'CAN YOU BRING MY FATHER BACK?'

Kneeling at the spot where his father was shot to death, 24-year-old
Reese MacDonald looks skyward Monday.

"Can you bring my father back?" he pleads. "Please, I'd give anything
if you sent him back."

MacDonald's father, 47-year-old Curtis, was shot to death by police
last Friday evening in a downtown parking lot behind Behrens Park,
which is between Greenley's book store and the Maxwell's Deli and Cafe
building.

Shortly after noon, Monday, Reese MacDonald visited a parking lot
slot, which is now adorned with flowers, cards and stuffed animals as
a makeshift memorial.

Asked about his thoughts, Reese - whose younger brother Merritt, 18,
is a well-known local boxer - said his father was "very well known and
loved around this town. I feel love, denial that he's gone, hate
towards the cops .. I feel a lot of things right now and it's hard to
put it all into words.

"He was my father, he was my companion, he was my fall-back, my
everything .. he was my wings - what made me soar. He was the most
honest, decent, give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back man you would ever
hope to meet. He was a mean mother-f--- when he was drinking, but
everybody loved him."

Reese was also quick to point out that, contrary to some reports from
the scene, his father was not wanted on drug-related charges.

"He was a businessman and one thing I want to make perfectly clear is
that he hated drugs ... he hated every drug dealer in this town," Reese
said.

As the investigation into his father's death continues this week, his
family will be relying on information provided by Special
Investigations Unit detectives, Reese said.

"I wasn't going to listen to people on the streets."

Another family member who came to the memorial to pay her respects
echoed his statements.

"As far as dope, he detested dope ... hated it," the woman said,
asking her name not be used. "I don't know where these accusations
came out regarding the drugs.

"He was friendly ... helpful. He just was a super guy."

Son Merritt, a roofer, described MacDonald as a devoted father and
businessman who'd seen his share of bar fights, but was otherwise an
honest man.

"All he cared about was my boxing career," Merritt said from the
enclosed back porch of the white-sided storey-and-a-half home where he
lived with his father and several boarders. The house is on College
Street East just east of Cannifton Road.

The father of three grown sons started his business, Curtis Signs,
nearly 19 years ago, Merritt said. In recent years, Curtis MacDonald
had also been producing custom automobile decals.

Born in Woodstock, Ont., Curtis MacDonald loved to sing Elvis Presley
songs, Merritt said, adding his dad sang at karaoke nights and, in his
youth, had been part of a band.

Merritt and Robert Lloyd, the senior MacDonald's distant relative and
longtime hunting partner, conceded the shooting victim had his flaws,
but treated family and friends with care.

"He was a colourful character," said Lloyd. "He spent a lot of time
downtown . He might not have met everyone's model of a good citizen,
but he was a good man, an honest citizen. He would never lie to you.

"He'd had a couple of confrontations with the cops," Merritt said. "He
had his (hunting) guns taken away because of an altercation a week
earlier."

That incident, Merritt said, stemmed from a dispute between his father
and Curtis MacDonald's girlfriend of several months. He was charged by
police, his son said, and his hunting rifles were confiscated.
MacDonald was released on bail. A condition of his release was that he
not consume alcohol, according to his son.

A witness claiming to have been with MacDonald Friday when the latter
spotted police said the sign painter swore and ran from the bar patio,
apparently heading for a car.

Merritt MacDonald said his father was running probably only because
he'd breached the terms of his release.

"He's out on bail, breaching his bail," he said.

"He had a temper," he shrugged. "Most of the time he was a happy,
outgoing guy. He was an easy-going guy most of the time.

"A lot of people knew the bad side of him from scrapping at the bar,
because he'd get aggressive when he was drinking," said Merritt.

However, he was quick to note, "He had a heart the size of your
head."

Lloyd said MacDonald was "really smitten" and in love with his
girlfriend, but "they'd recently been on the rocks."

Next door, neighbours recalled MacDonald as a peaceful, helpful
man.

"He has been a good neighbour, a good friend," said one woman, who
wouldn't give her name. "We never could complain about Curtis."

"It was an awful shocker," she said of his death. "It just doesn't
seem possible."

Just that morning, she said, MacDonald had helped her carry groceries
into her home.

"He was laughing and joking with us," said the neighbour. "He always
showed us great, great respect.

"As an artist, he was great," she added. "We often watched him
paint."

The woman also said there were never problems at the house next door,
where Lloyd said his hunting partner would lend rooms to those who'd
otherwise have been homeless.

"If they did party, we never heard it," the neighbour said, adding
MacDonald ensured his sons and tenants were polite to the women living
next door.

Though at a loss as to how his father could have ended up being shot
by police, Merritt didn't take issue with the SIU's report that his
father was armed.

"The cops wouldn't shoot him if he didn't have one," Merritt
shrugged.

"I'm sick about this," added Lloyd, who could only make vague
speculations as to how the fatal situation developed. "None of this
sounds right."

At Curtis MacDonald's request, in statements he had previously made to
family members, there will be no funeral service. However, visitation
will b e held at the John R. Bush Funeral Home, located at 80 Highland
Ave., on Saturday from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.

For more information about funeral arrangements, call 968-5588.