Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 30, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Wednesday August 30, 2006 b1 Mem. Cats pee wine and Beer companies Are embracing wild names for their products. City business business b9 City editor Steve Pona 697-7292 i i family notices c7 fish tank to drunk tank for heckler fan eyeing lawsuit says he was sober by Jen Skerritt even though he was arrested and banned from All future Gold eyes Home games leather lunged heckler Bryan Benson is still making noise. Benson 56, said he a planning Legal action after police arrested him at the aug. 18 Gold eyes game against Kansas City and took him to a drunk tank for six hours even though he claims he was sober. Benson was seated with a Friend behind the Gold eyes dugout and admits to Yelling everything from go Back to High school and you can to hit to sucker and goofy at Home team players. Winnipeg beat Kansas 6-5. If you get Down to it booing and heckling its an Art he said. When the Ball hits the catchers Mitt you yell ? Gold eyes Security asked Benson to keep his voice Down three times. The third time Benson told Security they a have to Call the police to get rid of him. So they did. Now Benson is threatening to sue the Winnipeg Gold eyes Winnipeg police and the main Street project saying All three infringed on his right to boo. I can cheer or boo they can to Stop me he said yesterday. ? fans defended their team but they went about it the wrong Gold eyes general manager Andrew Collier said Benson is the first person to be escorted out of the Park because of noise com plaints from surrounding fans. Unlike rowdies sporting events like Winnipeg Blue bomber games col Lier said Gold eyes fans Are tame and things like horns and cowbells Are not allowed. Collier said Benson was ruining the baseball experience for the peo ple around him and Security acted appropriately. Benson a creative writer is currently banned from attending future Gold eyes games at can West global Park. Four people have been removed from can West global Park since 1999 for being intoxicated. Continued please see heckler b2 if you get Down to it booing and heckling its an Art. When the Ball hits the catchers Mitt you yell ? ? leather lunged heckler Bryan Benson who was tossed out of Gold eyes game and into the drunk tank even though he claims he was sober air Canada Pilot locked out of cockpit went to washroom Crew had to remove door by Mike Edgell a n air Canada Pilot who left the flight deck to visit the washroom found himself locked out of the cockpit when he tried to return ? forcing the Crew to remove the door from its hinges. It happened aboard an air Canada jazz flight on saturday and the company confirmed yesterday it is conducting an inter Nal investigation into the incident that took place on the bom Bardier Crj-100 carrying As Many As 50 passengers from Ottawa to Winnipeg. At approximately 4 15 p.m., with approximately 20 minutes remaining on the two hour and 30 minute flight the Pilot on flight 8475 apparently left the cockpit to use the washroom at the Back of the plane leaving the flights first officer in control of the plane ? a Normal event when a member of the Crew needs to use a washroom. A flight attendant remained in the cockpit with the first officer. However when the Pilot returned the door was apparently stuck ? or locked ? and the Pilot was unable to return to the cockpit. Passengers later said that for approximately 10 minutes the Pilot banged on the door and communicated with the cockpit through an internal Telephone but was unable to open the Cabin door. Eventually the Crew forced the door open by taking the door off its hinges completely and the pilots safely landed the plane ? although in the event that there a Slop piness there a inconsistency and there Are vulnerabilities that terrorists Are going to notice ? Peter St. John the Pilot was unable to Access the cockpit the first officer is also fully qualified to land the aircraft. Air Canada jazz said the incident is a first for them. But in Canada a Pilot getting locked out of the cockpit is a non reportable incident meaning airlines have no obligation to inform transport Canada about it As they investigate them selves. However airline analysts warn that incidents like these Are disasters waiting to happen ? both in terms of accidents related to human error and vulnerability to terrorism. ? the Pilot can be taken hostage by someone in the plane with hostile intent said Peter St. John a Winnipeg based Secu Rity analyst. There a sloppiness there a inconsistency and there Are vulnerabilities that terrorists Are going to notice and they re going to see it and say this is easy air Canada insists that this is the first instance of this Ever happening but since being locked out of the cockpit is a non reportable incident there is no Way of confirming their frequency As the airlines Are under no obligation to report them. ? can West news service if nowhere to sleep where do homeless go i f a City has More homeless people than spaces in homeless shelters what should it do this is not a trick question. An increasing number of cities across North America have passed Laws Mak ing it illegal for the homeless to sleep in Public places regard less of the num Ber of Beds available to them. This Friday it becomes illegal in Montreal. Victoria is fac ing a court Chal Lenge Over bylaws prohibiting the erection of a shelter in a Public place and sleeping overnight in Parks. The City has an estimated 700 homeless and 175 per manent shelter spaces. Those extra people All 525 of them cannot sleep on Street grates on the Steps of churches or curled up in bus shelters. No one knows where they Are supposed to rest at night. Las vegas has made it illegal to even feed homeless people in Parks. The pigeons presumably can still nosh on chunks of torn bread. John Mohan the director of Winnipeg a Siloam Mission says determining the True number of homeless people in this City is difficult. He Esti mates our numbers at somewhere Between 1,500 and 2,000. There Are fewer than 200 permanent shelter spaces. Passing a bylaw similar to those in Las vegas Montreal or Victoria is not Only impossible for the homeless to obey it is immoral to suggest they try. At the moment we Only have the obstructive solicitation bylaw which prohibits aggressive panhandling. Yesterday City representatives were unable to say whether Winnipeg will try to ban the homeless from sleeping in local Parks bus benches or on the streets. If they do then what its an impossible situation says Mohan. Its impossible for the Home less to our numbers include people who Couch surf moving from one friends apartment to another friends base ment. They include people who Secre timely stay with an acquaintance in a single occupancy room. They include those who live in hotels without ten ants rights subject to eviction with no cause or warning. They sleep under Bridges in dump sters Mohan says. They sleep in the entryway to Winnipeg of course has brutal win ters the likes of which Victoria and Las vegas Don to see. There Are sup posed to be enough places for people to go. Realistically despite the Good efforts of folks at Siloam Mission main Street project Sally Anne and the like there Arent. In Calgary they have a network of churches that take the overflow says Mohan. When the shelters Are full they know who to we Don to have that As warm hearted As our volunteers May be. What we do have is a burgeoning crisis the same As every other City in North America. The homeless Arent cuddly. They make us uncomfortable queasy that they exist on a different plane in the same City. Its easy to dismiss them As drunk bums people who should just pull themselves up by the proverbial Bootstraps. John Mohan admits some of our homeless citizens will always be so regardless of government programs or Good intentions. They re mentally ill or drug addicts or were born with fetal alcohol syndrome and bounced from Home to Home. They Don to take their meds they Don to Bathe they Don to have a resum. There Are some people on the streets who have been banned from homeless shelters says Mohan. They were disruptive. They were a danger to other and if those people had to be removed from the streets in a Way that would be the answer to their prayers. They a have a roof Over their Heads and three squares. But that a not really an answer is it hiding the homeless from Public View does to Lessen their numbers. It Only increases their desperation. Lets not let that happen Here. Lindor Reynolds blogs at. ;