Man convicted in shooting of abortion provider

James Kopp, an anti-abortion extremist who is currently serving a 25-to-life sentence for murdering a doctor who provided abortions, was found guilty of targeting and killing Dr. Barnett Slepian on Thursday. While Kopp had already been sent to jail for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, an act that prohibits people from using physical force upon both people who enter abortion/reproductive health care facilities
and those who work in these facilities. When Kopp is sentenced, he could face life in prison without parole. Kopp is quoted to have said that he was not trying to kill Dr. Slepian, rather juts injure him so he couldn't go to work the next day.

While the pro-choice vs. pro-life debate will rage on for years, this act goes above and beyond. Extremists like Kopp don't provide any beneficial service(s) for anti-abortionists, and only contribute to people creating negative typecasts about these groups. I agree with the sentencing on a whole, and I also agree with the notion that: “If you want to injure a person, you don't shoot them with a high-powered rifle.”

Town mourns dead teens

http://www.thestar.com/article/173372


On Friday, January 19th, five teenagers were involved in a car accident while headed on their way to Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario. They were headed off to the mountain for a day of skiing, when they lost control of their SUV and collided with a cargo truck, killing four of the five passengers in the vehicle. The town of around 6,000 is mourning their deaths, and a steady stream of support is coming in light of the terrible events of that day.

This article holds a certain significance for me as one of the passengers was a close friend of my sister, and she has been in a sullen mood ever since the news came to her. Terrible events like these are bound to happen in the winter when the roads are bad, and there are relatively inexperienced drivers on them. The frequent occurrence of young driver accidents also makes you wonder whether the Ministry needs to raise the minimum driving age. Personally, I think that the graduated system needs to be more limiting, as teenage driving accidents are practically commonplace these days.