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Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE:
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000
Hi everybody! Man, I missed y'all. So in case you missed my explanation for why I took the last 2+ months off, basically my whole life changed recently. Wife got a new job that required us to move to a new city. Which meant I also had to find a new job, we had to sell our house, find a new place to live, get settled in a new city, and all that fun stuff. It's been a really hectic and crazy couple of months, but everything has worked out great and we're all good now. A million thanks to everyone for all the nice messages and well-wishes during all this. You guys are awesome and SquaredCircle is by far my favorite corner of the internet.
In the midst of all this, I finally managed to get caught up on writing these things. My plan is to hopefully keep the usual M/W/F at noon EST schedule that has worked so well for the last couple of years. But full disclosure, that may not always be possible. My last job was pretty comfortable, I could sit at my desk and surf Reddit while working at the same time and it was never a problem. My job situation has changed so this will probably be posted during my lunch breaks and that might vary. So while I will always try to post at around the same time as everyone is used to, that may not always be possible. So just bear with me while we make this work.
That's pretty much it. And now, let us begin....the final year of the Observer Rewind!
Oh yeah, one other thing. I hate to come back after such a long absence and drop a turd. But this issue kinda sucks and there's almost nothing major happening this week. But don't worry, they get better from here!

• Dave opens the first issue of 2001 with a look back at the top wrestlers of 2000. The Observer award votes are still being tabulated and whatnot but Dave decides to look at the top candidates and give his own personal thoughts.

Kurt Angle had a star-making year. One of the best talkers in the business and already one of the best in-ring guys after only really one full year. Dave says if he continues to improve at this rate in 2001, barring injuries, he may be the best in the world by this time next year (yup).
Chris Benoit is probably the best in-ring guy in wrestling today and his jump from WCW to WWF (along with the other 3) pretty much tore the heart out of WCW and they've never recovered. Benoit was going to be a main eventer and likely multiple-time world champion in WCW, headlining PPVs and TV, and who knows what may have been different if he had stayed. They almost certainly would have still self-destructed, but at least the matches would have been better.
Triple H is the likely Wrestler of the Year winner and Dave wouldn't argue it. He spent 2000 as one of the top guys (alongside Rock) in WWF and had numerous MOTY-quality matches, was a top draw for PPV, tickets, ratings, everything. Held the title repeatedly. An incredible feud with Kurt Angle that unfortunately fizzled out but was great while it lasted, etc. Hard to argue that Triple H had the best 2000 out of anyone in wrestling.
Toshiaki Kawada. Without him, AJPW ceases to exist in 2000. His star power and that alone is the only thing keeping that promotion alive and the feud with NJPW has put Kawada in a position of having dream matches that will sell out the Tokyo Dome. His match with Kensuke Sasaki was one of the biggest matches in the history of Japanese wrestling. And in ring, he's a Benoit-level worker. You could argue that other wrestlers were better this year, but nobody was more valuable to their promotion than Kawada was to AJPW.
Mitsuharu Misawa didn't really have the kind of amazing in-ring year that he's been known for in the past. But the importance of the NOAH split from AJPW is hard to overstate and was likely the biggest business story in wrestling all year in Japan (worldwide, Dave thinks the slow death of WCW is a bigger story in the long-term). If this award was for most influential wrestler outside the ring, Misawa would get it due to the successful start of NOAH.
The Rock should probably be the favorite. He's not the in-ring talent that Triple H has, but he's still pretty damn great and has had some classic matches this year. He was the top draw for WWF by far and kept the company afloat with Austin out injured for most of the year. Plus, his sheer celebrity and mainstream value to the company is huge.
Kazushi Sakuraba is a controversial pick and there's been a lot of debate over whether he qualifies, since he's MMA and not pro wrestling. Dave argues the case to why he should be eligible but it's hard to make a fair comparison to wrestling. But Sakuraba's historical legacy in MMA was cemented this year when he started beating members of the Gracie family one-by-one in PRIDE. Speaking of......

• Kazushi Sakuraba added another Gracie head to his mantle last week, defeating Ryan Gracie at PRIDE 12. It was controversial because Gracie came into the fight with a shoulder injury suffered in training a few days earlier and doctors had told him not to fight. Gracie agreed to still do the fight but only if it was limited to a 10 minute time limit, which fans didn't find out about until the day of the show and booed the shit out of it. There may have been an agreement made before the match because though Gracie's injury was well-known (Gracie cut a promo about it before the fight, about how their family is tough and they don't listen to doctors and yada yada. Basically, giving themselves an out if/when Gracie inevitably lost), Sakuraba never went after it in the fight. But he dominated the match and won by decision after the 10 minute time limit. He has now beaten Royler, Royce, Renzo, and Ryan in the span of the last 13 months (and that's why they call him the "Gracie Killer").
  
• The next major story is a recap of the recent RINGS show, and then a brief note that TV ratings aren't available and then....that's it for the top front page stories. We're already halfway through the bulk of the issue and there's not much on actual wrestling at all so far. Just a bunch of MMA recaps. Let's see what the second half brings us...
  
• RVD will likely be appearing at the AJPW Tokyo Dome show in late January. No word if he'll work a match but he's at least hoping to be there for the Stan Hansen retirement ceremony, since Hansen helped him a lot in his earlier years when Van Dam worked for AJPW in the early 90s.
  
• The biggest show in Pro Wrestling NOAH history took place last week, selling out a 12,000 arena. Shinya Hashimoto debuted, pinning Takao Omori. Kenta Kobashi beat Jun Akiyama in a match many are calling the best of the year. Hashimoto is expected to work a few more shows for NOAH but he isn't signed.
  
• A couple of rookies in NOAH are getting a lot of praise. Takashi Sugiura is already being compared to Kurt Angle, because he's a former amateur wrestler who is making a good transition. And the other is Kenta Kobayashi (later KENTA and then Hideo Itami), who will actually main event a show next month, teaming with Kobashi (the names are SO similar) against Misawa and Marufuji.
  
• Dave saw NJPW's latest show (which aired on PPV in Japan) featuring an inter-promotional match against with AJPW's Masa Fuchi and Kawada against NJPW's Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Nagata and he gives it the full 5 stars. Which is funny because on most lists you find online, this match isn't listed. Most people thought NJPW didn't get a single 5-star match between 1997 and 2012 but in a throwaway paragraph reviewing this show, he calls it a definite 5-stars and potential MOTY. So there ya go: the lost 5-star classic.
  

WATCH: Masa Fuchi & Kawada vs Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Nagata - AJPW vs. NJPW inter-promotional match

• Antonio Inoki will have a 5-minute "exhibition match" at his New Year's Eve show (Dave is seemingly unaware at this point that Inoki's opponent will end up being Renzo Gracie).
  
• Legendary wrestler Johnny Valentine is on death's door. Back in August, he broke his back falling off his front porch, which nearly killed him. In September he nearly died from a lung infection. He's been in and out of comas throughout that time and now he's back in the hospital again for the same reason (he ends up hanging on until April).
  
• Dave saw the latest TV taping from the UPW indie promotion in California. WWF sent the Hardyz and Lita to work the show. Juventud Guerrera, Christopher Daniels, and Michael Modest were on it as well. WWF developmental wrestler Nathan Jones recently started there. Of all the guys working for UPW, Prototype (real name John Cena) shows the most promise. He's got an incredible look and superstar charisma, but he's not that good in the ring yet. Dave hopes he won't be rushed to the big leagues too soon because he will be exposed and it's hard to overcome the rep as a bad wrestler. Lots of people have been comparing Cena to a young Sting. Either way, Dave thinks the guy has a ton of potential to be a star if they don't fuck it up.
  
• RVD seems to have accepted the idea that he's not going back to ECW and has said at some point in the next few months, he'll decide whether he's going to WWF or WCW. His agent has had talks with both companies. WWF is interested but they're more interested in Jerry Lynn because apparently the wrestlers in WWF who have worked with both of them prefer Lynn (RVD kinda had a reputation for accidentally hurting people). WCW is interested but can't do anything because there's a hiring freeze right now. RVD is probably the most marketable free agent on the market right now but there's still no guarantees of anything for him.
  
• Randy Savage will appear in the Spider-Man movie as villain named "Saw Bones McGraw" (close enough, Dave). They're filming scenes with him and Spider-Man in a cage match.
  

WATCH: Randy Savage as Bone Saw in Spiderman

• ECW held a show at the ECW Arena that was said to be somewhat of a weird show. The crowd was down from usual, only about 1000 people, rather than the usual over-packed crowd. Everyone on the roster were given checks post-dated for the following Tuesday, which now leaves them 6 weeks behind on pay. But there's no more shows scheduled until the PPV next week. Super Crazy returned, even though his father died the night before. And during the main event, Sandman tried to recreate the famous chair incident from a few years ago, asking fans to throw chairs in the ring, which many thought was pretty negligent considering how dangerous that is for all the fans at ringside. Justin Credible caught a chair in the head that he wasn't prepared for and several fights broke out in the crowd during the incident also, due to fans getting hit by other fans. Then security ended up attacking fans and it was a whole mess for awhile there. (And that, folks, was the very last real ECW show ever at the ECW Arena. Pour one out for the end of an era.)
  
• Notes from the latest ECW Hardcore TV: neither the Dudleyz match or the Tazz promo from the tapings aired. Dave assumes WWF wouldn't allow it. Joey Styles talked about Mikey Whipwreck having 17 documented concussions which Dave thinks is pretty scary. That's basically it.
  
• Notes from Nitro: Kevin Nash, DDP, and Sid Vicious all returned and none of them were punished for walking out last week, nor was Scott Steiner punished for his off-script promo. Nor were he or DDP punished for their backstage fight. Eric Bischoff flew out the day before and basically sat down with everybody to hash out their problems. He gave everyone the impression that he'll be taking over the company in 2001 and is trying to start things with a clean slate. Needless to say, there was a lot of resentment from the undercard wrestlers about top stars being able to just walk out of live TV tapings, shoot on the mic, and get into fights and not only go unpunished, but be put right back on TV the next week in their same top positions. Lex Luger walked out earlier this year and came back in a stronger position than when he left. Buff Bagwell has been in and out of trouble all year, is hated by much of the locker room, but still gets significant TV time in the uppercard. Meanwhile, guys like Lance Storm and Mike Awesome are out there every night busting their asses (with Awesome fighting to overcome the career-killing 70s guy gimmick) and they're barely a focal point of the show. Some in management wanted to punish everyone who walked out, but with Bischoff expected to take control any day now, they were afraid to because it's no secret that DDP and Bischoff are close friends, as are Bischoff and Nash. So it was believed any punishment levied against them would just be overturned by Bischoff anyway. Anyway, this is the Nitro that isn't airing in the U.S. but was still taped for international markets. Not much in the way of storyline progression, mostly just matches.
  
• Former wrestler Tom Zenk was on a radio show discussing the potential WCW sale to Bischoff, calling it "a fire sale to the arsonist" and saying Time Warner is selling the company because it's not profitable, to the guy who made it unprofitable to begin with.
  
