Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 13, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Readers forum Winnipeg free press a 7 May Antigua Law ministers fire Blanks Manitoba Justice minister Rosemary Vodrey and Deputy Premier Jim Downey joined the procession of Prairie politicians to Ottawa this week to denounce the Federal governments proposed gun control like her Alberta and Saskatchewan Vodrey repeated the gun lobby mantra guns dont kill people kill there is no link Between gun registration and reduced criminal target the not the la abiding gun the problem with these arguments is that they Are Only Hal True As far As they which int very the hazards of unrestricted gun ownership extend Well beyond none of these assertions addresses the Winnipeg House party where a group of teenagers handed around a one died Frances Russell when the gun accidentally none deals with the tragedy of Robert eleven years Robert was shot and killed by two members of his own gang in Robert himself was on the suspected of shooting and killing 14yearold Shavon Dean and wounding another what do these Justice ministers reply to this chilling piece of advice to Canadian gun owners from an american enthusiast oppressive this is essentially a fight to the with individual Liberty and National sovereignty at arms Are the Freeman last line of defence against an oppressive without we would be at the a government we cant its author uttered the understatement of the year when he admitted your typical anti gunner Doest feel near this amount of Saskatchewan Justice minister Robert Alberta Justice minister Brian Evans and Yukon Justice minister Douglas Phillips want to narrow the gun debate Down to crime because they know their position is rendered indefensible by such events and they dont want to Deal with the statistics cited by the Canada safety Over canadians die in murders and accidents with guns every Many More Are gun control is a Public safety they also dont want to admit to the statistics produced by the Canadian advisory Council on the status of women almost half the women killed by their husbands Are transition houses Are full of women and children who have been threatened with guns dont kill people kill people int the whole people armed with guns certainly find it a lot easier to kill people than if they had to Handt hand a a baseball a shoe or an last Vodrey earned the derision of Liberal Justice critic and Winnipeg police officer Gary Kowalski for arguing that telephones and ashtrays were the weapons of Choice in Domestic violence claiming there is no link Between gun registration and reduced criminal activity ignores the evidence that screams at canadians from every american television newscast and police the United the Only Western industrialized country with virtually unrestricted gun ownership and a vociferous gun has the highest crime and murder rate among Western industrialized proposing that government just target the criminal and leave the la abiding gun owner alone ignores the documented fact that most guns used in crimes originally belonged to la abiding registration is a minor like having to buy Why dont gun owners regard it in the same a Small Price to pay to protect their too the full mobilization of Prairie politicians against gun control flies in the face of popular opinion in their not lower last end ironic research group polled adult canadians on the issues raised by the Federal it found 90 per cent approved of a Law requiring All firearms to be support was not significantly lower in Manitoba 87 Saskatchewan 82 per cent and Alberta 83 per a Gallup poll conducted last fall of canadians produced similar eight three per cent favored gun 74 per cent on the an earlier Gallup Survey of canadians taken in june found 77 per cent endorsed stricter controls on gun ninety three per cent said gun owners should have a police background 96 per cent said they should have to take a compulsory firearms training and 63 per cent proposed a psychological some gun owners talk about cultural if Canada allows itself to be subsumed by a gun its Canadas cultural Joe Greksa Winnipeg tree press jets logo is retired to rafters at emotional jets fed Community spirit group emotion gladly shared so there perhaps it didst really hit us until we watched them raise the Banner to the rafters of that outdated building on maroons not unlike the lowering of a its amazing what it takes to bring a Community together and do something that is usually reserved for weddings and and that is weep in some people might scratch their Heads at such a display of raw emotion on a collective but those of us who took part in the Winnipeg jets Farewell last saturday feel no sense of embarrassment or guilt Over for an hour and a thousands of Winni Eggers gathered together in the and in front of tvs and radios for a shared experience that crossed barriers of social and economic this is something that happens of so it seems the few times weve been Able to feel such a sense of Community have been after a goal by Dave Ellett in double or after the final whistle of a Grey cup a very vocal minority was somehow Able to cast doubt on the importance of a professional sports franchise in this and thus create a divisive i find that very it want just about it was about experiencing something that made us feel exhilarated As a Community or Down As a we live in a time where society is becoming fragmented and were prone to feeling a Little awkward at the simple task of saying hello to our or making Eye Contact with a stranger passing us yet we have no problem High iving someone at a hockey or weeping with them in the last moments of an Era we believe was really that something the critics May never because it cant be so Winnipeg As you head off on your extended Road Well cling to the Jeff she wag a Winnipeg terms considered predictable Meg reasons Lack sense the loss of the jets is undoubtedly a major blow to this City on Many it very Well May be that nothing could have saved Short of deep pockets in the private sector willing to take a very Large Gamble or a government willing to continue to write Blank the reasons cited by the Mec which led to its fabled april 27 announcement in my make a lot of it made no sense that the Mec would suddenly claim it had no knowledge that there would be severe restrictions put on a new own ers ability to sell the