Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 14, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 2 Winnipeg free april 1-1. 198 Ken Winnipeg me press a nuclear warhead containing three bombs sits atop a minuteman Iii by Gregg Shilliday Winnipeg free press grand Forks air Force base resting deep in a Concrete sign the minuteman Iii missile rises ominously along its 18-metre body to a gleaming nuclear warhead. Weighing about kilograms it carries three warheads each with enough explosive Power to obliterate a City the. Size of Moscow. While the missile s target May be secret its lethal purpose is As Clear and final As death itself. About 300 of these powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles Are ranged across North Dakota to within five Kilometres of the Manitoba Border. Their function is unambiguous to reduce to radioactive dust As much of the soviet Union As possible in the event of a nuclear War. The vice commander of the 321 mis Sile Wing stationed at grand Forks col. Ronald Buchert says responsibility for such awesome Power is not As intimidating As one May first think. Primarily you have to understand we re just soldiers. We do the Job that we re paid and trained to do. Philosophers Are trained to worry about the morality of people s actions. That s Fine. Our Job is much More straight for Buchert said his missile officers Are among the Best educated and trained air Force personnel but this fact does t deter them from simply carrying out their i m not saying we re robots Here. Far from it. But major decisions Are made by Sac strategic air com Mand Headquarters or in the event of an order to launch from the presi Dent Buchert laughed ruefully when asked who was second in command if the a minuteman Iii missile in a North Dakota silo awaiting a launch signal from the command console in the awaiting a doomsday command for Fluri in req Roo Ihone plimiir4 president should be incapacitated. Well our National command authorities inca Are designated presi Dent first then Secretary of defence. Not the Secretary of state i m . Secretary of state Alexander Haig caused a minor uproar after the assassination attempt on president Reagan two weeks ago when he claimed precedence Over Secretary of defence Caspar Weinburger. Buchert denied that such events resulted in an upgrading of missile Alert status. He said the purpose of the icbms system is to be on Alert at All times. He said Security around the Man base has been increased recently to combat the International terrorist threat. About soldiers at grand Forks Are military police. Our real enemy these Days is perceived to be the terrorist. The Security Force Here has been increased by two s four residents of the lung Plains Indian Reserve have discovered that their rights on provincial Crown land change when the land is leased to the Federal government the four Maurice Myron Doug Hobson Stanley Myerion and Maurice Merrick Learned of the quirk in provincial court after they were found dressing freshly killed Elk on the Canadian forces artillery Range near Shilo. The men and Trevor Bruno of Portage la Prairie appeared in two provincial courts in Brandon for Hunting out of season charges Laid under the wildlife act of and in Winnipeg for trespassing on a military base charges Laid by the military police Brandon judge Rodney Mykle fined each of them on the Hunting charge and Winnipeg judge John Enns added too each yesterday on the trespassing charge. However the Hunters were allowed to keep the tour Elk the carcasses were stored in a Freezer when the charges were Laid in november and their rifles were ordered returned. Both judges discounted arguments from the Hunters lawyer. Brenda Keyser who contended they were Sim ply exercising their rights As treaty indians. Her Law firm has fought various Indian rights Battles to the supreme court of Canada and the court has backed her Contention that indians have guaranteed Access to provincial Crown land. However judge Mykle said in this Case the land had been leased by the province to the Federal government and Federal rules superseded those of the province. The Hunters had been caught within six metres of a no Hunting sign erected by a Federal department. The judge said his ruling applies even though the Federal government opens the area to Hunting for two weeks each year. The men were caught on nov. 11, Only six Days before the opening of last fall s season., Keyser said she Felt she had a Good Chance of winning an Appeal but her clients decided to accept the Fine. She said the thrust of the ruling is that the province theoretically could lease the whole province to the Federal government and deprive indians of their right of Access to any land. Our mistake Winnipeg area forecast mainly sunny this morning with variable cloudiness this afternoon. High today -1 to -4. Mainly Clear tonight with a Low near -10. Sunny tomorrow with a moderate Souther la wind and a High 5 to s extended weather Outlook Southern Manitoba rams Howors thursday unday and saturday. Temperatures near Normal readings of -2 and 10. Northern Manitoba Snow Lurnes with temperatures below Normal readings of -6 and 8. Northwestern Ontario Wanh temperatures near Normal readings of 1 and 8. Temperatures Canada and the world a Story saturday said wrongly that san fax a chemical used to kill roots growing in sewer pipes was suspended from use by the City of Brandon two weeks ago after an employee who came in Contact with it suffered a prolonged nosebleed. In fact the chemical involved was rh230, made by chem manufacturing of Mississauga ont. A Brandon Public works official provided the wrong name. National Vic Lor id. Vancouver cd Tiara. Edmonton rec mud Winnipeg. Thompson. Kenora. Brandon. Dauphin Thunder Bav. Toronto. Ottawa. Montreal. Halifax International Chicago. new York. Boston. Amsterdam. Atheist Berlin. Helsinki. L Isbon. London Madrid. Pads. Stockholm in Tel Aviv. Resort spots los an Jeles Clear vegas., Clear a Phoenix Clear 3? Honolulu partly Clouris 78 Mempa Clear 29 Clear 73 of Armuda it oud 23 Nassau fair 28 Kingston Cloudy. ?9 Winnipeg Tomp Risoni Max. Min. Mean 1.1 11. I ;