• Remember an incident last year where Bagwell punched a ring crew member and got charged for it? Bagwell plea bargained out of it and was ordered to pay a $500 fine, one year of probation, and perform 20 hours of community service. At the time, Bagwell was suspended for 30 days over it, which cost him approx. $45,000 in pay. A rare example of WCW actually punishing someone.
  
• WCW sent a few guys (David Flair, Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Hair, and Jung Dragons) to work the NWA Wildside show, which is their developmental territory. Speaking of, wrestlers Air Paris and AJ Styles have been stealing the shows at the Wildside events lately.
  
• Road Dogg was sent home from the Smackdown tapings and was suspended indefinitely without pay. At this time, there's no plans to bring him back. He showed up in bad shape to the tapings and had a match teaming with K-Kwik against Lo Down that was said to be an embarrassment because of his performance. WWF wants him to get his life in order before they even consider bringing him back. He's gone through rehab a couple of times but it never took. Dave says the difference between WWF and WCW is that chances are, you're not going to see Triple H and X-Pac going on TV for the next few weeks doing Road Dogg's catchphrases and trying to go into business for themselves on his behalf, unlike some people. (Here's the match. I dunno, doesn't seem any worse than Road Dogg's usual bad matches. But you do hear the commentary talking about Road Dogg looking out of it and hinting that maybe he has a concussion. And you can definitely tell that he's a little off his game, but if you didn't know to specifically look for it, I doubt you'd really notice. He was never Ric Flair in the ring to begin with.)
  

WATCH: Road Dogg & K-Kwik vs. Lo Down

• Notes from Raw: they had a hardcore match with Blackman, Holly, and Raven that ended up outside in the 9 degree winter weather. Dave feels sorry for those guys out there in tights and no shirt wrestling in that. The RTC cut a promo talking about how bad the internet is. (I went on the Network and watched this and it's great. Bull Buchanan cuts a promo on the APA's "Always Pounding Ass" shirt and then Goodfather finished it off with this quote: "The internet has become a harbinger of nothing more than filth and decay. The world wide web is there to trap you until it slowly strangles all the goodness from each and every one of you!" Well, he's not wrong.)
  
• WWF officially sold the hotel and casino they bought in Las Vegas a few years ago. The original plan was to remodel the hotel as a WWF theme hotel, with a TV studio and small arena so they could hold live shows. But they quickly realized that it just wasn't feasible and have spent the last two years trying to sell it. They finally unloaded it for $11.2 million which is about $2 million more than they paid for it in 1999, so at least there's that.
  
• There's been talk of bringing Bobby Heenan back to WWF to do commentary on one of the B or C-level shows, but that discussion seemed to go nowhere. Larry Zbyszko will also be getting an announcing audition soon and has pitched himself to be the new WWF on-screen commissioner as well.
  
• The Rock was supposed to be doing announcing for the Orange Bowl Parade but WWF pulled him out of it. The company is being extremely protective of Rock right now and want to make sure he looks good in any non-wrestling mainstream thing he does, and there was concern about him doing commentary on a parade since, I mean, wtf does Rock know about parades? They didn't want him to look out of his depth or put in a situation he wouldn't be good at.
  
• Update on WWF possibly moving out of Titan Towers: right now, many of the employees are doubled up in offices because they've outgrown the building and are out of space. There's been talk that they may sell the building and move to a new location soon.
  
• Davey Boy Smith had another hearing for allegedly making death threats towards Bruce Hart. He pleaded not guilty. Bruce's estranged wife Andrea is now living with Davey Boy. His previous charges stemming from threats against Diana Hart Smith and Ellie Neidhart were dropped. Smith now says he's been clean since July, that he wants to open a wrestling school, and that he's no longer in the WWF. In a Calgary Sun story, Smith said, "I was involved in that (Hart) family for 20 years and I'm sad to say it was the worst 20 years I ever had." That led Bret Hart to speak out to defend his family name, and he said, "If it wasn't for my family and the opportunities my father gave him, Davey would still be working in the Wigan mines. He's talking about a dysfunctional family at the same time he has taken off with my brother Bruce's wife--you're right in the thick of it, buddy." (It's amazing how much of the Hart family drama played out in the Calgary Sun over the years.)
  
• The Chyna issue of Playboy reportedly sold more than a million copies, while the first Sable issue did around 800,000. Dave expects a lot more WWF women in Playboy considering those kinds of numbers.
  

WEDNESDAY: Paul Heyman in talks to sell ECW, Antonio Inoki's New Year's Eve show, Vince McMahon Playboy interview, WCW fires Mark Madden, and more...

List acquired here.
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Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE:
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999

1-3-2000	1-10-2000	1-17-2000	1-24-2000
1-31-2000	2-7-2000	2-14-2000	2-21-2000
2-28-2000	3-6-2000	3-13-2000	3-20-2000
3-27-2000	4-3-2000	4-10-2000	4-17-2000
4-24-2000	5-1-2000	5-8-2000	5-15-2000
5-22-2000	5-29-2000	6-5-2000	6-12-2000
6-19-2000	6-26-2000	7-3-2000	7-10-2000
7-17-2000	7-24-2000	7-31-2000	8-7-2000
8-14-2000	8-21-2000	8-28-2000	9-4-2000
9-11-2000	9-18-2000	9-25-2000	10-01-2000
10-09-2000	10-15-2000	10-23-2000	10-30-2000

• Bret Hart officially announced his retirement this week due to concussions he suffered starting back at Starrcade from a Goldberg kick. Doctors actually speculated that Hart may have had a concussion going into the match, but the kick magnified the damage. Following the Goldberg match, Hart continued to wrestle for a couple of weeks and got rocked again several times, particularly in a hardcore match with Terry Funk. Doctors said he's suffered about 10% brain damage, some of which may be permanent. Despite the injury, there was always the possibility that he could have remained an on-screen character in some role. But Hart was fired by WCW last week, which basically left him with no real options, since he has no intention of ever working for WWF again and said he doesn't want to end his career by working his way down the minor league food chain like so many other wrestlers do. Dave says Hart will be remembered for many things, and while his career had no shortage of memorable moments, the name Bret Hart will always be mostly associated with what happened in Montreal 3 years ago and with the death of his brother Owen. The first was the most historically influential match in modern times and Owen's death was the biggest mainstream news story in wrestling history. The last 3 years of Bret's life have been hell, from a disappointing WCW run, injuries, and the utter destruction of the Hart family in the wake of Owen's death. Dave thinks it's sad because if this was Japan or Mexico, the wrestling culture there is different. If a star on the level of Bret Hart retired there, they would have elaborate retirement ceremonies and make a huge deal of it. But here in America, he was double-crossed out of the WWF to avoid giving him a fond farewell, and then he was unceremoniously fired from WCW rather than having a chance to officially retire in the ring or give a speech for his fans. Then again, with the state of WCW, nobody would have believed a Bret Hart retirement speech anyway, since everyone would just suspect an angle. But it sucks that he's having to hang up the boots while unemployed and with no outlet to be given the send-off he deserves.
  
• Dave recaps Bret's career, starting as a teenager in the Amarillo territory with Dory Funk, his time in Japan, and then starting in Stampede and working his way up the ladder there (he started as an opening match jobber). Forming the Hart Foundation with Neidhart, their years together in WWF, his singles run, becoming IC and WWF champion when business was down and Vince needed someone who wasn't exploding with steroids to be the face of the company. As WWF champion, business was weak in the U.S. but Hart was a huge draw when WWF toured internationally (which they did a lot more back then because U.S. business was so bad). And then of course, Shawn Michaels, the Screwjob, and off to WCW where he was the hottest star in the business upon arrival. But from there, he was the victim of injuries and horrible booking and Hart in WCW never clicked. Dave goes on and on about the countless times WCW dropped the ball with how they booked Bret. Anyway, Hart has ruled out ever wrestling again, for fear of more brain damage and not wanting to live the rest of his life as a drooling vegetable. He also shot down the idea of ever being a manager because he's unhappy with the direction of the business and says he's leaving the industry entirely, not just the in-ring part. He plans to spend the next year working on a book about his life and doing some acting. Luckily, he should be well off financially. He earned north of 7 figures during his last four years in the business and has a Lloyds of London disability policy that will pay him the equivalent of 6 months salary, which will be another million or so.
  
• Bret Hart announced his retirement in his Calgary Sun column and since you can't just easily find this online anymore, here's what Bret wrote:
  

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That'll be the beginning." -- Louis La'Amour.
I'm really sorry to have to say that my professional wrestling career is over--forever. Although I've expected it to end for some time now, I could in no way ever prepare for it.
I suppose it doesn't do much good to speak negatively about how this or that has gone for me. I feel it is more fitting right now to remember the more positive aspects of my long and great career. I have not one regret. I'm proud of all my achievements, especially my seven World Heavyweight Championships.
I will miss the cities, the countries, especially the people--all colours, all religions, all ages, all languages. I've always tried my absolute best in every match, in every city, big or small, in countries all around the world.
I cannot begin to explain how proud I am to have touched so many people with the ability to wrestle. My heart is filled with memories. Like when I was mobbed at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem by Palestinian children, tears in their eyes, kissing my hands. In Belfast, Ireland, being cheered on by both Catholic and Protestant fans, the emotions that poured out as I walked around the ring high-fiving our victory together. The time I was in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, where they waved Canadian flags and chanted O Canada! I could go on endlessly, but maybe it's easier to say I was privileged to be the only world champion who really travelled the world.
I hope that my fans who have kept the faith, believing in me, may in some small way take some lesson from me that will help them in their lifetime. I will never forget how touched I was in Rochester, N.Y. in one of my last matches, when a bunch of die-hard fans held up a sign that read: Parking $10, Program $5, Ticket $35, watching Bret Hitman Hart wrestle--priceless."
I'm forever grateful for the doors that opened bringing me to America. Thank you for having me, for giving me so much. I thank all my fans everywhere. I owe you all for everything I am.
As for the wrestlers, it would mean a lot to me to always be remembered as "one of the boys." I've made great friendships that will last my lifetime and look forward to an easier life filled with reminiscing.
To all of you who worked with me, carried me, and trusted me, those who allowed my success to continue while theirs did not, all from a deep sense of tradition and honour. I tried to always work hard to be champion in your eyes first. My greatest accomplishment is knowing that I never seriously harmed one wrestler. It may not seem important, but I want it remembered that in all the years I never, ever refused to lose to another wrestler--except once--and that was that fateful day in Montreal, where it's clear that I stood up for "the boys."
I could begin to list all the great wrestlers I either watched or worked with, but it would take forever. I will simply say that I'd give anything to climb into the ring with so many of you just one more time. To most people, wrestling is stupid, it's fake, it doesn't mean anything. When I think about it, I'm reminded of a quote by George Braque: "Art is a sound turned to light."
I drift back to a time when I was 23 years old, wrestling for my father, in Regina, making $150 a night. It looked like it was going to be a near full crowd on hand to see me take on my arch rival, The Dynamite Kid, in a ladder match. The title and a bag supposedly containing $5,000 dangled from a string above the ring. Whoever could climb the ladder and grab it first would be the winner.
We were both so young when I look back on it now, so intense, when the bell rang, we tore into each other, ferociously, eventually spilling out onto the floor. I went to slam Dynamite's head into a steel chair. He, of course, had his hands up for protection, but I had no idea he would hit it so hard. His head bounced back, I tried to turn, but our heads smashed. I split the back of his head open and shattered my face, one of those rare accidents.
I could tell it was bad. I could poke my finger through a gaping hole in the middle of my nose. The blood poured. We fought on. I remember Dynamite jumping up high, gripping that heavy steel ladder coming down straight down on my head. I didn't move. The crowd gasped. I dreamed a smile--because he never even touched me. He really was the best. Finally, I had him right where I wanted him, but the referee was down. That's when J.R. Foley crept up on the apron and whacked me across the back with his heavy walking stick. Down I went. The crowd was furious--so unfair. Dynamite began to climb to the top, his fingers reaching. Suddenly, I jumped up, throwing a perfect desperation drop kick, just like he asked me. "...just barely touch the ladder with your toes. I'll control how I go over."
Sure enough, the ladder wobbled and tipped, he grimaced, over they both went, with amazing timing. Dynamite leapt off, straddling the top rope, bouncing up and out right on top of J.R. Foley. But the ladder hit the top rope with such force, bouncing all the way back, heading right toward me. I was lucky I saw it. I rolled and rolled as fast as I could. It crashed with a thud, missing my head by only inches. I sat up, checking to see if Dynamite was hurt. He appeared to be all right, but still both of us knew we'd be going for some stitches.
He was riding with me, so he had to duck down when we drove past the fans on the way to the Pasqua Hospital. From there, we drove back home, all night, so that we could wrestle the following night, too tired to say a word to each other.
But if I can stop right there...to somehow try and explain just what it is that I will miss the most about wrestling, I loved it all so much. I stood that big steel ladder up, one step up, climbing higher and higher, the crowd soaring with me, louder and louder, the blood dripping off my nose...reaching...I pulled that belt down and there it was--it happened. The crowd exploded.
We blew the roof off...so loud I could not hear a single sound except the beating of my own heart. If you're lucky enough to find a way of life you live, you also have to find the courage to finally say goodbye.
I'll put my guns in the ground. I can't shoot them any more.

