Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 14, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free january Winnipeg free press i Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights published seven Days a week at 300 Carlton Winnipeg by newspapers division of Canadian newspapers company limited Telephone 9439331 a member of the Manitoba press Council Arthur Wood publisher John Dafoe editorial Page editor Murray Burt managing editor Rudy Redekop controller Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Lithuania pushes too hard the soviet unions restive republics could take a valuable lesson from Poland not the Poland of 1989 with its no communist government and its drastic program of economic but the Poland of that was the year when the leaders of the free Trade Union Heady from their own Success at wringing truly remarkable concessions from the communist pushed too hard and too the unwilling and basically unable to go so pushed martial Law was Solidarity was its leaders arrested or forced into hiding and Poland was sucked Back into the it took almost the rest of the decade before the process of Reform was some of the soviet republics Are in a similar inspired by the examples of Poland and other Eastern european nations and freed from Many constraints by soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev own Reform nationalist sentiments Are rising from the Baltic to the Black they constitute perhaps the single greatest threat to Gorbachev policies As they endanger the very existence of the soviet nowhere do these flames Burn hotter than in Lithia Latvia and the Baltic states enslaved by Stalin during the second world last Gorbachev was in without great at least to Bank the fires since it appears that they can no longer be put out except by a massive use of Force that he has already the demand for Independence is accelerating in All three Baltic with Lithuania in the its communist party recently declared itself Independent of the soviet which was the event that prompted Gorbachev it seems Clear that neither economic nor political Reform even changes far greater than Gorbachev has yet implemented will satisfy the baits whose claim to Independence is legally and morally As much As one can should sympathize with Baltic the world should also spare some sympathy for the terrible dilemma those aspirations pose for unless the soviet Leader can convince the baits that Independence must be a Lon term that they should fall into step with or even Lead a More moderate Pace of change within the soviet Union and the hundreds of thousands of lithuanians who demonstrated for Independence last week gave him no grounds for optimism Here then he is faced with two unpalatable choices to let the Baltic states decide their own which almost certainly Means a breakaway in the near future or to forcibly constrain the first option carries with it the likelihood of the collapse of the soviet most of whose member republics were brought in and kept in by All along the Western and Southern in Bye Lorus nationalism is on the if the baits Are allowed to break How does Moscow Stop the ukrainians or the georgians the second option the use of Force carries with it the probability of the end of perestroika of Gorbachev plans and perhaps of Gorbachev nor is there any Way of predicting whether repression would cow As it did in or provoke As it did in if Gorbachev were to choose this he would first need to be certain that his own process of Reform has not yet passed the Point of no Gorbachev appears to be leaning towards accept ing the inevitable and letting events take their in the Baltic states at he told the lithuanians the soviet government was drafting a Law that would set out the mechanics of a statement from a soviet Leader that would have been unimaginable Only a few months yet there is no guarantee of he also after an acerbic Exchange with a lithuanian that if such attitudes and slogans exist in then very hard times Are in the he will do what he thinks is Best for Russia and his own whether that appears benevolent or despotic in the eyes of the with that and the polish example in the if they might try to remember that make haste slowly is not Only a cliche it is sometimes extremely Good ice Palace will tame icy blasts a half baked assessment it is difficult to be patient and to wait for science to produce the facts when the country is vying with another nation for a nato that is no for the defence department to gloss Over what is or to fail to Point out clearly that the results of a scientific inquiry it paid for will be available Long before anyone need decide where to locate the nato flight training that is what the department has done in a fumbled Effort to satisfy Domestic concerns about the proposed base and its Impact on inn and Caribou of Northern Quebec and the department should Leam that secrecy is Likely to prompt More delays than full and open the stir centres on the departments study of the environmental Impact of Many More nato warplanes flying Many More Low level More than a fivefold increase in flights Over the Region is last some of the 22 Independent scientists who were asked for their opinion on an Impact study prepared by and and its said exactly what they the Impact study is not nearly Good it was the first time that a Federal environmental review panel had sought that sort of Independent advice before deciding whether to accept an Impact study or to Send it Back for More it should not be the last time that a review panel takes that the 22 specialists found no less than 100 major flaws and said so quite when reporters discovered their complaints and some of the scientists began to elaborate in the scientists received Calls from the Federal environmental assessment review they were reminded that it was and not politic to direct comments to the Public in As Well As the Federal review in a similar consultants who were hired by and were Given instructions in writing last summer to Send All inquiring reporters to a and Valerius an expert on the effects of noise on hit the roof when he read ends estimation of the Impact on Caribou herds which roam through flight although guidelines for the review panel clearly said that studies were under Way on the effects on the and the health of