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stouffville suntribune thursday feb 19 2004 7 roaming around with jim thomas nightmare lives on for accuser of rape if youre facing a serious charge would you want your fate to rest in the hands of a 12member jury comprising amateurs of with no legal training and no previous experience i wouldnt if youre the victim of a heinous crime would you want the verdict to rest on the decision of 12 amateurs selected off the street to ascertain the honesty and integrity of your testimo ny i wouldnt yet this was the daunting task placed before six men and six women when a rape accused and a stouffville rape accus er met face to face in a newmarket courtroom recently the result the accused is a free man likely going about his daily rou tine like nothing ever happened the accuser is a devastated woman haunted by fear confusion and embarrassment the accuser feels the justice system let her down her story follows it was 230 on a cold january morning the complainant was aroused from a deep sleep by a knock at the door she responded and after recog nizing the caller as an acquaintance let him in for a time they talked the woman relating details of her marriage breakup and the man listening intently trying his best to ease her anguish then according to the accuser something hap pened m of a sudden his facial features changed she said he had the look of an animal- he began ripping her clothes off during an intense struggle she said when she attempted to reach the phone and dial 91 1 he put a hold on her she couldnt break i didnt know what to do she said i feared for my life should i fight him should i obey him she asked herself out of fear she says i followed his orders when all was over she remembers him covering his face with his hands and calling out what have i done then he left for a time she felt numb wondering if she in part had been to blame i never should have answered the door at that hour of the morning she remembers thinking i never should have let him in i keep blaming myself later self incrimination turned to anger she called york regional police and two officers one a man and the other a woman responded they drove her to the nearby markham station where she filed a report i told them everything she said they the police were very cooperative officers she stated then staked out the site where the man was working and subsequently placed him under arrest he was in custody up until his trial a period of almost a year all this time the complainant kept mainly to herself con fiding in no one accept her immediate family not even her neighbours i was too embarrassed she said but what was to follow was even more embarrassing the accuseds lawyer ripped her testimony to shreds she said making her feel like the guilty person couldnt believe it he the lawyer made it appear like id led him on i kept asking myself is this really happening to me im not that kind of person i go to church i have strong moral values but it was happening to me i couldnt believe it two days later she was notified by phone the case had been dismissed its been hell ever since she claims shes constantly plagued by nightmares she says and every noise during the night has her wondering if someones trying to break in in addition to counselling and psychiatric help shes receiving assistance from york support services theyre helping me through a very difficult time she says but she adds the damage is permanent its something thatu haunt me the rest of my life then she looks around the room focussing her gaze on beautiful portraits of her children they are my reason for living she says theyre so won derful so beautiful and so precious then the dark side looms why should i feel guilty she wonderswhy should i feel humiliated and embarrassed her questions beg answers answers not even professionals can provide jim tliomas is a stouffville resident who has written for area newspapers for more than 50 years our peameal we sell a lot of this bacon because a we use centrecuts only no ends b we use a lowsalt cure c we trim it lean so that theres next to no fatd we dont pump it with brine to the extent that it becomes watery a common practice with peameal and e we dont extend the product as i see that many others do when you see on the package label 12 protein added what mat means is that the weight ends up being 12 more than when they started this is accomplished by using tumbling machines which increase product yield read more profit at the expense of product quality its what we dont do that makes our bacon so good so if peameal is on your menu this week get your knives out sharpen them up and come and see us cause your peameal deal is back jsba by the piece reg 499 lb ps if your knife is really dull bring it too wett sharpen it b0urguign0nne this is whats for dinner this week it can be accompanied by almost anything but i prefer boiled potatoes perhaps yukons for you who are less meat potato folk an egg noodle or rice work great however you choose rue heartiness of this dish is a great fit for weather like were having a b q serves 34 g fe 0 reg 1795 this week mushroom pwith brandy from our soup freezer well have our mushroom soup i find it on the thicker side although you may just love it like this you may want to thin it a bit perhaps with chicken stock or milk or cream or perish the thought more brandy its a very hearty soup tk fflffl reg 750 serves 34 sausages our farmers sausages are made with a touch of our english seasoning and finished with some of our german bratwurst spice and youll call them 4gt jssiq delicious once you r b jt try them jms reg 399 lb mm week off om this firewood difficulties it seems that the last load of firewood that we received is too fresh and is difficult to light i have encountered the problem as well my solution is to use a firelog or at least firestarters with the firewood placed on top when it lights and it will it burns for a nice long time to help out weve reduced the wood to 399 per bag sorry for the inconvenience cauliflower well have a nice amount of fresh cauliflower vfor this week its going to be a mediumlarge size from california eat up your veggies folks prime rib iandwiches these are our most popular lunchtime hot sandwich its bur prime rib ovenroasted piled a 14 lb high with either horseradish or gravy or both on the bun of your choice theyll be the lunch feature today friday arid saturday hickory- smoked apple cider this is a musttry at the deli this week we normally use oak to make our blackforest hams arid everything else but weve used hickory for a twist til f this ham gets rave reviews from everyone m jrjj who tries it intro price 100g nectarines these as you can imagine come from a sunny spot arid in this case its chile theyre a really large size and theyre juicy and semi freestone youll like them extra large from chile whats this weekf working at our store is an adventure a large part of the time- and this weeks adventure is rhubarb when i was at the produce terminal early on monday one of my friends whp knows that we use a lot of rhubarb asked if we could help out with an overabundance of some hothouse grown rhubarb bottom line is that we have copious amounts of fine rhubarb this week and weve been creating neat stuff arid some oldfashioned favourites as well rhubarb pies these are available with either a pastry top or crumble we season the rhubarb with some orange zest and subtle spices its cathys favourite pie its a sad day at home when her private stash of these is deleted which between you and ine happens a pie at a time 9 size o ea rhubarb and white chocolate coffee cake this is cuttmgredge stuff very new a rich coffee cake full of rhubarb chunks with orange zest cinnamon andjcandied ginger not only are there chunks of white chocolate in the batter its also drizzled with it scones with rhubarb apples toasted almonds and orange 1 ea rhubarb custard flan its with rhubarb and apples cooked with brown sugar cinnamon nutmeg allspice arid doves baked with custard all in a shortbread crust and then topped with crumble decadent ea 17v rhubarb tarts- these are my fave 1 ea or 5 6 also new this week is stephanas maple oatmeal scone which is if you are a maple fan a tonic of epicurean proportions 1 ea all of these items including the maple w ydt7 scones are i 2urr while the rhubarb lasts f jj vjbk starting next week one of our customers suggested that wc make a selection of muffins and i promised that we will but it will be next week watch for them village grocer quality foods wfswr specials in effect until closing sunday february 22 hours mon 1100700 tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 garlton road unionville 9401770