Dear Supporters:
It's been a long couple of days for us this week. Court was delayed until
2:30pm on Monday because of a bad snow storm. The judge couldn't land in
Kenora Sunday night and had to fly in after noon on Monday.
The judge came back with a decision about the standing of our expert
witnesses. Gary Mauser is considered an expert witness but one of his papers
will not be considered for the purposes of our hearing. Dave Tomlinson will
not be considered an expert for the purposes of our case because he was
considered too much of an "advocate" (as opposed to being objective). This
news wasn't particularly unexpected and shouldn't have a large effect on our
case.
At this point we had to deal with a more serious issue that the crown
brought up in the factum. The crown stated "The Crown must be given notice
of any constitutional challenge, and where notice is lacking, the challenge
may be rejected. The Applicants' factum does not precisely state what is
being claimed, . . ." We were able to spend several hours reviewing the
factum and assessing this real threat of having our charter challenge
dismissed. After much debate our case management team decided it was best to
ask for a postponement of 4 months so that we could re-draft our arguments.
This also meant that we had to discharge our lawyer from the case.
This was a heart wrenching and difficult decision to make, but rest assured
we are doing this with the ultimate success of our challenge in mind. I'm
sure there may be some questioning the wisdom of this move, but I implore
you not to judge our actions too quickly. There are many factors to
consider when making a move like this and we spent a couple of sleepless
nights debating it before coming to this drastic conclusion. I wish I could
tell you more but there is some sensitive information that was part of this
decision that cannot be publicized.
Please don't lose hope (as I sometimes felt in the past couple of days) and
continue to pray for our success as we search for an energetic and sharp
lawyer to pick up this case - we're researching and interviewing several
lawyers over the next two weeks so we can make a decision by April 4th.
Yours in Liberty,
Bruce.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with
talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
- Calvin Coolidge, Past President of the United States.
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