Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 5, 1985, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press october Page readers forum sex statistics disputed the incredible statistics claimed by Dot Sawatsky of the Kirkfield Park Baptist Church in his letter mind pollutants free sep tember 28 for the incidence of sex Ual abuse of Young people by homosexuals Bear so Little relationship to reality that one cannot help but wonder if he made them his spiteful accusations against those who seek equal treatment for his homosexual neighbors also causes one to question the religion whose Banner he his letter is in As he puts a mind poll contrary to pastor Sawatsky As the Large proportion of Inci dents of sexual abuse of children 94 to 96 per depending on the Are male adult and female while the remainder four to six per cent Only Are homosexual male male since homosexuals constitute 10 per cent of the male according to Kinsey and every major study homosexual males Are somewhat less involved than heterosexual men in child sex Ual the figure that pastor Sawatsky asserts As to the incidence of teacher Pupil sex involving homosexuals is a fantasy and is contradicted by All studies that exist on this anyone who has As i have in the educational knows two things that there Are a great Many homosexual teach ers and that the great majority of instances of teacher Pupil sex Are those occurring Between heterosexual male teachers and female pastor Sawatsky of also wrong in stating that homosexuality is a it never has Homo sexual acts Between adults have not been a crime in Canada since he claims that aids is the result of the movement to protect homosexuals from discrimination in it is fear of that discrimination which has Given Rise to conditions which fostered the spread of that disease and which has made controlling it so Don Sawatsky letter is an exam ple of the disgraceful unchristian approach taken towards homosexuals by the so called traditional Christian what kind of religion blames people for catching a disease what kind of Church wants the Loving relationships of others made illegal what kind of Faith demands Corporal and capital punishment for people who Are merely different is it the Case that decency and concern for the welfare of others Are just too traditional for the traditional Chris Vogel Winnipeg sexed needed i agree with Don Sawatsky in his letter mind pollutants free september 28 that pornography is harmful and must be stopped if at All i do not believe that sex education programs pro Mote pornography and because there is so much publicity Given to sex these it is Neces sary to teach students the facts about venereal Dis eases and other aspects of i doubt that a qualified sex Educa Tion teacher would promote pre marital or extramarital i do not believe that education about sex is leading people to be come More interested in sex and the increased acceptance of pornography is linked to the fact that people Are not As close As they used to there needs to be compassion for the so called out casts of without love and compassion Many continue to be drawn to pornography As a substitute for love and in has the effect of lowering moral i know from experience that it is possible to change Peoples attitudes by love rather than Corporal punish from i know that education can change a persons Outlook on life for the i Hope that people against pornography will Stop pointing the Finger at sex education programs and instead look to the real source of social problems Lack of compassion for others that is so prevalent in our Gibbons Winnipeg love thy brother in his letter mind pollutants free september 28 Don youth pastor of Kirkfield Baptist claims homosexual Ity should be considered a is this the Type of hatred he spreads to the youth of his Church love thy except if he does not fit into your blaming the homosexual Community for the aids epidemic is Mali Cious and since the disease is not understood yet and no one is really sure where it came in it is the heterosexual Community that is suffering from this cruel the homosexual Community does not condone Pedo to put the whole Community into one category is perhaps Sawatsky sermons would be of More use if he spoke out against heterosexual men who rape and murder girls and a letter such As Sawatsky penned by the hand of a Christian How Sonja Scharf Winnipeg nuclear fears voiced in his letter nuke research free september 23 Jovan Jovano Vich persists in his desire to provide us with the facts about nuclear because they cannot be taught in the free he announced this fall i shall give a special evening course on world Energy prospects at the University of concerned citizens of Manitoba members Are Welcome to May suggest that he include my getting the Shaft the radioactive waste controversy in in his required Reading perhaps he and his students will understand that our committee is opposed to an under ground nuclear waste repository in the not to nuclear waste As he incorrectly states in his our opposition to atomic Energy of Canada limited decl underground radioactive waste test facility at Lac Dubonnet is based on the likelihood that it will Lead to a permanent International nuclear garbage dump in Eastern the Federal government has consistently refused to Rule out that we would support decl in any Effort to diversify its research into the technology for rendering nuclear waste inert an option rejected in the but one which might gain fare More Public acceptance than geologic which puts the Burden of risk on our grandchild Drens the eminent scientists who signed the 1975 declaration on nuclear Power did not want to move Forward with a rapidly expanding nuclear Power Plant construction they