Jim Dalrymple.com

Last week I posted a piece about a group of teenagers that beat a man to death not far from our house in Bedford, Nova Scotia. It’s not difficult to pick out the types of teenagers that would do something like this, we all know what they look like … or do we?

I can’t express the shock my wife and I had last night as we watched the news. The police walked the four accused one-by-one into the courtroom — without exception they were well-dressed, clean-cut boys that you wouldn’t think twice about talking to in the street.

They had an interview with one of the boy’s fathers who professed his son’s innocence, saying there was some kind of a mistake. Trouble with that is they have video of the man being attacked supplied by surrounding business video surveillance. And when the police tracked them down, they ran into the woods to escape capture — would an innocent person do that?

One of the lawyers in the case said that the boys didn’t have a criminal record. What the hell does that matter? They killed a man! It doesn’t matter if they were drunk, stoned, sober or if the other guy started it, the fact is a man is dead and they did it. They could have stopped beating him to death at any time, which should have been easy since the man couldn’t have hit back.

Whatever the circumstances, if they have video of the boys doing it, they are guilty and should be sentenced harshly for their crime.

In January this year we lost our best friend and loyal family pet, Jesse a 12-year-old Border Collie, to cancer. No other dog could ever replace Jesse and for months we said that we would never get another dog. Things changed when we started looking at all the animals in need around the province where we live.

A month ago my wife signed us up to foster dogs — basically dogs that are on their last legs and will be put to sleep if homes cannot be found for them or dogs that are emergency cases and need immediate assistance. Two weeks ago, we got a call from a rescue shelter that they had an emergency case and we agreed to help out.

Twiggy is a 6-year-old Border Collie that was given away by her owner because they didn’t have enough time for her anymore. The owner recently got married, got a new puppy and had a baby; Twiggy was soon out the door and passed from shelter to shelter until she came to her last stop at the rescue shelter and then to us.

I wonder what will happen if the kid becomes too much trouble, will they give it away too?

Twiggy is a great dog that loves to play ball and fetch sticks. She is incredibly loyal after only a couple of weeks. Unfortunately during her time at the rescue shelter, she was attacked by another dog and had pretty severe damage to her eye — after surgery, all seems to be well.

We took her to the vet while we were on vacation last week to treat an infection in her eye and the vet noticed calluses on her legs — the vet said these were from being locked up for long periods of time in a cage. Between that and the collar that would send electric shocks to her throat every time she barked, I was getting really pissed off at the people that had her before us.

Considering what she has been through Twiggy is adjusting very well. She is great with the kids and seems to enjoy a household where she is allowed to run free. Of course there are rules and she is learning those too — although like a kid, she pushes it to the limit.

Fostering is a very rewarding experience. Twiggy will never take the place of Jesse, nor should she — she is Twiggy and she is very special on her own.

Does everyone think their community is safe or is everyone aware of the inherent dangers that surround them on a daily basis? I tend to think my community is safe, free from the dangers and violence that plague some places.

While on vacation this week my wife and I read the newspaper and saw one night there were three robberies, one that ended in the death of a 49 year old man. All three of these incidents happened within a couple of miles of our house. The perpetrators were all teenagers.

In the first case a 17-year-old girl was robbed by two teenage girls who kicked and beat her, but she escaped relatively unscathed. In The second robbery a 20-something man was robbed by the same two teenage girls, but this time they were accompanied by 10 teenage guys — this man also escaped without major injury.

Later that night, however, the third robbery victim also became a murder victim. The teenagers apparently not satisfied with simply robbing the man beat him to death as he exited a local pub. Police found him unconscious in the parking lot — he died the next day.

This is the type of stuff we read about happening all the time, but it’s not supposed to happen here. Our little corner of the world is growing up and I don’t think I like where we’re heading.

Because of the ridiculous laws, the teenagers cannot be named and will probably get no more than a slap on the wrist, leaving them free to do it all again.

I hate to see things like this happen, but I hate it more that we can’t do anything about it!

Well, tomorrow I make my first trip to Boston since 1997 when I attended my very first Macworld Expo. That’s the year that Steve Jobs came back to Apple and came on stage with the big video of Bill Gates in the background.

The gasps from the crowd when Bill showed up on the screen, towering over everyone were funny. The similarities that were drawn to Apple’s historic 1984 television commercial were even more amusing.

In 2004, Microsoft will still be at Macworld Boston, but Apple will not — kind of a strange twist when you think about it. Politics and Apple’s wish to be in New York sparked months of debate between IDG World Expo CEO, Charlie Greco, and Apple. Greco ultimately decided to move the show back to Boston and Apple decided not to go.

While Apple won’t be in Boston, they will be at DV Expo next week in New York, although I’m not sure how big of a presence they will have — whatever it is, it will be bigger than what they have in Boston.

I don’t think anyone really knows what to expect next week. I’m sure there will be a few announcements from companies that are exhibiting and those that will have meeting rooms.

I know that I’ll be busy, but I will take some time to visit some Boston Bruins stores to pick up a jersey and some other souvenirs. Hopefully the Bs can get rid of the curse that’s plagued them for the last few years and make it past the first round of the playoffs.