Canton firefighters get new bulletproof vests

By Lori Monsewicz

CANTON — Canton firefighters don’t need pouches for handcuffs and pepper spray.

They’re not police officers. Though they respond to some of the same calls, they have a different job and different needs.

They’d rather have a pocket that fits a 90-degree-angled flashlight, a regular flashlight and or an emergency radio.

So an Akron-based uniform company — D&G Uniform — worked with Point Blank Body Armor in Pompano Beach, Fla. to design bulletproof vests just for Canton firefighters.

Not all firefighters, however, welcome the vests, which were the result of negotiations between the city and the Canton Professional Firefighters Association Local 249.

“A lot of them believe we’re not supposed to be in these (violent) situations, and rightfully so. But you don’t know when you’re going to be put in a situation. And the last time I checked, these T-shirts and sweatshirts that they wear won’t stop a bullet,” Friedmann said.

With the vests, comes a new policy: The body armor must be worn to all shootings, stabbings, assault and domestic-violence cases and to any incident in which violence is possible, Friedmann said.

“Every day, you’ve gotta have it on, whatever truck you’re on,” he said.

This week, all 180 members of the Canton Fire Department received vests marked with the words “Fire Dept” and featuring pockets they can use. Yet, like body armor for police, the vests are designed to protect them from bullets and shrapnel.

“We run on a lot of violent incidents with the police,” said Capt. Raymond Friedmann.

While firefighters’ protocol is to wait until the police secure a scene, “you never know what’s going to happen,” said Friedmann.

“The level of violence on the street has increased consistently,” in the last 15 years, said Friedmann, who’s been on the force since 1979.

Scott Hanlin, a firefighter-paramedic hired in August, looked over his vest Wednesday morning. “It’s nice to have; it’s definitely peace of mind,” he said.

NOT PERFECT

Barbara Limbert and her son, Brian Limbert, owners of D&G Uniform of Akron, warned firefighters that the vests don’t make them invincible.

“Don’t think you’re just like Superman out there,” Barbara Limbert said. “The plate’s function is to slow and mushroom the bullet. I hope you guys never get to the point where you have to use it. If you do happen to get shot, you will feel it. There will be blunt-trauma and tissue damage.”

Her son warned of broken ribs and bruising. “You’re going to feel it,” he said.

But, Barbara Limbert said, “It’s certainly better than the alternative.”

The vests can’t be machine-washed or dry-cleaned. The Limberts suggested a damp washcloth and a quick spritz of Febreeze, and they promised to find the answer to a paramedic’s question: “How can you remove blood from it?”

When she asked what method they’re now using to remove blood stains, one firefighter-paramedic told her that he doesn’t even try.

“For the last two shootings, (my clothing) was soaked,” he said. “There was no way around it — I threw mine away.”

Home invasion 'lookout' loses appeal

A man who acted as look-out during a brutal Auckland home invasion by a gang pretending to be armed offenders squad officers has failed to get a reduction on his 9 and a half year jail term.

Two of the men allegedly involved in terrorising the Pakuranga family were finally arrested by police in Tokoroa following a 12-month manhunt, code-named Operation Highland.

"Indeed, the primary target of this invasion, the senior male occupant who was the subject of a vicious knife attack, has returned to China."

The court heard that early on September 10, 2006 three men carrying firearms and a sledgehammer smashed their way into the home of a Chinese family as they slept, claiming to be members of the AOS.

They were dressed in imitation police clothing, including bulletproof vests, ballistic helmets, gasmasks and dark clothing.

"The offender took a knife from a kitchen drawer and slashed the victim's upper body and thighs, so causing cuts to his clothing and to his body," the appeal judges said.

The Court of Appeal said in a recent decision that the sentence handed down to 20-year-old "look-out and decoy" John Royal by Judge Patrick Treston in Manukau District Court was warranted.

"This was a sustained intrusion into a private home at night, involving a vicious assault upon the senior male occupant, and the detention of a family in the very place where they were entitled to feel safe," Justice Christopher Allan said as he delivered the court's decision.

However, the home invasion had been noticed by neighbours, who called police and all four were eventually caught.

Royal's lawyer Peter Kaye told the appeal court his sentence was excessive.

The 10-12 year starting point was too high, not enough weight was given to Royal's limited role, and the sentence was too high compared with the actual intruders.

But the argument was rejected by the appeal judges.

Royal was not a mere passive bystander, Justice Allan said.

He had an important role in the enterprise and was already a recidivist offender with 17 burglary convictions.

The six family members, including a 13-year-old girl, were "herded" together in a bedroom and bound and gagged with tape.

"One stood guard with a shotgun which he racked from time to time in order to intimidate the victims," Justice Allan said.

While a second offender searched the house, taking $2000 and a cellphone, the third man, who was carrying a pistol, took a middle aged male to the kitchen where he ordered him to sit on the element of a stove which was switched on.

