Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 5, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba A6 Winnipeg free press August 1995 editorials Brian Cole 6977044 sexual harassers h of should educators Deal with a teenage boy who seems Bent on sexually harassing girls apparently some school officials believe the proper thing to do is wait until the boy slaps buttocks or grabs at breasts on a daily basis for an entire school it is they to warn the lad against this kind of but one should never do anything such As suspending the youth or phoning his after such action might Send a message that his action is unacceptable and his parents might take some responsibility for ensuring that he Straightens months when the girls frustrated by the schools inaction com Plain to their parents and the parents complain to the who then charge boy with sexual the proper thing to do is sus Pend the youth and allow him Back into the school under conditions so Oner Ous that he and his family have no Choice but to leave the if no action is taken when first alerted to a the Best thing to do is overreact when it is too when the parents of the boy sue the saying the boy was humiliated and ridiculed and treated like a serial school division officials should naturally stand by their that is How one Manitoba school and the trustees responsible for it handled a Case of a 15yearold boy who harassed four girls to the Point of it is the wrong the girls should never have had to endure such behaviour on the part of the boy or the the Case shows that some educators have not yet Fig ured out that sexual harassment in the schools is unacceptable and must be dealt with quickly and effectively View that is Best illustrated by two events last in readers of the free press Learned that sex Ual harassment of preteen and teenage girls was such a problem in Winnipeg schools that teachers were con ducting seminars and classes to define unacceptable behaviour and its one school Vic principal said sexual harassment by other students May be the most serious Issue facing school administrators but later in the month readers Learned a workshop on sexual harassment organized by Manitoba principals was cancelled because no one signed there is a need for educators principals and trustees to sit Down and come up with a coherent policy to Deal with sexual harassment in the in the educators should use common if a student complains about being the teacher should investigate and ensure the offender knows what is acceptable and what is if the offender he or she should be suspended doing the flip Flop its never easy for a politician to change his mind on an particularly on one As controversial As the proposal to build a new Arena and especially when there is an elec Tion around the the politician who flip flops on the Issue of the Day often leaves the electorate with a nagging feeling that he or she int capable of Clear thinking or staying the course in politically rough voters look for certain qualities in politicians at elec Tion and the ability to take positions that can change with the weather int necessarily one of this is particularly True of civic by nature of the politics of City have gained a reputation for being less than decisive on matters of so it would be a Safe bet that councillors Jae Eadie and Al Golden thought Long and hard before reversing their votes earlier this week and supporting a motion to Confer tax deductible status to spirit of Manitoba proposed endowment in this the two councillors made the right the Community efforts to save the Winnipeg jets and build a new Arena have split this Community in a Way that few local issues have in the All the More reason for councillors to ensure spirits efforts to save the team succeed or fail on its own that will happen now thanks to the change of heart on behalf of Golden and now City councillors can focus on next weeks which includes reviewing spirits business that where the Tough questions will have to be answered Are the Revenue and Cost projections solid what happens if the team is sold in ten years who gets the parking and signage Revenue Why does spirit need a two week Extension to close the Deal to buy the Why not Ren Ovate the existing Arena these and More questions must be answered before the project can As for Eadie and flip flopping can be but there have been politicians who have not suffered in actually be refitted from having a change of heart on an Premier Gary for pulled off perhaps the biggest flip Flop in recent memory when he reversed his support of the Meech Lake it Doest seem to have bothered him Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 f Rudy Duncan Mcmonagle executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf advertising Glenn 1995 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Freedom of Trade Liberty religion Equality of civil rights Disney eyes Bush bog Hole it was awful it was a night Mare it was like something out of a Hollywood horror film of the 1930s the former president of the United states was slowly sinking into a bog Hole the gooey muck reached his Belt and then began to creep slowly up his shirt women the mud the slime an owl Boris Karloff Igor leaned on his soon Only the presidents familiar old face would be visible although the famous Victory Grin was nowhere to be seen and then Only his his thinning hair then Only a few then As someone once he belongs to the i have a Book somewhere that contains a list of the last words of Amer ican most of of died in bed and Are quoted As saying such things As god bless up the Republic and keep old glory flying As they breathed their rumours that Richard Nixon expired while i am not exactly a Crook have been denied and there is no truth to the suggestion that Grover Cleveland died after id rather be called Philadelphia last words what would a presidents last words be if he found himself slowly sinking into a bog Hole one can easily imagine shrieks of help or get me out of Here and other expressions possibly unsuited to family newspaper but i am reasonably Happy to say we May How never know because former presi Dent George who recently fell into a was rescued before the slime closed in Over his for a few frantic minutes the express Dent As he himself might have expressed in deep it happened during a recent express dental fishing trip to taken by Bush and a Small Christopher Dafoe entourage of bodyguards and fog had closed in and it was decided to land the exp residential helicopter until weather conditions it sounds like a movie Doest it while waiting for the fog to exp resident Bush decided to take a Short walk