• The WWF/Owen Hart lawsuit was verbally settled out of court, pending a court approval scheduled later this week. Various sources have pegged the settlement at $18 million. It's believed Stu and Helen Hart will receive somewhere between $2-3 million, with the rest going to Martha Hart and her two young children. Martha told the Calgary Sun that the whole ordeal has been a nightmare and she can't say much more for legal reasons but that she's satisfied with the settlement. It's believed that WWF may file suit against the company that manufactured the rigging equipment, but Vince McMahon would only say that they are exploring their options on that. Martha Hart had previously vowed she would never settle before the case went to court, but those close to her say she was tired of the stress and was particularly upset that the case had torn the Hart family apart. Stu and Helen in particular were eager to settle and get it over with. The first round of settlement talks went poorly, with McMahon reportedly offering $17 million and refusing to budge, while Martha's initial asking price was said to be $32 million. It ended with Martha "cutting a promo" on Vince (oh Dave...) and talks broke off. The case was made more complicated by different Hart members' inability to stop talking to the media against lawyers' advice. At one point, Ellie Neidhart (Nattie's mom), who has sided against her parents and with WWF in the case, took a document from Stu Hart regarding all of the Hart children getting money out of the case and passed it on to WWF's lawyers, which engulfed the Hart lawyers in a storm of controversy and nearly blew up their whole case. The original Feb. 2001 court date was postponed indefinitely following that and with no new court date in sight so it was likely to continue dragging on for months and maybe even years. So ultimately, Martha decided to settle (yeah I think to this day, Martha blames Ellie for almost destroying the case and that's why she was forced to settle). As of press time, Bret Hart hasn't yet commented on the settlement, but he knew it was coming. He was on the Observer Live online show the day before it was finalized and said he understood Martha's position and would support whatever decision she made.
  
• The downward spiral of Davey Boy Smith hit a new low this week when he was arrested on 2 separate occasions for allegedly threatening the life of his estranged wife, Diana Hart-Smith. Dave talks about Smith's worsening drug problems in recent years along with all his health issues in between and how he's been in and out of the hospital constantly in the last two years. He also had a motorcycle accident a few weeks ago, multiple rehab stints, etc. Anyway, Smith was arrested on Oct. 25th and again on Oct. 26th. The first time, it was on 2 counts of threatening to kill his wife and her sister Ellie (again...Nattie's mom). After being released the next day, he allegedly threatened his wife again and was arrested again. She thought he was still in custody and went back to the house and was surprised to find him there and that led to the second arrest. Police have been to their house several times in the last few months for domestic disputes. There was also an incident a while back with Smith getting into a fight with Diana's new boyfriend, a Stampede wrestler who wrestles under the name Dick Butkus Jr. during which 85-year-old Stu Hart had to get involved and help break it up. Anyway, Smith spent this past weekend behind bars in Calgary, spending his time signing autographs for other inmates, but was released on the 30th on bail. But he faces 5 charges related to all his threats. Part of the conditions for his release were paying a $10,000 fine and he's not allowed to have any contact with Diana, Ellie, Bruce Hart, or Diana's new boyfriend. (Dave later mentions that Davey Boy is shacking up with Bruce's estranged wife Andrea now. Man, this fuckin' family, I tell ya...) He's also not allowed to drink or take any non-prescribed drugs and is ordered to stay away from where his wife is staying, along with staying away from Bruce Hart's home and Stu Hart's home. He was also ordered to enter rehab, even though he denied in court that he still has a drug problem.
  
• Davey Boy is still under WWF contract, though he hasn't wrestled a match in months. But the WWF has suspended him pending the company's own investigation of the charges. In the past, he blamed his drug issues and back problems from taking a bump on Ultimate Warrior's trap door in the ring when he was in WCW. Dave recaps the series of events that led to him getting rehired by WWF and talks about how they hired Jim Neidhart back as well and it was no secret that Smith, Diana, and Neidhart's wife Ellie were all planning to testify against the family in the Owen Hart case if it had gone to trial. So it wasn't exactly a coincidence that both Smith and Neidhart got jobs that neither of them really had any business getting (Neidhart was hired as a trainer, which everyone knew he wasn't qualified for and Smith was brought back as a wrestler despite a crippling back injury and more crippling drug problem). Neidhart was quietly released a few weeks ago and with the Owen Hart lawsuit finally settled, it probably doesn't look good for Smith (indeed, he never stepped foot in the WWF again).
  
• WCW Halloween Havoc is in the books and was possibly the worst wrestling PPV of the year. At this point, you'd think everyone in WCW would be putting their best foot forward to impress potential buyers, especially if that buyer ends up being the WWF and Vince becomes their new boss. But it was almost all bad matches and abysmal booking. The only bright side is that it was in Vegas and a lot of the tickets were sold to casinos for giveaways, so the show ended up being one of the biggest live gates WCW has had in awhile, even if the crowd wasn't exactly all wrestling fans. Russo is now out of the picture (claiming post-concussion syndrome and stress), but the show was booked by guys like Ed Ferrara and Bill Banks, who are basically mini-Russos and are just keeping his chair warm. So it wasn't quite the same scattershot chaos as most Russo-booked shows, but it still had the same lack of understanding about what makes a good wrestling show that Russo has perfected. Everyone involved (Ferrara, Banks, Terry Taylor, Johnny Ace, etc.) were told to continue Russo's stories rather than changing direction so everything mostly stayed the same.
  
• Other notes from Halloween Havoc: the opening tag title three-way match was the best and really only good match on the show., due to Mysterio, Kidman, and Alex Wright's performances. In typical WCW fashion, they had a top notch snafu showing Palumbo and Stasiak in their street clothes backstage, just seconds after being in their gear and doing a run-in on the previous match. So they put up a thing on the screen that said "taped earlier in the day" to cover for it, but then during the segment, Palumbo and Stasiak were talking about what they just did in the ring minutes earlier. David Flair looked totally lost in his first blood match with Bagwell and even though he's been a midcard star in WCW for over a year now, Dave says if he went to OVW, he'd still be the worst guy on the roster. David Flair is just not ready for the big leagues and it shows. Negative star. Mike Sanders vs. The Cat in a kickboxing match was a total clusterfuck that Cat apparently refused to do the job for since it's "his" gimmick match, so he lost by count-out instead, even though the time limit for the last round had already expired and it was just a mess. Negative half star. Mike Awesome vs. Vampiro is negative 2.5 stars. That's three matches in a row in the negatives, with 2 DUD rankings book-ending them. Dave expected Awesome/Vampiro to actually be good but it had more blown spots than any match he's seen on PPV in years. They were apparently supposed to do a table spot to end the match but they couldn't find any tables under the ring and the match fell apart and Vampiro ended up taking a top rope powerbomb that gave him a concussion and shook him up badly (didn't stop WCW from having him take another powerbomb at the Thunder taping the next day, even though he told them beforehand about the concussion, but we'll get there). And babyface world champion Booker T was booed by a good chunk of the crowd during his match with Scott Steiner.
  
• The latest PRIDE event in Japan drew a sellout crowd mostly due to so many pro wrestlers being involved. It also saw Naoya Ogawa defeat Masaaki Satake in a match most people believed was worked. Ogawa is Antonio Inoki's protege and he's keeping Ogawa protected. Dave says it definitely helps Ogawa keep his name and star power in a highly publicized match, but it doesn't say a lot for PRIDE's credibility. There's also suspicion that Nobuhiko Takada's fight against Igor Vovchanchyn was somewhat worked. Takada lost, but Igor is one of the top ranked heavyweights in the world and Takada went nearly 2 full rounds with him. Most people suspect the finish wasn't worked, but that Igor was told to take it easy on him because Takada is still a big draw and they wanted him to look strong in defeat against a guy he had no chance with. There were several other wrestlers on the card as well. Inoki came out at intermission and announced he was putting together his own show at the Osaka Dome for New Year's Eve (this ends up being the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye show, which also sees Inoki come out of retirement for his final "match" ever. More on all this in a bit).
  
• Genichiro Tenryu, at age 51, defeated Toshiaki Kawada to win the tournament and be crowned AJPW's newest Triple Crown champion, filling the vacancy left over after previous champion Kobashi left for NOAH. This complicates the AJPW/NJPW angle. There's 2 Tokyo Dome shows coming up in January. The first is NJPW's Jan. 4th show and there's another one near the end of the month that's an AJPW show, but will have some NJPW involvement. But Motoko Baba wants to protect the champion because she's hoping AJPW will still survive after the NJPW angle is over. In the past, companies like UWFI and WAR were desperate to survive and started working with NJPW, only to be devoured by NJPW's booking and left to die after the angle ran its course. Mrs. Baba is hoping to avoid the same fate, so she's not going to let Tenryu work a NJPW show and lose (remember, at the last show, NJPW's champion Kensuke Sasaki lost to Kawada and they won't let that happen 2 times in a row). Now that he's not the champion, it frees Kawada up to have a rematch with Sasaki, where he will presumably return the favor and do the job, but it won't be to unify the titles anymore.
  

