Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 14, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sin Magazine focus Winnipeg Frei press do sunday m w 14,2000 of older Folk have straight Story link to past lives in new generation straight Story is a simple but very moving Story. My the Moonlight through the tops of the Trees while men dripped blood on top of him and moaned in pain. He also spoke of walking through Dresden which was just shoulder High rubble after the allies firebombed it. He waited with his unit a Safe distance outside the City while wave after wave of bombers went Over. Of course we Are told the germans deserved it a the allies deemed it necessary a but it was hard to believe that when you witness a City and its people wiped off the face of the Earth. So As this generation slowly fades away drowned out by the Buzz of a technological youth obsessed culture unimpressed with the character and i strength that adversity and experience brings i wonder How it must feel to be pushed to the sidelines and eventually forgotten. A generation where the ultimate sacrifice was made by so Many with nary a word of complaint. My grandmother recently passed away a woman who decided at the age of 50 to get her nursing degree and both sets of my grandparents Are now gone. The living link to the past has been extinguished. A link to immigrants starting their lives Over again in a new land on the harsh Prairies. A link to the depression and two world wars and Prosperity unrivalled anywhere in the world. But i know that i will carry their struggles and triumphs with me a it is who i am. Colin Fraser is a Winnipeg writer. Around them. Mercifully the previews ended. The movie started. It was a slow moving contemplative movie and it was Beautiful. As Alvin straight Richard Farnsworth the oldest Ever nominated person for Best actor gives a Subtle but poignant performance. The Story line is a simple one a an old Man decides to ride his Lawnmower Over 480 Kilometres to visit his estranged brother who has had a stroke. One of the most moving scenes i have Ever witnessed in any film involved Alvin straight and another Man his own age. They sit in a bar and Tell of their experiences in the second world War a something that neither of them could share with someone who Hadnot been there. They each Tell of the horror that is forever etched in their minds and How it followed them Home and drove at least one of them to try and find Solace in a bottle. The confusion and madness of the Battlefield can never be captured by Hollywood not even by Steven Spielberg a and those postwar John Wayne movies must have made veterans shake their Heads in sad disbelief at How horribly wrong they got it. My Grandfather served in the second world War and hardly spoke of what he had seen. Only during one dinner did he Tell of driving a jeep serving As an ambulance without any lights in the dead of night. He managed to find the Way through follow a while ago i decided to take in David Lynch a movie the straight Story. Unfortunately i did no to think any of my friends would be interested in this film so i would have to make the trek alone if i really wanted to see it. I had read the reviews and it was unanimously praised. One Csc television reviewer went so far As to say if you Are not going to see another movie in your life make sure you go see this one. So with a Friday afternoon stretched out before me i decided to take in a matinee. It was like going to Church. Clusters of White hair were scattered before me As i entered the theatre. Loud pop music blared in the background As i found my seat. A movie trivia game played on the screen. As i sat in the dimly lit theatre it donned on me How much the movie Industry was geared towards Young people. I was already beginning to feel lost making that turn into my 30s while everything around me catered toward the Young. I Felt sandwiched Between the marketing of the technologically savvy group below me and of course the baby Boomers above me. But now i realized that there was another generation that was completely left out. A generation that had grown up in the depression and came of age in a world War. The music seemed horribly inappropriate for the crowd. And then came the previews. But first there Colin Fraser was the add a car and featuring a Young woman whose Confidence and Worth As a person was directly linked to her Purchase of a Toyota Echo. A Many a voice in the crowd makes a comment a the others laugh. Next we Are treated to clips from a movie staring Gary Shandling As an alien from another planet who has to have sex with a woman to save his planet. Again snickers from behind me. Not going to see that one a woman says. Finally there is Julia Roberts As a Young twice divorced trailer Park mom who can to believe she Isnit taken seriously working in a Law office because she dresses like a prostitute. But of course after launching her own investigation into some environmental coverup she wins the respect of everyone who should feel bad that they Ever doubted her. The crowd Isnit buying this one either. I wonder about their perception of the generations that have come after them if they believe we have completely let things go and Are on the sure Road to disaster a cluttered House in desperate need of cleaning while everyone does their Best to ignore the mess As it piles up i Ottora if it the Fri intr the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the author s name address and Telephone number. Lull Al o in hic swill Sui letters May be edited. Letters to the editor. 