Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 21, 1998, Winnipeg, Manitoba Editor Brian Cole / 697-7044 focus Winnipeg free press a monday september 21, 1998 i i Reader says Long Ball Power today is not the difficult task it was when Ruth left and Gehrig were belting them. Home runs meant More Back then while Scott Baylor makes a Good Point about expansion and diluted pitching being the major contributor to the assault on the Home run record he should also have mentioned that 1961, when Roger Maris broke babe Ruth s record was also an expansion year. In addition the Abc s Bob Costas has pointed out that the configurations of All the new stadiums a livelier baseball the lowering of the Pitcher s Mound and the narrowing of the strike zone All favour the hitter to a Point where easy homers become inevitable. Actually it has become More difficult to break the record for doubles 67 established in 1930 or the one for triples 36 from the Early 1900s. In fact the triple is probably the most difficult feat for a Batter since he must not Only hit the Ball deep and place it Well but also demonstrate great Speed and base running ability. And will anyone Ever achieve a batting average of .400, last reached in 1941? remember that if a player with any number of Home runs goes hit less for several games his Homer count remains intact. But if one who s flirting with .400 experiences the same Type of slump his percentage declines precipitously. While we re at it let s not forget the prodigious talents of Ruth and teammate Lou Gehrig. In 1927, american league batters hit a grand total of 336 Home runs Ruth and Gehrig accounted for 107, or 32 per cent of these. By contrast it seems that these Days every team hits at least 200, so it s obvious that Long Ball Power is not As scarce a commodity or As difficult a skill As it once was and it s getting too much Media play at the expense of the finer Points of the game. The cheap Homer phenomenon is part of baseball s attempt to recoup its losses after the 1994"strike. It s also associated with the dumping Down of sports in general. The people who get their kicks Only from Home runs would have trouble appreciating the subtleties of a double steal or a hit and run play or even recognizing them. These Are the same types who denounce soccer for being too Low scoring can t wait for fights to break out in hockey and Are bored by football unless the teams throw 50 passes each. Unfortunately too much of professional sports and television tends to Cater to such individuals. 1 e. Katz Winnipeg How to reach us Simon Birch one of the year s finest Heartfelt movies wholeheartedly disagree with Alison Gilmor s recent movie review of Simon Birch 21/2 out of 5 stars free press sept. 11. True unlike the character in John Irving s novel a prayer for Owen Meany the main character is named Simon and not Owen. For me this does not in any Way distract one from being totally immersed into what i feel is one of this year s finest Heartfelt movies. The casting was Well chosen As the final product proves. In today s world of unsure beliefs and reckless film producing i give Simon Birch a 5 out of 5 stars. Darlene Hoffman Winnipeg Lindor first Dave Barry second if i had a special writing award Lindor Reynolds would be at the top of my presentation list. Dave Barry s name May be second because you two Are my favourites. You have Talent Kiddo and much natural writing ability excellent Choice of words and expressions and most of All a wonderful inner attitude. Your sense of Humour is great. I love it. Which makes me wonder All of a sudden does the free press realize what a Gem you Are in Marchbank Winnipeg learn More about pay equity Issue this letter is in response to the comments made by . Bolton regarding the Public service pay equity Appeal decision which was printed in the Winnipeg free press on sept. 12.-irreally annoys me when people give their opinion on something they obviously know nothing about. I am a Federal government employee who is affected by the pay equity decision. I work very hard for the wages i earn which by the Way have been Frozen for the last five years. It appears a. K. Bolton appreciates living in a country run by liars. Or. Chretien stated before he was elected that he would abide by the tribunal s decision should it go that far and which it did. Or. Masse has previously stated that the Money was put aside and is available should the tribunal vote in our favour which it did. The Treasury Board made us an offer of $1.3 billion. If it seriously wants to resolve the Issue Why does t it distribute the $1.3 billion As a partial payment pending the of Tome of the met Appeal or. Chretien just gave his big boys a $16,000-a-year raise. When asked How he justified a raise of such magnitude when All we re asking for is equal pay for equal work his response was because they re Worth . Bolton i Don t know what your definition of teamwork is but we Are a big organization working toward a common goal of Public service. When the team leaders Are wiping their $200 Gucci leather shoes on our faces it tends to shake the foundation to the Core. A lot of our jobs Are very specialized and As such can t be compared salary Wise to jobs in the private sector. With this in mind i Don t know How you could determine what we should earn As Federal government employees As opposed to employees in the private sector. I m sorry to see that you re buying into or. Chretien s tactics. He s playing on the Public s fear of shrinking health care to justify his position on the pay equity decision. Kim Marino Winnipeg restaurant vote needs explanation it is regrettable that the politicians on City Council elected by the people totally disregard the wishes of these people when voting for certain applications for businesses. These same councillors who Are not involved in any Way with the neighbourhood under discussion actually could t care less one Way or another. I do not believe that these eight councillors who voted for the restaurant on Wellington Crescent on sept. 10, can stand up individually and give valid. Reasons Why they voted for that restaurant knowing that insufficient parking spaces will create a big problem for the restaurant and for the residents in close proximity on the Street. Other related problems will arise As Well. Garbage odours excessive traffic and noise to name a few. Changing the zoning from re to c-2 Only for 529 Wellington cres.," As they state is also a Short term Promise. They know and we All know that once this precedent is set nothing will Stop other precedents from being set on Wellington Crescent. This Means that a Beautiful Street like Wellington Crescent for Many years unique in Winnipeg and a must see for tourist buses will surely become a commercialized Street As tip Joje passes. This against the wishes of possibly 1,500-2,000 residents within the area