Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 15, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press a 4 c May 1998 i o Banks maintain solvency by cutting customer service Calendar Chintz iness sign of times my the had been providing me with desk calendars pressing them upon me for Many late in out of Long established i went to my Bank to collect my Calendar for in place of their usual on month per Page i was Given a sin Gle piece of cardboard folded had six months on each Side Type so Small As to Challenge these aging the clerk in the Bank agreed with me that the new Calendar was but we mused on the Banks apparent need to reduce with Bank profits at or above record our laugh was somewhat rueful As we contemplated the Banks resorting to cheap calendars As a Means of maintaining in late went again to my but the Banks financial situation had deteriorated so much As to require them to eliminate desk calendars i had understood just How Well off i was in renewed my comments about the Banks Chintz Ness with some the person with whom i remonstrated kindly volunteered to get me a Calendar somewhere i was As impressed William Neville by this individual Courtesy As i was unimpressed by the slow erosion of corporate service and apparent indifference to Public but i declined with within Days a colleague was Able to locate a desk Calendar for me from the to i ruminated qui etly on whether i before late move my accounts to Toronto their proposed merger was no doubt intended to head me and it the of Are not in business to provide but one must reflect confronted with the Meg Issue of Meg Abanks that the Banks sense of loyalty or service to their off whose Money they make is As nothing compared to their Devo Tion to their for whom those profits Are protected As they have been by parliament from serious compete the Banks have done very if still greater profits can be made through further reducing Competition or or by eliminating branches and one would be stupefying by naive to doubt what the Banks will the senior officers of the Banks could hardly justify their remarkable salaries and bonuses to shareholders if it were is it to be wondered that so few people believe the Banks soothing assurances out of these pro posed everyone will be a Winner these Odd Over i apparently but unwittingly raised the ire of another by expressing or repeating certain criticisms of the chartered if one thought about one might have supposed that in a diverse Community there would be a multitude of things held sacred by at least a few it just never occurred to me that Banks would be one of those it comes As a startling revelation when so Many other institutions have let us All this time we have had in our midst an institution so apparently approaching perfection As to be beyond any serious Given such which reflect the business triumphalism of our it has been arresting and instructive to read of the controversy surrounding a proposed new school in the pro posed school is a charter which is to one receiving Public funding but run by the parents of the children who the Calgary school would be a school of Commerce beginning As Early As eight years would Wear polished shoes and be encouraged to carry Brief according to the Globe and mathematics would focus on real estate deals and the Stock for students would read memos and business the proposed director of the school is quoted As saying possibly the Odd work like Charles Dickens Oliver twist would be allowed because it has such an evident free Market an Odd work indeed in that on such grounds Dickens a Christmas Shakespeare and most of the Western literary Canon will not get a on its this proposed school strongly resembles other denominational organized by catholics or protestants or other religious this one would simply be a separate school for free marketeers or presumably with its own articles of sacred texts something by Margaret Thatcher perhaps and its very own Golden calf on or near the the underlying instinct in this can scarcely be in educational terms it is but a variant of that old notion give me a Young Man at age seven and he will be mine for of some children raised to believe rather than to think end up thinking anyway often they offer the most Radical and effective Chal Lenges in rejecting the beliefs in which they have been but one should not count on that result in the present after what is being proposed in Calgary for those parents and Many merely their ideology masquerading As it is the very spirit of the there is this to look Forward though in such children will As a matter of religious Faith and from their earliest of the sacred place of William Neville is a Winnipeg letters to the editor equestrian events not for wealthy thank you for advising your readers that it will be necessary to raise to to stage the equestrian test events this prior to running the 1999 Panama games equestrian How your article contained a very common misconception As evidenced by the the obstacle facing a sport known for its is minuscule compared to the trouble facing some smaller certainly it is expensive to be involved with equestrian but the truth of the matter is that most of us involved with the sport must make Many sacrifices in most other aspects of our lives to be Able to afford we willingly do this because we love the sport and the i think you will find that the majority of those of us who Volunteer to help at the pan am games Are limited mainly by the size of our discretionary incomes to being relatively close to the grassroots level of the Manitoba horse Council our provincial govern ing body is also limited by its modest As in most it is difficult to obtain significant corporate sponsor ship for anything other than very major events such As world the misconception that equestrian is a wealthy sport tends to make it even More difficult when seek ing the necessary equestrian is really no More wealthy than almost All of the other sports which need to raise funding for the Panama test Richard Botterill Brandon dance