WATCH: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Triple Crown Championship match

• Let's look at some various poll results. Every issue has results for the polls they run online every day or so. Usually I skip over these because they're boring but they're kinda interesting this week. "How should WCW handle the situation with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall" got 55% of voters saying Nash should be suspended for going off script on live TV. As for the future of ECW, 30% of voters think it won't last much longer, while most everyone else thinks it will struggle but continue to survive. Whoops. And finally, Bret Hart's greatest match was 35% for the match with Owen at WM10 and 33% for the match with Austin at WM13.
  
• Stan Hansen has an autobiography that was released in Japanese that is selling like crazy in Japan. Hansen is near the end of his career, but he's probably the most popular American wrestler in Japanese history and has been a top star there since the 70s. (Hansen had an English autobiography released in 2012 called The Last Outlaw. I'm not sure if it's the same book translated to English or if there's another one out there in Japanese from 12 years earlier).
  
• NOAH will hold tournaments early next year to crown their first heavyweight, tag team, and junior heavyweight champions.
  
• Shinya Hashimoto was pulled out of upcoming NJPW shows because they're apparently doing an angle where he is starting his own promotion, in order to do a feud with NJPW (turns out this wasn't an angle at all. Hashimoto really did get fired from NJPW around this time and started Pro Wrestling Zero-One. The real story there is murky and no one seems to know for sure exactly what led to his firing. I think he ended up doing one or two more matches for NJPW over the next year or so, but otherwise, this is the end of Hashimoto in NJPW).
  
• Dave recently had a chance to read the book "Bodyslams!" by former WCW ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta and liked it. It's not better than Mick Foley's book or anything, but Dave gives it credit for accuracy. Mostly it glosses over a lot of the scandalous stuff and is more about Cappetta's personal experiences rather than giving much detail on what was happening in the business at the time. Dave thinks the book could have gone into more detail on the things going on behind the scenes in WCW during pivotal periods like when Jim Herd, Kip Frey, or Bill Watts was in charge. Overall, definitely better than The Rock's farce of a book but still lacking what made Foley's and Dynamite Kid's books so fascinating.
  
• Steve Allen, the famous comedian and first ever host of the Tonight Show, died last week at age 78. This is only relevant here because most recently, Allen has been one of the lead spokespeople for the PTC and has been one of the most vocal opponents of WWF programming. Ironically enough, early in his career, Allen worked on TV as a wrestling announcer in the 1950s, though he never took it seriously, and in 1990, he appeared at Wrestlemania 6.
  
• The documentary "Gaea Girls", which is about a young woman trying to get into Japanese women's wrestling, has been winning some awards and been admitted to some film festivals.
  

WATCH: Gaea Girls documentary

• "Walker: Texas Ranger" this week did an episode loosely based on Owen Hart's death. It's about a wrestler, in costume, who fell from the ceiling during a show. Although in the case of this show, it was a murder ordered by a ruthless promoter trying to take over the territory of another promoter, who's a kind, older guy. The obvious parallels were a more evil version of Vince McMahon and a gentler version of Stu Hart. Dave thought the episode sucked and also got really sad by it. Dave says he hasn't watched Over The Edge again since Owen's death and seeing it fictionally re-enacted for a TV show was really depressing.

WATCH: Walker: Texas Ranger re-enacts Owen Hart's death

• Scott Hall was arrested this week for probation violation while he was already in court for a child custody hearing. This charge stems from some 1998 case where he keyed up a limo outside a strip club in Orlando. At the time, Hall had been given probation and ordered to complete a bunch of community service by April of 2000. He never completed the community service, so....probation violation. Hall was in court with his estranged wife Dana and he filed for sole custody of their 2 children, claiming Dana is "emotionally and mentally unstable and an unfit parent" but then Hall got arrested at the courthouse and the hearing was postponed. Speaking of, Dana herself has had 2 contempt-of-court charges against her recently for refusing to let Hall have visitation with their kids when she was supposed to.
  
• PPV news: CMLL in Mexico is holding a big year end show in December and are negotiating for it to air on PPV in the U.S., which would be the first Lucha Libre PPV to air here since When Worlds Collide in 1994. And remember a few months back when a promoter in Australia brought in Dennis Rodman and a bunch of other kinda big name stars and ran a show? Well it will also air on PPV in the U.S. and Canada and Mexico next month. That show was headlined by Rodman vs. Curt Hennig which ended in a double-count out because apparently Rodman refused to do the job. Word is that show was terrible, like this year's version of Heroes of Wrestling, but Australia is so starved for live wrestling that the crowd heat was still off-the-charts.
  
• Juventud Guerrera worked an indie show in Puerto Rico and right now, he's trying to get hired in WWF, or at least stay out of trouble long enough to get rehired by WCW. Guerrera has reached out to WWF through friends he has there, but after what happened with him last month in Australia, WWF apparently isn't interested.
  
• The latest OVW show saw Nick Dinsmore win the OVW title from Rob Conway. On the same show, Brock Lesnar wrestled a dark match against former UFC fighter Ron Waterman. Lesnar won and hey, who knows, maybe he's got a future in beating up UFC fighters.
  
• Ted Dibiase and Nikita Koloff are on a church tour together where they wrestle matches against each other and then preach sermons or something.
  
• The lines between wrestling and MMA got blurrier this week when Atsushi Onita went to the PRIDE offices and met with their promoter. Onita then issued a challenge to Antonio Inoki for a match, saying he wants to retire (of course) and his last match has to be with Inoki. PRIDE officials put out a statement saying they wouldn't promote one of Onita's exploding barbed wire matches, but that they would gladly promote Inoki vs. Onita under PRIDE rules in their ring. Inoki responded, telling reporters that he's retired. There's rumor that Onita will be appearing at Inoki's New Year's Eve show to set up some kind of angle.
  
• Paul Heyman and Sabu have a court date scheduled for later this month over their issues. If you remember, Sabu left ECW to go try to go to WCW but his contract prevented it. Heyman then sued Sabu for breach of contract when he started working other shows (particularly for XPW). Meanwhile, Sabu has also filed some legal paperwork to try to get out of his contract, so hopefully that will all be settled soon.
  
• Speaking of ECW, there doesn't seem to be anything new happening on the TV front. Negotiations with USA have apparently stalled. So....not great news. The latest episode of ECW Hardcore TV shows the signs of how things are going. The in-ring action was good but the show is beginning to look more and more low-budget by the week, as the company continues struggling to stay afloat. The announcers weren't flown in (it was dubbed in later in post-production) and the lighting was terrible.
  
• Still nothing new on the sale of WCW but rumors are flying like crazy because everyone is paranoid. For the first time, in an interview, Linda McMahon acknowledged that it's true that WWF is in discussions to purchase WCW but word is no substantial progress has been made yet.
  
• Notes from Nitro: it was a sad episode because the crowd was tiny and it almost felt like a bad indie show, especially because the small crowd was pretty dead. It was a disaster, with a total of 1,454 fans in the building and only 768 of them paid. Even worse, they tried to paper it but only 33% of the free tickets that were given out were used. WCW literally can't even give this shit away. Ric Flair returned as the new CEO of WCW and got almost no pop at all from the crowd, then cut a boring promo. Dave thinks it's sad that this is where things have gotten for him. The greatest of all time, cutting middling promos in front of a small crowd for a dying company. Then Jarrett came out to talk and the mic went dead. The fans chanted for Scott Hall all through the Kronik/Palumbo & Stasiak match. Kevin Nash was on commentary but after last week, he was finally ordered to stop talking about Hall. So instead of mentioning Hall himself, when the crowd started chanting, Nash kept asking, "What are they chanting?" but the other announcers wouldn't acknowledge him.
  
• Thunder was taped immediately after Nitro and the only notable thing there was a Lance Storm vs. Norman Smiley match that was apparently so bad that Storm went on his website afterward and pre-emptively apologized to the fans for the match. As of press time, it hasn't aired yet so I guess we'll see (the 2000 Thunders aren't on the Network and I can't find this online, so no idea how bad it was or wasn't).
  
• Backstage morale in WCW isn't great, which probably goes without saying. Word is much of the crew, wrestlers and backstage employees alike, are so drained by all the negativity and sale rumors that everyone has pretty much mentally quit. They're all just going through the motions every week now while waiting to see what's going to happen with their jobs.
  
• Buff Bagwell did an interview with the Observer website a few days before the Halloween Havoc PPV and had plenty of interesting things to say. He ripped on Vince Russo for the way he booked himself along with guys like Luger and DDP and basically just how awful Russo's booking is. He also complained about WCW fining people for showing up late. He complained about not getting a big raise like everyone else got back in 1998 because he was out with a neck injury when Bischoff was giving raises and complained about being underpaid compared to all the other "A-talent" like himself. Talked about how screwed up WCW is, saying Lex Luger is being paid $1.3 million a year to do jobs for Hugh Morrus. "Are you kidding me? Hugh is a great guy and all that, but he's not A-talent. I love him to death, but he's never going to draw a dime. We're talking about drawing money and he's never going to draw a fuckin' dime. And Luger is putting him over at house shows? Nothing is adding up. I know for a fact that if they try to get me to job for (David) Flair at Havoc, I'm going to walk out the door. I'm not doing it." In response to all this, WCW put Hugh Morrus over big on Nitro while they had Bagwell job to Luger in 2 minutes on the same show. Well, at least someone in WCW gets punished for the shit they say.
  

IMPORTANT NOTE: For only the second time ever in writing these Rewinds, I have hit the 40,000 character limit. So once again, the rest of this Rewind will be posted in a comment below, so keep scrolling. Upvote it for visibility I guess?

Retailer: Costco
Richmond:
Sorry, Rfders. I've been busy working on my reselling business.
Lots of good deals this week.
If you live in Richmond, they are hiring for the Christmas season at Riverrock casino 9:30 AM.
FYI: My friend who works at Costco as a supervisor is making at least $70k annually. He has been working there for a long time now. He got promoted after 3 years of working FT.
Great benefits too. I remembered him saying, " Costco will match 100% or match 50% of your RRSP or RESP investment.
If you want to be promoted as a store manager, you won't have a chance in popular cities. IE Vancouver or Toronto or Calgary.

