INSIDE: We’re not all a Twitter when it comes to staying in touch Pg. 3 November 23, 2010
T U E S D A Y
and bruised Bruins 10 Battered YOUR SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER & ENTERTAINMENT chilliwacktimes.com
Getting their goats
Shocked that teen girl was charged
Rustlers target local goats, but one kid saves the day after seeing Craigslist ad
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
S
everal Vancouver advocacy groups are calling for authorities to drop pimping charges against a teen prostitute accused of recruiting other girls into the sex trade. The Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, along with Justice for Girls, say the 14-year-old girl should not have been charged. Both organizations say that teenage prostitution cases almost always involve an adult who has recruited young women into selling sex. “I thought it was shocking that they would consider charging her,” said Vancouver Rape Relief spokesperson Daisy Kler. “Most likely this is a situation where there is an adult involved.” Justice for Girls advocate Annabel Webb expressed the same view in a press release issued Friday. “By charging this young woman as a pimp, the police are violating a well-established consensus in Canada and internationally that teen girls in prostitution are victims of child sexual abuse and therefore should not be treated as criminals.” Webb said exploited teen girls have been known to recruit other girls, and that they may not expose the men who control them because of fear. “Part of the abuse of prostitution is that girls are turned against each other in the service of male sexual violence and exploitation,” she said. “We know that when teen girls are recruiting other girls, there is always a backdrop of other sexual See TEEN, Page 5
BY TYLER OLSEN tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com
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yla Elgersma has all but one of her goats back, but police are still looking for thieves who have stolen more than 40 goats in recent months. Last Wednesday, thieves cut a fence at the Fairfield Island property where Elgersma kept nine goats and made off with seven of the animals. Two were left behind, one because it was very pregnant, the other because it was a Billy Goat that would have likely been too much trouble for the thieves. The goats were purebred and cost upwards of $500 each. The Elgersmas kept them for their milk and, because of their docile nature, as a hobby and were like members of the family. But last Wednesday after dark, they were stolen, the latest in a series of goat thefts that police and the Elgersmas say may be related to a surge in the consumption of goat meat, which is popular both for its low cholesterol and as a meal at certain Muslim holidays. In September, thieves stole 18 goats—two at a time—over two weeks from a Keith Wilson road goat farm owned by Sue Barker. The thieves followed that up by targeting a neighbour’s goat herder four separate times. Each time the thieves would take the goats, the goat owners took additional measures to protect their animals. By the fourth robbery, the thieves were breaking into a padlocked barn where the goats were being housed. Last week, theves set their eyes on the Elgersmas’ goats. The goats were expensive, but they were also family. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Elgersma when the Times reached her Friday. “They’ve come from our own stock. We’ve helped them be born and raised them and we have five children of our own so these are our family pets.” Elgersma choked back tears when asked of her reaction when she found the goats gone.
Tyler Olsen/TIMES
Thieves stole seven goats but left behind two, including Georgia, when they raided a Fairfield Island property last week.
See GOATS, Page 4
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