Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 24/02) - A Yellowknife man will have to wait until late June to find out his punishment for threatening a Workers' Compensation Board employee.

Thomas Ballem pleaded guilty in territorial court Tuesday to one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.

On Dec. 19, 2001 Ballem was advised by the WCB employee that a claim he had filed was not approved for compensation.

The court heard Ballem posted a letter on the office door of the WCB on Dec. 28 which was addressed to the employee who denied his claim and signed by Ballem.

In the letter, Ballem wrote he was a "spokesperson for all the victims of WCB" and spoke of "hiring a group of Vietnamese to deal with the WCB employees."

"I can only imagine the means the Vietnamese would use ... the (WCB) parking lot would be a great place to get a baseball bat across the teeth," Ballem wrote.

Ballem was arrested on March 15 and released on an undertaking.

Ballem's sentencing has been held over until June 20 in order to allow time for a pre-sentencing report to be filed.

Crown prosecutor Loretta Colton advised she would not be seeking a period of imprisonment for Ballem, as there had not been any threats or difficulties since the incident occurred in December. He was sent to prison in 1995 after he was convicted on two counts of uttering threats.

Territorial court Judge Michel Bourassa said he was "concerned about releasing (Ballem) at all," but agreed to release him and continue his undertaking until sentencing on June 20.

"If you step out of line at all ... you will probably be arrested and kept locked up," Bourassa warned.