Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 21, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor John 6977042 issues Winnipeg free press 117 May soft approach wont deter crime i have to wonder who in govern ment came to the conclusion that a softer approach to dealing with those convicted of serious crimes will be most a recent Arti Cle in the free press reported that women in the maritime who Are incarcerated for serious offences will soon be living on an estate with minimal the article goes on to advocates of the new soft approach believe the less oppressive atmosphere should Foster Reha not Only does such an approach clearly contradict the prevailing Public which i acknowledge is not always the Best Frame of refer ence since it May be the product of simple More in it ignores the fact there is no valid evidence to suggest that gentleness in responding to serious crime is an effective deterrent to either offending or in a compelling argument can be made that a gentler prison environment coupled with generous Early release opportunities Only encourages those who Are incarcerated and those at risk to of fend in the belief that they will not be held properly accountable for their criminal while i certainly do not wish to endorse a return to the reportedly unrelenting harshness of previous generations of i believe the Public Good and the rehabilitative prospects of offenders is not Well served when we further soften our prisons by seeking to make them even More fairness and humane treatment must assuredly not be but easing the Burden of proper accountability for serious offenders is not Likely to rehabilitate them and May actually counteract the rehabilitative in the general realm of correctional there would seem to be Merit in incorporating the common Wisdom of the average citizen rather than relying largely on the judgment of nameless government Howes forensic psychologist Winnipeg Freedom of speech i am writing to express my con Cern for the students of Transcona Springfield school i think Freedom of speech is a right for All Canadian during the re cent labor dispute Between the Divi Sion and its support the Union membership exercised its right to strike a form of free these employees Are not Happy with their working conditions and wish to have a if they Are allowed to legally Why can students not express their dissatisfaction with their learning institutions Freedom of speech is allowed to All of us and we Are not but when students take an interest in current events which Are having a direct effect on they Are punished with a truancy or what is wrong Here these Stu dents should be commended for Tak ing a stand to voice their concern about what is happening in their school i am sure a majority of them will be voting in the next school trustee election in i truly Hope they will ask and remember what the trustees did to cause confusion and doubt As to whether they would graduate in june Dugald whats happening to biosphere Ted Mcdonalds letter All those geese cant be free May 8 is indicative of the on eyed thinking of the ill informed regard ing what is happening to earths Bio the functions of ecosystems and their related working Dur ing billions of created the ducks and and related biota functional there has been a Long history of mans intrusion into the bog now called Oak Hammock in All of this there has never been an investigation into what ecological functions operate what functions have been How serious have been the changes and what functions should be re because of one can predict the eventual Fate of Oak Hammock Marsh when one is guided by Aldo Leopolds land ethic statement of that statement is a thing is right when it tends to preserve the stability and Beauty of the biotic it is wrong when it tends his insight into natures ecological functions and biodiversity in separable biotic matrix far exceeds the convention of biological diver letters 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 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 address and Telephone sity of our we have or More proof All around us in our dying dead dying Trees and sterile land and declining wildlife i reject Mcdonalds invitation now lets offer our sup go out and enjoy it the ducks unlimited How can one enjoy that which destroys Harold Argyle the forgotten Guinea pigs i have been watching on television All the celebrations of veday in the Netherlands and in in it makes one feel Good to know 50 years after the end of the second world these celebrations Are remembering the Many Young soldiers who gave their lives fighting a regime with a maniac As their Leader whose aim was world but there is also a sad part in these celebrations that is our Canadian and All Previ Ous governments since the end of the forgot All about the soldiers who volunteered to go to to have tear mus Tard and nerve gases experimented on most came out from that station with some were demoralized with a nervous Many had Burns which became can Cerous from Mustard others had breathing problems which eventually became As