though he was a very talented surgeon, this girl would never have a fully-functional hand again.

I know, from personal experience, that when I'm in a blue state I won't go ahead and read the journals of Sylvia Plath. I've been trying to read those bloody journals for almost a year now, yet her state of mind – her own depression – is so evident in those journals it's as if I can feel and identify with her pain. Not such a good thing when I'm in a misery myself. It makes me feel worse, and than the inevitable dark thoughts creep in. The solution? I don't read those journals when I'm depressed.

Could these internet sites be the same? Could those on the brink be convinced to go ahead with such a tragic act simply by reading an internet site?

At the end of the day, if people want to commit suicide they are going to go ahead and do it. The question is, should there be internet sites encouraging and explaining how it's done?

*** If you are dealing with depression and need help head to www.beyondblue.org

07:11 PM - 14 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment

MY HANDBAG MADE ME HAPPY
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

A little bit down, a little bit blue, a little bit blah. I had to lift my mood.

So how did I do that? I went and bought a handbag, of course!

No, not a Birkin. That, of course is my dream bag. If I bought one of those now, it'd only strengthen my depression. Because not only would I be sad, but I'd be bloody broke and in debt as well.

I love handbags. Love love love love them. I love having the perfect bag. I can't always aford the expensive, label-brands, but my choices are always wise, always a bag that stems from current fashion trends, or that I find particularly appealing.

Because I wear a lot of black, I tend to be drawn to bags that are not of that colour. I have a countless supply of brown ones, a couple of fawn ones, one floral one (huh!) two orange (yeah baby) one green, one baby-blue, one lavender and one yellow.

The yellow purchase was todays. It's a big satchel type bag. I need to have big bags because I carry around so much shit!

Altogether, I only have about 30 bags. You ask, if it make you happy, why don't you buy more (I was trying to give that excuse to Macca before) but considering I was recently whinging about the cost of anti-depressants earlier this month, I don't think I can afford to gain happiness form buying too many handbags.

It made me think: if handbags are what brings me out of a slump, what about you guys? What do you go and buy to brighten your day when you're a bit blue?

Like me to you also turn to coffee and chocolate? Or what about a good book? (Like space for my handbags, I'm also running out of room for my books. Buying six more on the weekend didn't help either).

GOpinion: What material thing do you buy to brighten your day? What always gets you out of slump?

Meanwhile, I'll keep dreaming of the Birkin....

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04:15 AM - 40 Comments - 34 Kudos - Add Comment

CORBY: WHETHER GUILTY OR NOT, IT STILL SUCKS TO ROT IN JAIL
Category: News and Politics

Those of you that live outside of Australia and Indonesia may not know the face of this girl, Schapelle Corby. Yet she is a very famous Australia, perhaps all for the wrong reasons.

Last night the Nine network here in Australia screened the first part of a documentary on Schapelle which has reignited mine, and no doubt a lot of other peoples interest in the case.

The reason for Corby's notoriety is not a good one. On the 8th of October 2004 Corby was apprehended at the Ngurah Rai Airport with 4.1kg of cannabis in her boogie-board bag.

She was in Bali visiting her sister Mercedes for her 30th birthday. Married to a Balinese man, Mercedes was staying in Bali to engage her children in their father's culture before beginning school back in Queensland.

Corby was in much need for a holiday. She had just postponed her studies as a beauty therapist to take care of her father Michael, who was suffering the effects of prostrate cancer.

The holiday was her chance to relax and rehabilitate herself before she continued the difficult task of taking care of her father.

Right from the outset, Schapelle has always maintained her innocence stating that the drugs found in her bag weren't hers.

For a while she wasn't believed, but countless footage of the pretty, innocent-looking girl had most Australians believe her story.

In 2005, however, Corby was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has since exhausted all of her appeal avenues.

Corby with her court interpreter: hearing her fate.

The moment it hit home.

I can't tell you whose story I believe in this instance – the Indonesian officials or Corby – because there isn't enough evidence to prove it either way. That, it seems, may be why Corby shouldn't be in prison.

Three of the group travelling with Corby to Bali made statements that they had seen her open the boogie-board bag on leaving for the trip to place a pair of flippers inside. No one saw the bag of cannabis.

The bag was a clear bag, the kind you use to vaccum seal your jumpers and winter clothes in to store away in the summer. Corby claims that when she opened the bag in front of the customers officer the smell of cannabis reached her before she saw what was in it.

The bag, the board, the cannabis.

Had the drugs been placed in the bag by someone else – to use Corby unwillingly as a mule – the weight of the bag would have been different when it was weighed at Brisbane airport to that at Bali airport, yet this was not considered.

The bag containing the cannabis was not tested for finger-printing – which would have revealed whether or not Corby had touched the bag. Nor was the cannabis tested for origin. This would have been quite important in determining where the drugs came from.

