Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 20, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Coffee break by John Robertson the last die i had talked with Bill Trebilcox it was Over a cold one in a cheerful Little bar across from the free press. He was going into the Hospital the next Day for his heart operation and in the typical manner in which the Jolly lean giant had always attacked life he itching to get in there and get on with it. I was t built to live this he said. Early to bed working part Days afraid to walk a Block against a stiff wind or to climb a High curb. If the operation is successful they Tell me i la be my old self again. So if it works i win big and if it does t Well the old horse has had a pretty Good run what he said did t impress me As much As the fact that i knew he meant it. I was the one who Felt fidgety and had to Grope for the right words because i had known Bill for at least a dozen years and Here we were having our first serious conversation. Bill always punctuated every second sentence with that outrageous Maria Callas laugh and when he rolled that elongated Cigar Between his Teeth and blew an other mushroom Cloud of mirth in your direction you wondered what Groucho Marx was doing in Winnipeg without his moustache. And when he said the old horse has had a pretty Good i could t help but recall those Many evenings when we staged a few old fashioned bunion derbies at the old press club. So Here was lean Willie heading to St. Boniface general to spend eight hours on an operating and both of us standing on the sidewalk on Carlton Street groping for a funny exit line. Anything i can i asked. He said except maybe a so i go upstairs and the first Guy i meet comes Over and asks me Are you going to keep the Coffee break column if Bill does t come i Shook my head tried to unc Lench a balled fist at my left Side and sat Down and tried to write More than a month passed and Bill came through the operation better than a lot of people expected although he spent weeks in intensive care before they let him up and around. People kept bugging me Why Don t you put something in the column about How s Treb but i kept saying not i had tried to several times but each time i punched the words on paper i remembered another Day on another paper when i had hammered out a gleefully optimistic report on an ailing old Friend Only to have him take the count just As the edition was hitting the Street. Maybe it seems a Little goofy to you but i am just superstitious enough not to try it again. But yesterday hearing he was up and around and taking phone Calls i dialled the St. Boniface general asked for his room and the voice came through Clear and cheerful As Ever. I was supposed to go Home he said. But i be picked up some kind of flu Bug and they re keeping me in for another week. I feel Fine except my temperature has been going up a Little at he sounded just like a Guy who had indeed won big in the game of life and was itching to get out and spend a Little of the dividends. It s been he said. I never knew i had so Many friends. A Guy in my Racket is dealing with people every Day never get to know them especially the ones who maybe used to tune in the program or read the column. They used to be just voices or writing on a piece of paper. But ther hundreds of cards and letters i be received have really Shook me up. Makes a Guy Stop and think what life really is. I got a card from Bertha Rand. She sent it from the psychiatric care unit at general Hospital. It was really thoughtful of the old Gal. There Are Many others i just can t Start rhyming them off individually. But i do wish you would find a Way to thank them for Tell everyone just How much these Good wishes meant to i could t help going Back to those words the old horse has had a pretty Good run hey Willie the track trumpeter is going to be calling pm out for the next race soon. And As usual you la soon be Back in the no. 1 position. Osborne River 453-3222 Portage Simcoe 774-2471 614 St. James Street opposite Polo Park 786-6891 weather report synopsis valid until Midnight thursday on this first Day of Spring skies have become sunny across the Prairie except for Southeastern Manitoba where a few Snow flurries Are stil falling. Temperatures this afternoon will be 35 to 45 Over Southern Alberta but Only 20 to 25 Over the Eastern Prairie. Skies will again be sunny thursday except for Cloud moving across Northwestern Alberta. The warming trend taking place in Alberta will spread to Saskatchewan thurs Day with temperatures Over Manitoba remaining about the same. Figures on the map indicate expected High temperatures today Kupp Ftp Sqq i program we i i ,1 i i i i 1 jul Al a new approach to weather news is feb j f i tured every morning at on Wake by Carrier soc per week wednesday March 20, 1968 Ottawa and for payment of postage in Cash. Authorized As 2nd class mail by. The . Dept., province hikes municipal levies forecast sunny with a few Cloudy periods today and thursday. Little change in temperature. Winds northerly at 20 ., becoming Light near Sun set. Low tonight for Gimli and Winnipeg Zero High thursday 25. Temperatures for the 24-hour period which ended at 6 . Wednesday