through the it was during this nature while Bush was watching the Birds and admiring the toads and lizards and talking to the Trees that the near fatal step was the ground seemed to open up beneath him and before he could say Hail to the chief there he was up to his armpits in the inky ooze and sink ing it was a desperate according to those who were if help had not the express would have gone luckily some ladies who were nearby witnessed the near catastrophe and called for the mounties and secret service agents soon pulled him out and the still resumed his although it must have been an uncomfortable Day with All that muck and primordial ooze soaking through his safari sitting Down must have been particularly it appears that exp resident Bush was one of a party of am not cer George Bush up to his but safely out Tain How Many of them were Moun ties and secret service but the entourage filled three Bush was Well but i suppose nobody thought that he would step into presi dents have been shot at before this and at least one has fallen off a As far As i this is the first occasion on which a president or sex president has nearly vanished into a Many presidents May have imagined themselves to be in Quick Sand one suspects that president Clinton often feels that Way these Days but few have actually Felt themselves sinking Down into the a plumbed Depths of the the Busy else where guarding the martinis taking horizontal Mambo did not notice the presidential fortunately the ladies did and sounded the who were these ladies no information has been Bush was not on the George Bush near death experience and the fact that members of the ramp Canadas fabled Moun ties were on hand to assist in the Rescue will not pass unnoticed in Walt Disney Pic which now owns the rights to Canadas men in Scarlet and May already be planning an epic motion picture about George Bush ordeal starring Kevin Costner As Sharon Stone As one of the ladies and Hugh Grant As there might even be a part in the film f6r Bush old fishing buddy exp rime minister Brian the unspeakable Muldoon might serve As Standin during the shoot ing of the bog Hole the great of is this would anybody pull him out Christopher Dafoe is a Winnipeg his column appears Satur trying to fix things at the Csc in a rent free cavernous and without furniture or the future of the Csc in Manitoba is contemplated by the people who work sheets of scrap paper Are taped to the on those pieces of the Public broadcasters Best Hopes May be two accomplished women Are leading the refusing to allow the paralysis that has set in to freeze the creative weekly reports of the imminent demise of regional and others predicting More budget cuts that strip the corporation of its deepen doom and gloom and Send morale at Csc operations across the country into a Jane Chalmers and Nancy Botkin Are fighting Back with ideas and with they might even Suc Chalmers is the interim regional director of Csc a former television reporter who also directed the regional radio Chalmers is picking up the pieces left by the corporations inter Nal investigation that led to the Dis Missal of her Marv last Chalmers has Given herself six months to prove to the network executives in Toronto and the head office brass in Ottawa that Csc Manitoba can produce television programs that people not Only but cant afford to she has hired Nancy Botkin to born in the United educated in Australia and now very much a Botkin is an award winning filmmaker who believes that universality comes from the specific circumstances of time and she wants the Csc to Tell the Sto Ries of the individuals who live and work drawing on their univer Sal Appeal and reflecting what is Spe Cial about Manitoba in the the philosophical foundation of what Chalmers and Botkin want to build is fashioned out of the creativity and Talent available to the through its own staff and an array of Independent if they Are Able to harness that Talent and direct it towards producing Tele vision that captures what is essentially then they May have found the Way to help save regional broadcasting in the Prospect of a Csc network run out of Toronto and reflecting Canada to canadians through the narrow prism of the Golden is a Csc that Jane Chalmers wants no part she was raised on a farm near grand and has turned Down offers to work at the shiny new vol broadcast Centre in downtown tron she wants to live right nowhere Chalmers drives a 1989 Ford Halfton truck that she dearly loves but would gladly Trade for More time to convince Manitoban and her net work colleagues that a Csc without regional broadcasting is like Canada without she wants to show creative Manitoban that they dont have to leave Here to accomplish great both Chalmers and Botkin Are candid in their criticism of what Csc Manitoba has not done for too Long now make Csc television indispensable to that is precisely what they Are setting out to the first step was to bring everyone on they seem to have done several sceptical including some hard bitten told me they were cynical going into one of the Many group sessions organized Dur ing the past few but Are impressed even inspired com ing out of they Are relieved that somebody is actually taking some initiative for a rather than hiding under desks hoping that the hackers and slashers wont find dozens of program ideas have ranging from live performance broadcasting from the Walker theatre to a Golf show for duffers looking to break 100 at the prove ties Many Rural any idea that Doest rely on the Peculiar society we have built in Manitoba is an idea that wont get past the scrap of paper its written Chalmers and Botkin face improbable Odds they must convince the Bosses that More air time stolen from the network is needed to showcase the results of their they must persuade the Board of the Csc that regional broadcasting cannot be gutted if the Csc is to retain its they must accomplish their goals without a single Penny and probably with Many pennies than they already most of All they must convince Manitoban that what they Are doing Michael Mcewen is the executive Vic president of the he says the Manitoba Experiment is he is encouraging Chalmers and Botkin to see it to come up with programming ideas that will work and will become a part of the Manitoba if Csc television is to become Rel Evant again to and if pro Grams rooted in the regions again become an integral part of what a Public broadcaster ought to be then Jane Chalmers and Nancy Botkin Are on the right if they they will have Given new life to an old idea the Csc stitches the National Jim can is a free press editorial his column appears Satur ;