Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 8, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba Transcona school reported free of methane t h r e e inspections of the Harold Hatcher school in Transcona have failed to turn up any traces of poisonous meth Ane Gas Vera Derenchuk superintendent of the Transcona Springfield school division said Friday. In a letter to area parents mrs. Derenchuk released excerpts from three reports she hoped would dispel any con Cerns that May have been raised about the presence of gases on the site of Harold Hatcher parents became concerned after hearing reports that methane Gas emissions were coming from a former garbage Landfill site in St. Boniface and had caused an explosion. The recently built Harold Hatcher school is built Over a former Landfill and routine examinations for Gas were made. Inspectors from an Engineer ing consultant firm under Wood Mclellan and associates Ltd., found traces of the Gas in St. Boniface plants built Over Landfill. There has been one explosion triggered by flames from an arc welder. End insert the Issue was raised at City Council thursday when councillor Joe Zuken labor elec Tion committee St. A a Man found dead Winnipeg police were review ing charges after a St. James Assiniboia Man was found dead in his House thursday. Mclaughlan 24, of 259 Kensington Street St. James Assiniboia was charged with assault causing bodily harm in connection with the incident. The Man Joseph Louis to Stonier 70, of 1 Eric Street was found by police at about . After they received a Telephone Call about an argument supt. Les lies of the police crime division said Fri Day. Or. Mclaughlan was remanded in custody after appearing in provincial judges court Iii the Public safety building Friday. A 16-year-old juvenile was also detained in connection with the incident supt. Lies said. Winnipeg free press saturday March 8, 1975 2nd class mail registration Numeir 02b6 a Tel Mihu Way to Havel lord Selkirk demanded the release of a City report on pos sible methane Gas emissions. Coun. Phil Rizzuto ind Epen said parents Are asking if it will be Safe to Send their children to Harold Hatcher when it opens in less than three weeks. Information released by mrs. Derenchuk shows the first examination of the school site for traces of methane was carried out in 1973 by Ripley Klohn and Leonoff International Ltd., a consulting1 firm. Nineteen test holes were drilled some to 50 feet and some going below the fill into the natural Clay. We were not Able to detect a smell or any noxious gases coming from the the re port concludes. The shallow holes encountered what re Mains of the sanitary Landfill. The material was Well burned and none of the test holes encountered raw a supplementary investigation by the same firm in june 1974, at the request of the City engineering department came to the same conclusion. In addition we re examined the soil samples and had a Sample of the ground water from the site tested for Chemi Cal the firm reported. The garbage was Only recognizable by the presence of rusting Metal tin cans and pieces of broken the City report not yet re leased was compiled by under Wood Mclellan and associates Ltd. Mrs. Derenchuk said she contacted Underwood Mclellan As soon As she heard about the report and was informed the Harold Hatcher site was one of Many Landfill Sites that were routinely a part of their t is t s were done at the school site by Underwood j Mclellan about 10 Days ago. The firm s conclusion was there was no indication of the presence of an explosive or combustible the company used a Porta ble expos meter to Check for gases. Testing was carried out near the Entrance of the crawl space under the school and at several openings in the auditorium floor mrs. Derenchuk pointed out to parents that ventilation fans have been installed under the building As a matter of Normal construction and the system is highly new Grants still too Small trustees Fey Debbie Lyon free press education reporter the response was less than enthusiastic As delegates to the Manitoba association of school trustees annual meeting began assessing the Impact of a million increase in 1975 provincial Grants to school divisions announced Friday by education minister Ben Hanus Chak . It s difficult to say we re hot Happy when million is there but at the same time it s certainly not what we hoped trustee Dean Dur Ston the out going president of the association commented. Robert Gordon associate general Secretary of the Mani Toba teachers society said it s just not enough it won t compensate for the in crease in costs it s doubt Ful that the government will reach its objective of funding 70 per cent of total education expenditures trustee Les Slingsby chair Man of the Winnipeg school division the province s largest said that although the Divi Sion s special Levy require ments will be reduced some what they Are still substantially higher than 1974 s. Division administrators estimate the increased Grants will absorb million of a million increase in the division s special Levy require ments he said. The division s total estimated 1975 expenditures Are million. Or. Hanuschak repeated his earlier announcement to the legislature during a speech to the 600 delegates at a luncheon sponsored by the province. Equalization Grants were in creased