Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 19, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday february 10, 1979 City news 3 2nd class mall registration number 0286 fhunting9 fever High As eclipse advances by John Mcmanus a shooting season has opened in Northwestern Ontario. For Many of the Hunters it s a once in a lifetime Hunt and costs run into billions of dollars. The season is Short a Little less than two weeks and the Quarry is next monday s View of the Sun in total eclipse. This week 35 Large and Small Rock ets will search out the secrets of the approach and passing of the 20th Cen Tury s last total solar eclipse. The red Lake area will become a household name and dots on the map like Cochenour Balme town Chu Kuni River and the Griffiths and Mcm Armac mines will be recorded in scientific records forever. Two rocket launch Sites Cochen our the launch pad for Small rockets and Chukuani firing site for the Large rockets Are nearly ready. Two Hundred scientists and technicians at the Northwestern Ontario temporary rocket Range represent the leading space agencies and space oriented universities in North America. Canada s National research coun cil arc is there with the . National aeronautics and space administration the air Force geophysical Laboratory the atmospheric sciences Laboratory the army research office office of naval research and a Host of universities. Rockets will be launched almost daily Down the Range Northeast of the Sites until feb. 27, the Day after the passing of the eclipse. The Honor of probing developments beyond the atmosphere during the 84-second track of the eclipse Over red Lake has been awarded to the Black Brant Va-51 built for the arc by Canada s Only rocket manufacturer Bristol aerospace of Winnipeg. Before leaving for the launch site Bristol project Engineer j. M. Mel Symonds said company missiles have been launched from scientific launch pads Over half the world but the payload for feb. 26 is unique to this built for the space research facilities Branch of the arc the Black Brant will carry out a series of seniors May get break from boost in City transit fare senior citizens May get a reprieve from the City transit fare increase proposed for May 1. While endorsing the proposed across the Board fare increase Winnipeg s civic works and operations committee saturday instructed the administration to study providing an Nua bus passes to senior citizens for less than coun. Harold Piercy ind Epen called for the study into providing passes similar to those available in other cities including Saskatoon Ottawa and Hamilton ont. The study to go to Council s executive policy committee would exam Ine the economic Impact of annual bus passes for senior citizens at rates of and it would also investigate the number of persons who would use the passes if they Are made available. Committee chairman coun. Gary Filmon Independent citizens elec Tion Heights cautioned that providing the annual passes would Cost the City extra Money. He also suggested the passes depending on their fee could bring in less Revenue than the 10-cent fares currently provided to senior citizens. You re going to need people to buy the passes to generate the in come you re already Fil Mon said. The committee chairman coun. Bob Bockstael and coun. John Angus to All supported the fare increases proposed by the City s Board of com missioners to cover part of the proposed million municipal operating budget for 1979, As Well As the study into the annual passes for senior citizens. Piercy also supported the proposed five cent increase bringing adult fares to 40 cents and raising monthly passes from to the increased fare would still tie less than 50 and 55-cent fares charged in most major Canadian cities he said. He opposed the increase which would raise fares for senior citizens and youths from 10 cents to f5 cents. Coun. Alf Skowron Wood rejected any increases As Well As the senior citizens pass study say ing the changes would discourage the use of Public transit at a Tinte when it should be encouraged. The bus fare Issue will come before City Council March 21. Photo by Dave Bonner the instrument package to be launched by a Black Brant missile during the eclipse is prepared by payload manager Ken Walsh Toft and Walt Czornyj payload Engineer. Walsh is adjusting a motorized camera that will photograph the eclipse to reveal information about ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. Committee orders review of Comfort station value five experiments Eye to cye with the total solar event. One uses an Infra red photometer to measure oxygen omissions which will be used to measure the atmospheric Ozone profile. Another Experiment will show a profile of Electron and Ion density beyond the Earth s atmosphere when the rocket reach its apogee or outer limit of its historic launch. Symonds said it took a week to set up the Black Brant. It is powered by a solid fuel made at Bristol s Rockwood Plant and the engine is fuelled at that site North of Winnipeg. The 33-foot rocket weights kilograms carries a 284.3-kilo Gram payload and is powered by a thrust. The fuel bums for 18 seconds As the rocket Muscles its Way to an apogee 80 Miles above the Earth. It s an almost 12-minute trip from the launch pad to recovery site. The experimental payload begins to separate 50 seconds after launch and is on its own after 63 seconds As it meets the partial eclipse As it moves into total blackout. Six Bristol experts will be at the Chukuani launch site Southeast of red Lake when the shoot is made Symonds said. The 33-year-old engineering graduate of the University of Manitoba has taken part in two smaller launches but is looking Forward to a major launch with the leaders in Rocke Tery from around the world. A Black Brant will be launched at . Next monday to intercept the track of the solar eclipse As it journeys from Portland Oregon to pan Gartung in the Canadian Arctic. Downtown goers May be Happy to know that the City operated Comfort station at Garry Street and Portage Avenue May remain open after All. The civic works and operations committee saturday authorized a de tailed review of the Cost and usage of the facility which is tentatively to close May 1. The committee asked the administration s civic properties division to have the report prepared by next monday. Hume Young civic properties director told the committee his department wanted to shut Down the Garry Street Comfort station because its Cost to use is extremely High about per use according to a previous Survey. Young said the Survey indicated tile average daily use of the facility was 187 men and 60 women. Fifteen to 20 per cent of the use was by bus Drivers. The facility costs about to operate annually he said. A May-1 shutdown would