Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 25, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor John 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 7 which people deserve salutes the free press of May 19 featured another free this one saluting the efforts of Manitoban to save the which Manitoban should we Salute should we Salute fans who opened their pocketbooks for millionaire athletes and moguls in an outpouring of generosity never experienced by Manitoba truly needy should we Salute Barry Shen manufacturing deadline after deadline As his demands on fans and governments reached dizzying Heights should we Salute our City which blindly agreed to drive us into debt by handing Over million no questions asked should we Salute our provincial after an elec Tion Promise to commit no More than 10 million tax dollars to the with no debate in the finds million More should we Salute the which demanded donations cover All losses their investors while governments tripled their commit ments and children emptied their Piggy could Only scare up a few More millions in the final drive should we Salute Lloyd who offers to divert infrastructure dollars for another Arena Days after Winnipeg residents receive warnings of Lead poisoning in their water pipes should we Salute whose begging Campaign undoubtedly sent ratings and revenues sky High should we Salute the free which abandoned All semblance of objectivity As it published article after article that communicates Noth ing but boosterism what must the world think of a City that tries to raise a Quarter of a billion dollars to build an Arena with Only 500 More seats than the one they already an Arena in which its elite can sit behind Glass in tax sheltered Comfort to watch Pam flattered athletes while its youths sell Popcorn in the stands and hot dogs on the Street Phi Veness 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 address and Telephone in a City that has passed a bylaw making it an offence for the poor to we have the Rich panhandling from the pockets of the Chil for a cause that is largely their i have not heard any reports of what the actual jets team members Are i would like to announce a Campaign to save the would the free press give it front Page coverage every Day would Fred Penner come and sing at a would City Council jump at the Chance to pledge millions of fantasy would the Premier do an amazing flip Flop and jump in with his big Grin professional sports players get away with violence in their work sports journalists get away with Bias and manipulation in sports fanatics get away with lunacy in our and the Rich get away with another ridiculous tax some May think this is something to be proud i for one am thoroughly Tim Brandt Winnipeg merry band that Rich re Scott Taylors column Why not keep the Aid poor kids too free press May 14 in which he re fers to Izzy Asper and his merry band of business the merry band that i remember Robin Hood and his friends took from the Rich and gave to the Margaret Robine Winnipeg painful lesson about priorities i recently had a Freak bicycle Acci Dent and experienced just How deeply our health care services have been i was rushed to the Victoria Hospi Tal with a broken cheekbone and a tripod fracture to the Bones around my i would require but May have to wait up to three because the plastic surgeon was Only Given operating time on wednesdays and his slate was full for the next two i was i sat before the surgeon with three broken Bones in my face and in no Small amount of pain and he was telling me that our government has tightened the healthcare budget to the Point where i receive treatment when i needed All this has happened during a time when crowds of people were screaming in the streets for government Money to pay the million Dollar salaries of a few hockey the politicians who jumped on the save our jets bandwagon ought to be ashamed of they have the fiscal duty to see that our Basic needs such As health Edu cation and feeding the children in this child poverty capital Are their first Marlene Schellenberg Winnipeg thoroughly disgusted thank you Frances Russell for be ing the Only one on the pages of the free press to put the proper perspective on the save the jets Campaign save the lose the free May this frightening display of fanaticism that has strangled our once fair City is not about Pride and our fun for me this is about greed on the part of a special interest group and their amazing ability to manipulate the this Issue needs some and if there were any the free press would be suspended for vilifying underdog Jim portraying this defender of civic responsibility As an evil enemy of the holy As was done on your front Page May is Way to go Winnipeg Manitoban we won its so great to see politicians re Spond to the will of the people for a even if it is not the Wisest decision made in the history of the legislature or City the people of Manitoba got a response to their overwhelming desire to keep the what about the losers All the whining on the editorial pages in the past few Days just shows that some naysayers Are full of sour will the Jim silvers of Manitoba take