Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 16, 1972, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press wednesday february 16, 1972 my. the. Snowmobile revolution is upon us and like most revolutions it s Only fun if you join it. Many snowmobiles Are at this very moment careening Over the Virgin Snow sound ing like so Many berserk Buzzsaw and leaving behind a swathe of Blue Black exhaust and a stench of Gaso line to merge with the Piny smell of the Woods. Also left behind on their 40-mile-an-hour tear through what is left of the hitherto unspoiled country and Wood lands Are a Trail of terrorized animals destroyed vegetation and damaged Farmland scores of human corpses and a growing number of exceedingly irate citizens. If this is says a Farmer surveying the ruts that half a dozen apparently drag racing snowmobiles had made in his potato Field they can keep it Back in the City where it and a Back Packer looking at the mangled remains of a Deer which had been chased and finally run Over by a snowmobile could Only say i always thought the abominable snowman lived Over in Switzerland or the Hima Layas or somewhere like that. Now it looks like he s immigrated i i d e e a the snowmobile craze seems to be creating revolution backache and backlash even More antagonists than practitioners. The new Hampshire fish and game department last year came up with a Survey that showed 60 per cent of All Rural property owners had experienced either property damage from snowmobiles or run ins with snowmobile Drivers. In Many areas of the country Farmers have had to in previously open Fields and frequently they have found the fences run Down or Cut Down. I think. Every one of those machines must be sold with a pair of wire hitting says a Minnesota pro Petty owner. As a result of the outcry Many Laws have been de signed to curb snowmobile abuses. Some of Liis. Legislation is aimed at cutting the noise which can run Well above the 85-Decibel level at which the human ear can be damaged. Other Laws Call for licensing snowmobile Drivers and even testing them for competence. Some limit areas wire re the vehicles can operate and some towns have banned them from residential areas and Public highways. But it is always easier to legislate than enforce and if a snowmobiler decides to take off across country to elude the Law not much can be done about it unless the of have snowmobiles themselves that Only makes for More traffic. The problem is particularly acute in Minnesota with its Miles of trails patrolled by Only 120 depart ment of natural resources Field officers in Only 60 snowmobiles. Currently there Are some snowmobiles in the state of them illegally unregistered. It s like trying to catch an octopus minnow says chief enforcement officer Don there Areno parts of this state that1 Are adequately covered. Our coverage averages out to .500 Square Miles per one of course the Law abiding snowmobiles and those who Are careful not to dam age the Countryside any More than comes naturally Are being blamed unfairly for things they do not do. It s just like with motor cycles where a few hell s Angels gave the whole sport a bad says Peter Mcgough president of a Snow Mobile club. Heck we have problems with cars but we Don t try to outlaw or. Mcgough s group was instrumental in passing a re cent Law which absolves prop erty owners of liability for snowmobiles injured on their property. He is also pushing for s i r i c t e r snowmobile Drivers Laws and for better enforcement. And no one can deny that snowmobiling has its Good Points and not Only As an exhilarating sport. It is used for ambulance services in previously Snow bound areas it allows Many who live in Snow country an ease of travel they never had before and in some areas it has modernized life consider ably. For example in the North snowmobiles have taken the place of dog teams in Many Eskimo villages. Snowmobiling also carries its own punishments. Last year snowmobiles died in a variety of violent ways. Some crashed into Trees others into cars or Snow covered fences several fell through ice into lakes and Rivers. There is even a new in j u r y snowmobiler s a compression Frac Ture in which several vertebrae Are jammed painfully together. But despite backaches backlash snowmobiles seem destined for bigger the Industry has already grown tremendously in the focus dozen years since the first 300 machines were put on the Market. Today it is a billion Dollar business with customers pay ing anywhere from to for their machines and also buying a Host of accessories including special clothing crash helmets Gog Gles and in Many cases trailers on which to haul their vehicles. Nevertheless the Snow Mobile haters Are growing and getting madder by the minute. I hate to use the word but that is what s happening around says a landowner. You re either for Snow mobiles or against new Wmk garbage lady stalks with her Needle scars and knife by Robert Mayer m Santa be . Pinon logs Are 5 burning in the fireplace. There has been much Snow Here this Winter and the j woodpile behind our Adobe is getting Low. Every few Days i go behind the 2 House and split a few More logs with the axe. That my wife gave Christmas. It is quite a change for a jewish boy from the Bronx. We living for almost three months now under the big new Mexico sky. We left new. York in october after two the City 28 years for my wife 32 years for me. I am writing to ask if we will Ever be Able to return. J we left quite frankly out of fear. Fear of physical harm and fear of j what the new new York was doing to our psyches. Many of our friends were 5 talking of leaving the City but Felt encumbered by their children or by jobs they did not want to give up. We resisted the impulse to flee As Long As we could. And then we fled. We left because a fellow i know was knifed in the belly As he walked through times Square minding his own business. He was in critical condition for Many Days before he recovered. We Lef because a woman i know was raped on the rooftop of her apartment j building and was Lucky to escape with her life. We left because was stolen and wrecked. Because a woman in my office was spat upon by a truck Driver when she ignored his obscene remarks. We left because a panhandler grabbed my camera As i walked in Washington. Square Park and threatened to smash it unless i gave him Money. We left because for the last two years my wife could not go put alone after dark without shaking. We left because one Day As i opened the elevator door in our building a woman inside shrank Back in terror her face White her eyes wide with fear. She was our. Next door neighbor but for a split second she had not recognized me and thought i meant her harm. In that Brief instant i had become the Vil lain. I had victimized her. We left because one saturday night while approaching our building we saw a Man standing in the Street with a Beer bottle in his hand instantly a plan of action formed in my. . If he started trouble my left hand would shove the sunday times i was carrying into his face. At the same moment my right fist would slam into his belly. That would stagger him enough so that we could run. Nothing happened that night. The Man ignored us. But the violence had already been done in my own mind to my own psyche. 