Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 17, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba January cartoonists fear ruling May Spett death of satirical Art compiled from dispatches waa could riot tha dispatches Vancouver political too lists say a British Columbia supreme court ruling that a new spa Pef cartoon labelled a provincial cab whet minister could spell the death of the satirical Art in Roy cartoonist for the Vancouver said fear of the could wipe out cartooning in while recently retired col league Len Norris predicted it could inhibit work by other Bill cartoonist for the times said tuesday he lost a libel suit brought against him and the evening newspaper by Bill Vander minister of municipal he said Justice Craig Mertroe in a written judgment to be released today in has ruled that a cartoon which appeared without caption in the afternoon newspaper was the judgment handed Down tues Day in Vancouver awarded Vander Zalm plus Bierman said he Hopes the judg ment will be Vander then human sources testified the Toon which depicted him gleefully picking the wings off a Fly implied he is a person of cruel and sadistic nature who enjoys inflicting suffer ing and torture on helpless people who cannot protect and that he was not a fit and proper person to be minister of human the minister also said the cartoon May have been responsible for a Cabinet shuffle in december in which he was transferred to his present Petersen said in an interview that he was shocked by the judgment and could not understand the berm Al said the judgment was a defeat for political Cafty Oniss and said it could Lead to inno bus cartoons in Vati def Zalm said he was shocked when the cart bin appeared on a tvs evening news pro Gram tuesday in an interview from his Surrey East of the minis Ter said his lawyer has requested tapes of the networks news Prog Rani but that no decision has been made on possible Legal station spokesmen were unavailable for the cartoon also was shown on the ctr National Bierman said if there is no Appeal of the we will have lost the just me and the Vic Toria but Manitoba Hydro debt May top assets by 1980 government guarantees of the utile Tys Anderson told the inquiry that investors Are looking through the veil of the guarantee and examining the Utility financial soundness units own said the Utility May soon be Cut Loose from these guarantees which could result in skyrocketing interest rates on any future continued Hydro largest single expense is the interest paid on this amounts to million this year and is projected to climb to Mil lion by the interest payment is 2y2 times what Hydro pays out in total salaries and represents about half of its entire despite the High Manitoba Moodys assessment Utility could change method of borrowing i by Allan Wilson it is possible for Manitoba Hydro to operate without having its debt guaranteed by the provincial gov but it would involve Bor i rowing Money in a different according to Jackson Phillips of Moodys investors Moodys is one of the major new Bon rating agencies which interest rates utilities to pay on their it has been suggested in evidence at the Tritschler inquiry into Hydro Northern developments that the Utility could be from the provincial guarantee of its in a Telephone interview Phillips said Hydro would have to change its financing Over to a reve nue Bond he said this would mean Utility Bond holders would be Given guarantees with their Bonds that Hydro would raise enough Money to pay off the he said a Revenue Bond setup is common in the United there Are several Basic Guaran tees to raise for Phillips the Utility would have to be Given the Power to raise its rates without regulation to meet the debt certain Reserve requirements would also be imposed in such a evidence at Hydro hearings Over the last year showed if Hydro raised its rates to match its requirements for payment of its consumer Hydro rates would have to go probably steadily for Phillips let them Consumers Treyve got to follow the Phillips said the provincial go verment might have two reasons for wanting to get out of having to guarantee the billion Hydro they might want to free up their borrowing so they could get Money for other or they might simply want to decrease their own responsibility for the it has been suggested at Public Utility Board hearings last year and at the Tritschler inquiry Hydro massive which re sults in a debt equity ratio of Over 98 to would prevent it from getting a Good credit rating in the new York but Phillips said in a Revenue Bond with Hydro Good the credit rating probably go Down that in Revenue Bond situations in the United states debt goes All the Way from Zero to 100 per cent and even 110 per cent in some of the Washington state in those cases they paid More for the project than it was Phillips said the main consideration if Hydro were to drop the provincial guarantee would be How the Revenue Bond situation were set it would Cost but probably not that the main Cost would be in setting up the reserves the new Bond Situa Tion would Hydro is a very successful Utility and the envy of Many other North Ameri can Power he Mckean said Hydro will find it difficult to generate additional reve nue from Export sales this year because the transmission lines to the Are already being used to full Ca this problem will be solved after when a third line will be constructed to the Job worries hamper study by Steve Pona a Volunteer task Force investigating the social Impact of government funding cutbacks is being hampered by tight lipped civil servants afraid of losing their task Force Mem Ber Clark Brownlee said a Winnipeg social work complained at a Public meeting in the Winnipeg Centennial Library that its very difficult to get accurate information about How restraint is affecting government funded ser civil servants Are very much under the gun right now and the last thing they feel free to talk about is he spokesmen for social agencies funded by the government were also reluctant to answer he task Force chairman Robert an associate professor of so Cial work at the University of Manito said he suspects the government does not want the task Force to com plete its the task Force was created by the Manitoba association of social work ers last May to study the governments social policies and pro a former nursing Leola of 516170 Hendon said government restraint is having a dire effect on the services old people Are receiving in health care Harry of 291 Annes said some old people Are guilty of overloading the health care two Public meetings have been held in Winnipeg and a third was to be held in Brandon task Force spokesmen said they expect to produce the first of a series of reports in hopefully this was Only the first found and were to during the three Day trial which ended Van def Zaffis yer Rodney to Ylda said the defence of fair comment did hot apply to the Case because the cartoon was amatory and contained imputations of dishonourable of disgraceful defence lawyer Don Farquhar said the cartoon was not Deamato but added that if the judge ruled then it was fair Bierman testified he was inspired to draw the cartoon