Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 27, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Gerry free press Derek Legge of physically handicapped league ponders the impossible outside Osborne Village store better Access to stores sought building code biggest hurdle facing wheelchair group says it t m t n the Manitoba league of the physically handicapped was to stage an information demonstration at Osborne Village today to Point out the need for better Access to Public build Ings for wheelchair league spokesmen said the Osborne Village site was chosen for the demonstration because it is popular with shoppers and Many physically handicapped people living it also has a Large number of Busin esses which physically handicapped people have difficulty getting according to an Mph about 75 per cent of the businesses in the area Are not easily accessible to people in league spokesmen say the prov inces building code fails to ensure that people in wheelchairs have easy Access to Public under the code implemented in virtually All buildings used by the Public must be designed to be accessible to physically handicapped persons without at least one principal Entrance must be at sidewalk level or have a ramp to sidewalk the which is in the process of being applies to new build Ings or major but the code int Derek Legge of the Mph said yes adding there Are problems in enforcing the if a building is constructed without proper wheelchair the owner May apply for a waiver if he can prove the necessary renovations will be a financial expensive remedial measures May be league spokesmen said the build ing code should be amended to pro vide for the needs of the physically handicapped without Post construct Tion costs to the league spokesmen emphasized the demonstration was not directed against the tenant business we dont want to appear were against the there in the same Box As we Jenkins its the building code and the de in that the league informed the Osborne Village merchants association last week of its plans according to the Only 16 of 88 businesses in the Osborne Village Are accessible to persons in wheel chairs without they in clude some buildings which were constructed before the code went into another 13 Are although minor improvements could be made to make it the Gabbrielli opened last year on the East Side of Osborne Street in the heart of the has no easy front door Access for wheel entry can be gained through rear doors at ground level or by the wheelchair Access to the ramp can be easily blocked by a parked vehicle As it was briefly yesterday afternoon while a Manitoba Telephone system Crew did line re lawyer claims officer covering up Winnipeg free october 1981 3 ans Over by Kevin Prokosh a police officer is covering up what happened near a main Street hotel three years ago when his partner shot one Man to death and in effect tried to kill a lawyer stated in county court Constable Tom Turners ignorance of the details of the shootings on involving his Constable William which took place a few feet from him prompted attorney Norm Cuddy to wonder whether the police Constable was incredibly stupid or hiding his evidence is More consistent with hiding said whose David Mark is suing Bell for wrongfully and intentionally assaulting him with a during the Bell shot and wounded Organ and shot and killed Karol Franklin Sobkowicz after being stabbed in the Abdomen and struck in the head with a tire seeking damages Organ is seeking Between and in general damages As Well As punitive and exemplary Cuddy comments came during final arguments in the five Day judge Jewers said after the submissions he would Reserve his Cuddy told the court he understand How Turner could claim to have seen nothing and heard nothing when his partner was stabbed and then fired five bullets at his for an experienced police officer to see nothing Doest make said if you cant believe Turner because he is covering up for then there is something he Bell did he does not want us to know if you doubt you also doubt Bells Story was full of contradictions and Doest hold he one of the crucial Points in the Case is How Sobkowicz and Organ came to be found lying up to 32 feet apart after the shooting when Bell testified both at tackers were five feet away from him he shot Bullet Hole in car Cuddy maintains Bell shot Sobkowicz and then ran towards Organ and also shot As a witness had Don lawyer for said Organ was probably knocked Back wards from the Force of the shot which struck adding to the Dis Tance Between the Cuddy said another contradiction was Bells testimony that he fired northward three times at Sobkowicz and twice to the Southeast at yet a Bullet Hole was found in the police car Bell had his Back said the Bullet itself says Bell want doing what he says he Primeau told the court that As his client was shooting at Organ struck him with the tire causing the officer to shoot wildly into the How else could that Bullet go that much astray if someone want inter Fering with him said Cuddy said the police officers initiated the assault not so much by Yelling an obscenity at the two As stated by but by backing their car in front of the mens car in an aggressive Cuddy admitted Sobkowicz then lost his Cool and approached the Plain clothes police officers unmarked but he said it was Bell who attacked Sobkowicz and Organ Only got involved to help his when Organ swung the Foo Long tire Iron at grazing the officer punched Organ in the he it was probably at this time that Sobkowicz Drew his knife and stabbed said then Bell went he he shot Sobkowicz and then ran Down the Street and shot Primeau said a crucial Point in the Case is whether Bell was justified in shooting his he told the court the wounded officer was con fronted by Organ crouching Forward in a menacing armed with a Metal Primeau said Bell was entitled to disarm All he could do is shoot said Dave free press by Murray Mcneill the family of a Stonewall youth shot by Winnipeg police last month will be seeking civil damages against either or the two detectives the family lawyer said yes Donald Bryk made the comment Sev eral hours after Winnipeg police chief Ken Johnston announced the police department will not be taking disciplinary action against the two Plain clothes Johnston said that after reviewing the results of an exhaustive internal investigation into the 12 wounding of Thomas he is Satis fied the two detectives were justified in drawing and firing their Johnston said the police depart ments regulations permit an officer to use his weapon if his own life or that of another person is in or if there is a danger of grievous bodily harm earlier this the provincial attorney generals department also cleared the two officers of any criminal saying they had acted under an honest mistake of balance of probabilities Bryk said he believes there Are still grounds for