“There are no victims, only volunteers.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
{ I Love this quote!}

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ANOTHER WASTED LIFE!

by Mike Straw

In December 2000 in Las Vegas Nevada, Marina Cannon, forty-nine, was
murdered by her husband, Vitaly Zakouto, fifty-four. Case closed? Not
hardly. Marina was subjected to seven months of terror and domestic
violence
at Zakouto’s hands so bad that Cannon repeatedly predicted he would
kill
her.

By November 2000, frustrated Family Court judge Arthur Ritchie Junior
had
already thrown Zakouto in jail at least twice for contempt. During the
appearance, Cannon told the judge that Zakouto was going to kill
her. “You
have to stop him. If you don’t stop him, the outcome of this is
preordained.
He can’t stop himself. … he’s angry,” she said.

Judge Ritchie told Cannon that unfortunately, the allegations of
contempt
that were before him weren’t based on documented, independent
evidence. The
Family Court system can only do so much when an individual like
Zakouto is
intent on ignoring judicial warnings to stay away from his
victim. “No court
will protect you. That’s the bottom line. The court will issue orders
that
attempt and try to protect you, but if someone is engaging in criminal
conduct with disregard for the court’s orders, there’s nothing I can
do for
you. You have to protect yourself in any way you can. I’ve entered
every
order that I can prohibiting him from contact,” Ritchie said.

Zakouto was convicted of first-degree murder. During the sentencing
hearing
Marina ‘s will was read: “If I have died under suspicious
circumstances,
Vitaly did it. In the event I am murdered… Tell the world what
happened to
me.” At the time of Cannon’s murder, a criminal stalking charge was
pending
against Zakouto. Clark County prosecutor Ed Kane acknowledged in
Zakouto’s
case that “the system that I’m a part of let her down.”

Judge Ritchie didn’t return a phone call left on the answering
machine of a
judicial assistant in his office. So what’s the answer? Take judge
Ritchie’s
advice: be responsible for your own safety. First, read Lieutenant
Colonel
“Jeff” Cooper’s “The Principles of Personal Defense,” then “Jim
Grover’s”
“Street Smarts,” to point you in the right direction. Read “The Truth
About
Self-Protection,” and “In The Gravest Extreme,” by Massad Ayoob.

Take the “Refuse to Be a Victim” course to open your eyes that you
have
options, the take the “Basics of Personal Protection in the Home”
course to
learn the nuts and bolts of how to do it. Listen to the advice of
experts:

“There are no victims, only volunteers.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of
man, but
must be taught to protect herself.” – Susan B. Anthony

“Even in the best and most peacefully civilized countries many
occasions
arise when a woman versed in the knowledge and use of firearms may
find that
information and skill of great importance.” – Annie Oakley

The only way to live is in that state of awareness and training that
allow
us to move through life with the confidence to know that any threat
is, in
the words of Lieutenant Colonel “Jeff” Cooper, “.in more in danger
from you
than you are from him.”

The alternative is to be another Marina Cannon.