And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 09:39:14 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Winnipeg/Bermuda Triangle/Pan Am Games
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NORTHERN VERSION OF BERMUDA TRIANGLE
July 25, 1999 American scribe lambastes city
Winnipeg Sun
Cathy Harasta, a visiting U.S. journalist, isn't exactly crazy
about IOC boss Juan Antonio Samaranch, which doesn't exactly put her in the
minority.And she's not above taking shots at Winnipeg, either, calling
River City a "northern version of the Bermuda Triangle." Harasta, of the
Dallas Morning News, notes that the PAN AM GAMES are a CLASSIC FORUM FOR
YANKEE IMPERIALISTS "but Juan Antonio Samaranch showed up, anyway,
Friday night. "His arrival marked the International Olympic Committee
president's first visit to North America since the Olympic bribery scandal
broke last year.
"His Excellency ... skipped chances to visit the U.S., only to
show up in this northern version of the Bermuda Triangle, this
outpost city within an outpost." Winnipeg, concluded Harasta, "is best
known, perhaps, for being north of North Dakota and for having a permanent
deer population of more than 500, one of the largest in any North American
city."
July 25, 1999 GAMES PROTEST NUMBERS POOR
NATIVE SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON HOUSING AT OPENING SHOW
By BOB HOLLIDAY -- Winnipeg Sun
What were you doing Friday night during the opening ceremonies of the Pan
Am Games? If you were like me and thousands of other Manitobans, you caught
the splendour on the boob tube, and it was quite a show. This was the
second straight time I missed the opening
ceremonies. During the Games' first stop here, 32 years ago, Bill
Ringach and I were umpiring a baseball tournament in St. Genevieve. This
past Friday, I was busy making my weekly round trip to Portage la Prairie.
Driving back to the city in 1967, the windshield wipers on my Volkswagen
could barely keep up with the driving rain. On
Friday, I had a beautiful view of the setting sun glistening off the
Goodyear blimp as it hovered over Winnipeg Stadium on a beautiful, albeit
muggy, prairie evening. The ceremonies went off a lot smoother than the
planned native protest over living conditions on reserves. Organizers had
predicted a turnout of 2,000 to protest living conditions on reserves. But
only about a tenth of the predicted number of marchers turned out.
During the wrap-up speeches, this journal was again accused of
being a racist rag, I guess for printing the position of ordinary
Indians who want a full accounting of the millions of dollars the
federal government turns over to reserves each year. Somehow, I find it
strange the same native politicians who cry poor, are the same people who
steadfastly refuse to open the books. "It's none of your business," is an
answer I've heard too many times when I've asked to see the books. On a
couple of occasions, the response was in chorus with a request to leave the
reserve by the most direct route. It's ironic that while native
politicians cry "Show me more money" to the feds and province, the people
whom they're supposed to represent are shouting "Show us where it's spent."
An audited statement may look legitimate, but why not turn over the ledger
sheets so people can see where the money is actually spent.
Brenda Everett, like others, wants to know why the Assembly of
Manitoba Chiefs has been given $33,399,484 since 1994, to study ways of
dismantling the Department of Indian Affairs which has a role, albeit a
weak one, in monitoring reserve activities. "Do you know how many houses
(on reserves) we could build with that money?" Everett, a Sagkeeng First
Nation resident, said Wednesday following a march by about 60 people from
Lundar to Winnipeg. "We want to be treated like every other Canadian. We
want the same rights and we want accountability from elected
representatives." So does the rest of society, Brenda! Got a tip for Doc?
Call 781-8045.
**************
LORD SELKIRK HOUSING PROJECT
July 25, 1999 Turning crime's tide
Once a hoodlums' war zone, police rallied people to take pride
Winnipeg Sun
In the past three years, the Lord Selkirk Park housing project has
transformed itself from a war zone into a proud community. The gang
members, drugs and prostitutes that once ruled the North End neighbourhood
have been replaced by smiling children and caring families. The Winnipeg
Sun talked with several people about how they
have helped to make the difference.
By CHRIS PURDYPolice Reporter
When Winnipeg police Const. Dan Atwell landed in the "Concrete Jungle," he
expected the worst -- and got it. "I kind of felt like I was being
air-dropped into Vietnam," said the sole foot patrol officer for the Lord
Selkirk area and its notorious Lord Selkirk Park housing project.
Now, there is peace in the war zone. But it's been a long, hard
struggle. The low-income family housing project, a concrete and dreary
300-unit complex, was once a wild jungle bordering on the city's low track
near Dufferin Avenue and Main Street. It was ruled by the INDIAN POSSE
STREET GANG. Stabbings and shootings were commonplace. Drug needles
littered lawns. Prostitutes, some of them children, were as commonplace as
the cars driven by johns who lined up to solicit their services.