i have i have not heard one word from anyone remembering the contribution of these i have written to the prime minis Ter and asked him to acknowledge our contribution to the War Effort and recognize those who have passed away Early in life from the tests that were done on but he has not taken the time to answer this makes us we who Are still around wonder Why we Are the for gotten Guinea Sam Gordon Winnipeg beyond decency Roy Park helps scurrilous letter of May 4 in the free press goes far beyond the Bounds of decency and his capacity for grudge holding 20 years plus is exceeded Only by his capacity for just for the Carl Ridd sup ported the Bike though he Dis agreed with their his stand on the jets proved to be the fact that Ridd was a spokesman in each Case Means he was selected by his group As recognition of his Winnipeg kudos to Cleverley kudos and accolades to Fred Clev Erley for telling it like it is in his Arti Cle Clear memo on gun Cleverley has seen through the Federal governments smoke screen and paranoia and has come up with True facts on what is behind Allan rocks Bill when the Liberal candidate in my Riding visited our ostensibly to Garner i made it quite Clear the gun registration Issue eliminated any thoughts of voting no matter How qualified the candidate Jean Chretien made it abundantly Clear that All liberals were to follow the party or and he proved it by removing Sev eral Liberal members who had the temerity to vote against the this smacks of the old mafia say ing when i want your ill give it to Winnipeg f mexicans see their office towers As evidence of Mexico arrival in the world of economically advanced crime bewilder mexicans Mexico City our friends Jesus and Yolanda were showing us the historic sights of Mexico but Jesus was More concerned about see those Young he gesturing to the youngsters who were playing soccer on a wide space of pavement adjoining the Cathedral and the main Plaza of the it was a poor place for a soc cer among crowds of sight seers and lines of snack vendors and handicraft they kick their soccer Ball around Here and they Are just play then they will steal something from a Vendor and they Are still just then they will rape somebody or kill somebody and they Are still just we looked Over the fenced off ruins of the Templo the Aztec Temple that was a Centre of human sacrifice when Hernan Cortes and his band of Spanish adventurers arrived Here nearly five centuries ago and conquered the Aztec neatly timed Jesus had neatly timed our arrival in the main Square to coincide with Sunset and the impressive daily lowering of the National Flag by a color party from the armed a Light Sprinkle of rain started and we hastened Back to the the people who Are Young to Day do not know what Mexico was before and what we have been Jesus they dont know that you have to work hard if you want to have we were driving by the Alameda Terence Moore thronged with strolling families and with Sellers of Bas cold toys an enor Mous Range of the Alameda is All right on a sunday afternoon like this when it is full of but do not come Here Dur ing the it will be full of peo ple who Are trying to take your Money or what you Jesus pulled a pistol we stopped for a traffic a heavyset probably in his late ran across the Road in front of us clutching baskets under one Halfway across the Road he and pulled a pistol from his pants whats this some kind of Street theatre i at the a group of teenagers appeared at the Edge of the dense crowd and shouted mockingly after the fleeing one spread his arms wide in a Ges Ture that said go shoot the merchant reached the me Dian As a police car pulled up be Side a City police officer wearing the usual bulletproof Vest jumped from the car and spoke to the merchant who produced a a perhaps his gun the police officer took off after the youngsters in the this was not Street this was what Jesus had been saying two minutes the teenagers were robbing or chasing the they were just but they were making civilized Urban life impossible for the Baske merchant and for the crowds of strollers in the crime is As much in the news and in the Public mind Here As in and Canadian Auto theft has shot up in Mexico City this year from an average of 80 thefts a Day in 1994 to 127 a Day in the first four months of this assaults and robberies Are up in the same sort of the people Are living with insecurity and anxiety because of rising Mexico cites Feder ally appointed Oscar Espinosa said the police have not been the authorities have not responded adequately and the Public does not help the police in crime prevention programs and in solving he one reason for poor relations Between the police and the Public was summarized in a recent caustic commentary in the Mexico City daily the commentator proposed publication of a citizens guide to crib specifying what amounts should be paid to police officers seeking handouts known As la the what consequences will follow from refusal to pay and what consequences will follow from reporting police offi cers requests for police officials say Only