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But Lastman apologizes after `inappropriate' outburst
Mayor Mel Lastman has apologized to CBC television reporter Adam Vaughan after angrily threatening him in the council chamber during a city council meeting.
Vaughan was chatting with Councillor Kyle Rae in the chamber yesterday when Lastman stormed up.
Lastman had left the private councillors' area and walked up to Vaughan, who was standing in the area open to the public.
Thrusting a finger in Vaughan's face, he spoke briefly and angrily, then stalked off.
Vaughan recalled the conversation as follows:
``Before I could say anything, he burst in on me and said, `I've heard you've been talking about my wife. Stop talking about my wife.'
`` `Leave my family alone. If you don't leave them alone, I'll kill you.
`` `I'll write every letter I have to to the CBC to get you fired. Do you understand? Leave my family alone.' Then he turned away and left.''
The mayor has been under personal strain since his wife Marilyn was apprehended April 19 in a Vaughan mall and arrested over allegedly stealing a pair of $155 designer pants.
She was not charged ``due to her age as well as no outstanding offences on her record,'' a police incident report says.
Although Toronto news media have not published stories about the arrest, the mayor was aware that it was generally known. A brief item, not naming Mrs. Lastman or the mayor, appeared in Frank, an Ottawa-based satirical magazine.
The mayor has said he blames Vaughan for the story. Vaughan denies having anything to do with the article.
``Kyle said to me, `He just threatened your life.' I was sort of stunned by it. I said: `Somebody should talk to him and settle him down.' ''
Rae refused to discuss the incident on the record. A second councillor who overheard the exchange asked not to be quoted.
Donna-Lynn McCallum, an East York resident who attends most council meetings, was sitting in the public gallery only a few metres away.
She remembers the mayor telling Vaughan in a loud voice: ``You f------ keep away from my family.''
She also recalls the threat. ``I think it was: `I'll kill you,' '' she said.
``I'm quite sure of that,'' she said a moment later. ``I was pretty stunned.''
Vaughan has had many blow-ups with the mayor over his city hall coverage, but said it had never been so personal.
`No one likes being threatened, especially with death and firing,'' he said. ``It shakes you up a bit.''
The mayor would not speak to reporters about the incident, but released a letter of apology to Vaughan.
The letter said:
``Earlier today we had a conversation in the council chambers of Toronto City Hall. I want to apologize to you for that conversation. It was improper to have a private conversation with you in a public place. It was also a conversation inappropriate in tone and language.
``If you have been offended by our conversation then I am sorry for my words. I would like to sit down in private with you to apologize in person and to have an appropriate private discussion about the difficulties we have had . . .''
Lastman's press aide Jim Warren said Vaughan ``knows how to push the mayor's buttons. Simply that.''
Jim Travers, The Star's executive managing editor, said the paper had been aware of the incident with Marilyn Lastman.
``For some time, The Star has been discreetly investigating the incident at the mall in an effort to fully understand the many issues involved. At the time of the mayor's outburst, The Star had not yet made a decision on whether or not to publish the story. Yesterday's incident in the council chamber made this a public event.''
A York Region police report obtained by The Star says Marilyn Lastman was detained by an Eaton's store security guard on Monday, April 19 at the Promenade Mall on Bathurst St. and Highway 7 in Vaughan.
She was later arrested.
The report says Eaton's security called York Region police after a store investigator saw a woman pick up two pairs of slacks from the ladies wear section of the department store around 1:30 p.m., and go into the fitting room.
One was a pair of gray Jones brand pants.
The woman left the fitting room with only one pair of slacks, the police report notes. Another store employee checked the room and found nothing left behind.
The woman bought one pair of slacks and left the store for the parking lot ``with one Eaton's bag concealing the other pair of pants,'' the report says.
The woman was confronted by store security, informed that she was being placed under arrest, advised of her rights to a lawyer and taken to the store's security office, from where police were called.
``Police arrived and spoke with Eaton's security and were informed of the events and that the suspect had admitted stealing the pants,'' the report says.
According to the report, the woman was identified as Marilyn Lastman after police arrived at the store.
About 50 minutes after store security first observed her, police advised Lastman that she was under arrest for theft.
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`If you have been offended by our conversation then I am sorry for my words.' |
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Mayor Mel Lastman
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She was released at 2:50 p.m., after store officials decided not to press charges, the report says.
The officer who wrote the report noted that Lastman ``is presently on a prescription'' for the anti-depressant Paxil (spelled incorrectly in the police report), but that she ``does not blame the drug for her actions.''
The most recent figures available from the Centre for Justice Statistics show that in 1997, police across Ontario were involved in probing 32,234 shoplifting incidents.
In York Region, police investigated 913 incidents of shoplifting involving theft under $5,000.
In total, 478 people were charged, while another 367 cases were dealt with without any charges.
In Toronto, there were 7,963 cases of shoplifting that involved the police.Of those, 5,962 people faced charges, while another 969 cases involved no charges.
With files from John Spears
Toronto Star, May 12, 1999.
More Information on the Lastman Incident
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