wanted to go for Many i fail to under stand How Jovanovich could misrepresent my reference to their declaration As saying they wanted to abolish nuclear the serious problems identified by those scientists will not be solved in the narrow confines of a or in the reams of taxpayer support de decl Public which conveniently ignores the mounting body of informed criticism directed at the nuclear let the debate continue in the open Arena of free let us have those Public hearings on the Canad an radioactive waste program not when the vested interests have grown to the Point where hearings will be Walter Robbins spokesperson committee of concerned citizens Winnipeg crucial Point on behalf of the committee of concerned citizens of Manitoba we Are responding to the letter nuke research free september 28 by Jovan we agree in my letter nuclear fears free August 1 my claim to a half life of years was not entirely for this we Jovanovich after several thousand years nuclear waste is not More radioactive than natural uranium that was taken out of the ground to fuel Manitoban May not be comforted by the vague refer ence to the several thousand years Jovanovich Jovanovich again Demon Strates his flawed which was apparent in his letter nothing Safe free May in that he made the proverbial comparison of apples and he Drew the conclusion that we should produce electricity from uranium because when we eat we should not in his nuke research letter he contradicts himself by reference to sever Al thousand yet in the pre ceding sentence he states some nuclear wastes have a Hal life of millions of in this debate of nuclear waste Potency one crucial Point is often overlooked the staggering amounts of nuclear waste accumulating on this for 40 years nuclear science proponents have failed to resolve the rapidly com pounding problem of All types of nuclear the present solution is an out flight one of burying it in precambrian Donovan Timmers concerned citizens of Manitoba Winnipeg rent control it crore in her column rent controls appear to be Here for a Long free september 26 Arlene Billinkoff has missed the real Issue in what is aggravating the primary concern of Many apartment owners is not rent controls per be but rather a political system that is so steeped in hypocrisy that some landlords Are singled out for special consider the fact that the prov Ince raised the rents on some of its own property holdings by As much As 20 per cent during during the same the average land by could Only raise their rents a trifling per there Are a whole class of land lords to whom rent controls do not apply those owners who Are Fortu Nate enough to own buildings of less than four apartment in the provincial the largest rental property owner in has seen fit to exempt All the units it owns from any kind of at the far end of the scale Are those apartments which Are so expensive that Only the upper crust of society can afford these Are also free from statutory rent so the the govern ment and landlords who own units of four suites Are All free from the applied per cent Why should some be exempt from controls and others not Why should some be above the Law while others Are so strangled by Legal technicalities that the accumulation of a fair return for the risks involved becomes almost impossible our society has been allowed to degenerate to the Point where those who make the least Effort of All Benefit the this unfortunate dictum has now been applied to because of fixed in comes due to rent controls the prop erty owner who provides the least maintenance will reap the largest financial John Kenny Winnipeg not to blame As too the free press seems to miss some Points in its editorial procrustes a rent control free septem Ber 19 in implying the various factors that you seem to think Are directly contrib table to rent con to suggest that the construction business slump is directly related to rent controls conveniently forgets that in free Enterprise Alberta the construction Industry is More dead than alive and there Are no rent rent controls continue to be controls and no landlord tenant legislation to speak in the Market went from a Boom to a bust from per cent vacancy rate to 13 per cent vacancy rate and from billion of housing construction to All within less than two years and with no government i tend to agree when you suggest that Absentee landlords deserve in Alberta with no rent they were Able to increase rents four times a no matter what condition their rental units were with Low vacancy rates in slum landlords would Benefit much More than three per cent by Sim ply relying on Market you contradict yourself by Sug Gesting that rental housing is not a free yet you criticize rent controls and so called arbitrary percentage increases based on to rather than Market Condi i would suggest that with Strong landlord tenant organizations such As the Manitoba land lords Strong land lord tenant a rentals Man office and rent controls in this ensures a Situa Tion of fairness to both landlord and tenant rather than letting Market conditions As is the Case in Nick Ternetti Winnipeg nip income policy supported Gross misinformation or wilful distortion can be the Only reasons for Penners letter moral crisis free september he makes three errors in his suggestion that the Dps policy of redistributing wealth among canadians is in he assumes that the richest people in society Are the most a glance at people working in in industries or in Public institutions shows that there is Little relation Between income and when dome Petroleum was going broke its executives were still being paid their High the second error is that Rich peo ple pay the most in surely Penner must be aware of the Many people with incomes