of this location. What gives these eight councillors from other areas in Winnipeg the right to go against the wishes of these residents. Do these residents taxpayers not have a right to their own wishes of course it could be said that these residents have a right to come to the Council meeting to state their objection. This too is a farce when a meeting called for 9 30 . Keeps these people waiting until 3 or 4 . Before the discussion comes up and then it seems that these councillors minds were decided even before this discussion. If such is the Case Why not save the expense of printing and mailing by priority mail notices of a Date for Appeal would they follow the same procedure As at the sept. 9 meeting Wake up citizens taxpayers. It is time that your elected representatives Are aware that they should listen to their constituents wishes in such matters and not just ram these decisions Down your throats. Winnipeg let s hear it for recycling Lam really tired of Reading articles with a negative Point of View on recycling. As an owner of a Small Rural recycling operation every Day i try to promote recycling in a positive Way to encourage participation in the program. I really disliked the writer s terminology Good recyclables Are recyclables not garbage. We have got to Stop using up the Earth s natural resources at the rate we Are currently doing so no matter what the monetary Cost. The numbers quoted in the article should Shock people into realizing the amount of waste we canadians produce. If 2,000 tonnes of recyclables Are collected each month How much is still going into the Landfill this article stated that the problem with All recycling programs i that they Cost Money that s not nearly recouped by Selling the material to do we expect this of garbage disposal programs and How much does garbage collection and disposal Cost including construction maintenance and closing of Landfill Sites now i really Don t think the taxpayers Are going to have a problem with paying $5.29 per year for recycling services and does anyone really notice paying two cents on their drink containers i Don t know what the City pays for processing or what collection Cost Are but at 2,000 tonnes per month of recyclables if 50 per cent is newsprint and magazines at $80/tonnes, Revenue generated is $80,000 per month or $960,000 per year on that material alone. In addition to that the City is eligible for a top up payment of $128/tonnes of recyclable materials for another 2,000 tonnes month x $128 $256,000 per month or $3,072,000 per year. Inform your readers show them a Cost Revenue breakdown but Don t forget about what they Are paying for garbage both monetarily and environmentally. V Karen Nilsson environmental options recycling Lac Dubonnet the free press welcomes letters from readers. Letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed name address and Telephone number. Names will be published but not addresses. All letters May be edited for style and length. Short letters Are less Likely to be condensed. Please address letters to letters to the editor Winnipeg free press 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Letters can be sent to our fax number 697-7412. Letters May be submitted through the internet at letters @freepress.mb.ca. Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be signed but must include Home address and Telephone number. Worlds did not collide would like to respond to Mitch Podolak s comments in the Winnipeg free press sept. 8. For Mitch Podolak to blame the end of the world music festival for the horrendous failure of the world next door festival at the Forks is unconscionable. Hiding behind the cloak of a non profit organization in order to receive $326,000 in Public funds while contracting his own for profit company to produce his event he has no business comparing his venture to any event that relied solely on ticket sales and private funding. The Kenora event played no role in the meagre attendance at this event period. It is also interesting that while tapping into considerable pubic monies his event was also exempt from amusement tax. Or. Podolak has a Long history of using Public Money to fund his ventures. He seems to know which buttons to push in order to tap into Public monies and so be it. However it begs the question what is the difference Between a non profit and a for profit company if you look closely you will find that in Many cases they Are one in the same except that the non profit qualifies for government funding and Many other benefits. But if there is a surplus profit that surplus can be paid out in management fees bonuses to directors wage increases and increased expenditures. What s the Dif ? this year other festivals across Canada including the popular Minnedosa event have experienced problems and Are carrying significant deficits. It is evident that some of these problems Are the result of a tremendous increase in Talent costs a devalued Dollar the escalating costs of policing Security production and advertising. Even though Sun fest in Gimli was successful for most of its six year run raising some $200,000 for the Gimli recreation Centre it was eventually squeezed out by Edge fest and Roadside attraction which targeted the same demographic. The proliferation of festivals in general is Likely to be a contributing Factor to the problems some festivals have experienced lately. I personally warned or. Podolak that it was our experience at Nite out Over Many years that the september Long weekend was the kiss of death for High priced concerts and events. People Are closing up their cottages University students have tuition to pay and Many families Are under financial stress getting their kids and or themselves Back to school. Why is any portion of the Forks a publicly funded meeting place being fenced off to the general Public under any circumstances this seems to Fly in the face of what the Forks is supposed to represent. What were the benefits to the existing tenants in the Forks with this festival having it s own food beverage and other concessionaires this is not to say that the end of the world music festival in Kenora was a Model event and i deeply regret the fact that it was not More successful for the Sake of the investors suppliers and patrons. However we did not receive any Public funds save for a Matching wage Grant for our one and Only paid staff member. However with $326,000 in Grant Money the end of the world music festival in Kenora would have been unqualified Success in our first year. Bruce Rathbone Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Asa of Manues to a tees me in Savov a pics against a Pec to flaw Prpa tory pub sent. 1 ,.eom&ofm5mo&r vocal critics ukr per pm Burton and Ren Habibn ,ha\/�beencau6hrin Tasem up oct. Res Coupe to Glass houses syn prom a Corot a to scandal in which to reputations of theft Sago Oppelo ;