after Vander Zalm advised Indian youngsters hanging around downtown Vancou ver to return to their reserves be cause they had better opportunities Vander in testified that the statement had been taken Mit of and he had been expressing concern about All Young sters hanging around the downtown he said there were Young sters on welfare Rolls at the his Serif to workers were concerned that the youths were coming into Contact with drugs and and parents were asking for help in locating their Taylor told the court that the car Toon exceeded the extremely wide latitude accorded those attacking people in Public he said the times had refused to publish an apology to Vander Zalm and his family for embarrassment and humiliation it had Farquhar told Justice Munroe that in determining whether the car Toon was it was important to consider the ministers reputation and How the Public reacts to Farquhar said the minister was the subject of constant critical and there is no reason the Public should attach added significance to the subject he said that in the mind of the Vander Zalm has been harsh on occasion to those in and the cartoon depicted him clipping the wings of those who abuse the welfare Farquhar said the cartoon was fair comment because the nature of a political cartoon is and even if a cartoon makes a statement of that does not Stop it from being comment As photo Tow truck Driver Larry Lawler crawls into a car in California in an attempt to drive it out of a narrow flood the Driver had plunged the car through Trees above the Channel and through a wire Fence before coming to rest in the narrow the car eventually was pulled out with a the Driver want pair sentenced for Kidnap when four ramp officers went to the archers Motel room to investigate a stolen vehicle he said he also believed the archers were frightened following the subsequent particularly because Archer had been wounded Dur ing the Brief gun but being frightened or wounded is no he Montgomery asked Justice Hunt to impose life sentences for the kidnapping adding he wished he could ask Hunt to sen tence the archers to 150 years in when asked whether he would Appeal the Montgom Ery said he know until after the Appeal of the first degree murder lawyers Hersh Wolch acting for Archer Jay Prober acting for Cher said they we rent sure whether they would Appeal the both lawyers earlier told jus Tice Hunt that a severe sentence be continued Wolch explained that archers whole course of conduct following the shooting was to survive and to seek medical help for his Wolch also noted that Archer suffered from mental including bouts of Prober said there were several mitigating factors in considering sentences for the he said the kidnapping and unlawful confinements were not none of the victims were assaulted and Archer wounded at the time of the the end of court proceedings tues proceeded by a five week trial last was the latest chapter in one of the longest and most expensive murder prosecutions in Manitoba his costing an estimated testimony at that trial had shown that Archer kidnapped Penny and tied his wife their daughters Cindylou and Cheryl and Derrick who was staying at the Penny Archer also left nor Man Graham and his wife tied up in their own Home before he stole their car and returned with Penny to his Home where he had left Archer to guard the Penny family and Chip from there the archers forced Penny to drive them to the Home of Lloyd and Wilma Archer also tied up the hatches before going to the Home of Marcus soon after their arrival the Scherz an ambulance picked up Archer and took her to Brandon general Hospital where she was treated for the gunshot wound she received during the shootout with Archer held his wife Stephanie and for about 96 hours while demanding 000 and Safe passage out of the coun try for him and his the incident finally ended when Archer released his hostages unharmed and gave himself up to Archer cant explain Why shoot out took place Brandon staff Herbert a Cher said tuesday he still cant explain Why he became involved in a shootout with ramp in last january in which Dennis Onofrey was did it happen i still cant it happened so Archer said referring to the gun Battle which sparked a series of including a 96hour hostage taking incident at Oak who was Likely Mak ing his last Public statement on the also said he thought this whole episode started with Archer made the statement a few hours before Justice John of Manitoba court of Queens sentenced him and his Dorothy to 12 and 10 years in prison respectively on charges of kidnapping and unlawful the archers Are already serving a life sentence for the f irs degree Der of Onofrey who was killed during the that sentence is being with his wife looking on from her position near the Archer tried to explain to the people in the room that when he left the scene of the shooting with his who was wounded during the Exchange of his major goal was to sur i scared to Archer told the hushed explaining he just wanted to get medical attention for his i knew i was being chased by a multitude of police who were out to kill me and my he said that As he began to drive East on the Tran Canada Highway after the shooting All i could hear in his mind was them Yelling shoot kill he said he just drove the car until he came to the farmhouse of Dave All the while i was just trying to j was trying to save me and my Archer said people who say she want sorry for the incident Are in not keyed to show ing my but j Teel deeply for All in archers 15minute he also said he never Hurt anyone curing his attempts to get medical help for his he also thanked Penny and Marcus Scherz for helping to save his it was Scherz who helped Bandage Archer and advise Archer she would die without appropriate Penny served As the archers Driver after being taken from his but i do feel sorry about going in to the Penny so help me i feel sorry for the Penny Archer explained that it was Penny who introduced him to Jesus Christ and that he has been with him every Day since the incident began nearly a year he credited his belief in Christ with pulling him through the year of tary confinement which he has Dured in heading Ley jail and the Brandon correctional Institute while awaiting the conclusion of Legal proceedings against Archer also told the court that while he deserves a penalty for what he has also suffered a great Deal and is slowly being driven to insanity by being kept in solitary Ive been made to look like a real which Ive never Archer in what appeared to be a plea for Archer told Justice Hunt that he has lost More than 50 pounds while being kept in solitary confinement during the last year and not being allowed to talk with hardly any other human archers Hersh said he has tried to convince prison authorities to take Archer out of Soli tary however they have told Wolch that Archer May attempt to take prisoners As hostage if he were allowed to mingle with despite Archer is de to be treated like any other Pris Oner now that Legal proceedings against him Are Archer also took the As he did when speaking before being sentenced for the first degree murder to absolve his wife of any blame for the ;