Vancouver Calgary Edmonton Regina Brandon the Pas Winnipeg fort William Kenora Max. Min. Pre. 53 36 38 21 17 34 30 28 18 25 39 27 to .06 .44 .42 Toronto Montreal Halifax Chicago Miami los Angeles Minneapolis Max. Min. Pre. 50 35 .06 48 34 .01 s3 35 to 44 35 .21 62 33 .28 59 46 26 75 71 50 to temperature comparisons Weir stand hit medicare act ignored la Saul Cherniack new democratic party member of the legis lature for St. Johns accused Premier Wal ter Weir in the legis lature tuesday of Bas ing the government s medicare policy on speaking in the throne speech debate or. Cherniak charged that the conservative govern ment was gambling that the National Liberal convention would pick a Leader who was against medicare. be that the policy of the conservative party is based on his Premier Weir s ignorance of the medicare asked or. Cherniack. The new democratic member took Strong exception to the Premier s suggestion in j the House monday that the medical care insurance plan May be tested in the courts if implemented As proposed now. I the Premier said his govern ment supported a medical care insurance plan but was concerned about costs. He said present estimates indicated they could exceed a person compared with the originally estimated. Or. Cherniack took exception with the figures quoted by the Premier and said Federal minis ters had not used the statistics quoted by the Premier. Or. Cherniack said his harsh words were not directed solely against the Premier and he condemned the Cabinet for not setting the Premier straight. Or. Cherniack also asked the minister of health to justify the government s present stand on medicare. Or. Cherniack dealing with other matters claimed the government had completely capitulated to Long standing opposition demands to provide More Access to the activities of i the Manitoba development fund. Commenting on Industry minister Sidney Spivak s announcement monday concerning the fund he said what they just did is what they have been saying they should not do for the nip member also implied the government had been less than candid in the past when government spokesmen had insisted on the need to protect those who borrowed from the fund. He claimed that an order in Council had been passed last year that allowed the govern ment to interfere Way beyond its Powers in the operations of the fund while government members were deploring the opposition s Call for less restrictions on the details of Mfd Loans. According to or. Cherniack the order in Council was eventually rescinded and another passed last january which made possible the new regulations announced monday by or. Spivak. Earlier in the Day Larry Desjardins a St. Boniface objected to what he claimed was the arrogance of the govern ment in its dealing with the fund because he said the Public had a right to know How Public Money was spent. The ministers arc worried about the borrowers but what about the lenders their clothes Are taxed to provide the Premier blames Cost Rise for 4.1-Mill increase municipal levies to pay for Manitoba s Educa Tion foundation program will Rise 4.1 Millsi this year and Premier. Walter Weir blames the increase on rising costs of education. The Public schools finance Board appointed last year by the provincial government has in creased the nine Mill Levy on residential property Mills and 33-Mill Levy on commercial property to 37.1 Mills. Supported by education minister George Johnson the Premier told the legislature tues Day the province wide increase was necessary to ensure that local governments paid for 3.5 per cent of the educational foundation program set up by v the government last year. 5 at the same time he flatly denied opposition the government the is to finance the Neva school Prog Ioam in Manitoba s 40 single District Gusling North winds spelled the end for this tree Early tuesday. The tree is at the rear of 459 Spence Street. Exit with Winnipeg held onto its hat winds averaged 30 Tuesday Trees snapped and tuesday with gusts regularly Power lines broke As winds Well above 40. Strongest gust 52 gusted to 52 Miles an hour. I ., was recorded at 2 . Snow and 20-degree tempera Tures it was a poor introduction to Spring which arrived to Day. The weather office at Winni Peg International Airport called hazardous due to blowing Snow that Cut visibility to almost Zero in some places. Northwestern Ontario was worse off one and two inches of Snow on top of freezing rain it a Normal Spring Distur-1 Early in the morning. Bance and said Winnipeg was j a spokesman for the Manito Lucky it was on the Edge of a Hydro said rain froze some the storm. I wires in Manitoba and the winds the storm passed Lake super-1 later caused a Little damage. For overnight and is expected to blow itself out Over Jarnes Bay. Temperatures fell to about 10 above this morning an Indica a spokesman for the Manitoba Telephone system said the same thing happened to some of its lines. A number of custom Tion that Winter refuses to make j ers in the Morden area were a Graceful exit. Without service. Parks popular in snowy months in gems stolen or. Weir s Tere string Fop Psi Tion queries concerning the in crease in municipal levies the formula set Down r Lait year when the