Harbhajan

No parole for 16 years for killer dad Camille Bains Canadian Press Wednesday, June 22, 2005 VANCOUVER (CP) -- Rajinder Atwal gazed down from the prisoner's box and appeared on the verge of tears Wednesday as a judge detailed how he repeatedly stabbed his daughter -- disfiguring her face even after she was dead. "This was a cold, brutal and sober attack of his completely defencelsss young daughter, carried out with the intention to cause her death," Justice Catherine Wedge told a sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court. Wedge ruled that Atwal, who was convicted of second-degree murder in March, won't be eligible for parole for 16 years. Atwal's wife Kulwinder began crying as her husband was led away by sheriffs and her son Narinder put his arm around her. Amandeep Atwal was 17 in July 2003 when her father decided to end her life after discovering she'd been having a secret love affair with schoolmate Todd McIsaac. The discovery led to considerable conflict in the Sikh family, followed by a decision by Amandeep that she would leave her home in Kitimat, B.C., and move with her boyfriend to Prince George in central British Columbia. Court has heard that Atwal vehemently objected to the move but persuaded his daughter to accompany the family to the Vancouver area so she could tell relatives there that she was relocating to attend school. When Amandeep told her family she would be returning to Prince George, her father insisted on driving her there himself. It was during that trip in Atwal's car that he stabbed his daughter 17 times at a rest area near Cache Creek, B.C. "Amandeep remained in the car throughout the attack, still secured by her seatbelt," Wedge said. "Her final moments in life must have been terrifying." Atwal then placed his daughter's body in the foot well of the car and covered her with a blanket, continuing to drive for two and a half hours before taking her to hospital. "This was not the result of any confusion on his part, as suggested by the defence," Wedge said. "No parent could drive that distance with a dead or dying child without seeking help." At the hospital, Atwal presented himself as a grieving father and said his daughter had killed herself. "While he must have loved his daughter at some level, he permitted that love to be displaced by anger at her unwillingness to comply with his values or accept his view of the world and his plans for her future," Wedge said. "This was a selfish act of the highest order, beyond the comprehension of any reasonable person." In quoting Atwal's lawyer David Butcher, Wedge said Atwal's motive for the murder related solely to his daughter having begun to make her own choices that conflicted with his cultural conservatism. Outside court, Atwal's wife continued weeping as she was flanked by supporters. They included her son Narinder, 25, who said he was "very torn" about his father's predicament. "On the one side is my father, on the other side is my sister," he said, without commenting further. McIsaac, Amandeep Atwal's boyfriend, said he hadn't found the peace he was looking for after the sentencing hearing. "There's nothing that could ever give me back what I had, and her life back," McIsaac said outside court. He said Amandeep cared about her father but that he wouldn't ever trust him. Seeing the rest of her family in court was stressful, he said. "I'm not even sure how they feel towards me," McIsaac said, adding he doesn't see a day that he would even approach them. He described Amandeep as a "friendly, outgoing, beautiful, bright person," whose positive influence still guides him. A community activist, who didn't wish to be named, said outside court that the case is a tragedy for everyone involved. "It's a sad day," he said. "The family has lost a child and a father and a daughter and a sister. Todd McIsaac has lost his soon-to-be-wife." © Canadian Press 2005

Latest News Father's parole eligibility set at 16 years in murder of daughter Broadcast News Wednesday, June 22, 2005 VANCOUVER - A father who murdered his daughter over an affair with a school friend will be eligible for parole in 16 years. A B.C. Supreme Court judge set the terms of Rajinder Atwal's parole in the 2003 stabbing death of his 17-year-old daughter Amandeep. The Kitimat man appeared on the verge of tears as sentence was passed Wednesday. He had objected to his daughter's love affair with school pal Todd McIsaac. Atwal was given an automatic life sentence for second-degree murder, leaving only the terms of his parole to be decided by the court. The Crown wanted Atwal to serve 20 to 25 years before he would be eligible for parole, while the defence wanted the period set at 12 to 15 years. © Broadcast News 2005

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouvers...b2-3d273e6f80ca 3 lions 'rescue girl' from abductors Big cats reportedly guarded her until help arrived Anthony Mitchell Associated Press Wednesday, June 22, 2005 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into a marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia. The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions scared them off. The big cats guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometres west of the country's capital, Addis Ababa. "They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said. Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the young girl likely was saved because she was crying from the trauma of her attack. "A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why [the lions] didn't eat her. Otherwise they probably would have." News of the June 9 rescue was slow to filter out from Kefa Zone in southwestern Ethiopia. "If the lions had not come to her rescue then it could have been much worse," Wondimu said. "Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage." The girl, the youngest of four siblings, was "shocked and terrified" and had to be treated for injuries from the beatings, the police sergeant said. He said police had caught four suspects but were still looking for three others. In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 per cent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practised in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live. Despite their integral place in Ethiopian culture, the lions' numbers have been falling. At most, only 1,000 lions remain in the wild. © The Vancouver Sun 2005

Learn to Trust in the Process of Life Nature teaches us that the way to thrive is to let go of the past, and never stop growing and giving. Look at the trees and flowers around you. Each fall, old leaves drop and die. Old blooms fall to the ground. Mixing with the soil, they create a rich environment for future growth. Plants release their seeds to be nurtured in this fertile ground. No plant struggles to hold onto what it no longer needs, clinging to dead blossoms, afraid there will be nothing new to take their place. With total trust in the process of Life, they release the old. Their willingness to discard what they no longer need is vital, for it creates the fertile soil to support new growth. It also keeps them healthy. These plants lie dormant in colder parts of the country, like Michigan. They seem to be dead. To look at them, one would never believe they were once green and flourishing plants, much less that they ever will be again. But after a period of hybernation, the warmth returns, and these plants once again astound us with their beauty, growing taller and stronger, and teaching us the secret of success: Release the negative past, retain what is useful, and plant the seeds of what is essentially your own. You can bloom in the power of your own magnificence, when you learn to trust in the process of Life. " Lessons from Nature" Copyright©2000 Mindy L. Hitchcock http://www.seamless-web.net/secret_of_success.htm

http://www.holidays.net/father/story.htm The Story of Father's Day Father's Day, contrary to popular misconception, was not established as a holiday in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards. In fact when a "father's day" was first proposed there were no Father's Day cards! Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.

Serve a purpose Does it serve any purpose to complain about things you cannot change? So why would you want to waste your time doing it? Does it serve any purpose to fill your thoughts with regret and resentment over what happened long ago? So why would you waste even a single moment on such a negative, unpleasant pursuit? You're far better off doing something that does serve a purpose. You're far better off using your time and energy to learn, to create, to love, to understand and experience life. Your thoughts and actions are immensely powerful. Rather than using them to hold yourself down, put them to work on a valuable and positive purpose. Use your energy to serve a positive purpose, and as a result you will have even more energy. Fill your time in the service of a positive purpose, and your life will be filled with truly meaningful treasures. Choose the thoughts and actions that serve a purpose. And life will serve you its real rewards. -- Ralph Marston