It also seems ridiculous that a young woman would bring in such a large quantity of drugs into a place that is renown for it's drug accessibility. You cannot turn a corner in Bali without being offered cannabis from one of the local drug-pushers. This leaves us with an interesting though: why on earth would you want to bring in more to the country if it is readily accessible and why would you do it without any concealment whatsoever?

However, there has been a lot of talk that perhaps James – Corby's half-brother and travelling companion – placed the drugs in Corby's bag himself, and let her take the rap. He conveniently was carrying the bag from the plane in Bali, perhaps so that Schapelle didn't notice the difference in weight. James has since been charged with assault and drug possession after he and some friends invaded the home of a known drug-dealer, tied up all occupants, and beat them before escaping with cannabis, so his track record doesn't shed him in a good light.

Or than there's Michael Corby, Schapelle's other brother, who has himself been in trouble with police over drug charges.

Or what about Clinton Rose, another half-brother, who has been in prison on several occasions for a range of offences.

It doesn't paint Schapelle in a very good light, either. Her constant denials of drug use don't seem to carry much weight when it seems as though she's surrounded by it. And even though you should never be tainted with the same brush of your family, it does leave people with the suspicion of, even though Corby is innocent, one of her family members could have used her as a mule.

Personally, I don't think it matters one bit if every bugger in her family is a drug dealer. It shouldn't make one bit of difference to her case. If the Indonesian court won't accept the testimony of her fellow travellers saying her boogie-bag didn't contain cannabis, than then, by the same argument, it shouldn't matter what Schapelle's friends and families do or how they live their life. It's irrelevant to her case.

During the trial it was revealed that an associate of one of the judges contacted Corby's people detailing that she could buy her way to freedom. This kind of corruption in the judicial system is apparently a regular occurrence. However, when one of Corby's people spoke of the bribe on national radio, it seemed that any hope she had of freedom were dashed. Though corruption is well-known, the judges didn't want to be disrespected by having it spoken about.

Subsequently, Corby lost, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

GOpinion:

I find it difficult to understand why trafficking of cannabis should receive a 20 year sentence. However, I understand that if you visit a country you need to be aware of their laws and abide by them. So you'd have to admit, anyone – particularly someone like Corby who had visited Indonesia on a number of occasions – would have been aware of the severe penalty imposed for drug trafficking. The maximum penalty is actually death. Would someone want to risk their life to sell some drugs? Somehow I don't think so.

I think that Corby's biggest problem is her family. They are not the brightest and perhaps a little rough around the edges, and their outbursts in court were well-documented. The media is a fickle industry, and papers like to pick on people, and the Corby's, with their unusual names and Queensland accents seem to fit the bill. However, if my sister or daughter was in court, and imprisoned for something I believed she didn't do, I'd be completely irrational as well.

Schapelle's sister Mercedes Corby and mother Rose.

Mercedes and Rose show their true colours in court. They won't stop the fight for Schapelle.

The family's biggest mistake was perhaps putting their trust in the wrong people. It seemed that Corby's defence team didn't fight the case properly, and all should have been kept quiet about the bribes.

A lot of the case doesn't make sense, and had the trial been in Australia, Schapelle may not have been convicted due to lack of evidence. The fact that the CCTV was not working in the customs area is convenient. Schapelle makes a good point when she says that a country that has such a high penalty for drug trafficking – death – that there should be procedures in place to prove it 100%. I suspect this is why Schapelle was not given the death penalty. They couldn't not prove 100% that the drugs were hers. Had we footage of what happened in the customers area, it may shed more light on the discrepancies of the case. The customers officer stated that Corby refused to let him open the bag, yet all of her travelling companions – and Corby herself, claimed she opened the bag without a fuss.

The media scramble Schapelle deals with at every court appearence.

The handling of the case by the Indonesian authorities was poor. There was no finger-printing of the bag of cannabis. No testing of the drugs, which would have revealed where they originated from. All these things would have helped to prove Corby's innocence, if that be the case. However, this did not happen.

Regardless of her guilt or innocence, living your days in a prison in a foreign country where the treatment is poor, must be horrible for Schapelle. The knowledge that she will never be able to have kids – for she will be past her prime when she is released – is devistating, I'm sure. Corby has no future. Twenty years is an incredibly long time. Twenty years ago I was eight years old. It's almost a lifetime away, and Corby will be living that lifetime in cramped conditions. She has been jailed through the death of her grandmother, her father, and her stepfather. Every important moment in life is passing her by. Imagine how you would cope in a foreign prison for twenty years. Now imagine that you've done nothing to deserve being there. It'd drive you mad, surely?

So, on reflection of the case, tell me:

Is twenty years too much for trafficking of cannabis?

Do you believe that there was enough evidence to convict Schapelle, or do you believe there is enough reasonable doubt that in western courts she would have been acquitted?

Thoughts?