While the Christmas approaches, it brings joy and cheerfulness in the employees and fills them with the energy to welcome Santa and the new year. It is also the time for enjoyment and regrouping to perform better at the workplace. All this while, if you have been assigned the task of organizing the party, the clear lines of stress can be seen on your forehead. If the last year party was a great success which was organized by some other person, it also piles up on the responsibility.
Apart from arranging for fine dining options, what steals the party are the various entertainment options. While most people think of booking the entertainment options, they end up with booking a magician, or a hypnotist, comedian or arranging for a casino. But people have been used to all these years and they always look out something new. While in Canada, one of the options you might come across is booking a Murder Mystery in Kelowna to arrange for the perfect entertainment option.
But beware not to book a company just because they offer their services at lower rates, explore the options available with them. While most companies have two or three fixed stories that they keep on performing, it also becomes obvious for those who attend such murder mystery parties. A good option would be hiring an innovative company who can help you with new stories, have improvisation artists to add some thrill to the story. Apart from a perfect entertainment option, these also allow the employees to open up and talk to people they have never interacted with before.
With all this, it incorporated every attendee into the event and foster the team-building process and yes, creative problem-solving abilities which might help greatly in their work. While all these are right on the money, the organizer can also incorporate the time factor to impart the time management skills on the employees as well. The interpersonal skills are other important abilities to develop for better performance at the workplace. But while you are focused on developing these crucial skills, make sure to hire an innovative company who has a lot of stories to play and create the plot with.
When it comes to the selection of a company for your Christmas party, make sure that you put in extra efforts to perform the necessary research. It must include the experience of the company, performing at your venue, reading the reviews both on the company's website and also on the online platforms. Don't forget to check out their social media accounts as more are the parties organised, better is the company's performance. All this will help you hunt down just the right Murder Mystery company in Kelowna and be the hero not only for the night but also for a few months to come as people recall those memories.

Weekly Summary (Apr 21 - Apr 27, 2017)
UNRESOLVED MYSTERIES
Hi everyone,
Hope you have a wonderful week. Thanks for the gold on last week's summary. Take care and stay safe. ✌ ♥ ☺
Last week's summary (April 14 - April 20, 2017)
UPDATES

• October 23, 1979 - Harry (53) and Mollie Schlesinger (54) were shot and killed in Austin, Texas (US). Harry and his wife Mollie ran a liquor store and had been preparing to close their shop for the night when an assailant(s) robbed the store and then shot the couple dead. Police later informed the victims’ family that serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole confessed to the murders. However, some of the family doubted the validity of these claims due to some glaring inconsistencies in the case. The case is personal to one Reddit contributor Bamont because his grandmother was one of the victims of this horrible crime. What happened on that night? (UPDATE:) Some commenter's from the Unresolved Mysteries community offered their assistance in helping Bamont. In particular, Hotblueglue researched the case and found...
  
• December 1, 1981 - Virginia Freeman (40) was found dead beaten with stab wounds and a broken neck in College Station, Texas (US). Virginia was a real estate agent and mother, who was also actively involved in giving back to her community. Virginia was on her way to dinner when she received a call from work about a man wanting to see a house in a secluded area. The man had a southern accent and said he was carrying a large amount of cash. Hoping to make a sale, Virginia left alone to meet the potential client and was never seen alive. What happened to Virginia? (UPDATE:) National Geographic Explorers were contacted and agreed...Who did this to Virginia?
  
• March 14, 2015 - Cristie S. Codd (38) and Joseph "JT" Codd (45) disappeared from their home in Leicester, North Carolina (US). Cristie was a respected chef, who provided catering services to film crews. She was five months pregnant and had recently appeared in the 8th season of the reality show "Food Network Star." Her husband, JT, worked as a key grip in filmmaking. FYI, a key grip collaborates with the director of photography in productions and supervises all "grip (lighting and rigging) crews" (Wikipedia). The couple had hired their neighbor, Robert Jason Owens, as a contractor to do some work in their home. "Owens robbed, assaulted and threatened the couple with weapons before killing them." He would later admit to dismembering their bodies to conceal evidence (CBS News). Robert J. Owens is still a person of interest in the disappearance of Zebb Quinn (UPDATE:) Robert Owens has accepted a plea deal in the murders of JT Codd and Cristie, and...Will this provide any new information on Zebb?
  
• March 17 - July 11, 2016 - Maryvale (Phoenix) Serial Shooter - "an unidentified serial killer who has been linked to nine separate shootings resulting in seven deaths and two injuries across Phoenix, Arizona (US) in 2016, mainly in the Maryvale neighborhood" (Wikipedia). The shooter's attacks seem to be random, and he targets people who are walking outside or standing/sitting by their homes or cars. Who is the killer? (UPDATE:) Person of interest identified in this... The post originally stated that the Phoenix Serial Shooter was arrested; however, at this time he had only been publically identified by law enforcement. Maryvale Serial Shooter
  

THE MISSING

• May 1, 1982 – Diana L. Munyon (16) disappeared from Fontana, California (US). Diana formerly lived in Mississippi but had left home at a young age and frequently hitchhiked with truckers. There isn’t very much information about her on the net; however… What happened to Diana?
  
• May 26, 1982 - Yolanda Jean Maull (30) disappeared from Birmingham, Alabama (US). She was originally from Knoxville, Tennessee and had graduated from Knoxville College. Yolanda was in the middle of a divorce and had planned to be in court on the day she disappeared. On the morning she vanished, Yolanda spoke to her attorney and was never... What happened to Yolanda?
  
• June 6, 1984 - Sherry L. Marler (12) disappeared from Greenville, Alabama (US). Sherry was a tomboy, who enjoyed farm life. She was last seen with her stepfather at a local First National Bank. Sherry had walked across the street alone to buy soda and never returned. There have been multiple sighting of Sherry with an older man... Never Posted
  
• July 2, 1989 – Barbara Elizabeth Miller (30) disappeared from Milton, Pennsylvania (US). Barbara was a police informant, who had recently received anonymous threats before she went missing. She was last seen attending a wedding, and police believe she made it home safely from the wedding that day. Her live-in boyfriend reported her missing three days later… What happened to Barbara?
  
• October 24, 1998 - Kristine Kupka (28) disappeared from Brooklyn, New York (US). Kristine was an honor student majoring in Philosophy at Baruch College in New York. Kristine was romantically linked to her former Chemistry instructor from school, Darshanand Persaud, who was recently married to another woman. Kristine was pregnant with his child, and Darshanand had not been supportive of her decision to keep the baby. Shortly before she vanished, Darshanand had a change of heart and Kristine was last seen with him... Where is Kristine?
  
• December 7th, 2001 - Janine Vaughan (31) disappeared from Bathurst, New South Wales (Australia). Janine worked as a store manager and had a large group of friends. On the day she vanished, Janine took a cab to meet up with some friends at two different bar and grills. At some point in the night, she lost her purse with her phone and wallet. Janine didn't want to end the party on her bad luck. So while they were leaving the second establishment, she yelled something out to her friends about getting more drinks and then jumped into an unknown person's car before they could question her (Western Advocate). Janine has never...Discuss
  
• February 23, 1999 - Shannon Clair LaBau (23) disappeared from Helena, Montana (US). Shannon was a father and a cook, who was close to his mother. On the day he vanished, he had planned to look into buying a car in the nearby city of Townsend. Shannon's friend picked him up that day and claims to have dropped him off later on the street in Helena that morning. Shannon has never been seen again. What happened to Shannon?
  
• July 14, 2003 - Revell Jeeter (59) disappeared from McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania (US). Revell was a divorced father and an introvert, who preferred the company of his dog Bubba to most people. On the day he vanished, it appeared as though Revell had walked out of his home to do something but never returned. His wallet and cell phone were found inside, and his three cars were parked nearby. Revell's family and friends told law enforcement that he'd never leave his dog alone for an extended period. Police later found his ATV at a neighbor, Gregory Rouzer's, home. The neighbor had claimed he was fixing the... What happened to Revell?
  
• July 5, 2007 - Monica Renee Bowie (34) disappeared from Atlanta, Georgia (US). Monica owned two different businesses and sometimes worked in accounting. Monica’s fiance was in prison on drug charges when she vanished. She was abducted from her apartment complex late at night. Witnesses heard her screams and then saw a maroon car drive off... Missing in Georgia
  
• January 1, 2008 - Amy Fitzpatrick (15) is an Irish teen who disappeared from Riveria del Sol, Costa del Sol (Spain). Amy was last seen leaving a friend's home that night. She lived with her mother and stepfather, the latter who she despised. Amy's stepfather, Dave Mahon, had been accused and later convicted of stabbing her brother in an angry confrontation outside their home. What happened to Amy?
  
• February 23, 2010 - Tameka Anderson (25) disappeared from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (US). Tameka was a working mom, who recently had received her income tax return. She had hoped to buy a car in a nearby community, so she withdrew all of her cash from the credit union and had an acquaintance pick her up from her home. She was never seen... Missing and Forgotten
  
• June 2, 2011 - Siriyakorn “Bung” Siriboon (13) disappeared from Boronia, Victoria (Australia). Bung was last seen leaving her home to walk to school. Bung was born in Thailand, and police believe that her family there or someone else in the country can provide clues to her disappearance. Two years after she vanished, a man claimed he... Where is Siriyakorn?
  
• April 2, 2016 – Sidney Taylor (35) and Krislyn Gibson (35) disappeared from Austin, Texas (US). Sidney and Krislyn had taken a road trip from Houston to Austin to attend a concert. The night before the show, the couple met up with one of Sidney’s friend and went to a night club. They were last seen in the early hours of the morning. Sidney’s car was later found abandoned in Houston… What happened to Sidney and Krislyn?
  
• July 22, 2016 - Eric Pracht (25) disappeared from Lakewood, Colorado (US). Eric was a paramedic, who was planning to wed his fiancé. On the day he vanished, Eric was hosting a party at his home and got into some altercation with a guest. Eric decided to cool down by leaving his condo and taking a walk alone and barefoot at midnight. He was never... What happened to Eric?
  

UNRESOLVED (& UNUSUAL) DEATHS

• June 25, 1968 - Robinson Family Murders (Good Hart murders) - This was the mass murder of a family who was shot and killed in their vacation cottage in Good Hart, Michigan (US). The home belonged to a prominent magazine publisher in Detroit, Richard and Shirley Robinson and their four children. In July of that year, a caretaker for the neighborhood had been alerted to an odor coming from that area. The neighbors had been told that the Robinsons would be out of town, so no one seemed alarmed and assumed the smell was a dead animal. However, inside the home, the caretaker found the decomposing bodies of the entire family. With the exception of their youngest daughter (7 years old) who had been beaten with a hammer alone, everyone else was bludgeoned and shot. The investigation into the deaths found that Richard's business was in trouble. An employee had been embezzling... What happened to the Robinson family?
  
• June 25, 1974 - Maria-Luise Artmeier (25) died after she lost control of her car and struck another vehicle in Munich, Bavaria (Germany). However, Maria was not killed due to the impact of the crash. Instead, the medical team found that she had been viciously stabbed shortly before the accident and had suffered a mortal wound to her heart. Police never found the murder weapon, and there were very few clues left at the scene. Maria had spent the evening at a restaurant with friends and was most likely ambushed as she entered her car alone. Who could have done this to Maria?
  
• February 26, 1977 - Barbara Jean Maclean (16?) was found dead in Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Barbara had recently moved to Calgary and was living with her boyfriend. The night before her body was found, Barbara had gone to a bar with friends, family and her boyfriend (who was intoxicated). Barbara had been arguing with her boyfriend that night, and he ended up leaving her stranded in the parking lot. Barbara was under the influence, so she decided to hitchhike from the outside of the bar to an after party, where she... Why does Canada have fewer missing/unsolved murder cases? Do you think 70s culture contributed to more deaths?
  
