Research and Development - The Trial
Since this is Howard Bunt’s Blog, I think it is about time I addressed the new “Research and Development” section on the For Better or For Worse website, particularly the parts dealing with the trial. This is located at this page:
http://www.fbofw.com/features/research/index.php?page=trial
First of all, “Research and Development” is a misnomer, because it is really only research.
Elizabeth Goes to Court:
During Liz's summer employment at Lakeshore Landscaping in the summer of 2005, she was attacked by a male colleague. Lynn's storytelling captured the insecurities of a victim, the defensiveness of a parent, the courage to step forward to report the assault and the comfort offered by friends and family.
I look at that text and I wish I had seen that story. The two 2-panel strips shown have the Howard attack, and John Patterson lacing up his shoes to chase after Howard Bunt’s car.
The insecurities of a victim. Was there even one strip after the assault where Elizabeth was afraid to be alone or afraid to be around men? No.
The defensiveness of a parent. Was there even one strip after the assault where John or Elly expressed anger at Howard Bunt? At the trial, Elly did refer to Howard as a rat.
The courage to step forward to report the assault. Was there even one strip after the assault where we saw Elizabeth nervous over pressing charges? No. We hear that Lawrence Poirier has called and told Elizabeth to press charges. She does, but we don't see it.
The comfort offered by friends and family. Let’s count the number of times in the strip, Elizabeth talked about her assault with anyone:
1. The day of the assault, she talked about it with her coworkers who comforted her by telling her to go home and not to the police or the hospital, and that they wished they could have punched out Howard, like Anthony did.
2. The day of the assault, Anthony Caine comforts Liz by making a move on her emotionally, by telling her to wait for him until after he gets his divorce.
3. The day of the assault, she told her mother she had been assaulted and burned the butt off the casserole. Elly is more concerned about the casserole than her daughter.
4. The day of the assault, Shiimsa curled up with Elizabeth.
Was there anything after the day of the assault? No.
Sorry, Stephanie, web designer. You describe the story that should have occurred and didn’t. What we got instead was The Perils of Pauline with Howard as the villain, Elizabeth as Pauline, and Anthony as the rescuing hero.
Lynn Hails the Chief:
Justice had to be served to Howard. In order to be true to Canadian law in such situations, Lynn met with the Chief of Police of the City of North Bay. Chief Cook was instrumental in detailing the landscape and procedures of the local courthouse and shared an indepth tour with Lynn.
Lynn explored the interrogation rooms, the courtroom, and the holding cells and met with key court staff including a Judge and Crown Attorney. They were able to share valuable insight and detail the procedures and language used in Ontario courtrooms in similar cases.
Liz was subpoenaed. and the trial got underway in the fall of 2006. Together with the testimony of Howard's other victims, he was convicted in February of 2007.
In this section, we have a picture of the Chief of Police, who was not used in the strip. Then we have two pictures of the judge in robes in the courtroom. These are juxtaposed with the panels from the strip. I find it interesting that many of thing about which I complained in the trial would have been corrected had the person drawing the strip, drawn what was in the picture.
1. I complained about Liz standing up during her entire testimony and there I see in the picture, a chair and a microphone by her chair in the witness box, where she would have to sit to use it.
2. I complained about no place in the courtroom for the court secretary or court reporter, and there I see places right in front of the judge and witness box.
3. I complained about the angle which made the judge’s bench seem like it was far above the rest of the courtroom, and I see clearly the judge’s bench is not that elevated.
4. I complained the judge was not sashed, and there is the judge with an unmistakeable sash on him.
I remember the intensely-researched Ojibway pow-wow strips from October, 2005, and it was so hard to snark them, because they were well-done and when you compared the pictures of the pow-wow to the strip, the images were meticulously rendered. I find it quite startling to have a section of the web site devoted to “Research and Development” of this story line, where the web site itself shows exactly how errors were introduced in the strip. What’s the point of doing the research, if you aren’t going to use the research? What’s the point of going to an actual courtroom with a real judge and taking pictures, if you aren’t going to draw an actual courtroom and the real judge? It dumbfounds me.
Morever, the Pattersons slammed the legal system up, down, left and center over the Howard Bunt trial for taking such a long time, for making the witnesses suffer unnecessarily, and for giving Howard a light sentence. I wonder what North Bay Chief of Police Cook thought, when he saw those strips, after spending so much time with Lynn (or whatever Lynnion Lynn sent to do this research, since there are no pictures of Lynn with the Chief of Police). I can't imagine he was very happy.
http://www.fbofw.com/features/research/index.php?page=trial
First of all, “Research and Development” is a misnomer, because it is really only research.
Elizabeth Goes to Court:
During Liz's summer employment at Lakeshore Landscaping in the summer of 2005, she was attacked by a male colleague. Lynn's storytelling captured the insecurities of a victim, the defensiveness of a parent, the courage to step forward to report the assault and the comfort offered by friends and family.
I look at that text and I wish I had seen that story. The two 2-panel strips shown have the Howard attack, and John Patterson lacing up his shoes to chase after Howard Bunt’s car.
The insecurities of a victim. Was there even one strip after the assault where Elizabeth was afraid to be alone or afraid to be around men? No.