01:49 PM - 30 Comments - 26 Kudos - Add Comment

G-OPINION ON ABANDONED KIDS (with replies)
Category: Pets and Animals

When I got each of my pets, I knew that I would have them for life. I knew that training my kittens to use the kitty litter would take some patience, and that I would have to learn to stop worrying about them every time I let them outside. I knew that when it came to my dog I would have to put up with accidents on the carpet and floor, and that it may take him a while to be house-trained. It did, in fact, take a number of years. At five years old, it's only been in the past year that Memo has stopped leaving us 'presents' inside.

Yet I got my two cats and my dog for a reason (s). I love animals, I knew that I could provide them a good home, they would be comfortable and looked after and would keep me from being lonely and feeling unloved. I knew that it wasn't always going to be easy. I knew at times they would break my heart.

Martini, my eldest.

Penelope, my blue-eyed girl. She looks strangely like Dr Phil when she stares at you.

Like on Christmas Eve when I had returned home to find that Memo had got into the presents under the tree. They had been there for two weeks without him touching them, but he must of finally realised that one of them was for him, and decided that waiting until Christmas Eve was good enough. He almost destroyed a pair of shorts I bought for Macca in the process. I've never been so disappointed in all my life, and it hurt.

The very naughty, but very cute, Memo.

Or every time Martini and Penelope fight; my heart aches. Or whenever my animals come home with a scratch on their face….

Whether it's when they're injured, sick or I have to discipline them, having animals is at time heart-wrenching and difficult. Most nights I can't be bothered to feed them, yet I do it, because they need to be fed. I always think about the animals food before myself – just ask Macca. The first thing I put on the list most weeks is cat food and dog food. Macca often looks at me and asks whether we'd be eating that week.

There were times in my life when I didn't have any money, but what little I had went towards the animals food. I lived on potatoes for a fortnight because a bag of 5 kilos had cost five dollars, whereas the cats had variety.

But most parents put their 'children' first, right? Whether they be of the furry kind or of the human kind. I can remember that scene in Erin Brockovich when she had no money left and took her kids out for dinner. She lied, telling her kids she had had a big fancy lunch, and made sure they were fed, going hungry herself.

As a child, my mother's plate was always emptier than ours. We were all served first and if she was cooking steak she would go without if there wasn't enough. When it came to feeding her family, mum always put us first.

But sometimes people don't have that motherly instinct. My grandmother, for instance, would purchase top-quality steak for her and her husband while her kids got hotdogs. A small thing, I now, but something that would never have happened in our household.

Just because I am willing to put my pets first, let alone any children I may have, doesn't mean that it's the case with every parent.

Recently here in Australia parents of 18 month old twins have been charged with their murder, after the siblings died of malnutrition.

How could this have happened? It's a frightening tale. Their older sibling, an eleven year old girl, found the twins in the front room they had apparently rarely left in their lives. A smell of decay had led the child to investigate, and she found, in their cots, the dead twins. Approaching her mother, the eleven year old said 'now I know why you've been crying, mummy.'

The twins had been dead a week and a half when they were found. They each weighed around 4 kilograms, the same weight as a newborn child. Apparently, they had only ever been fed milk.

When the twins mother – who has four other kids – was asked how the toddlers had died, she replied by simply saying: 'I don't think I fed them enough.'

It has been revealed that the twins siblings rarely saw them, that the mother rarely fed them and rarely changed their nappies.

During a court appearance, it was revealed that the mother and father were having relationship problems and no longer shared the same bed. The mother stated that she had had a cold, and was finding it difficult to cope.

The father's lawyer said that he had hardly seen the twins in the last six months, and had only learnt of their death on the same day as the police did.

For those who found it hard to believe that a father wouldn't have contact with his children though living in the same house as them and walking past their bedroom door every day, he replied that it was his responsibility to take care of the other children and get them to school, whereas the responsibility of the twins belonged to his wife.

Both parents are still in custody, and while initially being charged with neglect, the charge has now been upgraded to murder.

From someone who has always put their pets first, I find it hard to comprehend how anyone could neglect their own flesh and blood. Or how you can simply throw off the responsibility of your own children to someone else, just like you would a project at work that doesn't fall under your job description.

Wouldn't you want to see your children every day? Wouldn't you want to search for something good in them to make up for all the troubles – the crying and the feeding and the dirty nappies?

Wouldn't you want all of your children to bond? With the difficulties of raising twins, wouldn't it make more sense to let your other children cradle them while you prepared your food, or watch over them while you took a quick shower?

How could you – just because you no longer have a relationship of sorts with your wife – decide to totally remove yourself from your children because of it? How could you do that?

Because here's the thing. Here in Australia, if you need help, you can get it. If you are stressed with the thought of looking after your children, you can get help. Can't afford to feed them? Salvation Army will give you food. Can no longer handle them? Foster Care can take them temporarily.