When the man refused, he was punched to the floor and kicked in the head and body as demands were made for money and valuables.

Canton firefighters get new bulletproof vests

By Lori Monsewicz

CANTON —

Canton firefighters don’t need pouches for handcuffs and pepper spray.

They’re not police officers. Though they respond to some of the same calls, they have a different job and different needs.

They’d rather have a pocket that fits a 90-degree-angled flashlight, a regular flashlight and or an emergency radio.

So an Akron-based uniform company — D&G Uniform — worked with Point Blank Body Armor in Pompano Beach, Fla. to design bulletproof vests just for Canton firefighters.

This week, all 180 members of the Canton Fire Department received vests marked with the words “Fire Dept” and featuring pockets they can use. Yet, like body armor for police, the vests are designed to protect them from bullets and shrapnel.

“We run on a lot of violent incidents with the police,” said Capt. Raymond Friedmann.

While firefighters’ protocol is to wait until the police secure a scene, “you never know what’s going to happen,” said Friedmann.

“The level of violence on the street has increased consistently,” in the last 15 years, said Friedmann, who’s been on the force since 1979.

Scott Hanlin, a firefighter-paramedic hired in August, looked over his vest Wednesday morning. “It’s nice to have; it’s definitely peace of mind,” he said.

NOT PERFECT

Barbara Limbert and her son, Brian Limbert, owners of D&G Uniform of Akron, warned firefighters that the vests don’t make them invincible.

“Don’t think you’re just like Superman out there,” Barbara Limbert said. “The plate’s function is to slow and mushroom the bullet. I hope you guys never get to the point where you have to use it. If you do happen to get shot, you will feel it. There will be blunt-trauma and tissue damage.”

Her son warned of broken ribs and bruising. “You’re going to feel it,” he said.

But, Barbara Limbert said, “It’s certainly better than the alternative.”

The vests can’t be machine-washed or dry-cleaned. The Limberts suggested a damp washcloth and a quick spritz of Febreeze, and they promised to find the answer to a paramedic’s question: “How can you remove blood from it?”

When she asked what method they’re now using to remove blood stains, one firefighter-paramedic told her that he doesn’t even try.

Not all firefighters, however, welcome the vests, which were the result of negotiations between the city and the Canton Professional Firefighters Association Local 249.

“A lot of them believe we’re not supposed to be in these (violent) situations, and rightfully so. But you don’t know when you’re going to be put in a situation. And the last time I checked, these T-shirts and sweatshirts that they wear won’t stop a bullet,” Friedmann said.

With the vests, comes a new policy: The body armor must be worn to all shootings, stabbings, assault and domestic-violence cases and to any incident in which violence is possible, Friedmann said.

“Every day, you’ve gotta have it on, whatever truck you’re on,” he said.

The First Bulletproof Clothing in the History of Weapons

The history of the world can be described in one word, “bloody”. The present world is culmination of battles and wars. The wars razed down the old and made way for the new, and this is how the world evolved, from the ruins of the war.

Today the most common weapon is a gun loaded with bullets, of course and the protection mechanism against this weapon a bulletproof vest or bulletproof clothing. It is believed that the idea or innovation of bulletproof vests originated from the soft body armor that was used by the Japanese armies in the medieval ages. Later following much research and development on the Japanese soft armors that were made of silk fibers, Rev, Zeglan of Chicago, in 1914 was able to develop the first silk bulletproof jacket, capable of stopping bullets fired from a standard black powder rifle. The cost of the first bullet proof vest was $800.

The first invention of man was a weapon, a weapon for killing animals for food and for protection. As time passed, the use of weapons grew; it began to be used as a means of setting disputes among men for once and for all. With the discovery of metals during the ‘bronze’ and ‘copper’ ages, lead to the innovation of more sophisticated weapons and as well as metallic structures that could be used to protect oneself when attacked by a weapon. These metallic structures of protection against weapons later developed into shields and body armors. As the sophistication of the weapons developed so did the complexity of the shields, body armors and other means of protection. But as history proves that the means of attacking was always a step ahead than the means of protection.

A Shelter From Fists And Rage

by Jeff Holubitsky

The steady stream of women who turn up at the Lurana Shelter come with bruises, black eyes, and

shattered self-confidence. Regular emotional and physical beatings — including strangulation — at the hands of their partners will do that to a woman, whether she’s a doctor, lawyer, teacher, police officer, teenager, senior citizen, social worker, karate expert, or a stay-at-home mother. Sister Lucinda, the shelter’s compassionate but realistic director, says what’s worse is they also often come with children who have learned from dad that it’s okay to teach mom a lesson with their fists, feet, and teeth.

“But it is totally reversible,” she says. “Violence is learned behaviour and what gives me hope is that it can be unlearned.”