The defensiveness of a parent. Was there even one strip after the assault where John or Elly expressed anger at Howard Bunt? At the trial, Elly did refer to Howard as a rat.
The courage to step forward to report the assault. Was there even one strip after the assault where we saw Elizabeth nervous over pressing charges? No. We hear that Lawrence Poirier has called and told Elizabeth to press charges. She does, but we don't see it.
The comfort offered by friends and family. Let’s count the number of times in the strip, Elizabeth talked about her assault with anyone:
1. The day of the assault, she talked about it with her coworkers who comforted her by telling her to go home and not to the police or the hospital, and that they wished they could have punched out Howard, like Anthony did.
2. The day of the assault, Anthony Caine comforts Liz by making a move on her emotionally, by telling her to wait for him until after he gets his divorce.
3. The day of the assault, she told her mother she had been assaulted and burned the butt off the casserole. Elly is more concerned about the casserole than her daughter.
4. The day of the assault, Shiimsa curled up with Elizabeth.
Was there anything after the day of the assault? No.
Sorry, Stephanie, web designer. You describe the story that should have occurred and didn’t. What we got instead was The Perils of Pauline with Howard as the villain, Elizabeth as Pauline, and Anthony as the rescuing hero.
Lynn Hails the Chief:
Justice had to be served to Howard. In order to be true to Canadian law in such situations, Lynn met with the Chief of Police of the City of North Bay. Chief Cook was instrumental in detailing the landscape and procedures of the local courthouse and shared an indepth tour with Lynn.
Lynn explored the interrogation rooms, the courtroom, and the holding cells and met with key court staff including a Judge and Crown Attorney. They were able to share valuable insight and detail the procedures and language used in Ontario courtrooms in similar cases.
Liz was subpoenaed. and the trial got underway in the fall of 2006. Together with the testimony of Howard's other victims, he was convicted in February of 2007.
In this section, we have a picture of the Chief of Police, who was not used in the strip. Then we have two pictures of the judge in robes in the courtroom. These are juxtaposed with the panels from the strip. I find it interesting that many of thing about which I complained in the trial would have been corrected had the person drawing the strip, drawn what was in the picture.
1. I complained about Liz standing up during her entire testimony and there I see in the picture, a chair and a microphone by her chair in the witness box, where she would have to sit to use it.
2. I complained about no place in the courtroom for the court secretary or court reporter, and there I see places right in front of the judge and witness box.
3. I complained about the angle which made the judge’s bench seem like it was far above the rest of the courtroom, and I see clearly the judge’s bench is not that elevated.
4. I complained the judge was not sashed, and there is the judge with an unmistakeable sash on him.
I remember the intensely-researched Ojibway pow-wow strips from October, 2005, and it was so hard to snark them, because they were well-done and when you compared the pictures of the pow-wow to the strip, the images were meticulously rendered. I find it quite startling to have a section of the web site devoted to “Research and Development” of this story line, where the web site itself shows exactly how errors were introduced in the strip. What’s the point of doing the research, if you aren’t going to use the research? What’s the point of going to an actual courtroom with a real judge and taking pictures, if you aren’t going to draw an actual courtroom and the real judge? It dumbfounds me.
Morever, the Pattersons slammed the legal system up, down, left and center over the Howard Bunt trial for taking such a long time, for making the witnesses suffer unnecessarily, and for giving Howard a light sentence. I wonder what North Bay Chief of Police Cook thought, when he saw those strips, after spending so much time with Lynn (or whatever Lynnion Lynn sent to do this research, since there are no pictures of Lynn with the Chief of Police). I can't imagine he was very happy.
posted by howard at 11:01 PM
4 Comments:
I'm with you--I wish we could have read the strips described in the text, rather than what we actually got!
Yes. It's pretty obvious that Lynn didn't start to "research" this topic, until well after the Howard Bunt assault occurred. Otherwise, she would have talked to rape assault counselors and the like. My guess is that Stephanie Doleweerd wishes she could have read those strips too, considering the way it is written up.
Thanks for pointing this out to me--it was great for a laugh.
BTW, good news--I have an apartment! I move in 2 weeks. I might be off of ARB for awhile until I can get internet service.
A lot has been going on with me recently, which is part of why I haven't been around much. I am starting a Master of Public Administration program in August. I will be keeping my job, too, so I expect I won't have a lot of time for ARB after that.
I wonder--do we know if the strip is ending in September for sure?
Laura
Laura,
Congratulations on getting an apartment. You’ll have to have us all over for a house-warming.
I don’t know much about a Master of Public Administration program, but it sounds like quite a change from your prior educational aspirations. Is it a weekend or evening thing since you keep your job, or is it simply so related to what you do on your job, they allow for you to take the time off during the day to go to classes?
I must admit it would be disappointing to not have you around for a Liz / Anthony wedding snark, assuming that happens in August. I have been looking forward to your snark on that event for quite some time now.
As for the strip ending in September, there have been a few articles talking about the final year of FBoFW which have said the strip was going to go hybrid in that month. Ultimately, the final decision will lie with Lynn Johnston.
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