Canwest News Service
A blind woman who was walking with a white cane was mugged in Winnipeg last week by thieves who stole money
she had raised for charity. Pamela Buote was walking to a bus stop at about 8 p. m. last Thursday when she was yanked backwards. “My first reaction was: ‘I’m dead,’ ” she said. “My second reaction was, ‘You got a stick&ndash use it.’ ” Ms. Buote, 51, managed to deliver a few blows with her cane before the thieves made off with her backpack. The backpack contained $250 in pledge money she had raised for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ms. Buote needed the money to enter a 150-kilo-metre, two-day fundraising bike event next weekend. She has cycled the entire distance for the past five years with the assistance of a sighted spotter and has raised thousands of dollars for the society.