In the past year, a total of more than 670 moms and their children have hidden at the 32-bed shelter where their safety is secured with bulletproof windows, video surveillance, and alarm system and panic buttons.

“It’s a tough ministry, but I love it,” Sister Lucinda says. “If their partner gets help, things can change. So if a woman wants to reconcile, we will work with them to understand their boundaries and to have a strong safety plan so that if things don’t work out, she won’t stay long enough to get hurt.”

Before the shelter’s staff of 35 can help abused women rebuild their lives, they must first ensure their safety.

Sister Lucinda is blunt when she describes the reason its location is kept secret. Some abusers have gone so far as to hire detectives to pose as doctors to find their spouses and children. Others have sent people posing as social workers.

“There could be death threats and we are extremely cautious about who comes to the shelter,” Lucinda says.

New arrivals, who contact Lurana through a crisis line listed in the front pages of the phone book, can only come by a cab sent by the shelter.

“If a friend insists on driving them,” Lucinda says, “we’ll have them dropped off at a mall where a cab will meet them.”

Friends, family members, and the media are all strictly prohibited for visiting the nondescipt apartment block. Cellphone use is discouraged as well, because of the potential for tracing the source of the call with GPS technology.

Sister Lucinda, dressed in a plain brown long-sleeved dress that serves as her habit, conducts interviews at the order’s convent south of 118 Avenue on 110 Street. The Roman Catholic nun joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement about 16 years ago, after an earlier career as a teacher. “One thing I learned early on is that women are really at a higher risk when they leave than if they stay,” she says. “When a person realizes their wife or partner is not coming back, a lot of individuals who are not stalkers become stalkers.”

Women and their children are typically allowed to stay 26 days, although some stay longer if no other accommodation is readily available. Through hours of group and personal counselling, they are taught to realize domestic violence can’t be blamed on the victim.

“We want the mom to learn she is not at fault,” Lucinda says. “For children, they also have to learn it is not their fault and the second thing they have to learn is the abuse has to stop, because most kids do, regretfully, blame their mom.”

The children, who are as old as 17, are usually encouraged to continue at their own schools — though if that proves impossible, they can attend class in schools near the shelter. Lucinda dreams of someday offering special classes for them at the convent.

Funding to cover the shelter’s $1.5 million annual budget comes from the province and through donations.

Many churches and schools raise money or collect new clothing and household items to help the women, who often flee their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Money for the shelter will also be raised through a silent auction at the Mom, Pop and Tots Fair, which runs from Apr. 3-4 at Northlands Agricom.

Sadly, some women have returned to Lurana four or five times before things change for the better.

“When I look at violence in homes, it has to be men and women working together to stop it,” Lucinda says. “Most women do try to reconcile, because they fell in love with that person and unless there has been something so severe, she doesn’t stop loving.”

Montreal jeans going global

Canada’s own Yoga Jeans brand is going global.

Come fall, the only jeans that promise to never expose butt crack, no matter how deep you bend, will be available in the U.S. and Europe.

The Montreal-based company recently bought a new factory in Quebec that will allow it to quadruple production and expand distribution, says Eric Wazana of Second Clothing.

An additional 50,000 pairs will be ready to sell in September. Cut on the bias for maximum stretch, the jeans are available in Toronto at Shopgirls, a Parkdale emporium of Canadian-made fashions.

Lookin' good, absorbing bullets

What do you get the stylish, ambitious young exec who has everything? Well, if he's got a price on his head- or he does a lot of business in volative Middle Eastern nations- then consult the expert services of Miguel Caballero, clothier to the paranoid jet-set. This Bulletproof may also be part of fashion in the future.

Now here's a designer who knows how to marry high fashion with military-grade ballistic resistance. Whether it's attending that all-important 'special contractor' meeting in Baghdad's bustling financial center, or heading out for dinner and drinks in Beirut's 'party district', Miguel has you covered. Everything from bulletproof tuxedo suits to bulletproof 100% cotton t-shirts are on offer at the clothing line's official website. There's country-themed wear, strictly formal attire and even some beach-friendly duds, for the fun-loving beachcomber who's life is under constant threat.

Caballero also caters to tactical and private security clients, but the focus is most definitely on providing fashionable alternatives to those oh-so-clunky bulletproof vests currently sported by SWAT teams and visiting dignitaries. The bulletproof elements of each item are camouflaged for discretion and well-cushioned, and the thin, thermo-regulating materials provide extra comfort.

If you've got the money to spare- as you might imagine, these rags ain't cheap- then a closet full of Miguel Caballero might not be such a bad idea. After all, you can expect to be shot at quite a bit come December 21st, 2012.

I say, if you have to spend your days running for your life, can't you at least try to look fabulous whilst you're at it? After all, looking good is the first step towards feeling good, and feeling good is the first step towards surviving the End of Days.