whatever the Caribou studies showed simply was not a and spokesman tried to explain away the absence by saying a Caribou study was not available when the Impact study was and asked the Caribou researcher for a copy of his report last the same Day that Fearo put its Muffler on the the Day after Geist had voiced his complaints on National As it turns the of Caribou by Fred Harrington of mount Vincent University began three years the who was under contract to the Newfoundland wildlife got a Little data for two years and very Little cooperation from and which showed Little interest in flying Over the Caribou tagged for the about two thirds of the aircraft avoided the the re searcher made a Small in the Caribou saw much More of and jets and the research Tab was picked up by the department for a third if it had waited for the the review panel might have Learned that Low level flights appear to cause Caribou to be More but do not cause them to abandon Home it might have Learned that science still Doest have the full answer and that it will take a decade or More of watching the herds to detect an it might have Learned that the worst Impact will be Felt Only if the largest which Cross the flight paths temporarily during Northern decide to resettle in the flight path zone because the population has grown too Large for its food none of this on its own is a Good reason to prevent the location of a nato the research May in time mean that and would be required to mitigate any Impact and compensate people who need the the department was unwise to avoid the animals and doubly unwise not to be More open about the the Federal review panel has every right to return the Impact study to and by february 12 and to order the department to do a better it should do it should Tell and to include the Caribou study now available and to do something about the 99 other by Christopher Dafoe special to the free press what is it about january that seems to put everybody on Edge the first month of the year is on everybody shortlist of months that cannot be Over soon i dislike january myself and have noted that my dislike is shared by Many there Are obvious reasons for hat ing especially in this part of the for one the excitement of Christmas is Over and even the january sales cannot re kindle our occasional thaw As we Settle into january there Are still possibly of Winter looming there May be the occasional thaw in but we All know perfectly Well that the weather is going to be a lot worse before it gets much there Are no holidays in unless you count the birthday of Queen Beatrix which is celebrated Only in Holland or Australia Day which is Only celebrated Down for january begins with a bad hangover and the late suffering from headache and Post Christmas Tummy can Only indulge in the gloomy contemplation of a full month of 31 Days without festival or civic attempts to establish a Nice holi Day in the Middle of Dull january possibly a Long weekend have always it seems that the National Economy would be wrecked if the workers were Given a january Long weekend or even a half in the next Holiday we can look Forward to happens to be which Falls this year in the Middle of almost a lifetime away As we bog Down in the cheerless Snow of medical experts Tell us that Sun Light deprivation plays a part in what we Are often pleased to Call the january we speak of sunny Winter Days in but the tendency in january appears to be toward overcast skies and Banks of dark starved of we give in to morbid speculation there is talk of wills and epitaphs we As George Gershwin or was it Ira Gershwin put More skies of than any russian play could but do we have to suffer through dreary old january those with time and Money to spare can head for the sunny but i have noticed that the elation that one sees in those recently returned from holi Days in the hotels and resorts of Mexico often fades As swiftly As the something More is Sal it cannot be obtained by running away from a Mere month or catching what somebody once called the Aztec two step on some exotic what can be done to Rescue us from the horrors of the january decline How can we Ward off the urge to end it All at the beginning of every year learn to like it i suspect that the Best Way to overcome the horrors of the grim month of january is to embrace it and learn to like do not remain at Home listening to the wind howl put on Thermal underwear and other warm items of clothing and step into the january take up go for a ski or slide Down a Hill on a Winter carnivals offer a Good Way of getting through in re cent years the ice carnivals on the Assiniboine and red Rivers have helped to take the sting out of Winter and have Given Many Winnipeg Resi dents a lot of ice carnivals Are an old Canadian thumbing through a 1922 copy of the Beaver the other Day i came across an advertisement for the Winnipeg Winter staged in that year Between february 6 and 12 to As the and said the optimism of the a couple skates on the River ice in fancy there is an ice Palace in the background and a Toboggan gothic Structure ice palaces were once part of the enchantment of the Canadian win the first of them was built at Montreal in a towering gothic Structure of ice blocks with beams and Green boughs arranged above As a after that first ice Palace delighted visitors to the 1883 Montreal sports the ice Palace be came an annual with the design becoming increasingly Delabo the great ice Palace of 1885 was 160 feet Long with a Tower 100 feet later palaces were built to resemble such things As the Tower of but the Palace of 1885 was Long remembered As a fabulous it was described As follows by the new York times it is wonder fully Beautiful in the but it is not until evening that one sees to perfection the enchanted Castle of gleaming Seagreen United when the Moon shines in the heavens above with that Clear brilliancy seen Only in extremely cold and with the electric illuminations glittering through its towers and it seems much More like the marvellous imaginings of some opium sated we have the we have the january lies before let us build our ice Palace at the bus service for Christmas this year transit Tom gave its riders a traditional Holiday gift reduced service and a confused and inconvenient certainly its Nice to save a bit of and give