team in the Short term if losses became too Barry Shenkarow consistently said publicly his intention was to sell to owners committed to the Long term and that the league would make certain of the Mec had to know even if the league impose restrict surely the owners of the new whether it be a nonprofit organization or would require a Lon term resulting in a Lon term it makes no sense that Only in the final couple of weeks would the Mec have substantially More information with which to project salary Levels than they had a few months they had consistently said one of their mandates was to find buyers for the but before they could recommend a Pur Chase to anyone there had to be some indicators that salary in creases would slow Down and that they were waiting for guarantees by the league of some form of Revenue sharing and foreign Exchange subs this never assuming the Mec was or should have been aware months ago of a required Lon term commitment by new and had or should have had the same knowledge to project salaries which they suddenly had two weeks perhaps there Are several other avenues which could have been i believe the utter even to of the Mecs announce ment on april 27 tells a to it says the Mec knew for a Long time there would be no buyer for the team and they were per haps in conjunction with other Par for the most opportunistic time to break the perhaps they thought an 1 it hour announcement would Force govern ments to act so quickly they have time to the unfortunate result of their Tim ing was that no time was left to Pur sue other Miles Winnipeg speech be taken for granted May is speech and hearing so i thought i would write about my my son has difficulty understanding and expressing him i was one of those people who took language for its difficult to imagine what it must be like not to be Able to its especially difficult because its not a visible i spent a lot of time trying to explain to family and friends what was wrong with along with trying to understand my Jessie was 2 when we took him to child development at childrens i knew there was some thing wrong because he was not forming any could not Fol Low any his behaviour was becoming out of frustration at not being Able to com Jessie was put into the Nursery program at childrens it was soon realized by everyone that he would need to see a speech a Jessie was Able to see Maureen through childrens Maureen has been working with Jessie for 2 she taught him to Point and so his needs could be Jessie is a visual so you had to show him things repeatedly to develop his this reduced his we worked on shaping sounds and gradually for most children it is a natural thing to learn to for Jessie it is extremely Jessie still goes to speech therapy and works really hard at but it takes support and commitment from the entire family for every thing to he has come a Long he now Speaks in sentences and you can have a conversation with still there is a lot More to be its scary not knowing what problems Jessie will have in once you hit the school system the resources Are being Cut Back All the Jessie will be Lucky to see a speech therapist twice a for half an with four other Jessie is one of the fortunate Chil i hate to think of where my son would be without speech it has Given Jessie the Chance for a Normal something a lot of us take for Arlenel Stolb Winnipeg summer school classes insane As a High school it concerns me greatly that year round school ing has been considered by the provincial department of Rumor has it sometime in the near students May have As Many As 40 extra Days per year in the this proposal May be beneficial for working parents and May reflect world for the Core of the educational this is an insane prop students and teachers work arduously throughout Stohs of the year covering the required need less to both become exhausted after weeks of study ing and All Are in dire need of rest and cutting out the summer break limits a Stu dents starting summer going to Camps and travelling with family or friends All add to a students personal known As if this proposal were to be come a theres no doubt that most students and Many teachers would for this i sincerely Hope that when decisions re Garding education Are there made with the Best interests of the students in in Quantity does not ensure Jennifer Selby Winnipeg River borne Board committed to openness to the editor the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home add Ess and Telephone doonesbury contrary to the claims made by former River borne development association Board member Irwin Cor Bow free april the current River borne Board of directors is a far cry from a self interested group of people Only concerned about the Gas station Cor Bow is right to say that River borne is asking the City to waive property taxes for the Gas station which we tax Relief is Long overdue because the previous River borne Board repeatedly ref used to apply for tax exempt status for the nonprofit which directly contributed to its former financial because we have both Legal and ethical responsibilities to our membership and to the broader comm we Are being extremely responsible in managing the River and Osborne we Are an accountable and we Are committed to an open and demo cratic process for managing our As River borne is Active with Many projects in addition to preserving 445 River As a nonprofit Community and cultural we have transferred our three nonprofit housing projects to Winnipeg hous ing rehabilitation which can do a better Job of servicing tenants and maintaining the at the same we Are proceeding to build a new 14unit family oriented because we do care about the needs of Low income weve kept our membership fully in formed about these developments through regular special members weve got ambitious plans for greening the River borne and were working in partnerships with local groups to develop an Urban Park on Stra Brook to establish a Community Garden for local residents and to promote environmental including an Elm watch were also plan Ning an exciting Canada Day including our eve popular River raft and much in were a membership nonprofit Board of directors doing exactly what we were elected to do to make the River borne neighbourhood a better place in which to work and play Nei Dalrymple Winnipeg by Garry Trudeau in also not put you aim that but Vouge just exempted a Papio show in w ;