to a total of about million per Pupil transportation Grants were up from to there were in creased Grants to divisions sharing services with private schools and a new formula for special education programs was revealed. Or. Hanuschak told the Dele Gates that although the govern ment was conscious of inflation it recognized the need for expenditures when it comes to educational costs and for this reason there is continued increase of the amount of Money for education Edu cation receives this kind of priority and it always the equalization Grant for m u 1 a which sees divisions with Low property assessment totals get More Money than High assessment divisions recognizes the ability to pay Prin Ciple and provides untied funds automatic transmissions Portage 786-2437 930 Nairn 667-1595 1311 Mcphilips 586-8049 460 Pembina 453-4124 weather report loggers lose Money t w o Crown owned logging companies designed to provide jobs for Northern residents finished the 1973-74 fiscal year with losses of More than according to annual reports tabled Friday in the Manitoba legislature. The audited report of Moose Lake loggers Ltd., noted a Sharp decrease in production and a dramatic increase in financial losses during the year ending March 31, 1974. From production of More than cords the previous year and losses of less than production at Moose Lake dropped below cords in the 1973-74 fiscal year while losses mounted to the report said. The report detailed friction Between the Community of Moose Lake the Board of directors and management As one cause of the company s poor financial picture. It said Community leaders wanted the Community to take ownership and control of the operation but the Board Felt it was t yet capable of conducting a viable operation without outside tech meal and financial assistance machinery breakdowns and problems maintaining a full work Force resulted in lengthy shutdowns. The report for Channel area loggers Ltd., which conducts logging operations at Berens River and blood vein attributed much of the company s loss to the Cost of training and organizing and to a Lack of stable management and organization in 1973-74, the first year of operation. Or boards to allocate As they be fit he said. More than half the divisions n the province will have from 5 to 100 per cent of their transportation costs supported by the increased transportation rants. Delegates however Felt the transportation Grants weren t adequate arguing that a Grant if to was needed. They also expressed concern about the Burden increased education costs will place on ocal special levies. And some were critical of the band Aid approach to financing Educa Ion. It is anticipated that Edura Ion costs in 1975 will increase by 18 per cent to a total of Norm Harvey the association s executive director said in his annual report to the meeting. This is an increase of million and if the government maintains its 60 per cent sup port level it will need to in crease Grants in 1975 by million. This would still mean an additional million to be raised by special Levy in 1975." the trustees association maintains that the province s share of education costs is close to 60 per cent. Because Spring in t busting out All Over Manitoba these Days but it is busting out in the Assiniboine Park conservatory. Karen Kacinec left and Wendy Bohay decided to catch a glimpse and a breath of Spring. So the two Grade 10 students at Tuxedo Shaftesbury High school dropped by to see the Blooming daffodils. Colossal mismanagement Spivak morning bulletin for Manitoba and Northwest Ontario a Broad Ridge of High pressure Over the Prairies was mainly responsible for the cloudless sky and Low temperatures Over the Southern regions. The sky will continue Clear Al though a weak disturbance is expected in Northern Manitoba this afternoon and in Northern portions in the South and nearer nor Mal in the North today and sunday. Figures on the map indicate expected High temperatures today Ecipio onion High pressure pressure cold from warm front temperatures following Are High temperatures recorded yester Day Low temperatures for the 12-hour period which ended at 6 . Today and precipitation for the 24 hour period which ended at 6 . Today Max. Min. Or. Forecast for Winnipeg Brandon Dauphin red River in i c r 1 a k e and Bissett re Gions mainly sunny today and throughout sunday. High today near 10 Low tonight near five below. By Mike Ward free press staff writer Manitoba progressive conservative Leader Sidney Spivak Friday clearly Laid Down the ground Rales for his party Dur ing the new session of the provincial legislature to get the government to open up its books on what he estimated would be an eventual Mil lion loss by the Manitoba development corporation. Opening his party s annual convention in the Maryborough hotel or. Spivak said the government was trying to cover up a colossal mis management of Public Money which bordered on he suggested a whole new act should be brought in to change the development corporation s Urcle not just the plan outlined in the speech from the throne to change the legislation. The conservative Leader de scribed this proposal As More in the nature of an insult and affront to the people of the the government said or. Spivak had committed a Gigantic fraud particularly on people in communities where corporation