Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 07, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page a10 rot at heart unpunished t Here were few times in his report on the Taman inquiry where former judge Roger Salhany pulled his punches. Many of those who helped to thwart the course of Justice in the scandal a destructive path that began at the Accident scene where Crystal Taman died almost immediately after former Winnipeg police officer Derek Harvey Zenk rear ended her car at a Stop Light came under scathing criticism and justifiably so. It is also glaringly apparent that the 22 Winnipeg police officers those who did All the drinking that night in february 2005 when one of their own killed a woman got off pretty much untouched. Or. Salhany concluded that everything about this Case was coloured by the fact it was a police officer at the time who was the prime suspect. It was Why the behaviour of investigators at the Accident scene turned the investigation into a train wreck and the Case into an outrage of a prosecution. It is Why the Winnipeg police service whose professional standards unit will now be replaced by an external Independent body for investigations of wrongdoing was so wanting in its role interviewing those 22 officers giving them every Benefit of the doubt and even coaching one officer on Why he might not remember How much Harvey Zenk had to drink at bran igans restaurant the night of the Accident. See Page opposite with such self serving conduct Laid Bare Manitoba ass provincial government has buckled finally to the logic so often repeated that police cannot investigate their own. It is Why former East St. Paul police chief Harry Bakema and fellow officer Ken Graham Are now under criminal investigation by the ramp especially Bakema undeniably the target of or. Sal Hanys most scathing rebukes. The former chief botched the investigation and not out of error but in bad Faith. He gave false testimony to ramp upon being investigated initially for obstruction of Justice and he repeated his false testimony at the inquiry or. Salhany said. Or. Graham participated in rank misconduct fudging his notes along with or. Bakema. Justice minister Dave Chomiak took or. Sal Hanys advice for a review of its training standards one giant step further he announced under his authority within the police act that he had dissolved the East St. Paul Force putting the Community under the Protection of the ramp. The carnage did not Stop with the police investigation however. Or. Salhany concluded there was no reason Why the Independent counsel Marty Minuk brought in by the prosecutions Branch to handle the Case should have agreed to a plea bargain that spared Harvey Zenk jail time. With the charge of impaired driving crushed by or. Bake maps misconduct the Case of dangerous driving causing death was in fact Strong and evidence of his drinking was available despite or. Minukus protests otherwise to chief provincial court judge Ray Wyant. Indeed there was jurisprudence to support jail time but or. Minuk gave too much to Harvey Zenkus lawyer in agreeing to jointly ask the judge to have Harvey Zenk serve his time conditionally in the Community. In that or. Salhany reaches this damning conclusion of or. Minuk in my View the agreement reached by Minuk with Richard Wolson brought the administration of criminal Justice into disrepute. After he discerned in this sordid affair who among the Many to blame should be singled out or. Salhany recommended the obvious easiest fixes. And or. Chomiak jumped to comply. What neither could accomplish was pinning Down what Winni Eggers Felt so keenly was the rot that was Central to the scandal that Harvey Zenk a police officer could escape a charge of impaired driving causing death because none of his 22 colleagues who drank with him that night eight of them later at a House party until 6 30 a. M. Could recall or knew How much he had to drink. One officer said he could not recall whether anyone was drinking at bran igans. Or. Salhany chose to make no comment on their conduct nor their character. He could have commented on their credibility fully within a judges prerogative. He chose not to. At a press conference yesterday or. Salhany refused to Bend to the repeated requests As to Why he did not comment on the Wall of silence the chorus of do not recall. A judge can Only rely on evidence. A judge cannot speculate was his unsatisfactory reply. And ultimately unsatisfactory it is. Most if not All officers drinking that night Are still on the Job. The inquiry yes reach did not extend to them. Their conduct sullied the reputation of the Force injured the Faith Winni Eggers have in their police officers. This fact will be an enduring reminder of Why some in the Community Are Quick to suspect the worst when the too frequent accusations of misconduct or cover up Fly. The existence of an Independent investigation body May help to resolve some distrust but this will be years in the making. Now it is chief Ken Mcca skills Job to begin that Long task of repairing the distrust. He told the inquiry he insisted his officers be forthright and honest in giving their evidence about that night of drinking to the commission. Winni Eggers Are hard pressed to believe they heeded his Call. Or. Mccaskill most of All needs to reflect on the character and credibility of the handful of officers who have done so much damage to the Many who serve. Editorials Winnipeg free press tuesday october 7, 2008 Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights a 10 comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca Winnipeg repress. Com have your say the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697 7412. E mail letters free press. My. Ca letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg free press or its staff. Poll vote online at wow. Winnipeg repress. Com cheap credit the culprit Why is it that whenever Stock markets go Down instead of up every economist in the world starts calling for Central Banks to lower their lending rates a snot it cheap credit and the abuse of credit in general that got us into this economic disaster in the first place lower Central Bank rates equate to lower interest rates for people leg. Retirees who cant afford risk who save for their future or invest their nest eggs using less risky gics Bonds and Bank deposits instead of Mutual funds and stocks. Lowering interest rates will Force everyone into becoming risk takers regardless of age or circumstance. In this Day and age every person wants everything now. The use of credit has