Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 21, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A5 Saturday print readership: 1 268,200 Winnipeg adults average print weekday readership: 1 202,700 Winnipeg adults winnipegfreepress. com: 2 14,415,085 page views a month mobile site and apps: 2,3 11,806,803 page views a month Facebook fans over 13,600 likes Twitter followers: over 29,000 STILL GROWING Sources: 12012 NADbank Study, 2Google Analytics - 2013 Q2 Average, 3Spreed Inc. - 2013 Q2 Average S a t u r a v e w i n n 1 m o b 1 ov T NEWS LOCAL A5 SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2013 ' Y OU have to start somewhere." Fabiola Marabotto wore a big smile as she uttered those words at the 2013 Latin Fest Winnipeg at The Forks Saturday afternoon. The inaugural celebration of Latin culture in the popular urban green space may not have muscled its way onto the city's summer festival calendar yet - first- time festivals have to prove themselves worthy of attention in this town - but the fact the small, alcoholfree event was taking place was enough for Marabotto. " Latin Fest Winnipeg is just the first step," she said, believing in the community's ability to find traction with this event. " That we're having this, that it's actually happening, is a really important step for us in achieving our goal." That goal is to rally the community to help raise funds to build a Latin- Canadian Cultural Centre in Manitoba, the first of its kind in the province. Marabotto, a member of the organizing committee, moved to Winnipeg from Mexico City 13 years ago. She dubs the future cultural centre " a place for us to share our culture and the things which connect us all." And you can tell she really means it. Carlos Barrios is from Venezuela. He moved to Winnipeg in 1989 and spends most of his time basking in the glow of being the bandleader for Tropical 99, a 10- piece Latin musical experience. Barrios is an addictive, gregarious fellow, and he shares in the goal of Latin Fest Winnipeg. " When you move to Canada, your children eventually lose their roots," he said. " It's hard to maintain that connection with the customs, the food and the language. We want a place where we can keep the spirit alive and share it with everybody." But it's more than just learning how to cook Mexican food or learning how to salsa or boning up on your Spanish. Marabotto dreams of a cultural centre that not only preserves the Latin way of life but also shares its experiences with everyone. If this end result seems well off on the horizon, it is. There were no real expectations Saturday on what the crowd would be or how many would attend the day- long festival. The curious stopped in to listen and check out the handful of tents and vendors congregated at the front of the Scotiabank Stage, while those interested in the live performances started to set up chairs for the late- afternoon and evening part of the bill. Some free advice for organizers: more Latin food vendors next year. That was a common complaint during the afternoon portion of the festivities. Again, the festival's first year wasn't about what wasn't there; it was simply about being there. Success was measured though simple existence. You have to start somewhere. The dream of a Latin- centric celebration has come up before, but the idea could never gain any momentum due to differing opinions and agendas in the separate regions represented. Think about it for a second: There are approximately 40 different countries in the Latin Union worldwide, so finding common ground through small pockets of representation in Manitoba was often an exercise in frustration - to the point where all interested stakeholders would just throw up their hands and walk away in the years leading up to this event. " By DNA, we're supposed to be divided, right?" Barrios offers. " It's countries and borders - that's it. It's come together now because while that DNA that divides us is something we cannot change, it's our culture that unites us. " Politics, religion, sport - culture is bigger than those. It's not about Latin America or the Latin countries around the world. It's about us as people and the culture that connects us." Festival organizers say there are approximately 7,000 active members of the Latin community in Winnipeg and another 10,000 located across the province. The numbers are continuing to grow, Barrios said, so it only makes sense to start a festival to help bring the community together. " I have a lot of faith in the Latin community," he said. " This is already a success, as far as I'm concerned." adam. wazny@ freepress. mb. ca First Latin Fest celebrates culture and dreams big Organizers hope it clicks, leads to centre By Adam Wazny PORTLAND, Ore. - A dilligent daughterin- law spent 15 years searching for the woman accused of killing her mother- inlaw in a car crash. Last month, she finally got a break. Oregon State Police investigators called to tell her Jean Keating had been arrested in Minnedosa, Man. " It was just too much," Linda Anderson recalled. Keating had built a life with her two children while living illegally in Canada. After the fatal 1997 crash, in which she faced manslaughter and drunk- driving charges, Keating stopped contacting her attorney. Police believe she crossed the Canadian border with her children, ages one and three, in 1998. But trouble followed her. She was arrested several times in Canada, including on a charge of drunk driving. Despite encounters with law enforcement, she managed to keep her past a secret. In early 2013, the secret began to unravel, apparently by Keating's own doing. An RCMP constable heard rumours about a woman named " Jean McPherson" in town who bragged about getting away with manslaughter in the U. S. He emailed a border- enforcement task force, which found there was no " Jean McPherson" living as a legal immigrant in Canada. But when they compared the fingerprints for " Jean McPherson" with those on record for Keating in Oregon, authorities found a match. Officials don't know how she entered Canada, said Lisa White, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, but in the late 1990s, it was not usually necessary for U. S. citizens to show a passport when crossing into Canada. Immigration authorities arrested Keating in Canada on April 4 and issued a deportation order two weeks later. She was detained in Winnipeg because of flight risk until June 12, when she was deported to North Dakota. Keating has been barred from ever entering Canada again, White said. Members of Keating's family still in Oregon could not be located by The Associated Press on Saturday. Keating's oldest child would be older than 18, but it's unclear who was assigned custody of the younger child. Keating was returned to Oregon this week, where she is accused of first- degree manslaughter in the 1997 death of 65- yearold Jewel Anderson. Police say Keating, then 38, sideswiped Anderson's car on Interstate 5 near Albany, Ore., sending it careening through the centre lane and into another car. Anderson died at the scene. Keating's arrest brought an end to years of searching by Linda Anderson, 51. Periodically over the past 15 years, Anderson had logged on to resume a methodical online hunt for the woman accused of killing the Anderson family's matriarch as she drove to church. Linda Anderson had turned to " be your own detective" websites in hopes of finding Keating. " I'd type her name in, type her children's names in to search. There would be other Jean Terese Keatings, but they wouldn't line up," Anderson told The Oregonian . But on Father's Day weekend, Oregon State Police investigators called to say Keating had been arrested in Canada. Anderson attended a court appearance and said she asked prosecutors and the judge to hold Keating accountable for the life she took and her years on the run. She said Keating " looked like she had been through the wringer" and had a " smirky grin" on her face. Anderson said she got to read a statement on behalf of the Anderson family. " I'd say we, as the family, feel the justice system has failed us already," she said. This time, she said, she doesn't want to hear that Keating is out on bail at any point. " I'm asking that Jean remain in jail until her sentencing." - The Associated Press Arrest in Minnedosa ends 15- year search Dead woman's daughter- in- law relieved PHOTOS BY JESSICA BURTNICK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ABOVE: The Trio los Romanticos dance on the Scotiabank Stage at the inaugural Latin Fest at the The Forks on Saturday. LEFT: A model shows one of the many Veronica Davis fashions displayed at the festival. Jean Terese Keating: manslaughter charge A_ 05_ Jul- 21- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A5 7/ 20/ 13 9: 36: 09 PM ;