VandenElsen sent back to prison; McDonald's restaurant killer gets passes

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Here is an article that Rick Howe wrote in the Daily News:

COLUMNS Last updated at 8:27 AM on 02/03/07 Parole board's priorities puzzling VandenElsen sent back to prison; McDonald's restaurant killer gets passes RICK HOWE The Daily News As the National Parole Board prepares to let back into the community a man involved in one of Nova Scotia's most notorious crimes, it has slammed the door shut again on a petite woman whose only crime was to try to hang on to her young baby - and hopes to be a mother to her daughter again some day. Carline VandenElsen not only had her temporary pass from prison yanked this week, but the parole board threw her back into prison, saying she hasn't yet learned her lesson. Variety of charges VandenElsen had been sentenced to three years on a variety of charges including child abduction, assault with a weapon and obstructing police after a three-day standoff on Shirley Street in Halifax in May 2004. The confrontation with heavily armed police began with a midnight knock on her apartment door to serve a child-protection order. It ended some 67 hours later with VandenElsen and her husband, Larry Finck, under arrest, Finck's mother dead from natural causes and the couple's infant daughter taken by the Children's Aid Society. VandenElsen had been released on a temporary pass about a month ago and was doing volunteer work at a Halifax church. She's kept herself out of trouble and kept her mouth shut - reining in a weakness that compounded some of her earlier problems with the legal system. But despite a positive recommendation for parole from Corrections Canada officials, the board said no this week and ordered her return to the Nova Scotia Institute for Women in Truro to serve out the remainder of her sentence - which expires later this year. Connie Brauer of Falmouth has long been a supporter of VandenElsen and her fight to keep her baby daughter. She was prepared to take VandenElsen into her home to live if she'd been granted parole. But apparently the arrangement was one of the board's issues. Brauer has also been a vocal critic of the justice system, and a board member says they were troubled with the mix. Pat O'Brien said in the board's oral decision: "It doesn't make sense. The risk is not manageable." Brauer is outraged and calls the parole board's decision "barbaric, medieval and cruel." Brauer says corrections officials visited her home three times, and there was never a problem. "The gave us a good report," she told me this week. Brauer says the parole board has it out for VandenElsen because she won't admit any guilt and wants her baby back. "She's being punished for two or three years for what? What's she supposed to say? 'I'm sorry you took my child?' She's an innocent person. They took her child for no reason. The fix was in. There was no way they were going to give her parole." It is truly difficult to imagine how VandenElsen could be considered any kind of a risk, to herself or to society. Is she odd? Yes. But since when did eccentricity become a crime? Out-spoken and angry at her run-ins with Children's Aid and the legal system? Without a doubt. Are we not, however, guaranteed freedom of opinion? But a risk? Certainly not. She has already served more than two years. This woman should not spend another minute in prison. The National Parole Board's stand is all the more puzzling, considering its decision to give Darren Muise 16 temporary passes from prison - where he's been serving a life sentence with no parole for 20 years for his second-degree murder conviction. Muise was one of three young men involved in the triple murders of late night employees at a McDonald's restaurant in Sydney in May 1992. Shocking crime Muise, 18 at the time, slit the throat of employee Neil Burroughs. It was a crime that shocked Nova Scotians, who naively believed such violence could never happen here. Under escort, Muise will be permitted to visit a girlfriend and attend some family functions. He has another six years to serve before he's eligible for full parole. Burroughs's sister Cathy says her family's very upset with the decision. "He has not shown any remorse," she told CTV News anchor Steve Murphy Wednesday night. She says Muise has duped the board into believing he's changed. "He's a good actor." A mother's efforts to one day be reunited with the child she bore keep her in jail, while a man who, in cold blood, ended the life of a young father earns some freedom. Is it just me, or is something not right here? rhowe@chumhalifax.com Rick Howe is the host of the radio talk show Hotline, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on AM 920 CJCH, and on the Internet at cjch.ca.

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