Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 9, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba It Winnipeg free press March Page 3 universities claim Grants province sued in bungled local dissension school trustees agree by Julia Necheff a bitter War of words has Deve loped among Winnipeg school Board within Days of the 1987 budget last the nine member Board was Rife with allegations of conflict of interest and bitter with accusations of political the week ended with some trustees calling for the resignation of chairman de five trustees contacted last week All agreed that dissension and polarization on the Board have reached dangerous matters came to a head when Ward 2 trustees Mario Jim Frey and Enid and Ward 3 trustee Isobel boycotted a special budget meeting called by Kowalchuk for thursday the four trustees have formed a coalition to Cut spending and reduce taxes in the Kowalchuk said trustee Susan Curtie left the meeting after a half breaking up the five member quorum so debate could not be the boards finance com Mittee wanted the budget debate postponed until she could hot be reached for com ment Kowalchuk called the boy Cotters actions a conspiracy and highly Irre saying the Board will be hard pressed to have the budget ready before sundays delay debate Santos has demanded the chairman accusing Kowalchuck of going against a Board majority by calling the councillor favors tax break for renters with single Mill rate by David Roberts denying he has made an about face from an earlier a senior City councillor says he now favors a single Mill rate for All taxable properties in civic finance committee chairman Harold Macdonald says if the City imposes different Mill rates on the eight property classes it would deny thousands of renters potential tax Macdonald Corydon suggested Council look at three options any of which could give apartment owners and renters a tax Benefit even though one of the options would involve passing tax increases on to other property including As a member of the cites and hoc committee negotiating with the students denounce tactics by Jack Lakey at a private school say they Are being coerced into blowing the whistle on classmates the Princi pal suspects were drinking on a school a few students of Westgate mennonite collegiate were suspected of drinking by chaperoning teachers on a recent Outing to a North Dakota ski said Keith a Grade 11 despite having no direct evidence that anyone was Peters says the principal is using peer pressure by cancelling All extracurricular activities until the alleged guilty drinkers it seems like the whole school is being held hostage so they can use peer pressure to get somebody to come Forward and say they were he Peters said Many of the schools 250 students attended the ski trip and a teacher apparently thought he smelled alcohol on the breath of one of the no alcohol was sought or he and no students were Ever confronted by on the monday following the ski he said the principal announced that teachers knew of several Stu dents who had been drinking on the and the drinkers had until Fri Day to come Forward and after no students owned Peters said at least four major extracurricular activities were cancelled As a Means of using students to pressure a confession out of he conceded that there May have been a few students who sneaked alcohol on to the but said it was not noticeable to anyone who id say the drinking problem Here is really slim compared to any pub Lic theres not what you could Call any serious drinking Here maybe a few experimenters but that principal Erwin Strempler said that while the school has pinpointed a few students suspected of drinking on the they have no solid Evi we dont know for sure who was unless somebody comes Forward and says they did we cant just conduct a Witch the Issue were dealing with Here is one of Trust we Trust our Stu dents and Treyve broken that he said because students often use cars on school outings he wanted to Send out a Clear message that drink ing would not be tolerated on school Strempler added that if the drinkers the cancelled functions will be province Over Macdonald was successful in convincing Urban affairs minister Gary doer to create a new tax category to Cushion the tax Impact on condominium a new tax category for Golf courses also was bringing the total number of tax classes to formerly within the r2 multiple residential now will have a Simi Lar Mill rate applied to them As re single family Macdon Ald we won that now its time to do something for the he adding he intends to press Council to look at the dilemma facing renters and apartment due to r2 dwelling units take up a smaller Overall share of the total assessment Roll than in such units theoretically should enjoy a tax break As suburban single family dwellings take up the tax Load Macdon Ald that the Purist he adding he wants to see a single Mill rate to be determined applied to All eight tax he said most apparently with doers want to adopt differential Mill rates so suburban homeowners can be spared possible double digit tax in Macdonald said one Way of allow ing renters to enjoy benefits from reassessment is by having Commer Cial property owners pay the City of Winnipeg raised about million through property taxes last councillors have said they will need Between three per cent and five per cent More tax Money to bal Ance the budget in last residential proper ties including single family and multiple dwellings paid Mil or about 60 