allowed this to happen. Look where it has gotten us. Rather than lowering Central Bank rates government should be looking to reduce the tax rate on interest from guaranteed savings accounts. Cal Paul Winnipeg Why vote for Kennerd More often than not i am inclined to vote conservative in Federal elections. This time i would possibly vote the same Way except for one thing. I am perplexed by the purported credentials of my local candidate. I cannot for the life of me understand Why Trevor Kennerd lists at the top of his credentials that decades ago he played football with the Winnipeg Blue bombers. Further the biography on his website begins with a list of his statistics As a football player. Its As though a doctor running for office listed the number of surgeries he performed during a year or a plumber listed How Many drains he fixed. Who cares if in 1985, Trevor set a Cal record for most Points scored in a single season since surpassed am i missing something is this merely an indication of the misplaced value placed these Days on professional sports or is it a manifestation of the Paris Hilton syndrome Trevor Ken nerds claim to Fame is that he is famous sort of Richard j. Osicki Winnipeg disgusted with politicians i am not generally a supporter of the conservative party nor Stephen Harper. That said after watching last weeks leaders debate i am completely disgusted with the state of Canadian politics and our politicians. Over and Over Harper was attacked and not just his government but himself personally. Jack Layton Stephane Dion and All stated that they want what is Best for this country i dont know Why they cant see that a melding of conservative economic policies and Liberal environment policies May just be what this country needs. At least Dion made some valid Points while showing some restraint. Unfortunately the debate Only muddied the Waters and left me with a bad taste in my Mouth. I would like to see one on one debates so i can separate what is just political rhetoric for the actual party policies. It is about time that a Leader of this country did what is Best for us and not for themselves. Rebecca Rawluk Winnipeg disability issues ignored i watched the recent leaders debates and i must say that i was quite disappointed with what i heard. There was hardly any mention of poverty or disability related issues. The disability Community is seeking candidates commitment to address the poverty and social exclusion of canadians with disabilities. Our issues do matter. We Are looking for a Canada where inclusion is a fact of life. Vision is not enough. Action is required. This is our Canada too Harry Wolbert co chairperson Manitoba league of persons with disabilities kudos to Biz zones summer has ended and kudos should be Given to the City of Winnipeg and the various Biz zones for enhancing our Winnipeg streets with Beautiful Flowers. Groupings of planters at Boulevard intersections hanging baskets and planting in Green spaces soften the Cit yes landscape. The use of different annuals a combination of colours texture by the use of tall grasses and spikes variegation and trailing plants All provide pleasure to the eyes. They have done a phenomenal Job Naomi Finkelstein Winnipeg Asperger a Blessing re Asperger syndrome often missed oct. 2. I enjoyed the article on Asperger. However As an Asperger individual i feel it is wrong to say that we suffer from it. I have found it to be Blessing in More ways than one and i dont deny that we struggle. I am trying to say that Asperger like other autism spectrum disorders is not something to suffer from. There Are positives that i feel Are overlooked autistic people rarely lie we live in the moment and we rarely judge others. This and other information can be found from the autism 101 conference that was held in the Pas last month. Katherine Smithson Winnipeg Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 136 no 326 2008 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697 7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Bob Cox / publisher Margo Goodhand / editor to Days question do you agree with the decision to have ramp take Over the East St. Paul police Force previous question do you think the War in Afghanistan can be won yes 17% no 83% total 1,723 letter of the Day fiddling while Rome Burns re global warming and a financial meltdown oct. 3. The current financial meltdown and reports of an Arctic meltdown mask a much greater meltdown in the making. As Michael Madigan writes the global warming debate is the stuff of melodrama. Climate change is a fact. Australians can attest to that. However whether we know enough about Long term climate trends to connect climate change and global warming is not Clear. We dont know for sure. This uncertainty Means that global warming is not a topic that will create political will. However there Are two things that we do know for sure. The global Economy is dependant on Oil. Oil is a nonrenewable resource. And the population of the world is growing. This Means that the demand for a nonrenewable resource in increasing. We know for sure that this situation is not sustainable. Governments need to take a hard look at these facts. These facts make it Clear that a Forward looking government is one that makes creative efforts to find alternate sources of Energy now. If prof. Ross a Arnauts plans to reduce emissions in Australia actually result in altering the forms of Energy in use and in reducing Overall Energy consumption then they Point in the right direction. Unfortunately he used global warming As part of his rationale. This Means that he is open to be dismissed As melodramatic. In the English language leadership debate Elizabeth May echoed a Arnauts assertion that we must look for alternate sources of Energy and that finding new ways of meeting Energy needs May actually result in economic advantage. Her own advantage is that unlike the other Green shift proponents she knows How to articulate the problem and what needs to be done. The other Green shift proponents Are Drifting in a helpful direction but they Are not Able to say Why in a convincing Way. There is a very real danger that the current financial meltdown will prompt a Retreat into Short term thinking. A steady As you go All is Well in Canada government May Promise to protect financial portfolios but it does not recognize what is at stake in the world. In the Long run steady As you go May Well amount to fiddling while Rome Burns. Would that be melodrama or tragic drama Herb Heppner Selkirk a 10_ oct 07 08. Ind a10 10/ 6/ 08 8 58 27 pm ;