More Drivers time off but the ill feeling and negative impressions left on transit riders will take a while to transits chopping of service reflects a perception that most transit users get time off during the Christ Mas anyone Riding the buses during that time would know that is not the and some bus Drivers get this time off regular working stiffs do of course ridership is Down a bad week for bus but does this justify inconveniencing All the people who depend on transit in order to save a Little Cash Why not save Cash by reducing the Adver Tising which is meant to boost More is done to reduce the inclination to use transit by the misguided scheduling strategy at Christmas and indeed All year round than any advertising Campaign could possibly make up ride above it after waiting 20 minutes for a bus in 25 degree in addition to reducing service during this transit also does an inadequate Job of informing peo ple when the buses will be i know that at my place of work All the transit users were condemnatory in their conversations of our bus i would imagine there were similar expressions throughout the workplaces of this i dont want to condemn the whole bus there Are some Good things about it is bus passes Are convenient and easier to get than in some other cities such As where you have to get a Mug shot to go with the pass so no one else can use and the majority of bus Drivers Are helpful and pleasant but the schedulers and manage ment dont impress me at their supposed strategy is one of increasing i spent just about every working Day this Christ Mas period thinking about whether i could afford to get a maybe the movers and shakers at transit should think about some other ways of saving rather than Mak ing those who do have to work during the holidays pay the Price of saving the company a bit of John theall Winnipeg letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from writers must give their name and names will be used and letters Are subject to Long bus Waits during the Normal working Days Between Christmas and new years Winnipeg transit users once again were subjected to reduced perhaps Winnipeg transit does not realize that most workers do not get the entire week but rather have to go to work on the Days Between the two transit apparently feels that it is saving Money because ridership is Down during this i was always under the impression that it was a priority of Winnipeg transit to provide a service to the i saw the same people Riding the bus to work those Days As the rest of the it was very unpleasant to experience Long Waits for buses and when they did come they were completely i am glad that week is Over and now find the buses running during the week As Winnipeg transit should rethink its priorities and accommodate the majority of its riders those people who rely on the bus to take them to and from their jobs every working Day of the Ruth Humberg Winnipeg concerned the Manitoba islamic association is very concerned about the conditions of minority muslims in muslims being a minority about 12 per cent in India could never live in peace due to ant Muslim ant ago terrorism and every year communal and racial violence claims thousands of Muslim lives and causes massive destruction of Muslim properties and last year was the worst for mus lims in India since Savage riots broke out in september and october in dozens of places in the states of utter a Midlya West tamil Maharashtra and thousands of muslims were slaughtered and Many Muslim villages were Burnt and passenger trains were stopped and Many mus lims were picked out of the looted and hacked to the state and Federal govern ments of India have utterly failed to protect the Basic and religious rights of minority muslims and deliver Justice to bring about a lasting Solu imposed to control the delinquent superficially and temporarily calmed Down the Vio Lent but it is not a solution to the the problem arose in 1855 by the demand to demolish the Bari mosque and to build a Temple on its muslims in Manitoba Are very concerned about the riots and the conversion of the Bari mosque into a we urge the Canadian government to initiate an investigation into the human rights policies of India and put Strong political pressure on the Indian government to take measures to Deal with the racial Golam Kibria first Vic president Manitoba islamic association rights abuse the annual amnesty International report has just been co vering the events of 1988 it puts in perspective the events so rapidly unfolding in Romania and human rights violations were re ported in both As in past years in Sev eral Hundred people were believed to be in either for nonviolent exercise of their right to Freedom of or for attempting to leave the country this continuing pattern of human rights abuse had been described in a 1987 Ai publication that reported con Cerns As far Back As in March of 1988 Ai published the report Panama assault on human and called for urgent government action to halt human rights violations which included torture and detention without no matter what form of govern ment comes to Power in Panama or amnesty International will continue to Call for release of prisoners of people detained for their ethnic origin or who have not used or advocated we will also continue to work for fair and prompt trials for All political and to oppose the death penalty and Sheila bog och group 19 amnesty International Winnipeg minorities the Lapel pin which asks who is the minority in Canada has elicited furious objections from our sanctimonious human rights the irony is that they by promulgating the paternalistic pejorative visible Are largely responsible for influencing the thinking of the Skoubas of our Kouba emigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia 20 years ago according to a free press Story and since he is does not number himself among any second class a Indian or chinese person who was born Here and has lived Here for a lifetime must Wear the badge of visible As de Creed by the it is readily comprehensible that Kouba should say he designed the pin because so Many people have complained to him that visible minorities Are taking their our advocates of serv Lely divisive language do As if not More than he Donald Gordon Winnipeg excuse can i come out to play i ;