per cent of the total realty commercial property owners paid or 35 per another Macdonald is for the City to take the to Benefit accruing to apartment units and spread the costs around the other seven classes to varying the preferred option is to strike one Mill rate for All eight he that option is Likely to be the least palatable to suburban Macdonald at least one suburban Council Bill Clement thinks Macdonald plan will never be Macdonald All Over the Clement till never As Clement said there is no guarantee apartment owners will not reap a tax Windfall by failing to pass the savings on to doer last week Reaf firmed the provinces willingness to approve differential Mill All property owners will continue to pay their share of the total tax pie As a result of he he charged Kowalchuk was trying to push the budget debate through without further spending he push the meeting through shows a Lack of Confidence from Santos so he should most trustees said they wanted to postpone the budget debate until this pending further information from the City on reassess ment and from the division traction on salary trustees Anita Neville and Eliza Beth Jones defended the saying they thought he was genuinely concerned about completing the they accused Santos of delaying tactics and stirring up dissension by polarizing the Neville conceded she did not want the meeting but said she Felt obliged to show up and debate with what information she Neville and Jones have also questioned preys Frey is a full time native Educa Tion consultant with the provincial education Jones and Neville say there is a perception among division staff that Frey has a conflict interest be tween his professional interest and his role As a they said staff members were confused when Frey showed up at a recent teachers seminar at Hugh John Macdonald not know ing if he was acting As a department consultant or a Frey has described the conflict charge As he noted when elected last octo Ber that he had an agreement with the department not to have any dealings with the school division As a consultant to which he has strictly As Jones Frey acted unethically by recently putting Forward the name of a division consultant for a principals although trustees on the previous Board sometimes raised names for Jones said such practices Are political meddling in the appointment both Santos and Frey rejected the saying they have the duty and the right As trustees to bring Forward promising they accused a faction in the division staff of attempting to Dis credit placing pressure on him to resign in order to break up the Ward 2 budget cutting Dave free press the Cadham provincial lab has examined blood samples for aids since aids blood testing doubles As fear official says by Kathleen Engman about twice As Many Manitoban had their blood tested for aids last month compared to february says a Cadham provincial Labora tories As 17 full fledged aids cases have been reported in the five resulting in and More than 72 one a have been exposed to the Laila Cadham assistant said just Over 120 blood samples were tested last Swekla said blood samples have been examined since Cadham started testing blood in she said she is not certain Why there was a february doubling in aids but that Public concern Likely has a lot to do with there is a general due to the fact that the Media is putting the concept of aids in every ones she said people who think they May have been exposed to the virus should be if Only to pre vent them from unwittingly passing it a person May carry the aids virus and pass it on without showing any the virus is transmitted through semen and Swekla said More women Are hav ing their blood tested at the adding the number Likely reflects in creased awareness that acquired immune deficiency syndrome is not limited to she said women May be More aware of the risks to themselves and their fetuses if they have been exposed to the relative newness of the syn drome and its Long incubation period make it hard to predict the Onset of or if it will hit All who Are some research shows that 35 per cent of exposed people will develop aids within six to eight Swekla said Cadham employees do not know whose blood is being tested because it is identified Only by a the patients name is known by his or her she when a blood test results in a positive signifying a person has been exposed to the aids the Case is reported to the provincial communicable disease control of she Margaret director of communicable disease said it will Likely be several More months before aids is a legally reportable Manitoba and Newfoundland Are the Only provinces that do not legally require doctors to report aids cases to fast said health officials have drafted and redrafted wording of legislation that will put aids on the reportable health minister Larry Desjardins said he has been leaving the matter up to he said he believes aids should be made theres no doubt in Surmis ing Here we said by Law you have to report that More people would report fast said she doubted her office has missed hearing about any Manitoba aids she said doctors Deal with full blown aids cases Are a select and she is in frequent Contact with fast said the Public health act has a clause requiring doctors to report diseases that Are a danger to the Public she noted Manitoba reports All its cases to Kowalchuk ouster sought explosion settlement demanded a City councillor says he has been pressuring mayor Bill Norrie to by pass the courts and compensate a family