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| NEWS RELEASE - Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at 15:41 |
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NEWS RELEASE Oscar Lacombe - Honoured on Monday, sentenced on Wednesday EDMONTON - On Monday, March 15, retired Alberta Sergeant at Arms Oscar Lacombe will be formally recognized in the Speaker's gallery by the Alberta Legislative Assembly. Then, at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 17, he will appear in Edmonton Provincial Court before Judge David McNab for verdict and possible sentencing on Criminal Code charges of not registering a rifle. Lacombe, age 75, was in charge of Legislature order and security for 13 and a half years, and prior to that Peter Lougheed's personal body guard. From 1949 to 1973 he served in the Canadian Army, hauling ammunition in Korea in 1952 and peace-keeping in Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza and other trouble spots in the 1950s and '60s. Upon his retirement in 1993, he was named Honourary Alberta Sergeant-at-Arms for Life by a special resolution of the Legislative Assembly. A Metis, Lacombe was born and raised in a trapper's cabin in the St. Paul area in 1929, one of 12 children. He is a great-great grandnephew of the missionary Albert Lacombe, and great-grandson of Edmonton pioneer Lawrence Garneau. He shot his first deer with a .22 at age 9 to help feed his family during the Depression. He was prosecuted by the Alberta Justice Department for publicly boycotting the new gun registration section of the Criminal Code on January 1, 2003. Several MLAs have said they will attend Lacombe's sentencing. Also supporting him will be some of the Alberta farmers who went to jail in Lethbridge for selling their own wheat in the U.S. Lacombe's legal defence has been assisted by the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. Using the Citizens Centre Web site, Albertans and other Canadians have sent over 85,000 letters urging the provincial cabinet to leave gun registry enforcement to the federal government under the Firearms Act, as it has promised since 1998. - 30 - For background on Oscar Lacombe: www.citizenscentre.com
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