up Scott Taylors Challenge to join him in Public Campaign against child poverty or will they blame the governments for deciding to support the will of the people the biggest insult of All is that they blame Media hysteria for a Gen Heartfelt outpouring of affection for this City and the hockey Way to go Manitoban Ernie Masiowski Winnipeg student deplores Yoyo treatment being a Grade 11 student at the local High school in i would like to voice my opinion of our present educational system and the government that developed be fore the next i believe we should review previous decisions involving at the end of my Grade 9 parents and students attended meet Ings concerning the introduction of a newly developed for Independent we were in formed this program would prepare us for life after High i admit the program had its for example teaching us How to set up a business and making us aware of the Cost on the other if it was such a needed Why is it now discontinued it makes me wonder How much time and Money went into the planning and implementation of a course that Only sur Vived a few my second area of concern is the physical education not Only does the program better our mental and physical it introduces us to a variety of activities which the majority would never have the Chance to part of the introduced last was to continue this program into Grade but now the program will be shortened to the Grade 8 level in years to once again i ask Why they changed their in sure i dont stand alone when i say that i feel like a product of a government As Are on the end of a string which is continually dropped off the roof of our for we Are bouncing but what happens if the string Breaks Carrie Zagula Winnipeg under siege in Chiapas Latanja Chan Mexico carmelo Chan or Yuk and his people Are under their rain Forest Home in South Eastern Chiapas is burning at the Zap Atista rebels Are hiding in its beef producers Are eyeing its wide cattlemen have burned the forests at the headwaters of several Rivers flowing through the la Candon rain Forest and converted it to grazing they Are polluting our Chan or Yuk said in a recent inter View at his Home in this rain Forest we Are not cattle Rais the Latanja River is a metre lower than it used to be because there is no vegetation left at its Chan or Yuk is president of Community property of the Lacan Don a Region reserved for the indigenous inhabitants by a presidential decree of the mexican government in most indigenous people in Mexico do not live on the thou Sand Odd la Candon mayans along with another Choi and to Zettal mayans who were already settled there and who form part of the la Candon part of their Reserve is also a National in response to International concern about destruction of rain forests in Central America and the mexican government in 1978 created the Montes Mazules biosphere encompassing much of the surviving rain Forest and overlapping the la Candon Community on fire when you drive across the cat to raising country of the Chiapas you see part of what Chan or Yuk is worried in this after the Winter Corn has been harvested and before the summer the Highlands Are on columns of smoke by Day and glowing fires by night Mark the places where Campesino Are Clearing land either Forest they Are newly converting to Corn Fields or regenerated Forest they Are slashing and burning once again or Corn land they will seed to grass As pasture for beef newly burned Forest is productive for a few anthropologist James nations said in an interview with the free press at san Cristo bal de Las nations is vice president for mexican and Central american programs of the United states environmental organization conservation once the land is deprived of nutrients formerly supplied by the Forest he it soon be comes then the Campesino have to Burn More for est and move now they have come to the Edge of the protected la Candon Reserve and run out of Forest they can legally when a party of Canadian Visi tors travelled through the Region in the air of the High lands was thick with wide sections of Hillside were smoulder ing and carpeted with on v10leta free press Cycle of grazing ravages the land in Chiapas Region of Terence Moore other recently burned Bare soil Clung to Rocky when you drive close to the re Mains of the la Candon rain for you see another source of Chan or yuks in addition to Well established Mejido farming communities with cinder lock buildings and hastily built clusters of wooden snacks Lay be Side the Road into the rain our one Azelta speaking person born in the Region and one investigator of mayan culture with two years experience in told us these settlements had sprung up in recent months when Campesino moved to unused land and burned it Clear in wide swaths to Plant Corn and Graze these clusters of not yet named added to the cattle raising population on the fringes of the la Candon rain their fires shrank the Forest a Little inside the the Laca dons survive by burning and farming Small plots Mil Pas of about two leaving the rest of the Forest in each Milia they grow interwoven rows of vegetables so the Beans climb up the Corn stalks and the Squash