1 have not had a. Fist. Fight since i was 11. But i was ready to punch a fellow Man who had offered no provocation. I think it was that night i knew for certain we would have to get out of the City. It is possible that we will be robbed or assaulted in new Mexico. Burglary i especially is not uncommon Here. But the Odds of survival seem better than they were getting to be in new York. All of this is written not As an indict ment of the City. There have been enough of those. It is written rather out of love and sadness. The simple fact j is that Good As our life is Here there j Are things about new York that we j miss very much. We miss sundays in j Central Park and the sandwiches at i Reubens you can t get a decent Bagel j Here and the movies on 57th Street. T we have Learned to love enchiladas but we miss the chinese restaurants j and the italian ones. I it is Good wearing Levis All the time i but we miss the brisk walks among the sleek strollers on fifth and Madison. We miss the much maligned Media j because we regret not knowing what is going on in the world. J most of All. We miss All the friends we had to leave behind. When i was a kid growing up in the j Bronx there was an old Crone dressed All ii Black who used to prowl the neighbourhood scrounging in garbage cans we called her. She was the neighbourhood bogey Man. Whenever we would see the Gar Bage lady coming we would dash inside our houses and hide behind our Beds. Our parents sometimes found her rather a convenience. It Ever we did anything bad they would warn the garbage lady would come around and get us. Now 30 years later the garbage lady stalks throughout the City a hag with Needle scars on her arms and a knife in her pocket. And we Don t know what it was that we will someone please Lef us know when she goes away we would like to come Home. Robert Mayer newspaper columnist is on leave of absence and writing a novel a Palestine alternative by Rustum Bastuni the Arab palestinian entity is not a newcomer to the mid cast political Arena. Both the israeli and the Arab govern m e n t s have painstakingly shunned acknowledgement of its existence. Neither zionism solely jewish nor pan arabist. Mainly anti separatist have made any accommodation to the reality of the existing situation. From time to time however these opponents have seemed to agree on a common stand when forced to Deal with the nonexistent problem. Last september the diver gent courses taken by Israel and Jordan arrived at a com Mon denominator crush the resistance and break the Backbone of the palestinians As t separate entity. From 1936 Onward the palestinians have been fighting a Battle of self preservation and recognition. The reluctance of Israel to Deal directly with them am the insincerity with which the Arab governments approach their legitimate demands make their Battle seem More complicated and Multi sided than it actually is. The implications of the Arab israeli conflict Are far from being fedely a pales Tinian israeli question. No can prevail in the area unto the palestinians can exercise their full National rights in accordance with the principles granted other peo Ples in the mid East la the past the traditional palestinian leadership Fol Lowed x tragic path which failed disastrously. The policy of tailing the Arab govern ments who time and again have used them As far their own Power play to Gedat Wiatte policy of ignoring so existence of Israel Isth Tepo Letof View of attaining their sati Obal if tics Typ of Static teat it reak in fates Arab and jew by nationalism pm be a basis shores of Palestine they were aliens Bavin no adequate cultural or social ties Cement ing them to the land. It was Only by building a jewish to Eland that the a Shuv the settlers transformed their Diaspora mentality into the new dynamic vision which enabled them to forge an israeli society. The pales indians on the other hand were torn from their Homeland and scattered 1o a new Diaspora through the neighbouring countries. Two distinctive Breeds were Horn out of ii cataclysm. One. Fully rooted to the land. Saw the realities of Sitoa and the other a Host of creamers envy swims a re mans to the fend and the Eryle motivated of the Tonyee states fee israels Cassot Deal via fee Pajes Simms a Bloew Teft of hew Tern cuffies. Natter t i v c 5 facing the ror cupid areas Are factual become an israeli Colony which is insupportable or a potential partner of the common Home land. The spirit of binational us. Though its Glamor and Appeal have become somewhat tarnished through the years can still be a basis for a pales Tinian israeli solution. Some israelis aim that the arabs have rejected this concept in the past and that Tyso Facto. The idea had lost its Validity today. This is open to Jorey Tion. A Joroski has seen fit Dicker with self Apper Ted leaders rather than seek a Kurtian by integrating the concepts of Bouti onanism into the or Ting patterns of its Peoples. The jewish Strep Tifre in Palestine the Pef Tkal parties the labor mews Are barred from us fee Voder of this quagmire and the War was inevitable. Had Herr been common political parties and labor unions and had the kibbutzim engaged in com Mon ventures with the neigh Boring palestinian villages the situation i Palestine would undoubtedly have shaped up differently. The evil most probably stemmed from the sectarian National ism that has for so Long corroded the entire area. The Power of the idea that transformed the zionist dream into reality can also elevate the symbiotic rela in strip Between palestinian and israeli onto a new of car. It is within the Power of the israelis to encourage the for mation of a palestinian state through Day to Day is its deaf Sis the westers of Jordan Aad Tibe Gaza strip. The idea of a state is of a Utonn for is Vess to unto r is a fral to Beni pople pock tax. Fifty six pages of tax information that fits in the Palm of your hand. Pock tax is a Handy guide to have when you Complete your 1971 income tax return. And a Quick reference for answers to specific tax questions. Because it contains valuable information on income tax such As deductions exemptions and other important provisions that affect your 1971 tax return. And there is even t information on How the new income tax provisions affect your record keeping. This can help you accurately calculate your tax liability when completing next year s return. Get your free copy of this convenient hand size Booklet at any National Trust office. And while you re at it find out about the Many National services which can help you meet the new tax provisions. National Woof Uwe As if be 250 portals Avenue 3ftd Polo ;