Sometimes there are circumstances in life that prevent you from keeping your promise of care. A guy I know had a cat that he adored. Yet circumstances beyond his control meant that he could no longer take care of her. He knew that she would be better off in another home. Did he abandon her? No. He placed advertisements in local papers before interviewing potential new carers. He found the perfect couple to take his cat. So he didn't abandon her. He made an intelligent decision that the cat benefited from.

So if you cannot commit to the long haul, maybe you should think about not having children, because the last thing we need is more abandoned babies, whether death is involved or not. Yet now the news that 17 girls from Gloucester High School in Massachusetts made a 'baby pact' to get pregnant just reinforces the fact that people do not think long-term when it comes to children, and pets.

GOpinion: What's your view on this? What measures do you think will prevent society from abandoning their children? Have you a story of a child/pet that was abandoned? Do you believe, like me, that the commitment you have towards a pet and a child is the same?

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01:46 PM - 30 Comments - 34 Kudos - Add Comment

CRIME REVISITED: SNOWTOWN MURDERS Part Three
Category: News and Politics

This blog includes sensitive material which should not be read by anyone under 18 years of age. It relates to a series of murders carried out in South Australia with details that may offend some readers. If you are particularly sensitive, you should not read the following.

CRIME REVISITED: SNOWTOWN MURDERS (This blog also falls under the SA… Great? Section but as there is nothing humorous about it, it has not been posted under it)

**** To get a full understanding of the blog, you'll need to read the first two parts.

Part One

Part Two

PART THREE

Bunting took Vlassakis aside one day to show him the body of his friend, Gavin Porter, lying dead on the floor of their shed. Vlassakis was repulsed, and began being sick. Bunting hadn't finished though. Lifting the lid of a heavy-duty plastic barrel, he showed Vlassakis the decaying body of Barry Lane.

Vlassakis was repulsed, yet he looked up to Bunting, and was in awe of him. When Bunting told him it was time that Troy Youde – Vlassakis' half brother that lived with the family – pay for sexually abusing Vlassakis when he was 13, Vlassakis agreed to help kill him.

Troy Youde

At this point, it is unclear what Elizabeth Harvey thought of her partner killing her son, for she had to have known. She herself had been involved in one of the murders and had allegedly known about the rest. But Harvey died of cancer just as Bunting and Wagner were arrested for the murders, so her thoughts on the topic will never be known.

Gary O'Dwyer was a disabled man who lived in Murray Bridge. His injuries were sustained following a car accident. He was killed, apparently, as he was an easy target. It was September 1998 and Bunting was killing with more frequency, and the torture becoming more sadistic. After his death, Bunting and Wagner continued to collect O'Dwyer's pension.

Gary O'Dwyer

It seemed, however, that Bunting and Wagner's biggest problem was where to store the bodies. Those that had not been buried at the Waterloo Corner home, or out at Lower Light had been chopped up and placed in barrels. The two had rented a property near the Clare Valley to house some of them, however the owners complained of the smell, even though the bodies were kept in an acid supposed to dissolve the corpses.

Another friend of Bunting's, Mark Haydon, who stored some of the barrels at his own home and knew of the murders, suggested they rent an old bank vault at Snowtown. Haydon used his previous name, Mark Lawrence, to take out the lease with Bunting. All of the barrels were soon stored there.

Mark Haydon experienced murder close to his home. His wife's intellectually impaired sister, Jodie Elliot, who lived in a shed at the back of his house had an 18 year old sun named Fred Brooks. For reasons unknown, he was a target. Perhaps it was because, like his mother, he was intellectually disabled. He was killed by Bunting and Wagner, with help from his uncle Haydon.

Fred Brooks

Mark Haydon's wife, Elizabeth, was hated by Bunting, for he had soon added obese people to those he hated. Elizabeth Hadyon was murdered whilst husband Mark Haydon was out of the house. However, Hadyon helped Bunting conceal the murder.

Elizabeth Haydon

It was the murdering gang's biggest mistake. Haydon's brother reported her missing to police the day after her murder, not convinced by her husband's conflicting versions of where she went, and certainly not believing that Haydon would leave her young children behind.

Haydon lied to police making up the story that his wife had skipped out on him, yet police felt the urge to investigate her disappearance. Among the group of people Elizabeth knew, and her movements over the last few months, the names of Bunting and Wagner appeared frequently, as did a number of names of other missing people. The police then made the decision to tap the home of Mark Haydon, and by doing this found it necessary to investigate the old bank vault that Hadyon had recently rented.

It didn't happen quick enough for David Johnson, though. Johnson was another half-brother of James Vlassakis and was lured to Snowtown on the assumption of buying a computer. He was tortured in the bank vault, forced to give his pin and social security number, and was finally killed. After his death Wagner and Bunting fried his flesh and ate it.