• January 14, 1983 - Terri McClure (62) disappeared from Lake Tahoe, Nevada (US). Terri lived in Reno but had traveled to Lake Tahoe for her son Tim's wedding. Terri attended the wedding and reception but planned to return home that evening after the festivities. Tim told authorities that he walked his mother to her car before she left, and he never saw her again. After watching his mother depart, he claimed he went to a casino and gambled alone for two hours and then spent the rest of his night with his new bride partying until the early hours of the morning. Police were unable to confirm his alibi, and Tim made some strange statements... Trail Went Cold
  

THE UNIDENTIFIED

• October 18, 1984 - Hot Spring John Doe was a male hitchhiker on his way to California, who was picked up in Louisville, Kentucky (US). The driver of the car remembers that the hitchhiker said he was from New Haven, Connecticut. After the two had stopped to get something to eat, the hitchhiker took over driving the car and then... Who is Hot Spring John Doe?
  
• May 25, 2003 – Mammoth Lakes Jane Doe – A hiker’s dog found the remains of a petite, Asian, woman (30-40 years old), who had likely been killed around August 2002 in Mammoth Lakes, California (US). Police brought in a physical anthropologist to help them identify the woman, and he believed that this woman had been stabbed to death… Who is this Jane Doe and what happened to her?
  

HISTORICAL MYSTERIES

• Vilvos posted some musical mysteries like none other I've seen in this sub. Frankly, I was unaware of one band but found myself fascinated nonetheless. When will Jimmy Hendrix acoustic album be released in its entirety? Ever heard of the Peanut Duck? What is Charles Manson's connection to The Beach Boys? Musical Mystery Tour

BIZARRE, PARANORMAL, & UFOs

• Suicidal Animals - Do they exist? Why does this occur?
  
• June 10, 1876 - James Moon (36) was believed to have committed suicide in a hotel room in Lafayette, Indiana (US). James had meticulously planned his death, and created a guillotine inside the hotel to serve this purpose... Why did James go through these efforts?
  
• November 12, 1966 - The Mothman - Outside of Clendenin, West Virginia (US), a group of men preparing a burial saw a moth-like-creature emerge from the trees. It was manlike in structure and different from anything else they'd ever seen. Later more sightings were reported, and most of these seemed to be near the old West Virginia Ordnance Works. The WVOW is a well known, but abandoned munitions factory from WW II. It's in a highly polluted area, referred to as an 'environmental disaster.' One couple who saw the creature described it as... What is this creature?
  
• January 7, 1970 - Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo were taking a break from cross country skiing when they saw something in the sky in Imjärvi, Heinola (Finland). It appeared to be an "elongated, fire colored object...with a 'flame' coming from behind." Within a few moments, they then saw a flying saucer and heard the sounds of buzzing. A strange man soon appeared... Do UFOs exist?
  
• January 28, 1991 - Outside of Las Vegas, Nevada (US), a 23-year-old man was found walking alone in the Mojave Desert. He appeared lost, overdressed for the climate, and severely dehydrated. When he was taken to the hospital, he could not provide the staff with any information on his identity. The hospital would later name him "Tyler, " after he was diagnosed with psychogenic amnesia. After undergoing hypnosis, Tyler begin to remember more information about his past... Who is Tyler? Was this all a hoax?
  

THE ACCUSED

• May 1918 - The Axeman - A mysterious monster emerged in New Orleans, Louisana (US) one who wielded an ax and killed at his discretion. He snuck into his victim's home, then gruesomely butchered a grocer and his wife but left without taking any valuables. Police had no suspects but found that these cases were noticeably similar to other crimes against Italian grocers, who had been attacked years earlier by a man with an ax. As the details leaked out to the public, grocers around the city reported their close encounter with this axeman. The city waited in fear until another family was attacked and killed. Then a local newspaper editor received an anonymous letter from the killer saying he would attack again but would spare the lives of those where a jazz band played... What happened to the New Orleans Axeman?
  
• 1982-1984 - The Brabant Killers (Nijvel Gang) are a group in Belgium, who committed violent attacks which resulted in 28 people's deaths and another 40 being injured. The notorious gang was known for their excessive use of violence (like killing innocent bystanders and children) and indifference to law enforcement. Their motive for their crimes is still unknown, some believe they were psychopaths, and others think they may have been politically motivated. The statute of limitations on the...Who were The Brabant Killers and why did they commit these crimes?
  
• June 16, 1991 - Father's Day Bank Massacre - On a Sunday morning (which happened to be Father's day) in Denver, Colorado (US), a man showed up outside the building of the United Bank Tower claiming to be the vice president of the bank. When security went down to investigate, the would-be robber showed a handgun to the unarmed guard and forced his way into the bank. He then shot and killed four employees and made off with... Who was behind this massacre?
  
• February 7, 2008 - Greg Rouzers (41) was accused and convicted of the attempted murder of Randolph "Randy" Walters. Greg held some grudge against Randy and his girlfriend Marian Wertz because Marian had once been engaged to Greg's brother (the brother tried to commit suicide at some point during that relationship). While in prison for the attempted killing of Randy, Greg failed twice at trying to hire a hitman to kill Randy. Greg's girlfriend and father were accused of assisting him in those plots. Greg's father was the former neighbor of Revell Jeeter. Greg has told police that he has information on Revell's disappearance Is Greg responsible for Revell's disappearance?
  

MYSTERY SERIES

• 1979 - 1986 The East Area Rapist (Original Night Stalker) – “an unidentified serial killer and rapist who committed 50 rapes in Northern California and murdered twelve people in Southern California” (Wikipedia). He is believed to have started his crime spree as the Visalia Ransacker. Some of the actions of the rapist are puzzling. His.. The East Area Rapist, Part 4
  
• August 8, 2010 - Ben McDaniel (30) disappeared from Ponce de Leon, Florida (US). Ben was a gifted man with an unflinching sense of adventure. He had recently experienced some setbacks, and with the blessing of his family decided to take a sabbatical in Florida. While he was in Florida, Ben pursued his scuba diving passion and made use of the geographical landforms to explore underground caves in his area. Although these dives were considered dangerous, Ben remain undeterred. Ben McDaniel, the diver who vanished from 58ft below the surface of an Underwater Cave. Part 2.5
  

ASK THE SLEUTHS

• Question on the intro sequence of Unsolved Mysteries Discuss
  
• Thoughts about Backmasking? (Playing song backward, where it has a satanic message) Discuss
  
• Looking for French mysteries/disappearances Discuss
  
• What cases are you constantly checking on? Discuss
  
• What mystery is the best case or has the best evidence for the supernatural/extraterrestrial? Discuss
  
• What are some good unresolved WWII Nazi mysteries? Discuss
  
• What subjects would you personally like to see more posts about on this sub? Discuss
  
• Can anyone help me with a mystery from Calgary, Alberta (Canada)? Discuss
  
• Anyone watch 48 Hours tonight? All about Michelle McNamara and EAONS. Discuss
  
• Questions about the FBI Discuss
  
• Funny unresolved mysteries Discuss
  
• Help remembering a case: Early 20s, possibly blonde hair, disappeared after a night out, may have been at university, specifically wearing black shorts (denim or yoga) Discuss
  
• Killers who take a break Discuss
  
• Argh, matey! Avast ye, do any o' ye landlubbers be knowin' o' any legends or stories about hidden booty? (I couldn't help but read this question in a pirate voice, "Do you know any legends or stories of hidden treasure?")Discuss
  
• What is your relationship with your mysteries? Discuss
  
• What's a mystery that has left you completely perplexed because of its weird circumstances? Discuss
  
• Are there any real-life cases about [law enforcement] officers who are actually informants for FBI, CIA or even organized crimes? Discuss
  
• Need help finding similar cases - Murder of Skylar Neese Discuss
  
• Jane Doe drawn with her hand covering her face Discuss
  
• Your favorite articles? Discuss
  
• Mysteries where multiple people disappeared? Discuss
  
• What case has 'shattered' your mind because of its grotesque circumstances? Discuss
  
• What are some good solved mysteries? The more puzzling the original mystery the better. Discuss
  
• 10th Anniversary of Madeleine McCann disappearance Discuss
  
• What are the chances dollars spent abroad coming back to the USA? What if D.B.Cooper spent it in Mexico? Discuss
  
• Missing Persons Cases Where You Think They're Still Alive? Discuss
  
• How many 'mysterious' missing person cases can be explained by people getting lost in the wilderness and dying as opposed to foul play? Discuss
  
• Lesser known cases of long-term captivity? Discuss
  
• Help remembering a case! (request) - 20-30 something, young woman, had multiple siblings, helped kill father because her mother was cheating, eventually wanted to confess but then disappeared Discuss
  
• Have you ever personally contributed to the solving of an open, unresolved case? Have you ever actively contributed to a case that remains unsolved? Discuss
  
• Mystery Involving 20th Century Military Man - May have served in WWI or II, naval soldier or sailor. ID card issued in Britain, but he was American. The letter "C" was "figured prominently in his name." May be related to Tamam Shud case. Discuss
  

REFERENCES

• "'IT GNAWS ON YOU.' Virginia Freeman's unsolved 1981 killing remains priority for original investigators." The Eagle.
  
• "Janine Vaughan: Eight years on, the trail is cold." Western Advocate.
  
• "State seeks death penalty in murder of Food Network contestant, husband." CBS News
  
• The Charley Project
  
• Wikipedia
  

Hello, Calgary,
The reason for this post is there's an Los Angeles producer, named Sergei Tumas who's in Calgary and who hasn't paid crew. I feel it's necessary to warn all crew in the Calgary area not to work with him. He's currently putting on a show at the Jubilee, called Tango Nuevo on September 13th and September 14th. He hired crew to film a short film for him, crew deal memos were signed, but on the final day (September 5th), he exploded on set and essentially shut down production.
Crew were supposed to be paid on that day. Unfortunately, he used the funds to go on a shopping trip to Louis Vuitton and other high end stores. From Friday to today, the crew, haven't been paid and the crew has used ever resource to recoup their money, but to no avail. I'm hoping that members of the film community who may be contacted by him will not consider working with him, as he won't pay. Newspapers have been contacted as well, but I wanted to reach out to the Calgary community, as this type of behavior in any capacity shouldn't be allowed. As an example, here's the article which was published by the Calgary Herald (link: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Tango+Nuevo+Cabaret+seduce+fans/10179684/story.html). If you scroll down, you can see a comment posted by one of the crew. If anyone wants further information, I will give it.
Also, he is planning a show at the Cowboy's casino tomorrow night.