government announced its new financial support planner Educa Tion in All unitary divisions. At that time it the tax . Pay foiw35 per cent of the costs of the i Lari and the provincial government would take care of the mailing 65 per cent. The Premier told the House the formula had to be changed this year in order to maintain the Cost sharing arrangement. The general Levy was in tended to pay for 35 per cent of the foundation program and As a i it was necessary to raise the he Saidi several opposition spokesmen claimed the the Public by implying that the municipal levies would remain at nine and 33 Mills. But or. Weir and Tion quickly dismissed the allegations. It was made abundantly Clear that the Imine and 33 formula was the local Mill rate that would be necessary during the first year of said or. Johnson. Under the act the Public schools finance Board is Given the authority to strike the Mill rate each year that will main Tain the 65 per cent share of the costs of the Saul Miller nip seven Oaks argued that the government must have permitted a Colos Sal miscalculation to have taken place concerning the costs after Only one year of operation a 45 per cent in crease in the Mill rate was required. If the., foundation program had been properly estimated then the costs could not have increased by 45 per cent because the plan has not been enriched in any significant continued or. Miller. When Russ nip Leader a. R. Paulley asked if the government was planning to change in any Way the-65 per cent of costs the provincial government bore or. Weir said if there is any announcement it will be made in due somewhere a thief is walking around with Worth of diamonds in an attache Case he stole from a parked car in West Gil Donati. Chances he was a very surprised Man when he pried the Case open to find the Cut and easily Resalable gems the attache Case was taken from a car parked in front of a drugstore at the Corner of Mcgregor avenues about . Tuesday. The owner of the car who has asked police to protect his anonymity had locked the car doors but they had been forced open it is believed finding of the jewels May have been Blind Luck for the thief or thieves. Thefts from parked cars Are common police police Are working on the Hope the diamonds were taken by someone who might have known they were there and who might be traceable. Wort meetings Are bad time pranks new York 60 43 but March 19 last ear Normal Max. Min. Mean 15.0 20.2 40.2 4.9 22.6 28.2 10.2 19.2 highest on record 57.2 in 1938 lowest on record -21.2 in 1965 collection tonight win speggers Are by no Means a stay at Home lot during the Winter according to Andrew Currie metro s director of Parks and Protection. Or. Currie said that a glance at the attendance figures at metro Parks would completely explode that myth. Tuesday at the meeting of metro Parks and Protection committee or. Currie presented the monthly report of metro s Parks department which show cars were driven through Assiniboine Park each sunday last month. A total of persons used the slides located in four metro Parks and on Crescent drive and ail additional people used the rinks located in Assiniboine Park Kildonan Park and St. Vital Park. Many others found enjoy ment walking and driving through the Snow covered land scape. Tall Yho Sleigh rides were popular and Snow shoeing was quite the report showed 9.578 per sons visited the zoo at Assini Boine Park last month with the j highest daily attendance recorded on feb. 25 when people visited the zoo. The one acre Assiniboine Park Duck Pond he said has lured skaters from 1967 to february -1968. In the same period persons used j the Park s Toboggan slide. But the most popular Public rink according to the report is j the St. Vital Park skating Pond 1 which attracted visitors i i incident took place in motor hotel i an incident feb. 7 which led to the suspension of a St. Vital police department sergeant took place at the Dakota Village motor hotel and not the St. Vital hotel As reported in tucs Dav s free press. From december to february. In another matter committee approved a recommendation from or. Gunter Voss director of Assiniboine Park zoo that metro assist the. Jerusalem biblical zoological gardens which was damaged during the june War in the Middle East. Committee agreed to request metro Council to make a valued at to the Jerusalem zoo consisting of one female Palm Civet one pair of Deodor the gems police said. Weren t insured sized skunks monkeys and mottled ducks. Three one Squirrel pair of free press meetings meetings to be held thursday in the free. Press building Are at 3 . Board room women s lib eral federation of Mani Toba at 8 . Board room Manitoba provincial Council of women clubroom Winnipeg philatelic society. Society asks appointments to Board it is time appointments were made to the province s inactive historic Sites Board says Joseph Martin president of she Mani Toba historical society. Or. Martin said society meeting tuesday for five years the government has left positions on the Sites Board unfilled. The society executive is concerned Over Board inactivity especially with Manitoba s Cen Tennial in 1970, he said. He said it is also imperative the government release