leaves keep Down weeds Between the Chan or Yuk said the people live on what they they earn Cash incomes by harvesting Palm fronds in the rain Forest to Export for use in arrangements of Cut Chan or yuks greatest worry was the settlement at Indio in the heart of the rain where a cattle raising group was refusing to leave and to take up the governments offer of land else their supporters say they were already settled at Indio Pedro when the 1972 presidential decree established the la Candon Community Chan or Yuk said they were an invasion was attempted in the Northern part of the la Candon Community land in Early Chan or Yuk when a band of cattle raisers suddenly shooting their guns in the air and threatening the we called the general of the National army at Tuxtla the Chia Pas state he sent troops and the invaders went it is a Good we want the troops to if they the cattle raisers will come searched twice the mexican army was operating three checkpoints on the Road from Palenque to Latanja Chan Siayap in the third week of a party of Canadian visitors and their companions was stopped and their vehicle searched twice on the Way into the Forest and three times on the Way impressive concentrations of military personnel and equipment were seen at an army base at san Cristobal de Las Casas and at the military end of the Tuxtla Gutier rez the other army said to be in the area was the Zap Atista National liberation which declared a rebellion against the Federal government and briefly held several towns in january the Zap Atastas were driven Back into the Hills at that but they still enjoy political support among indigenous people in the when talks opened Between government and Zap Atista delegations in Early native people num Bering Between and arrived by on foot and on horseback to demonstrate support for the the a Patistas say in the communiques they distribute through supporters in san Cristobal de Las Casas and in Mexico City that they Are in the la Candon rain and they probably but they keep out of sight and they do not enjoy support from the la Candon the a Patistas approve of the though they do not help Chan or Yuk it is a big problem for Kayum Yuk operator of the citizens band radio that links Latanja to Palenque and Tuxtla said he sometimes Over heard coded conversations among Zap Atista operators who identified themselves when asked and invited Yuk Marsh said he responded merely by giving his name and we have asked the government to respect the presidential de Chan or Yuk the Reserve has to be defended or people will this is the last Forest we have left free press editorial writer Ter ence Moore is spending three months in Mexico on a Freedom Canada assists mayan project by Terence Moore Latanja Chan Mexico la Candon mayans Are building a Community cultural Centre of traditional mayan design at the heart of their shrinking rain Forest with the help of a gift from the Canadian embassy in the us contribution helped pay for building the developers Hope to open the building this Manuel Chan or who supervised the construction said residents of the Community Cut guano Palm leaves in the rain Forest to provide thatch for the roof of the seven metre by 18me tre a Latanja resident familiar with traditional building techniques assembled the roof with the help of a Volunteer labor a smaller storage and Kitchen building must be built and a floor Laid in the main building be fore the August the project was suggested to the Community by will director of the a Bolom rain Forest study Centre in san Cristobal de Las the cultural Centre idea was the idea of will Hoff said carmelo Chan or la Candon Community property he and i talked about it and a meeting of the Community accepted Hoffman and carmelo Chan or Yuk intend the Centre for prefer development and display of the la Candon including the farming and Hunting methods that have made the rain Forest productive for the la Candon the half hectare of cleared land around the Centre can serve As a Model rain Forest the Cul Tural Centre can also House exhibitions and meetings to make the la Candon rain Forest culture and its economic and biological basis better known in Mexico and around the develop projects Michael head of the Politi Cal Section of the Canadian embassy in said the Zembas sys Canada fund usually sup ported projects aimed More directly at health benefits or eco nomic but the Cul Tural Centre project at Latanja de served support because it seemed to offer the la Candon mayans a place to hold meetings and develop projects of their Hoffman said about of the Canadian gift had been spent on framing and roofing a the floor would probably use up a further the Cana Dian embassy approach had been unusual among development project he because it was willing to take a Chance on a Sutof therway pro Hoffman and the a Bolom Cen tre Are dedicated to preserving the rain Forest and defending its la Candon inhabitants against the land hunger of cattle producers in the surrounding Chiapas High doonesbury by Garry Trudeau put it win explain hjhythi5 thing 15 showing too in tbwfi5pimightehp it on to you Pont worry i coup survive smallpox and in Anibal ;