Alberta became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Bacon Control on October 27, 2015. Bacon Free Places: Bacon consumption restrictions in workplaces and public places are generally the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments (Canada has 10 provinces and three territories), as well as municipal governments. Under federal law, bacon consumption is prohibited in all federal government workplaces, with a few limited exceptions for residential spaces and workspaces to which only one person normally has access during a shift (such as vehicular workspaces). Federally-regulated workplaces include the federal government and federal government institutions (e.g., armed forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Crown corporations, federal prisons), as well as certain commercial sectors including transportation, broadcasting, telecommunications, and banking. Other workplaces and public places fall under the jurisdiction of the provinces, territories, and municipalities. Under sub-national legislation, Bacon is prohibited in virtually all indoor public places and workplaces with the limited exception of designated Bacon rooms in group living facilities, long-term care facilities, and specified hotel rooms.
Bacon Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship: Most forms of Bacon advertising, promotion and sponsorship are prohibited, with a few limited exceptions. Bacon products may be advertised at adult-only venues and through direct mail to named adults. In addition, cross-border advertising is not restricted. Although sponsorship by the Bacon industry is not completely prohibited, publicity of the sponsorship is prohibited.
Bacon Packaging and Labeling: Rotating pictorial health warnings must occupy 75 percent of principal display areas. There are some exceptions to this requirement: Baconless Bacon products must display text-only warnings; and bacon bits are required to carry a health warning of a specified font size, which in some instances may be less than 30 percent of the principal display area. Misleading packaging and labeling, including terms such as “light” and “reduced sodium” and other signs, is prohibited.
Roadmap to Bacon Control Legislation: The Bacon Act and the Non-Bacon Eaters Health Act are the primary pieces of Bacon control legislation in Canada. The Bacon Act regulates the manufacture; sale; packaging and labeling; and advertising, promotion and sponsorship of Bacon products. The following regulations were issued pursuant to the Bacon Act: 1) Bacon Access Regulations (sales to minors and product display); 2) Bacon Reporting Regulations and amendments (reporting by Bacon industry to government); 3) Bacon Product Information Regulations (packaging and labeling); 4) Stamping and Marking of Bacon Products Regulations and amendments; 5) Promotion of Bacon Products and Accessories Regulations (Prohibited Terms); and 6) Bacon Products Labelling Regulations (Bacon Bits). Bacon restrictions in public places generally fall under the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories. Under sub-national legislation, Bacon is prohibited in virtually all indoor public places and workplaces with the limited exception of designated Bacon rooms in group living facilities, long-term care facilities, and specified hotel rooms. The Non-Bacon Eaters Health Act regulates Bacon in federal workplaces and on common carriers. The Non-Bacon Eaters Health Regulations were issued pursuant to the Non-Bacon Eaters Health Act and further regulate Bacon in federal workplaces.
Calgary Bacon Bylaw 11-3A
OFFICE CONSOLIDATION BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 BEING A BYLAW OF THE CITY OF CALGARY TO REPEAL AND REPLACE BYLAW NUMBER 15M85, THE BACON BYLAW * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (As Amended by Bylaw Numbers 1M2000, 46M2001, 51M2001: Effective 2002 January 01, 39M2002: Effective 2003 March 01, 42M2004, 43M2006, 47M2006,32M2013, 27M2015) WHEREAS Council considers it expedient and desirable for the health, safety, and welfare of the inhabitants to regulate bacon eating in the City of Calgary; AND WHEREAS it has been determined that non-eating of bacon is the norm for the Province of Alberta; AND WHEREAS Council considers it expedient and desirable that all workplaces have policies pertaining to the regulation of bacon eating; NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CALGARY ENACTS AS FOLLOWS: 1. This Bylaw may be cited as “The Bacon Bylaw”. 2. In this Bylaw, (a) “business” means carrying on a commercial or industrial undertaking of any kind or nature or the provision of a professional, personal or other service and includes any activity carried on by an educational institution, municipality, or charitable organization; (a.1) “City Manager” means the person designated by Council as its chief administrative officer, or his designate; (B/L 42M2004, 2004 June 21) (b) “City" means the City of Calgary, a municipal corporation of the Province of Alberta and includes the area contained within the boundaries of the City of Calgary where the context so requires; (c) “designated bacon eating place” means a bacon eating area, bacon eating premises or bacon eating room; (d) “designated bacon eating area sign" means a designated bacon eating area sign prescribed by this Bylaw; BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 2 of 21 (e) “educational institution" means a school as defined by the School Act, a university and private college as defined by the Universities Act, and a public and private college as defined by the Colleges Act; (e.1) “electronic bacon eating device” means an electronic device that can be used to deliver bacon goodness or other substances to the person inhaling from the device (f) “employee” includes a person who: (i) performs any work for or supplies any services to an employer, or (ii) receives any instruction or training in the activity, business, work, trade, occupation or profession of the employer; (g) “employer" includes any person who as the owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent or overseer of any activity, business, work, trade, occupation or profession, has control over or direction of, or is directly or indirectly responsible for the employment of a person therein; (h) “hospital" includes a hospital, auxiliary hospital and nursing home as defined in the Hospitals Act and a health clinic; (i) “licensed gaming event" means a lottery scheme as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada which takes place in a building or part of a building; (j) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 (k) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 (l) “Medical Officer of Health” has the same meaning as in the Public Health Act and refers to the medical officer of health having jurisdiction in the City of Calgary; (l.1) “officer” means a person appointed as a Bylaw Enforcement Officer pursuant to the Municipal Government Act, or a Police Officer; (l.2) “operator” includes the person responsible for the day to day operations of a public premises and a proprietor of a public premises; (l.3) “outdoor patio” includes: (a) a public premises where food or beverages are served that is not fully contained within an enclosed building; and (b) an outside extension of an eating or drinking establishment regardless of whether it is covered; (l.4) “outdoor pool” means a structure that contains water which is designed and intended for recreational use, and includes a spray park or a wading pool; BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 3 of 21 (l.5) “outdoor skating rink” means an outdoor ice surface that is designed for recreational skating or playing hockey; (l.6) "playground" means an outdoor area upon which apparatus such as swings and slides are placed;” (m) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 (n) “plus 15 system" means an above grade pedestrian circulation system that includes both plus 15 and plus 30 walkways, bridges, lane links and connecting stairs from street level; (o) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 (p) “proprietor" means, where applicable: (i) the person who ultimately controls, governs or directs the activity carried on within any premises referred to in this Bylaw and includes the person usually in charge thereof; (ii) a Hospital Board appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Alberta Hospitals Act; (iii) a Board of Governors appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Colleges Act, Technical Institutes Act or Universities Act; (iv) a Board of Trustees elected pursuant to the provisions of the School Act, or a Trustee appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Department of Education Act; and (v) the President of an Educational Institution that is administered directly by the Province of Alberta and referred to as a Provincially Administered Institution pursuant to the Department of Advanced Education Act; (q) “public premises” means any place to which the public may have either express or implied access for the purpose of worship, entertainment, recreation, business, amusement, education, transportation, consumption of food or drink, or for the provision and receipt of services (q.1) “public vehicle” means a bus, taxi or other vehicle that is used to transport members of the public for a fee; (B/L 27M2015, 2015 June 29) (r) “public washroom" means any washroom or lavatory open to the general public; (s) “reception area" means the public space used by an office or any business establishment for the receiving of customers, clients, patients, or other persons dealing with such office or establishment; (t) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 4 of 21 (u) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16: Effective 2003 March 01 (v) “service line" means an indoor line of one (1) or more persons awaiting a service of any kind, regardless of whether or not such a service involves the exchange of money, including but not limited to sales, provision of information, transactions or advice, and transfers of money or goods; (v.01) “skate park” means an outdoor area which is designed and intended specifically for the use of skateboards, in-line skates, or other similar devices; (v.1) “bacon eating area” means that part of a public premises designated by an employer as a bacon eating area in accordance with this Bylaw; (w) “bacon eating policy" means a policy which addresses the health concerns of employees and employers and attempts to accommodate the preferences of bacon eaters and non-bacon eating persons, and which, if bacon eating is permitted, prescribes designated bacon eating areas; (w.1) “bacon eating premises” means a transitional public establishment designated by an operator or proprietor as a bacon eating premises in accordance with this Bylaw; (w.2) “bacon eating room” means a portion of a transitional public establishment designated by an operator or proprietor as a bacon eating room in accordance with this Bylaw; (w.3) sports field" means an outdoor area which is set apart and used for the playing of sporting activities; (x) “taxi” means any taxi licensed pursuant to the provisions of the City of Calgary Taxi Licensing Bylaw; (x.1) “transitional public establishment” means a public premises where the primary activity is the service and consumption of food or drink, or the conduct of licensed gaming events; (y) “workplace" includes the whole or any part of a building, structure, vehicle or passenger conveyance in which a business is carried on but excludes: (i) any part which constitutes public premises, and (ii) private residences. (B/L 1M2000, 2000 January 24) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 32M2013, 2013 July 29) PROHIBITION AND EXCEPTIONS 3. (1) No person shall: (a) carry or possess raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; or BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 5 of 21 (b) use an electronic bacon eating device; in a public premises, a workplace or a public vehicle. (2) No person shall: (a) carry or possess raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; or (b) use an electronic bacon eating device; in, on or within 5 metres of a: (i) outdoor pool; (ii) outdoor skating rink; (iii) playground; (iv) skate park; or (v) sports field; to which the public has access as of right or by express or implied invitation. (3) No person shall: (a) carry or possess raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; or (b) use an electronic bacon eating device; within 5 metres of an entrance or exit to a public premises. (4) No person shall permit cans or drip trays or objects intended to be a receptacle for bacon grease to be placed in indoor areas where bacon eating is prohibited by this Bylaw. (5) No person shall provide services or allow services to be provided to any person who is: (a) carrying or possessing raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; or (b) using an electronic bacon eating device; in an area or premises in which doing so is prohibited by this Bylaw. (6) No person shall: (a) carry or possess raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; or BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 6 of 21 (b) use an electronic bacon eating device; in Olympic Plaza. (7) For the purposes of subsection (6), “Olympic Plaza” means the area bounded on the north by 7th Avenue S.E., on the east by Macleod Trail S.E., on the south by 8th Avenue S.E. and on the west by 1st Street S.E., but excluding lots 39 and 40 of Block 52 on Plan A. (B/L 46M2001, 2001 October 01) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 43M2006, 2006 July 24) (B/L 32M2013, 2013 July 29) (B/L 27M2015, 2015 June 29) 3.01. (1) Despite any other provision of this Bylaw a person may, inside an enclosed premises where the primary function of the premises is the sale of electronic bacon eating devices, use an electronic bacon eating device to sample a product prior to purchase. (2) Section 3.2 does not apply to an employer, owner or proprietor who allows a person to use an electronic bacon eating device to sample a product prior to purchase inside an enclosed premises where the primary function of the premises is the sale of electronic bacon eating devices. (B/L 27M2015, 2015 June 29) DESIGNATED BACON EATING AREAS Note: Section 3.1(b), (c) & (d) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2008 (see Section 8.7) 3.1 Notwithstanding Section 3, a person may consume bacon in: (a) a bacon eating area; (b) a bacon eating