backed firms were situated As Well As on the peo ple in general. He charged the government with having bungled and cover d up its Industry investment errors to such an extent the next generation will have an enormous Burden to carry. If they opened up their books you. Would find our estimates of what has been spent will be close to the target. Let me Tell you that the nip government is learning an expensive lesson a lesson expensive to the taxpayers . But de Schreyer finds him self in the role of the sorcerer s apprentice who has turned on the Money magic but does t know How to turn it off. We believe that the govern ment should not get involved in playing an entrepreneurial and risk taking role in Industry and business. This function should be left to the private sector. One thing for sure is the government has to get out of the government s new policy would be just another artifice another dangerous Experiment born in frustration and despair Over mounting financial losses and Public embarrassment and a desperate attempt at executing a political rear guard manoeuvre with the intention of deceiving the pub the position of the progressive conservative party was government lending Agency should do no More than make Loans. We have been Adamant about this position and for very Good reasons. We believe that government should not get involved in play ing an entrepreneurial and risk taking role in Industry and or. Spivak said his figure of s140 million projected losses mainly involved the very risky and unsound enterprises Saunders aircraft flyer industries and a. E. Mckenzie co. Ltd., a Brandon seed com Pany. He said flyer has a potential development corporation involvement of million Saunders of million and Mckenzie of million. Some of the remaining Devil o e n t corporation backed companies including Morden Fine foods venture Manitoba Tours Phoenix data systems Misawa Homes and Columbia Forest products would provide the total Ball Park figure of approximately dealing with past and cur rent financial injections or. Spivak estimated Saunders had received million that flyer industries was in debt to the corporation approximately million and Mckenzie approximately million. The conservative Leader s argument was based on the reasoning that for the three major companies to make Money millions of tax dollars would have to be handed Over to keep them going until Money started coming in. His party had reason to be Lieve the san Franscisco million trolley bus order in eluded a contractual term that 90 per cent of the vehicles had to be delivered before pay ment. Or. Spivak also questioned whether flyer would be Able to Sony abreast of modern techno logy and remain competitive with other companies. Returning to Saunders air Craft he said the government had the Chance of closing Down the firm at a Cost of half a million dollars but instead opted for a bottomless Finan Cial Donald w. Craik member of the Manitoba legislature for Riiel told the conference the conservatives would be seek ing a change in provincial auditing As it was increasingly difficult to keep track of government investments and Bud get projections. The party would also seek the setting up of one or two legislative committees to exam Ine All companies not just the general manager of the development corporation or. Craik said. Bob Banman la for la Verendrye echoed his Leader s gardeners beware at 0, not 32 Vancouver Calgary 9 Edmonton 6 Regina 5 Winnipeg the under Bay 26 Onawa 33 Toronto 36 Mon real Halifax Chicago 37 Miami los Angeles Minneapolis new York 51 Boson 45 Phoenix Honolulu Athens Rome m Paris 54 London h Berlin w Amsterdam Brussels 2 -9 -19 -15 -4 10 14 22 29 21 57 8 39 37 49 Aasu 48 45 45 45 37 41 41 Madrid 35 36 Moscow. 37 34 Stockholm 43 36 Tokyo 54 39 Hong Kong 64 63 Singapore 80 73 by j. H. Judson Zero and 100 will be the new easily remembered magic numbers when Winnipeg weather goes metric in april 1. That is the Day when we will begin to forget the old confusing figures of 32 and 212, which Are the numbers that designate freezing and boiling on the fahrenheit temperature scale. Zero is freezing Point on the celsius scale and gardeners will no longer have to re member o protect plants at 32 or lower Zero soon Wall be the critical number. If the forecast predicts minus some thing the Gardener immediately will be alerted to Frost danger. If the minimum temperature is forecast to be above Zero celsius they May go to bed with no worries about Frost blackened plants in the morning. On the other end of the cel Sius scale 100 degrees is boil ing Point. If an automobile temperature gauge approaches 100 celsius the owner can expect the motor to blow its top and begin 1.0 belch steam. When the Kitchen Kettle begins to sing the water has reached a scalding 100 degrees celsius but the Winnipeg air tempera lure will never be that hot. The highest temperature Ever recorded in Winnipeg occurred in july 1936, at 108 de Grees fahrenheit which is 42 degrees celsius. If the temperature Ever again reaches a sweltering 42 degrees celsius it will be possible to Fry eggs on the sidewalks. Temperatures during this first week of March averaged near Normal but failed to reach that magic thawing Point of Zero celsius. Temperatures monday ranged from 14 below to 14 above on the fahrenheit scale. Tuesday was Milder