David Johnson

When the police finally searched the bank vault they were disgusted with what they found, as were the public. The stench of rotting flesh filled the town as the vault was left open due to the investigation. Snowtown soon found it became a tourist destination, with people travelling there months afterwards to bend down and sniff under the old bank door, trying to smell the decaying bodies.

The vault where the bodies were stored. See the fingerprint dusting done by police.

Police arrested Wagner, Bunting and Haydon, as well as Vlassakis. The backyard of the Waterloo Corner home was excavated, and the Murray Bridge home searched.

The backyard at the Waterloo Corner home. It has since been demolished, and units for elderly people sits in its place.

Vlassakis decided to make a deal with the police, pleading guilty to four of the murders, and turning star witness for the Crown in the trial of Bunting and Wagner. Haydon was given 25 years for assisting and aiding a murderer.

The trial of Bunting and Wagner was long and distressing. Three of the original jury withdrew, not coping with the horrible details of the murders. The rest of the jury, as well as some journalists who covered the trial have received counselling due to the horrific nature of the information given in the trial.

Details such as how one of the victims had his genitalia clubbed while another victim was given electric shocks to his penis and testicles as well as having a burning sparkler inserted into his penis. Photographs of the victims in the barrels also affected the courtroom deeply. Two of the victims were squashed into the one barrel, with a foot being thrown away because it 'didn't fit.'

However, instead of dissolving the bodies, the acid used in the barrels seemed to mummify them, making the task for the forensic investigators much easier.

Wagner and Bunting have appealed their life sentences, but failed. They now do not have another avenue of appeal in South Australia.

It is also disturbing to note how frequent the killing became towards the end. Not only that, but the killer were chosing targets in an even more random fashion. Even relatives of those involved were not safe. The torture became progressively worse as well, and finally, on their final murder, Wagner and Bunting ate their victim's flesh. It makes me wonder - as I'm sure others do as well - what their next step would have been had they not been caught. What other group of people would have been added to their list of hate? How many more would they have killed?

The killers. Robert Wagner is on the left, and John Bunting, just behind him, on the right.

It is not known whether Bunting is psychologically un-well due to the suppression on his psychological records. However, it is obvious that he prayed on those whose mental capabilities were much less than his own. Which is what makes this case so sad. Those targeted were social outcasts with little friends and no family. They weren't equipped with the intelligence necessary to make decisions on whether someone's intentions were good or not.

And when they all first went missing, we as a society turned our backs. Because they were not 'socially acceptable' people. They were unintelligent, had mental handicaps, didn't work, had no money and were not attractive. So none of us sympathised with them, which is terribly, terribly sad.

At the end of the day Bunting and Co only received $95,000 in welfare payments through their victims. Not much when it's spread over eleven people. So was it simply for the money? Or did Bunting and Wagner really believe that they were ridding society of bad seeds? Or, as some suspect, was it all a sadistic sexual fantasy played out by Bunting and Wagner in order to satisfy their needs?

Sources: Wikipedia, The Age, and Sydney Morning Herald.

05:39 PM - 16 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment

CRIME REVISITED: SNOWTOWN MURDERS Part Two
Category: News and Politics

This blog includes sensitive material which should not be read by anyone under 18 years of age. It relates to a series of murders carried out in South Australia with details that may offend some readers. If you are particularly sensitive, you should not read the following.

CRIME REVISITED: SNOWTOWN MURDERS (This blog also falls under the SA… Great? Section but as there is nothing humorous about it, it has not been posted under it)

Part One can be read here so you can understand Part Two. This is posted in parts as is too long for one blog.

PART TWO

In December 1995, Bunting's neighbour, a lady by the name of Suzanne Allen, told him of her tenant – Ray Davies who lived in a rented caravan on the property and how she suspected him of being a paedophile.

Ray Davies

This was all that Bunting needed. He killed the mentally handicapped man, assisted by his partner, Elizabeth Harvey as well as Wagner.

Next on the list was Suzanne Allen. Though Bunting and Wagner were never convicted of the murder due to lack of evidence, it is alleged that Bunting soon tired of Allen's infatuation with him, killed her, chopped her up and buried her in his backyard. Bunting and Wagner, however, told the court that they had found her dead, and only disposed of her body so no one would know she had died and they could collect her welfare payments.

Suzanne Allen

In August of 1997, Michael Gardiner, an openly gay 19 year old became Bunting and Wagner's next target. Bunting learned of Gardiner from Wagner, who was friends with Gardiner's landlady, a woman by the name of Vicki.

Michael Gardiner

Gardiner, also suspected of being a paedophile on the flimsiest of reasons, was murdered while Vicki was out. Bunting and Wagner tried desperately to find his wallet – where his social security card was kept – turning the house upside down, but to no avail. They then decided to steal items of Vicki's so she would assume that Gardiner had stolen from her and left.