a minor Ity of officers ask for but they also admit that police salaries Are Low and Many officers Are poorly mexicans Are bewildered by the sudden collapse of Public order in the they Grope for exp la is it because the series of High profile assassinations a a presidential leading officials of the ruling Public prosecutors has encouraged a spirit of Lawless Ness is it because the severe re combining rising unemployment with rapidly rising con Sumer has swelled the ranks of the economically Desper ate is it because the Barrio Well recent migrants from the who ring the outskirts of the have no honest Way of making a living these May All be but most parts of Mexico City Are still safer than most parts of Chicago or the neoliberal re forms of the last dozen years have moved Mexico rapidly from a socialist agrarian society toward a free Market Industrial and started to give it crime rates to first world mexicans Admire their sky scrapers and fashionable clothes As evidence of Mexico arrival in the first world of economically advanced rising Auto theft is More evidence of Progress in the same Jesus would like to take Mexico Back to an More civilized but the Back pedalling Baske Vendor wait for a shift in Public he could Only run fast and wave his abcs financial wounds Are self inflicted network wasting Money if the Day Ever comes when we have to Bury the Canadian broadcasting dear old Mother corp will not have died the death of a thousand bureaucratic budget if the Csc it will be be cause of what the military would Call self inflicted from top to the Csc insists on spending Money and run Ning programs that outrage the hard pressed who continues to be the main source of funding for the while the Csc constantly whines about not having enough its from presi Dent Perrin Beatty Down to the producers of relatively modest budget persist in throwing Money around like Drunken sail if the corporation keeps wast ing Money like it has been doing Given the Public mood concerning imprudent use of tax Dol the Day will come when tax payers will insist on Selling the Cor Stock and to the Izzy Aspers of the communications handsome salary lets Start with not in his Job Long enough to get the presidential chair properly he has hired an outside consulting Fred Cleverley which we will have to pay to advise him How to Deal with the cutbacks he expects while reinventing the most reasonable canadians thought this reshaping was what Beatty was hired to his hand some salary would certainly Indi Cate did he offer no ideas to the other than the hiring of outside when he was interviewed for the Job perhaps million is not enough Money to concern even if it is More than enough to concern it is not too Long we should that he spent much More than this attempting to persuade us to buy billion Worth of nuclear powered submarines we next we come to Money wasting decisions made by the executives who work for like the one to Fly 200 potential olympic Csc exec broadcasters and even a few athletes on a chartered Jet to at for a it seems that advertising sales for the Atlanta olympics Are not going too the Csc is scram bling to cover some of the million it has agreed to pay for Ca Nadian television rights to the that is almost double the bid submitted by ctr for the but then ctr has to make Money or go Csc just turns up the heat on the taxpayers to cover its bad it want Only the included was a Garden Complete with free followed by a sit Down dinner with More free booze and the Globe and mail reported that a Quarter of those on the flight were Csc staff who were introduced after the dinner like a visiting sports run one by across the perhaps being in Atlanta was the excuse the Csc needed to hire a gospel choir for which it this is probably As close to religion As the corporation has been in the past 25 the Csc explanation was that the Canadian olympic association paid for the and that the presentation was no More expensive than the pitch it made for the Albertville Winter this sounds after Beatty defended of the Cost of the consult ants by praising himself for setting a limit on their both explanations exhibit a common Lack of reality in today tight budget the extravagance is evident at the local the Csc argues that it was no More expensive to cover the last provincial elec Tion using the legislative building As a studio than it would have been to build a set for its own but it must have Cost a bundle to string those Kilometres of to tie up technicians for a week duplicating facilities that Al ready existed just a few blocks this for a show for most began when the polls closed at 8 and ended 45 min utes when the Csc declared a majority the extravagant waste could be tolerated if times and programming were my acquaintances at the Csc Tell me i dont write As much about the corporation As 1 used they Are it is because 1 dont watch it As much As 1 once like so Many 1 stopped watch ing the National news when it was moved to 9 right in the Middle of the entertainment Block Avail Able its Back at 10 now like so Many i have lost the habit of ;