at 4 to 22 degrees f. As a Low pressure area circulated South Erly winds to Manitoba. The Low pressure system moved Over Winnipeg wednes Day. Clouds thickened and fall ing Snow measured 0.3 inches while temperatures were at a March 5 Normal level of 7 to 22 degrees f. Sunshine broke through thursday but temperatures again ranged from 4 to 22 degrees f. A Cooling trend developed Friday when an arc tic High pressure area moved southeastward Over Saskatchewan. It circulated Cool northerly winds across Manitoba and temperatures stayed at a Cool 12 degrees f. Outlook for tie next few Days indicates the Arctic air mass will Settle Over Manitoba. That Means fair weather with temperatures averaging from 4 to 8 degrees below Normal. N o r m a 11 y in the second week of March temperatures average from overnight lows of 4 to afternoon highs of 24 de Grees f. On the celsius scale that is 16 below to four below. Extremes show a Low of 39 below celsius March 10, 1880, with a High of eight celsius in 1902. Please see Story on Page 67 words urging that the nip government do the people o Manitoba a big favor and be out of George Minaker la for St Jame said the government had t followed its original pol icy concerning the develop ment corporation and now there was a Lack of political climate to encourage invest ment. A new climate had to be created and he failed to see How the present government could achieve this with its development corporation track record. Saunders and flyer were providing a product and unless it was sold for a profit the people would have to subsidize the companies said or. Minaker. We believe that if any Money is to be loaned to companies let it be the responsibility of the conference passed a Resolution favouring drastic reduction of the corporation s involvement in business in an equity position and urging the provincial government to sell those ventures in which it has controlling equity or joint ownership. A second Resolution asking for a Public inquiry into the corporation was tabled. One speaker said the image of politicians was damaged enough with watergate and similar developments without establishing a practice of each succeeding government order ing an inquiry into the wrong doing and misjudgments of its predecessor. It is a bad tradition of one administration trying to Pillory the one he said. The province includes Money paid out under the property tax rebate program As Educa Tion Money its figure is 70 per cent. Municipal people Tell me that much of the Money they receive from the government under the tax rebate system is used for purposes other than or. Harvey told the delegates. There is no place in the school Board budget to show Revenue from property tax re Bate because boards do not receive this Money. They cannot use tax rebate Money to balance their budget. To me it is obvious that the whole system of financing education needs to be exam ined and revised. The band Aid approach to increasing Grants which has been evident Over the Bast few years has resulted in More confusion than or. Harvey said he hoped a newly established advisory finance committee will be Able to Grent Structure. Trustee Durston who is chairman of the Dauphin ochre school Board said the increase in equalization payments did add strength to the equalization concept. In addition the Grants were Block Grants and not tied to expenditures in any one category. If for example Grants had been tied to covering teacher costs the announcement May have affected current negotiations by supporting teacher demands for higher salaries he said. Or. Gordon said the teach ers society was disappointed because there was no increase in teacher Grants and because transportation Grants had not been increased to their 1967 level when they covered 100 per cent of the costs through out the province. In 1967, he said teacher Grants covered about 75 per cent of teacher salaries. That figure is now about 50 per cent. On first analysis it appears wealthier divisions will Benefit More from the increased equalization payments he said. The minimum payment for those with the highest assessments is up to a Pupil from about a 500 per cent increase. The maximum payment for Low assessment divisions up from to or about 160 per cent. The formula does t take into account the different costs of educating pupils in Elemen tary and secondary schools he said. It costs about 50 per cent More to educate a secondary student than an elementary Pupil it s even More for vocational training the formula should be equalized on the basis of nurses backed in a move to support wage and working conditions de mands by the provincial staff nurses Council 20 local Stu dents of Medicine nursing and m e d i c a have formed the health workers and students committee to support nurses. The committee has called on Hospital administrations and g o v e r n m e n to meet the nurses demands immediately and Avert a strike. News quiz on Page 30 who s the current events expert in your family to find out have each member take the news quiz appearing today on Page 30. After you have each taken the quiz consider the family discussion question. This Section of the quiz deals this week with Federal spending plans. The news quiz is sponsored by the free press As part of our current events program for area schools. Make it a weekly habit ;