After Vicki told Wagner that she had found Gardiner's wallet under his bed, she began to receive calls from Bunting posing as a friend of Gardiner's. The caller said that Michael had left his wallet under his bed and wanted it back, wondering if Vicki could meet them at a park. Vicki was firm, telling them that she would give the wallet back only when she got her stuff back, but Michael had to come and get it himself. Bunting and Wagner gave up trying to claim Gardiner's social security payments and soon moved on to their next target.

In 1996, Wagner and Barry Lane broke up. Lane was now with a new, and again, younger boy; Thomas Trevilyan. Eighteen year old Trevilyan was intellectually disabled and would wear nothing but army clothes. Now that Lane was not attached to his friend, Bunting decided it was Lane's time to go, especially as he had apparently talked about the murder of Trezise, which he had helped with. Bunting easily swayed Lane's lover to help with the murder. Lane was tortured before his death, and forced to ring his mother and tell her he was moving to Queensland before he was killed.

Barry Lane

Trevilyan seemed to be a liability. Though, thanks to his mental state he was easy to manipulate into helping with the Lane murder, Bunting knew the chances of him talking were great. So he and Wagner took Trevilyan to Kersbrook in the Adelaide Hills, and hung him. Police believed for a number of years that it was suicide, until the tangled web of Bunting and Wagner became clear.

During this time, Bunting moved from his Waterloo Corner home at Salisbury North to Murray Bridge (my home town!) along with Elizabeth Harvey, James Vlassakis and Troy Youde.

Vlassakis soon became friendly with a man by the name of Gavin Porter, a drug addict from Victoria. He had come to stay with the family, much to the dislike of Bunting, who had now added drug-addicts to his list of people to hate.

Even though Bunting was no longer living close to friend Wagner, they spoke constantly on the phone, with Wagner making regular visits to the riverside town. To keep track of the people he hated, Bunting created a chart which he placed on the wall of his spare bedroom. Here he had written down the names of all of those he detested, connecting those who either knew one another or were related to one another by red wool. He would then choose at random a name from the chart to ring and abuse on the phone.

Gavin Porter

This, however, didn't satisfy him. And when Bunting was pricked one day in April 1998 by a needle left on the sofa by Porter, Bunting knew it was his turn to die. Porter was strangled by either Bunting or Wagner and left covered on the floor of the shed........

05:32 PM - 10 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

CRIME REVISITED: THE SNOW TOWN MURDERS Part One
Category: News and Politics

This blog includes sensitive material which should not be read by anyone under 18 years of age. It relates to a series of murders carried out in South Australia with details that may offend some readers. If you are particularly sensitive, you should not read the following.

CRIME REVISITED: SNOWTOWN MURDERS (This blog also falls under the SA… Great? Section but as there is nothing humorous about it, it has not been posted under it)

PART ONE

Snowtown, in South Australia's mid-north, around 145km from Adelaide, was once a bustling town thriving on an industrious farming industry. A main train line dissected it, giving farmers easy access to sell their grain to the city of Adelaide.

Yet as the trains began passing with less frequency, and the land stopped yielding enough to support everyone, the town soon slowed down, with many moving away and many of the stores closing, including all of the banks.

One of these banks, the old State Bank building, was to become one of the most famous buildings in South Australia.

Residents of the sleepy town noticed with more regularity a number of foreign cars in the town. So had the resident cop. The town didn't receive many visitors and everyone knew everyone else, so they were right to be sceptical. So, too, were they sceptical with what was happening in the old bank vault. It had been empty for years, but now was apparently rented out. The level of activity going on there was enough to interest a number of residents.

The connection to this and any wrong-doings only came about when police from Adelaide, investigating a series of missing-persons cases, arrived at the town wanting to search the old bank vault. It was apparently being rented by two men: John Bunting and Mark Haydon (using his previous name of Mark Lawrence). The names of these men had come up again and again in connection to a series of missing persons report. They were either related to or knew these people, most coming from Salisbury North, a suburb north of Adelaide.

Perhaps a connection had been made earlier had these people lived in amore affluent suburb. However, they were all poor, most intellectually disabled, and all on social security payments. A lot of them were outcasts from society, which was probably what led them to John Bunting in the first place.

John Bunting was a powerful, charismatic man. He made friends quickly, and gained their trust, just like he did when he moved in to his Waterloo Corner Road in Salisbury North in 1991. He was only there a matter of months but soon became good friends with Robert Wagner and his lover, Barry Lane.

Robert Wagner and John Bunting

It seemed an odd friendship. Bunting detested more than anything else in the world paedophiles, closely followed by openly-gay men. However, he retained a friendship with Wagner, who had been the much older Lane's lover since he was thirteen years old.

Living with Bunting was his defacto wife Elizabeth Harvey, and her two sons from two previous marriages: Troy Youde and James Vlassakis. The younger boy, Vlassakis, soon looked to Bunting as a father-figure.