Over who pay Little or no and surely he must be aware that the conservative governments Flat tax will do Little to change this after All the exemptions Are his third error is to Lump the nip with the liberals and conservatives in being the statistics Are in the last 35 years the Bottom 20 per cent of households has never received even five per cent of total Canadian income including All the redistribution while the top 20 per cent of households has always received More than 40 per cent of total Canadian this unequal distribution of income causes suffering for Many and lavish waste by others and that is Immor whether liberals or conservatives the figures stay the Penner must know that the nip cannot be held responsible for this suffering while others Are bailing out the unproductive Barry Hammond Winnipeg Kildonan by election shows declining pc fortunes the outcome of the Kildonan by election is a commentary both on recent events in Ottawa and on the provincial political it also provides an object lesson in the Vicissitudes of a jittery and unprepared government won handily Over a Well broadly based and up opposition nip Victor Marty Dolin gave provincial tory Leader Gary Filmon top Billing in his list of Hilmons Blurry image is hardly a plus for his but another Factor in the tories inability even to improve their popular vote percentage in what is now a swing seat was unquestionably the incredible events of the past month in the nations the provincial tories have Mem most of their candidates nominated and election advertising already under in Beverley they had a candidate one senior nip strategist called what ran them off the rails was the deadly combination of voter apathy and the general Public is singularly uninspired with both options at the provincial level and because of the daily circus in seems to have sunk into helpless cynical disgust about politicians observers covering the by election found evidence of that cynicism while they were shrugging their shoulders to nip canvassers inquiring How they Felt about the Pawley voters were expressing anger to tory workers about rancid tuna and de indexing of old age on election it All added up to two a Low turnout at the polls and what Little anti nip protest there was going lot to the official but to the Job reals and the splinter whom Frances Russell some voters confused with the if the situation its a prescription for an nip Victory in the forthcoming general Kildonan is not the Safe nip seat it once right up to voting new democrats were predicting they might Only hang onto it by a while the tories were hopeful they could humiliate the government even if they could not score party strategists on both sides see the seat As a microcosm of Urban Manitoba a mix Ture of High and Low income groups and a replication of the provinces vibrant ethnic Kildonan int Tuxedo or says one nip but neither is it it is More like Riel or Niak in other it int a certainty for either it is a swing a one of the 14 or so seats along Manitoba Northwest to Southeast Diagonal line which determine the out come at each general Low turnouts in by elections if not at least Little anger at the govern tory despite a Good candidate and a reasonable did what disenchanted tory voters always they just stayed the outcome should embolden Premier Howard Pawley to Call a general election for late fall or Early but All bets Are still on a Spring while the government has obviously pulled out of the deep Slough of voter antipathy occasioned by the French language debate of the party just int one new Democrat puts it this Way the party is just starting to recover morale was at an historic to the Point almost that no one even wanted to admit belonging to let alone be prepared to face the fury at the this by election will be tremendously important for but we still need More the election preparations usual for a governing party at the end of its fourth year have been almost nonexistent in the nip the grassroots was not Only Shell but disenchanted by the govern ments fumbles and fortunately for the the Mulroney governments monumental incompetence has recently made the Pawley administrations inability to control events Pale by Kildonan will presumably breathe life into the Dps formerly halfhearted efforts to raise renew and expand member recruit candidates and develop an election the chief effects of by elections Are psycho the particularly when its the scores two victories the seat itself and the feeling and appearance of electoral the tories needed a much better showing than they obtained to keep the momentum they had been carefully building Over the past their loss will Likely augment the rumblings of discontent and division Over the leadership already nibbling away at their state of election the poor turnout has been cited by the tories As the reason for their it is undoubtedly More difficult to motivate peo ple to vote against the government when they know they cant change but it has been done in a string of by elections in the fall of the Trudeau liberals were trounced solidly in some of their safest even though their majority was not at they went on to lose the general election in the Low turnout left unanswered the ques Tion of what the Large Block of undecided voters will do in a provincial but Given the huge Lead the tories enjoyed Over the new democrats just a year that silence is doonesbury by Garry Trudeau five years when Ronai Rea Gan Promise to simultaneously Iowa increase military who says Johnm cant a since assuming pk5ipentrea More Pef crr than his 39 predecessors cd wine with the National Peb Nowat an awesomet2 even Republican loyali5t5albnoui finally starting to fac facts amp whisper the hitherto that that ;