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg. R2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email former councillor was apologist for killer regime Daniela Ciuffa / Winnipeg free press the Grant Park location of Mcnally Robinson booksellers is larger but pays less tax than the downtown store. Permit me to comment on your Story regarding the controversy surrounding the naming of a North end Park after the communist City councillor Jake Penner Duck and cover cold War lives at City Hall free press May 9. Or. Penner was an old communist who was for a very Long time an apologist for the most genocidal regime of the 20th Century. The soviet Union was responsible for More state sponsored extermination than even the nazis. On the admission of his son Roland Jake did no to see through this regime until the 1960s. This was after the show trials of the 1930s, the coup in Prague in 1948, the suppression of the workers revolts in East Germany and Hungary and Poland in 1953 and 1956, and after the welter of evidence about the gulags and the slave Camps from the 1930s Onward. Goodness gracious it is even after the revelations by Khrushchev himself in his famous speech of 1956. Jake Penner was a longtime stolid defender of the indefensible. Such political Perspicuity and intelligence deserve More than a Park being named after him. Nothing less than a statue will do preferably in front of City Hall. Allen Mills Winnipeg Steek decides by pest regarding coun. Garth Steeke a objections to naming a Park after Jacob Penner its sad to learn that coun. Steek feels that individuals must pass the Steek personal political belief litmus test up Pelt before they can be honoured for their contributions to the City of Winnipeg. I suppose that in the next go round he will be using the pest people exactly like Steek test to vet prospective Honoreen. David Koulack Winnipeg Oleson a column simply stinks what a Relief it was to read Tom Oleson a column of april 22 the nose knows real victims free press. Finally i know that the reactions i and Many others suffer from Contact with various Petro chemical compounds used to give a number of our a a scented products their scent Are really Only part of my imagination. You might also enlighten the allergy medical professionals of your research in this area. Your insights would certainly save them much time Effort and Energy. You also seem to assume that these people who had previously a held their noses or said Zeeuw Quot were doing this As a matter of personal like or dislike. An article in the Globe and mail May 14,1999 stresses that chemical toxicity is a health Issue and is not merely a matter of someone a likes or dislikes. There Are however individuals such As yourself who will immediately cry a a lunacy or a hypochondria a denying the existence of something simply because you personally done to experience it. Lucky you. Perhaps one Day someone from your immediate family or someone you know will develop a sensitivity to these scented products. You might even witness the physical manifestations of their reactions first hand. Well see where your nose goes then. B. Hartel Winnipeg downtown taxes kill business i read with interest Nicholas Hirst a column on the subject of who is trying hard a and who Isnit trying at All a to make downtown Winnipeg viable. My contribution to the discussion is to direct you to City of Winnipeg prop erty tax assessments downtown. Mcnally Robinson has a store in Grant Park and one in Portage place the former three times the size of the latter. Yet the property tax we pay for our Portage place store is almost double what we pay at Grant Park. Expressed in terms of dollars of tax per unit of store area property taxes downtown Are four times higher for us than in Grant Park. You might assume from this that the actual Market value of commercial space in Portage place is much higher that at Grant Park. Wrong. In fact our rent in Portage place is less than half our rent in Grant Park. In that sense taxes Are not just four times higher but eight times higher expressed As a portion of our Overall occupancy Cost. Recent real estate transactions along Portage Avenue underscore the depressed commercial value of the neighbourhood nobody wants to pay a High Price for a commercial building unless they can get High rents a that is How commercial value is determined. So fair property tax assessment uses the equation lower rents equal lower commercial value equal lower tax assessment. The City of Winnipeg has a perverse version of this self evident equation lower rents lower commercial value higher taxes. They might As Well Post signs retailers stay out. Downtown reserved for Urban decay. If the City seriously wants downtown to survive City Council must find some Way at least to balance assessments. Better yet after punishing retailers with High taxes for trying to make downtown work Why not tip the balance in favour of downtown where the City a costs of infrastructure Are Long since amortized As it stands downtown retailers Are paying Premium taxes in effect subsidizing new infrastructure that sustains big Box developments far from the Core of the City. Paul Mcnally Mcnally Robinson booksellers Winnipeg put compassion to work Mary Scott a letter heart heavy for ethiopians free press May 5 evoked two responses in me. First i sympathize with is Scott a Heartfelt worry about the people whose lives Are at stake. But second i Felt somewhat annoyed by her statement a Why on Earth has this not been seen Way ahead of time a All the signs were pointing to it but nothing was done to alleviate these poor innocent souls of such inhumane better questions might be Why on Earth do we not pay More attention to what the churches and Aid groups Are telling us Why on Earth do we have to wait until we see what some have called a the pornography of the news a starving children with flies on their eyelids Why on Earth have we allowed Ottawa to have reduced its foreign Aid budget Over the last decade to an All time Low As global citizens we need to take some responsibility for knowing what is going on in our extended family. I would urge is Scott and others to put their compassion to work. Join Oxnam. Support your churches world development fund. Lobby your my for More Aid and to forgive third world debt. Most of All take some initiative to find out what a happening in the world and respond. Rev Barb Janes Winnipeg Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 128 no 153 a 2000 Winnipeg free press a division of f p. Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Rudy redek0p/ publisher email Rudy Redekop free press. My. Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Patrick Flynn Deputy editor ;