Clinton Trezise

Clinton Trezise was killed in August 1992 by a blunt shovel wielded by Bunting. The 22 year old was known to be openly gay, and was invited to Bunting's home through homosexual Barry Lane. Bunting referred to Trezise as 'Happy Pants' and labelled him a paedophile, hence the reason for his death. His body was buried in a shallow grave at Lower Light, his remains being found by a farmer in 1994. The murder went unsolved for some time, and when the investigation appeared on 'Australia's Most Wanted', Bunting would often chuckle telling his family that it was his handiwork.

It was a while before Bunting chose to kill again. Because of some 230 suppression orders in the murder case, Bunting's psychological profile is unknown. Professor Kevin Howells, from Broadmoor hospital in the UK, has given his interpretation of the killer. Professor Howells says that Bunting's behaviour suggests he lacks emotion and the capacity to sympathise with his victims. Howells believes that Bunting fits the profile of a psychopath who derives satisfaction from controlling his victims.

It is also been said that there must have been abuse in Bunting's past for him to single out gay men and paedophiles. Some question his relationship with Wagner, however, who was opening bisexual. It has been said that the two received almost sexual satisfaction with their killings. Is this the reason they killed together? Was this a way for Bunting to play out his ultimate sexual fantasies without physically performing the act?

As a child it was revealed that Bunting enjoyed burning insects with acid and as a teen he was a Nazi. This little information we know of his childhood seems to give us an insight of the adult he became….

Look for Part Two coming soon, where you will real more about the horrible crimes committed by John Bunting and pal Robert Wagner. How many were killed? What happened in the bank vault? And how were they eventually captured? Subscribe now and don't miss out!!

11:24 PM - 13 Comments - 18 Kudos - Add Comment

I CAN’T AFFORD MY MENTAL HEALTH
Category: Life

I'm angry.

I was going to do a researched blog here, and give you all the facts, and tell you the deal about everything. But I can't. I'm too fired up and I want a rant, and this is my blog so I'm going to have one.

Apologies to those hoping to see the entertaining-type blog I usually deliver. This is nothing about your entertainment. It's about me. And as I said, I'm angry.

Some of you know that I've had to deal with depression before. It's a hard thing to get over. You can look perfectly normal on the outside; you can go through your day just as normal, engaging with people, smiling at people, yet on the inside you're screaming.

And I've been screaming hard. I finally went to the doctor. It kind of went like this 'I need help because I don't know what I'm going to do next.' We had a chat and then I was prescribed anti-depressants. Again.

I did really badly on them this time, for a good fortnight they made me sick. I felt shit house and tired. Side affect, side affects.

The pills that I was prescribed cost me $32. I realised that was expensive but I was desperate. I got them, knowing only too well that I was close to breaking point. I can't be trusted then. Can't be trusted with what I'll say, or what I'll do.

I had to refill my prescription. I don't have a lot of money at the moment (have I ever?) so I asked for the cheaper brand. Here in Australia, when you get prescribed a certain brand from your doctor, if there is the same drug made by another company, you can opt to have that one, as it's usually drastically cheaper.

I told the chemist I couldn't afford the $32 dollars I paid last time. I asked for the cheaper brand. Oh, it was cheaper all right. $2.30 cheaper.

What? That's not cheaper! And why is it that a drug that people rely on to stop killing themselves or keep them mentally stable is so bloody expensive. It's not just rich people that get depression or anxiety, you know.

We're having some issues here in Adelaide at the moment with the state government closing off parts of Glenside hospital, the ONLY public mental health hospital in Adelaide. This place looks after people long-term. Originally the government wanted to get rid of it all together. Why? It's in a really swish part of town and they want it for housing. The state government thought that the public hospitals could take care of the mental patients. Right. Hospitals that always have bed shortages are going to be able to take on people that need long term care. Ah, actually no. Hospitals are for emergencies only. Hamstead Hospital (a public rehabilitation hospital that takes care of people recovering from brain injuries and spine cord injuries) would be looking after the needy long-term patients, while most of them will be re-introduced to the community.

A local current affairs program took a look at the issues faced with Glenside closing down. They came across one guy who broke my heart. His neighbours were being terrorised by him because he was subject to violent outbursts. He looked into the camera and said he couldn't trust himself. He didn't know what he was capable of half the time, but he was aware that he had harmed people. The problem? He couldn't afford his medication so he stopped taking it.

I don't understand why the government subsidy on anti-depressant medication is so low. Mental patients cost the government a lot of money what with housing, hospital stays, etc. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to reduce the cost of medicine, so that everyone can take it? Keep people under control and they won't be prone to outbursts like that poor man I saw on the television.

When anyone comes off an anti-depressant drug it should be done whilst monitored by a doctor. So these people who can't afford to fill their prescription one month – what happens to them?

I know this didn't make much sense, I know that it wasn't very informative, but I just needed a rant. I needed to release my anger over the cost of anti-depressants and then let it go.

