Well, it appears that the Nanaimo Regional District (NRD) may have won without any need to prove its case.

Stephanie Walker's landlords, the Berrys who also do some cat rescue work, gave Stephnie an eviction order at 10:00 p.m. last night - for thirty days time. The Walkers half-expected this. They realise what an awful situation the Berrys were put into and they're still friends. What a disaster. The Regional District staff told the Berrys that to evict Stephanie was the only way that they could avoid a lawsuit. It looks like the NRD will now withdraw the case against the Berry family. The wording on the notice as a reason for eviction was "due to pending lawsuit over land use with the regional district."

One animal group (the Berrys) has been used to ruin another one. The Berrys were really nice to take Stephanie in when she lost her previous place - a house that she rented from the Wilkinson family. The Wilkinsons sold the house after they also were threatened by the Region. Then the Berrys were sent the threatening letter, which was too much for them to handle. They didn't want to spend a lot of time in court and legal expenses are so high.

Stephanie and her family have nowhere to go. Her lawyer, John Jordan, is appealing the eviction order and he plans to sue the region over this.

What will become of her animals if she has to leave her place? What a dreadful thing to happen. The Region will not even have to prove their case in court. I think that John Jordan may take this further. There will be an immediate appeal of the eviction.

Talk about harassment. Stephanie did exactly as the Region asked and relocated downtown for the adoptions. Then they found another excuse, supposedly using the farm as a retaining place for animals, and went after her again. Then the Region went for the Berrys. There's an awful lot of purposeful hatred around and a lot of legal bills for Regional residents.

I suppose that's a risk if you don't own land - and an even greater risk if you do. The Berrys are quite wealthy and they own their place. They stand to lose a lot of money if they are sued. I realise their problem.

It could be the Region doing the SPCA's dirty work just as easily as it could be the SPCA doing the Region's dirty work. Who knows?

Jean Martin,
Lantzville, BC