separates men from boys the boys at Sisler Are Kickin up a fuss free May More Power to them As for those occasionally making rude remarks about Guys All they need to do is watch or go to a performance of any ukrainian Folk dance group in for and a Hopak or Zaporozhetz separates those who can from those who just stand and the Folk dancing at any Fol Lorama Pavilion shows male dancing at its a few years a new dance reviewer for the free press could not get Over the masculinity of the Rusal a dancers in in his he went on and on about How Graceful yet Macho they you could Tell he was a newcomer to the and should anyone need further verification of the Power and Quality of male the Guys in the Virusky nation al ukrainian dance company coming to Winnipeg later this month will con Vince the Orysia Tracz Winnipeg helmet Law not Mureall in your recent article about cycling safety pedal april a tale of a child suffering serious injury while walking to school is used As anecdotal justification for a schools Manda How to reach us 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 Tor 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 tory bicycle helmet such is typical of the irrationality rampant in the mandatory helmet in statistics show that for a Given distance pedestrians Are More Likely to suffer Road injuries than yet children continue to walk to school without the accompanying photo is telling As a family cycles on a residential Street four abreast mostly absent from their bikes Are the front White lights and Bells your article deems three of the four Are also wearing less than con but thank they Are All wearing helmets no doubt they feel Safe and the helmet police Are the articles claim that bicycle Hel mets can prevent head and brain injuries by 85 per cent is an of Quot de and highly contentious statistic based upon a Small Sample and questionable also highly contestable is the Asser Tion that legislated helmet use reduces the rate of cyclists sent to Hospital with head the internet Sites of the Ontario coalition for better cycling and the cycling rights action group Are Good sources of information with references to published studies that indicate mandatory helmet Laws have not improved cycling i am not against helmet How proper Road behaviour and Good cycling skills Are much More effective than helmets for reducing cycling and let us not forget that there Are Many common activities More dangerous to our Heads than Gordon Mcgonigal Winnipeg Portage makeover misguided i agree completely with the senti ments expressed by de neck Portage streets Caping a waste of tax Winnipeg free april its typical of the Short unrealistic visions of the City planners who now seem to think the main problem with downtown decay is not enough places to drink Coffee out i dont recall any Public consultation equestrian events have a wrong image of being for the which makes fundraising before the Large foreheads at City Hall committed millions of our tax dollars to this latest scheme to rehabilitate Are these the same City planners who have been spending millions to unclog the bottleneck on main Street by widening the Norwood who now want to take away two lanes from Portage Avenue i imagine the fumes from the idling traffic backed up for blocks will be a real attraction for the patrons of the trendy sidewalk cafes they Hope will be and who is going to be frequenting an outdoor Bistro during a Normal Winnipeg win Ter add to the confusion and pedestrians trying to Cross that vast expanse of and people who dont actually work downtown will have even More reason to bypass the whole the Graham Avenue bus mall is a Complete trying to find an unfamiliar address involves going up and Down one Way streets for blocks out of your craning your neck As you Cross the in the Usu ally vain Hope that someone will have actually put Street numbers in a prominent if you Are finding parking within several blocks of where you need to people should make More use of Public particularly those who live and work but dont add to traffic congestion by taking away 25 per cent of the busiest intersection in the please dont compound that mistake by reopening Portage and main to replace the ugly Concrete barriers with something More picturesque and build overhead pedestrian admit Graham Avenue was a and reopen it to Normal traffic with the exception of Rush give tax Breaks to Portage Avenue business allow metered Park ing on sidewalk cafes and narrow streets Are quaint in Europe and Quebec but completely unsuited for a Prairie lets find our own and not Rush into building this latest White just so we can impress Visi tors for the pan am Mcdowell Winnipeg debt becomes bottomless pit i am amazed and amused at free press editor Nicholas firsts Winnipeg at Crossroads april prior to bringing in the finance minister Eric Stefanson consulted with the people of Manitoba and then did exactly what they asked him to do allocate More Money for education and paying Down the most reasonable people Are satisfied with the this is what democracy is All Hirst suggests rather than pay Down the the provincial government should have Given the Mil lion for the future of the for an entertainment Complex or fixing Down town Winnipeg and the Core Wake you Are no longer in do you know How much interest is payable on a lion debt debt becomes a bottomless there is much More to Manitoba than try to forget about the weather and make an Effort to travel around the you might be pleasantly Margaret Bjornson Winnipeg controversy Over news i believed newspapers published to print controversy has led to More sales i am Assum ing this is the Only reason you printed John stack houses article on the Faith Page your ideas and suggestions Are very without a doubt you must have been one or the very few that led to having the lords prayer taken out of our i Hope the Good lord will help the who not knowing signed up for your classes at the University of Murray Balagusz Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Fucks that Hurt ;