05:53 PM - 25 Comments - 30 Kudos - Add Comment

How To Use a Neti Pot
Category: Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKlM0Pc32k

HA HA HA..... AND NOW FOR THE VIDEO...

06:20 AM - 13 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

HOME REMEDIES
Category: Life

So I'm onto my second cold in a matter of weeks. Just when I thought I was getting over the first (I was lucky enough to have a weeks respite) I woke up with another one last Thursday.

Presently, my husky voice would have me earning a good wage on 1900 lines. I'll have to start practicing what I'll say…

Any-hoo, it's been my nose that's annoyed the crap out of me this time. The pain in my sinuses has been extreme. I've spoken before about my sinuses and how I desire to cut off my honker every spring with a carving knife…

Nasal sprays give me short-term relief but it never really fixes the problem. And then came Oprah and Dr Oz and the Neti Pot.

A Neti Pot is used to pour salted water into your nose to clean out your sinus. It's truly amazing. Clears everything out, the whole system, not just the nasal cavity like the sprays do. As soon as I saw it on TV I knew it would work; it just made sense.

But I couldn't find a Neti-Pot anywhere in Adelaide. No chemist sold them. So I got smart and found something in my house that I could use as a substitute. And it worked. I felt like I was drowning when I did it, but it worked.

Isn't it fantastic to do something the natural way without having to resort to medicines? It made me think of those home-remedies that Grandmothers and mothers give you. I know that Macca's grandma swore by whiskey and butter for a sore throat. Whiskey, ugh. But I'm sure it worked. Most of those old home remedies do.

So do you guys have any home remedies that got passed onto you that you swear by? Let's pretend we're all at a mothers meeting at the moment and share what we know….

04:14 AM - 19 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

G-OPINION ON THE IMMATURE MALE: UNIVERSITY IS TO BLAME
Category: School, College, Greek

I have always been of the opinion (the GOpinion) that when it comes to men and women in their thirties, women are more mature by far.

Perhaps it's the people I surround myself with. Perhaps as a woman I feel I'm more mature than most men my age. I've set myself up in life. I've had to start again late (thanks to a divorce) but I'm back on track.

Though I am talking about material things (the house, the car) It's not what's important. It's the security of it. It's preparing yourself for anything that may come along in the future – whether that be children, marriage or even illness.

But some guys in their thirties don't feel the need to be prepared. They're still living their life in the same carefree manner as they did at university.

Darn university. There's something about that place that stays with some blokes. And I'm not talking about the educational aspect. I'm talking about the buddy aspect. A lot of guys spend their university years in pubs with their mates drinking and getting stoned, and, well, they never really grow out of it.

Now, I hate to generalize but I do it a lot in my blogs. Because when I write a blog it's often about something that's annoying me, or that I notice around me. So I become consumed in the subject and only look at certain groups of people that relate to it. I realise not everyone is like that, but for the purposes of my rant people get put into boxes like 'those people'….

So these immature guys… they spend their university years wrapped up in a click, not realising that a world exists outside of it. Eventually as they grow up they realise that they actually can't make a living at the local pub drinking with their mates so they get jobs and perhaps, even girlfriends.

Yet they never lose that 'buddy' aspect of their lives and are always driven back to that lifestyle. They only ever feel comfortable when in that same old situation where their mates opinions are only those that matter.

You never see those blokes who stay in the same dead-end job because it's what they know. They think it was such an achievement getting out of the pub and into proper working life (you know, the one where you actually have to get up in the morning) that they never stop to think they could be doing a whole lot more for themselves.

Everything is compared to their teenage years when they were drunk ever day, had no money and lived on a diet of two-minute noodles. They life now seems much, much better.

But perhaps their measuring stick should be themselves now, not their teenage self.

I see women as a lot more mature. Single women tend to get themselves sorted out more then their male counterparts. You don't see nearly as many single guys in their twenties and thirties who own their own home. They don't see the point. That comes with old marriage, older age, and other such boring things.

Why is it that the chick has to do all the hard work? It's so easy for guys to walk in once the house is bought and the car is paid for. I know a lot of women value their independence which is why they join the property market and work hard. A lot of them, though, deep down are quite traditional. They still believe that the man should be the one to provide for them. They don't expect it – in this day and age not many can – but it would be nice for, just once, a bloke to come along and take care of them.

But when everyone's at the stage of settling down, men often lag behind and it's women that have to take the reins. Meanwhile the guy they've settled down with (whose been lucky enough to walk into a fully-furnished apartment that's half-paid for) continues to reminisce about the carefree life he had with his buddies at university. When there was no bills, no responsibility, and the only thing to worry about is where their next pint was coming from.

GOpinion:

What's your view? Do you agree that women are more mature? Argue for and against.

07:33 AM - 18 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment

I COULD NEVER TRUST.....
Category: