The lead story on the front page of today's Toronto Star shouts "Rare guilty verdict for cops in doorstep beating" with the larger photo of the two officers and the victim, Richard Moore, given a smaller photo - albeit still on the front page. Page A19 has a larger photo of Richard as he sits in front of his apartment where he was beaten.
I met Richard on February 3rd 2010 when he sat down with me at the Good Neighbours' Club to dictate his letter to our Canadian soldiers. Writing his letter was part of GNC's 'Writer in Residence' project and Richard was one of the first GNC members to sit down with me. His thoughts and words kept going back to this beating and, like others, I wondered how factual his story might be. At times his mind would wonder to his youth, his father who had served in World War 1, and numerous stories about his family - and often back to this particular beating at the hands of "Toronto's finest" as he would call them.
After our first meeting Richard often came back with another story, many pictures of his family that were wonderful to look at and his small computer where he was capturing so much detail of his life. I looked forward to seeing Richard each Wednesday at the Club but one day he disappeared and until this morning's article I have heard nothing about him. I hope he is okay this morning.
The Good Neighbours' Club offers a day shelter to men like Richard - men who need a place to go during the day where they can be with their friends, have a good meal, have a shower and do their laundry if necessary and know that there are people who care about them and can help them. I worry that GNC is not receiving sufficient funding ...I am all for helping other countries but when we have children who go to bed hungry, seniors who can't get their meds and homeless who need our help maybe we should be sharing our funds right here in Canada before we help others. I'm just sayin....
Carol Ann
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