following a fatal under ground transformer i know what that family went councillor Harry la Zarenko said last and i do not think any amount of Money will Ever be Able to erase that Acci Dent from their in july Ian his and his an were engulfed in a fireball from an underground transformer explosion that shot through a Side walk ventilation grate on Portage Avenue near Donald Ian Bland died four months later from third degree Burns to 95 per cent of his the who Are suing the City and the transformer have not been offered payments As an instalment on the final settlement in their the family said last Pollock said Media reports Quot ing him As saying the City has agreed to an interim payment scheme Are not i was he i do not know that this woman is get Ting any the lawyer said the interim pay ment information came from a Tele vision reporter who told him he had heard Bland was about to receive Money from the i have not heard any the cites Dennis ring said compensation arrange ments Are still being but nothing has been finalized Ringstrom a settlement has not been reached and there Are no payments Lazarenko Norquay said he feels the family is entitled to Bompensa adding he would Welcome interim i think they should be getting because Bland has been unable to work since the Acci Dent and is still undergoing treat 1 the Blands marriage has broken up since the he they have gone through hell and i thought what is the City doing it was not the Blands so i have been pushing the mayor along with the cites solicitor that its time they did something for Lazarenko Norrie could not be reached for agencies unable to afford added Mercier says Cash strapped child and family service agencies cannot possibly pay an increased share of administration costs for adolescent tory Community services critic Gerry Mercier he said he will be questioning Community services minister Muriel Smith in the legislature today on a government plan to make Agen cies pay administrative costs of a program which places teens in inde pendent As the end of the fiscal year a Many agencies Are Al ready in a deficit position and dont have the funds required to pay costs not originally budgeted Mercier said last i dont know How they could be expected to pay these extra costs but it follows a format by this govern and that is to throw greater responsibility at organizations with out increasing their he a government directive told the agencies that administrative costs would have to come out of a budget each gets to pay for sending help into Homes of troubled the government has said it will pay Only for the clothing and other personal costs for 16and 17yearolds who cannot live at Home and Are provided with apartments to live administrative costs consist mainly of the salaries of the social workers who supervise and set up teens in the decision could possibly Drain hundreds of thousands of dollars from Agency budgets and is retroactive to who was unaware of the plan until Reading a free press report said the Pawley government appears to be cutting Corners on social services while expecting agencies to provide the same level of City rejects air Canadas reassessment request the City of Winnipeg has rejected air Canadas request for a reassess ment of its downtown computer the airline will Appeal the february ruling to the Manitoba municipal company spokesman Ted Morris Morris said the City considers computer support equipment in the building to be part of the Structure and therefore air he regards it Only As equipment stored in the the building houses million in computer equipment and systems which link the airlines world com Puter update a followup to the bringing readers up to Date on stories that have appeared in the free press the equipment disputed in the tax assessment is a backup Power Plant which takes up an entire floor of the the Plant was installed As the building was constructed and cannot be Morris said the airline does not dispute its land but does question the buildings assessment of in air Canada has paid its 1986 and 1987 he but will receive i a refund from the City if the Provin Cial Board rules in its funds ahead of target the University of Manitoba five fundraising Campaign is above its planned a University spokesman information director Bob Raeburn said the first year of the drive raised Well above its million Raeburn said the Campaign is de signed to supplement provincial education and that most of the Money raised will be spent on items not covered by the he said these include scholar research and other editor awaits answer the editor of a lutheran Magazine who is tired of paying a higher postal rate than Playboy Magazine said he expects a response to his Appeal for a reduction will come this Ferdy who edits Canada said Canada Post officials told him to expect a response the first week in Baglo said the fact his Magazine was denied second class mailing Sta Tus costs him an extra in Canada posts policy is Inconis he because some other religious publications have second class Baglo also has said he is upset Playboy magazines Canadian Post Al rate is lower than player fights charge a University of Manitoba hockey player has pleaded not guilty to an office assault charge and has a court Date set for june a Virden court clerks office spokesman the spokesman said Stewart Crimson had a no guilty plea entered late last Grimson was charged with assault causing bodily harm in an office incident after a game against bran Don University last september in ;