seeking civil he noted that civil cases Are deter mined on a balance of whereas in criminal proceedings guilt must be determined beyond a reason Able he said he Hopes to determine later this week whether the City will accept liability in the Case if whether an out court settlement can be if the City refuses to accept then the family will launch a civil suit against the two officers and the police he the family also May seek damages for Thomass and his Dennis who were with him in his car when the shooting the shooting took place shortly after police responded to a report of a Man with a gun in the Stock Exchange hotels Beer Vendor Johnston said yesterday the Man was reported to be loading the gun and that he appeared to have blood on his a description of the Man was also Johnston said four plainclothes offi cers were the first to arrive at the located at 910 Logan they saw a Man who answered the gunman description run from the hotel and jump into a waiting car containing two other the Man turned out to be Dennis and the two occupants judge allows Appeal on City tax assessment a woman who received a City tax notice after the deadline for appealing the assessment had expired will have the right to contest the a court of Queens Bench Justice has City of Winnipeg lawyer Marvin Samphire had argued the business assessment notice was mailed on time and the fact the taxpayer did not receive it until after it was too late to Appeal is something totally out of the cites court was told the which applied to rented premises at 961 Jarvis was sent to the Sarah by bulk mail april it was not delivered until May two weeks after the Appeal deadline court of Queens Bench Justice Dewar said in a written judgment yesterday that As it turned the cites decision to Send the notice by mail was an unfortunate but the judge said the object of the City of Winnipeg which requires the City to provide is to secure for a person subject to a new assess ment the right to file a complaint and to be heard on the judge Dewar said to deprive Tor Chinsky of the right to Appeal by reason of a failure of notice does not Accord with the fundamental nature of the common Law principle the statute Stevenson death causes cancellation Stevenson great loss tonight regular Winnipeg school Board meeting has been cancelled out of respect for trustee Inez who died saturday of a heart attack at age a division spokesman said funeral services for the boards will be held the memorial service will take place at 2 at Matthews anglican 641 Matthews flags at division schools Are flying at the spokesman the Manitoba Public schools act says division Board chairman or Secretary treasurer must Call a Bye Lection forthwith to fill a vacancy created by but no time period is a new had represented Ward 2 since Board chairman Mira Spivak is out of town and Secretary treasurer John Hayes is Brian assistant said the election must be held within six weeks after the Board chairman signs the trustee Elizabeth acting Board yesterday called Ste Ven sons death a great loss to the Winnipeg school she said Stevenson was one of the hardest working of All the Stevenson also represented the Divi Sion As an executive member of the Manitoba association of school Trust association president Myrtle Zim Merman yesterday described Steven son As very much a caring Jolly and we will miss All those big Blue Bash when the big Blue have a Bash they really have a just ask Slomback Joe Poplawski who seems ready to beat out a tune linebacker Dick Rigelhof s head during the bombers annual halloween masquerade were who was and sister Johnston said the car began to Speed out of the lot and the officers identified themselves As police and ordered the Driver to the car was then driven directly at one of the officers believing he was about to be run Drew his revolver and fired one shot at the right front wheel and Dove out of the said the officers was to the rear and on the opposite Side of the said hearing the shot and seeing his partner he believed the officer had been shot or was being shot at and fired two shots at the one of the bullets passed through the rear window and hit Thomas Sander son in the the youth lost control of the car and it stick a parked Thomas the Only one in was admitted to Hospital for treatment of his police Learned it was another Man who had been in the hotel and that he had taken a Pellet gun there to try to sell it to a hotel Thomass said after the shooting that the youths Uncle had run from the hotel after seeing the Man with the gun and told Thomas to get out of Lawrence said Thomas saw two men dressed in shirts and with guns he didst realize they were police officers and didst hear them identify themselves or shout for him to Lawrence Johnston said yesterday he sympathizes with Thomas 1 certainly do feel for the chief i think it was a most regrettable said it is still too Early to say what amount of damages the Sanderson family will be return to jobs two Winnipeg police officers who had an assault charge against them stayed Midway through their jury trial last week returned to regular duty Winnipeg police chief Ken Johnston said Charles Frederick Barneis and Constable Douglas Helgi were Back on full duty yesterday although he was unaware of what Type of work the two men Are the officers had been working in a limited capacity in the police communications Centre since they were charged two years ago with assault causing bodily harm in the alleged beating of rape suspect John Francis Frampton in Frampton had claimed Baranetski and Johnson assaulted him during a two hour period following his arrest to Force him to give a he had been charged with the rape of a 14yearold for which he was later convicted and sentenced to three years in Case went sour the Case went before an Assize court jury last but on Midway through their Crown counsel John Guy stayed proceedings against the officers he he Felt he would not be Able to prove the charge beyond a reasonable Guy said in an interview his Case had gone lawyers Jay Hersh Wolch and John All of whom have represented the convicted rapist Dur ing the last five expressed amazement that counsel for the two officers were apparently Able to obtain information from normally confidential police the introduced by Law yer Ken was used extensively by him and lawyer Rory Edge to assail Frampton credibility during their freewheeling Cros Examina both Guy and Johnston said they dont know How the lawyers obtained their which included de tails of Frampton criminal record As Well As an Edmonton police investigation into an apparent assault on his three Earold Houston accused Wolch and Scurfield of acting like a Bunch of we finally got the truth out in court in this what do they want to hide Deputy Edmonton police chief Jim Rodger said yesterday their files Are privileged and available Only to the Crown and other police ;