the Lamb report on archival facilities in Manitoba. The report was prepared in 1966 by or. Kaye Lamb archivist of the National archives in Ottawa. Iti terrible Winnipeg s civic finance com Mittee 1 d e r Lin a n Mark h. Danzker said wednes Day the 4.1-Mill increase in municipal tax levies just announced by the provincial government leaves the City of Winnipeg in a terrible spot. Aid. Joseph Zuken said the City should immediately Call an emergency meeting with the Premier and his Cabinet to find a solution to taxpayers prob lems. Mayor r. A. Wanking of fort Garry said he would like to. Have fort Garry municipal Council meet with the provincial government. Aid. Danzker said in a Telephone interview Winnipeg had anticipated a decrease in the municipal tax Levy. In Stead we Are faced by a Sharp increase. I Don t know what will happen Aid. Danzker said the in crease is even More drastic in View of the fact that the province s rebate on prop erty taxes had been eliminated and a five per cent provincial sales tax instituted. All i can say at this moment is that it looks very Aid. Alan c. Wade said the City is in a poorer position than Ever before As a result of the announced increase in the Levy. We had no indication at All that we would be hit with such an he urged that Winnipeg s share of the education foundation program be increased substantially. Under this program the provincial government promised a 65 per cent participation in the construction of schools he said. As it turns out we Only get 35 per cent. And now this increase in the Levy. We Are hit from All i he predicted an increase of at least 12 to 14 Mills in the Winnipeg Mill rate. Something has to be done. People Are not going to put up with this and i can t blame Aid. Zuken said i would Hope that thousands of tax payers Are going to protest to City Hall against the intolerable tax burdens blamed thei provincial government for the situation. The continual crisis in Muni Cipal taxation Lis proof of the Complete failure of the Provin Cial sales he said. Winnipeg needed a new tax r. sales tax is costing me average family a year the rebate was eliminated and the taxes Are going up All Over. How Long do you think this can go Aid. William Mcgarva said he was very disappointed about the increase but i d rather wait until 1 have the Complete picture. There is no need to press the panic Button pre mayor Wanking said the province might As Well take Over the whole works if it could t succeed in keeping its Levy at a tolerable rate. I have to Tell my taxpayers that the metro Levy went up the school Board Levy increased and that now the Levy will jump As Well. In addition to it s pretty Well impossible to keep our own municipal Mill rate Down. The whole situation is manhole steam blamed in death steam from a manhole at the Mcphillips Street Manitoba Avenue intersection led to the death of an 83-year-old Man feb. 28, a Coroner s jury decided tuesday. The jury under provincial Coroner or. I. 0. Fryer was j inquiring into the death of Nickolas Skakun 1202 Magnus Avenue. I evidence showed or. Skakun was crossing Mcphillips Street from East to West in the South crosswalk of the intersection i when he was hit by a South j bound car driven by Faye Louise Babiuk 719 Sherbrook Street suite 7. I the jury ruled the death accidental and exonerated mrs. Babiuk. In a statement to police she said steam from tile manhole obscured her vision causing the Accident. Constable Ivan Klepatz of the Winnipeg police said his investigation of the Accident showed the steam at times obscured the whole Southern part of the intersection. He said the temperature was five degrees below Zero and a 7 Northwest wind was blow ing at the time of the Accident at . Six witnesses at the inquest in the Public safety building testified to the amount of steam coming from the manhole at the time. Frederick g. Denson City of Winnipeg engineering depart ment said the manhole is an Entrance to a sewer running along Mcphillips Street. The steam was caused by water flowing into the sewer from liquid carbonic Canadian corp. Ltd., 635 Mcphillips Street he said. He said water used to Cool the company s compressors flowed into the sewer at the fairly High temperature of 110 de Grees fahrenheit a Well below the 150 degrees fahrenheit maximum stipulated in a City bylaw. There were closed manhole covers at three Points on streets served by the Mcphillips Street sewer he said but if More manholes had such covers an explosion in the sewer would result. explosion would be caused by Gas or gasoline leaking into the sewer from a ruptured Gas main or gasoline tank. He said his department has to flush the sewer seven to 12 times a year because of Gas leakage. The covers with holes in them provide natural ventilation for these gases and there is no other feasible method for such ventilation. Or. Ronald b. On duty at the Winnipeg general 1 Hospital casualty Ward when i or. Skakun arrived said he i pronounced or. Skakun dead at i . Feb. 2s. Hospital pathologist or. Hugh Ross said death was caused by Shock and Haemorrhage from multiple injuries including a broken spine and breastbone two broken legs ribs and Haemorrhaging in the spinal and abdominal regions ;