save the City this year. The committee approved a million budget for the maintenance of civic buildings which includes the projected savings from the shutdown of the facility. Photo Gerry Cairns Scott Spearman 11, of Winnipeg placed first sunday in d class of the Canadian National sled dog classic sponsored by the festival do Voyageur and Mol sons brewery. Don Bilsky is shown finishing in c class three to five dogs Well behind Gord Cox of Birds Hill Winner of the event. Many of the competitors were women. School custodians vote to strike custodians in the Transcona Springfield school division voted unanimously saturday in favor of strike action after rejecting the division s latest contract offer. A press release issued sunday said the 34 custodians represented by local 730 of the Canadian Union of Public employees voted to strike Over the Issue of shift work. Division policy requires custodians to work a tuesday to saturday week if their school is booked for Community activity on saturday. If a school has two custodians the one who works saturday receives no overtime and takes the following monday off leaving the other custodian with monday s work according to Union staff representative Jim keep. If a school has one custodian and he works saturday he receives time and a half for the first four hours and double time thereafter. The press release says the Union s demand has been for a monday to Friday work week for All care takers with saturday work paid at overtime keep said picket lines at division schools and administration office could be set up on or before feb. 26. Keep said it was possible some schools in the division would have to close because of the strike. He said some schools have High pressure boilers which must be at tended at All times when children Are in the building by persons with the proper certification under the Provin Cial labor act. He did not know which schools might be affected. It is not known whether the division plans implementation of any Contin gency plans to keep the schools open. Pets substituted for children vets fear malpractice suits by James Haggarty As More and More child free peo ple use pets As a substitute for parenthood Canadian veterinarians share a growing concern that larger malpractice suits lie in wait for them Down the Road. Or. Lynn Webster vice president of the Canadian veterinary medical association said vets have recognized that fact and Are preparing for the consequences Mal practice suits from people attached to their pets. The situation has progressed to the Point where As or. Bob Brandt chairman of the Manitoba Veter Inary medical Board put it pet owners trips to the vet Are like taking a child to a household pets become a part of the family unit and Are regarded As such Brandt Webster said people expect and demand service for them their pets equal to what Many people expect and demand for their Chil in the United states a malpractice suit asking for million was filed after the death of a dog treated by a vet. Pet owners in North America probably receive medical and surgical attention for their pets on a higher level than 60 per cent of the world s population Webster said. There Are a number of categories of insurance for vets said Betty Mclean of Geoffrey Freeman and associates in Toronto which in sures about one third of Canadian veterinarians for the Canadian veterinary association there s liability for boarding even if the boarding is for Examina Tion purposes negligence malpractice and premises and operations liability which covered one Canad an vet when he acc Dently injected the owner of an animal with a serum while they were wrestling with the animal she said. If there is any Hance that the insured is liable in any Way shape or form the company will Settle out of court because Legal expenses will often exceed the amount of the Mclean said. In Winnipeg vets Are dealing with purebred cats and dogs whose value May run As High As and the Rural vet deals with exotic cattle and purebred horses whose value might run into the million Dollar Range. But officers of the Manitoba veterinary association Eva agree that the size and number of the american suits have Little to do with the situation Here. I would be extremely surprised if a court accepted or even enter lawsuits against vets infrequent malpractice and negligence suits against veterinarians Are a relatively rare occurrence in Canada or. Lynn Webster vice president of the Canadian veterinary medical association says. Between August 1977 and August 1978, there were 11 malpractice claims and one other Type of claim made against the association s insurance plan he said. About have been paid out on behalf of the vets on the 12 claims representing four closed cases and partial payments on some of the others he said. A Reserve fund has been set up for settlements of the other cases he added. If All cases were settled against the vets the total would be about three claims were made in Mani Toba. They were a claim for a Holstein cow which has t been settled. A claim for a cow for and in Reserve on the unresolved claim Webster said. One closed claim for a horse settled for trained that a dog was Worth a Millon dollars in this Webster said. The insurance company which handles the group plan feels there is no claim for. Grievance and All the nebulous things that enter into human he said. The insurance company is not ready to get involved with any sum for tears and sorrow of the owners of pets Webster said. Right or wrong that is their position at the present time there is quite a lot of concern Here and we re trying to keep the Industry on a very professional basis and police any disputes that said the president of the Eva or. Jim Neufeld. It s not getting out of hand but there is always potential for prob he added. Neufeld said there were usually about four or five complaints a year. That the ethics and grievance com Mittee of the association investigates. The Rural veterinarian is faced with an increase in exotic livestock and imported Breeds said past president of the association and Rural practitioner Allan Preston. Problems that arise now Are usually dealt with out of court he said. All the doctors interviewed agreed that most problems Are caused by poor communication be tween the veterinarian and the Cli. Ent. About 85 to 90 per cent of the problems that Are passed on by the Eva s ethics and grievance com Mittee to the Manitoba Veteri nary medical Board Are because of communication problems Brandt said. The Board which consists of four veterinarians and two Lay has authority to reprimand Fine and suspend the registration of Ani Mal doctors. Since the Board was established by legislation in 1974, Only two veterinarians have been penalized after formal hearings Brandt said ;