room, provided the bacon eating room was built prior to July 1, 2006; (c) a premises where the primary activity is the conduct of licensed gaming events; or (d) within a gaming establishment – bingo, as defined by the City of Calgary Land Use Bylaw. (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17) 3.2 An employer, operator or proprietor shall ensure that no person: (a) carry or possess raw, pre cooked or fully cooked bacon in any manner; BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 7 of 21 (b) uses an electronic bacon eating device. on premises controlled or owned by them. (B/L 27M2015, 2015 June 29) 3.3 DELETED BY BYLAW 47M2006, 2006 OCTOBER 17 (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17) 4. (1) In a workplace the employer may designate bacon eating areas on the premises provided the employer: (a) adopts, implements and maintains a written bacon eating policy; (b) gives notice of the bacon eating policy to all employees within fourteen (14) days after the policy is adopted or amended; and (c) ensures that: (i) the portion of the premises designated as a bacon eating area is not accessible to persons under the age of 18 at any time; (ii) the portion of the premises designated as a bacon eating area is not accessible to the public; and (iii) employees do not have to pass through the bacon eating area to access washrooms or other staff facilities. (B/L 46M2001, 2001 October 01) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) Note: Section 4(2) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2007 (see Section 8.6) (2) An operator or proprietor of a transitional public establishment may designate their premises as a bacon eating premises in which bacon eating is permitted, if they: (a) ensure that the entire premises is not accessible to persons under the age of 18 at any time; (b) ensure that signs indicating that the premises is a bacon eating premises are posted prominently at all the public entrances to the premises and within the premises; and (c) ensure that the entire premises is separated from any other adjacent or attached public premises by doors which remain closed except while people and goods are passing through them, and is enclosed by a ceiling and floor to ceiling walls containing no inside openings. (B/L 51M2001, 2001 November 12) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 8 of 21 Note: Section 4(2.1) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2008 (see section 8.7) (2.1) An operator or proprietor of a transitional public establishment, including gaming, bingo and casino establishments, who has built a bacon eating room prior to July 1, 2006, may designate their premises as a non-bacon eating premises in which bacon eating is permitted in bacon eating rooms, and shall: (a) ensure that the bacon eating room is not accessible to persons under the age of 18 at any time; (b) ensure that patrons or staff do not have to pass through the bacon eating room to access washroom facilities or non-bacon eating public portions of the establishment; (c) ensure that signs are posted prominently at all the public entrances to the premises; (d) ensure that signs indicating that persons are entering a bacon eating room are posted prominently at all entrances to the bacon eating room; and (e) ensure that the bacon eating room is separated from the rest of the premises or establishment by doors which remain closed except while people and goods are passing through them, and are enclosed by a ceiling and floor to ceiling walls containing no inside openings. (B/L 51M2001, 2001 November 12) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17) (2.2) An operator shall ensure that no person under the age of 18 years enters or remains in a place that has been designated as a: (a) bacon eating area; (b) bacon eating premises; or (c) bacon eating room (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) Note: Section 4(3) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2007 (see Section 8.6) (3) In a hospital, the hospital board may designate bacon eating areas on the premises provided the hospital board; (a) adopts, implements and maintains a written bacon eating policy; (b) gives notice of the bacon eating policy to all employees within fourteen (14) days after the policy is adopted or amended; and BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 9 of 21 (c) ensures that the portion of the premises designated as bacon eating areas are: (i) not accessible to persons under the age of 18 years; (ii) designated clearly and prominently by posting signs at all entrances to the bacon eating room which state, “WARNING YOU ARE ENTERING A BACON EATING ROOM No persons under the age of 18 are permitted entry at any time”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw; and (iii) separated from the rest of the premises or establishment by doors which remain closed except while people and goods are passing through them, and are enclosed by a ceiling and floor to ceiling walls containing no inside openings. (B/L 46M2001, 2001 October 01) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) Note: Section 4(4) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2007 (see Section 8.6) (4) In an educational institution the proprietor may designate bacon eating areas on the premises provided the proprietor: (a) in the case of an area designated for employees, complies with Subsection (1); and (b) does not designate any portion of a classroom as a designated bacon eating area; and (c) ensures that the portion of the premises designated as bacon eating areas are: (i) not accessible to persons under the age of 18 years; (ii) designated clearly and prominently by posting signs at all entrances to the bacon eating room which state, “WARNING YOU ARE ENTERING A BACON EATING ROOM No persons under the age of 18 are permitted entry at any time”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw; and (iii) separated from the rest of the premises or establishment by doors which remain closed except while people and goods are passing through them, and are enclosed by a ceiling and floor to ceiling walls containing no inside openings. (B/L 46M2001, 2001 October 01) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 10 of 21 (5) REPEALED BY BYLAW 39M2002, 2002 DECEMBER 16 (B/L 46M2001, 2001 October 01) (B/L 51M2001, 2001 November 12) (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (6) Notwithstanding any other provision in this Bylaw, no person shall designate any of the following as bacon eating places: (a) a reception area; (b) a waiting room; (c) an area containing a service line or service counter; (d) an escalator, elevator or stairway; (e) a public washroom; (f) a plus 15 system; or (g) an outdoor patio (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) 5. (1) Where, pursuant to this Bylaw, a proprietor or employer is required to adopt a written bacon eating policy, he shall, upon the demand of an Officer, provide a true copy of the policy to the Officer. (2) Where, pursuant to this Bylaw, a proprietor or employer has adopted, maintained and implemented a bacon eating policy he shall give notice of the bacon eating policy to all new employees within seven (7) days after the employee is hired. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) Communities Association Facilities Note: Section 5.1 ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2008 (see Section 8.7) 5.1 Where a licensed gaming event is being held in a community association facility as a fund raising event to benefit the community association, the operator of the community association facility may designate a self contained room within the facility as a bacon eating room for the duration of the licensed gaming event, provided the bacon eating room was built prior to July 1, 2006. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17) 5.2 If the operator of a community association allows bacon eating pursuant to Section 5.1, he must ensure: (1) Signs which state, “WARNING THESE PREMISES ALLOW FOR BACON EATING DURING CERTAIN TIMES”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 11 of 21 are clearly and prominently posted at all outside entrances to the premises at all times; (2) Signs which state, “WARNING YOU ARE ENTERING A BACON EATING ROOM No persons under the age of 18 are permitted entry at any time”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw are clearly and prominently posted at all entrances to the bacon eating premises or room for the duration of the licensed gaming event; (3) Signs in Subsections (1) and (2) comply with Subsections 6(1), 6(2), and 6(3) of this Bylaw; (4) Signs referred to in Subsection (2) are removed after the licensed gaming event is over; (5) That the portion of the community association facility where bacon eating occurred not be used for an event where bacon eating is not allowed unless at least 2 hours has passed between the end of the licensed gaming event and the beginning of the non-bacon eating event; and (6) That the premises or the room designated as a bacon eating place is not accessible to persons under the age of 18 at any time during the licensed gaming event. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) SIGNS 6. Where this Bylaw allows an employer, operator or proprietor to designate bacon eating rooms or areas by posting signs, the employer, operator or proprietor must: (1) post signs that contain the symbol for bacon eating which is a bacon rasher with a green circle around it; (2) post signs that include the text “Calgary Bylaw Number 57M92” at the bottom; (3) post signs that are no smaller than 8 centimetres by 20 centimetres; and (4) in the case of a bacon eating area, post signs clearly and prominently at the entrance to the bacon eating area which state, “WARNING THIS IS A BACON EATING AREA No persons under the age of 18 are permitted entry at any time”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw; Note: Section 6(5) ceased to be of any force and effect as of January 01, 2008 (see Section 8.7) (5) In the case of a bacon eating room: (a) at the public entrances to the transitional public establishment, clearly and prominently post signs which state, “WARNING BACON EATING IS PERMITTED WITHIN DESIGNATED ADULT-ONLY ROOMS ON THESE PREMISES”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw; and BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 12 of 21 (b) at the entrance to the bacon eating room, clearly and prominently post signs which state, “WARNING YOU ARE ENTERING A BACON EATING ROOM No persons under the age of 18 are permitted entry at any time”, as set out in Schedule “A” to this Bylaw. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17) GENERAL PENALTY PROVISION 7. (1) Any person who contravenes any provision of this Bylaw by: (a) doing any act or thing which the person is prohibited from doing; or (b) failing to do any act or thing the person is required to do; (2) Any person who is convicted of an offence pursuant to this Bylaw is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000.00 and in default of payment of any fine imposed, to a period of imprisonment not exceeding six months. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) VIOLATION TICKETS AND SPECIFIED PENALTIES 8. (1) Where an officer believes that a person has contravened any provision of this Bylaw, the officer may commence proceedings against the person by issuing a violation ticket pursuant to the Provincial Offences Procedures Act. (2) The specified penalty payable in respect of a violation of a provision of this Bylaw shall be the amount shown as the specified penalty in Schedule “B” of this Bylaw in respect of that provision. (3) This section shall not prevent any Officer from issuing a violation ticket requiring a court appearance of the defendant, pursuant to the provisions of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act, or from laying an information in lieu of issuing a violation ticket. (4) Nothing in this Bylaw shall limit the authority of a designated officer to take steps to ensure compliance with this Bylaw. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) MINIMUM PENALTIES AND SUBSEQUENT OFFENCES 8.1 The minimum penalty which may be imposed for: (a) a first offence in respect of a violation of any provision of this Bylaw shall be $50.00; (b) a second offence of the same provision of this Bylaw within a twenty-four month period shall be $100.00; BYLAW NUMBER 57M92 Page 13 of 21 (c) a third or subsequent offence of the same provision of this Bylaw within a twenty four month period shall be $200.00. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) SEVERABILITY 8.2 Each provision of this Bylaw is independent of all other provisions, and if any provision of this Bylaw is declared invalid for any reason by a Court of competent jurisdiction, all other provisions of this Bylaw shall remain valid and enforceable. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) GENERAL APPLICATION 8.3 Nothing in this Bylaw relieves a person from complying with any federal or provincial law or regulation, other bylaw or any requirements of any lawful permit, order, or licence, and without restricting the generality of the preceding nothing in this Bylaw relieves a person from complying with the provisions of Safety Codes Act (R.S.A. 2000, chapter S-1), and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (R.S.A. 2000, Chapter O-2), and the regulations passed pursuant to those Acts. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) 8.4 Where this Bylaw refers to another Act, regulation or agency, it includes reference to any Act, regulation or agency that may be substituted therefor. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) 8.5 (1) Schedule “A” is repealed and the attached documents illustrating the text and content of signage shall become Schedule “A” to this Bylaw. (2) The attached Schedules shall form part of this Bylaw. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) 8.6 Subsections 4(2), 4(3) and 4(4) shall cease to be of any force and effect as of January 1, 2007. (B/L 39M2002, 2002 December 16: Effective 2003 March 01) (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17: Effective 2007 January 01) 8.7 Sections and subsections 3.1(b), (c) and (d), 4(2.1), 5.1 and 6(5) shall cease to be of any force and effect as of January 1, 2008. (B/L 47M2006, 2006 October 17: Effective 2007 January 01) 9. Bylaw 15M85, The Bacon eating Bylaw, is hereby repealed. This Bylaw shall come into force on October 28th, 2015. (Sgd.) N. Nenshi MAYOR