Residents who weren't scared away, stayed and suffered. Const. Atwell said
criminals activity had become so bold that gang members once stormed into a
suite belonging to an elderly couple. The thugs threw condoms onto a table
and demanded that their 13-year-old granddaughter to "get her ass out" and
sell her body on the street.
"It was all normal," he said. "Everybody had a 'nothing-mattered-anymore'
mentality." But when Atwell started walking the beat in his blue uniform
-- three years ago next month -- things began to change. The gang members
confronted him, and he fought back. One night, Atwell said he stood
for nine hours outside a gang house, disrupting their drug and
prostitution business. They moved out the next day. Atwell gradually
gained the respect of the development's residents, who were desperate for
change, and their children -- who ADORINGLY CALL HIM "OFFICER DAN." Calls
for police service have dropped dramatically, from about 700 to 150 calls a
year.
Justice Minister Vic Toews now jogs through the transformed
area, something he says he wouldn't have done five years ago.
Toews authored a new anti-prostitution law, which came into
effect earlier this year, which allows police to seize johns' cars.
Police say the law has cut curb-crawling dramatically.
Other walls have literally come tumbling down in the neighbourhood. Last
year, the province knocked down several two-metre-high brick walls that
jutted out in and out of the complex, creating perfect hiding places and
ambush spots for criminals. Atwell said residents have now put up invisible
walls of their own. "Now it's as if they're guarding their own fort, not
letting the bad ones in," he said. Troy Rupert, executive director of
Winnipeg Native Alliance
who grew up in the area, said residents now shun gang members
and let them know they're not welcome. "The whole community isn't
tolerating it anymore," he said. Rupert admits there are still remnants of
the old war zone and warns things could go back to the way they used to be
if people stop caring.
But resident Darlene Shorting isn't about to let that happen.
The 60-year-old grandmother helped to open a resource centre
with programs and counselling for residents. Her new plan is to beautify
the complex -- with flowers, manicured lawns and curtains in windows
instead of blankets. Madeline Hatch, a single mother of three and member of
the citizens' patrol, moved her family into Lord Selkirk Park four months
ago. "I like it here," said Hatch, 44. "I have nothing to fear." There are
now only 26 empty units in the complex, compared to 124 vacancies two years
ago, said Ron Fallis, executive director of the Manitoba Housing Authority.
"This place is on its way up," he said, adding management of the complex
may be handed over to the residents within the next two years.
July 25, 1999 Girls' group offers hope for the future
Youths learn of life away from poverty
By CHRIS PURDY -- Winnipeg Sun
School teacher Faridah Shams has taken a group of girls under
her wing to teach them about "normal" life outside of Lord Selkirk. The
rules: no tattoos, hickeys, sex or drugs. "These kids want to be women. I
want them to slow down," said Shams, a 32-year-old single mother and a
teacher at David Livingstone School.
Last September, Shams put together "Dreams of Tomorrow," a
group of 40 girls, aged 11 to 18. Most of them are students at David
Livingstone and residents of the neighbouring Lord Selkirk Park housing
project. All of them have had their lives touched by gangs, drugs or
prostitution.
Shams said it's the first-of-its-kind girls group in the province.
They meet at least once a week to talk and work out their problems.
Rachel Quoquat, 14, said she got the first of several home-made tattoos
when she was 11. She said they're no longer cool and might get them
removed. Tara Campeau, 14, took a razor and slashed her left shoulder and
wrist, because it was the "in" thing to do. She's now embarrassed to show
the scars. Another girl, 15, wanted to get pregnant. Others in the group
convinced her otherwise.
"I'm proud to say SOME OF THE GIRLS ARE VIRGINS,"?????? said Shams,
adding the other girls have been LECTURED ABOUT ABSTINENCE. "I want to show
them a different world," she said. The group's first year consisted of
pizza parties and bowling nights. Shams even took three Grade 8 graduates
out for a fancy dinner.
But Shams says there's more to come, especially if the city comes through
with final approval for a $99,000 grant. Shams wants the girls to see the
world. She plans to take them on a trip to Toronto and on a bus tour of the
East Coast. She also wants to set up a FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROGRAM. Other
plans include a CPR course and sewing lessons. "These girls are special,"
said Shams. "They have a future." ???? [NOTE: ALL GIRLS ARE SPECIAL, ALL
BOYS ARE SPECIAL]
July 25, 1999 Street kids of summer go to camp
Program helps children to stay in school
By Winnipeg Sun
When Chris Prince was a teen growing up in Lord Selkirk Park, his
playground was the street. "I wish I would have been in a gym playing
hockey instead," said Prince, now 25 and a co-ordinator of Winnipeg Native
Alliance's urban sports camps. Two years ago, the group -- in partnership
with the Winnipeg Development Agreement and Manitoba Justice -- set up its
first year-long camp out of the Turtle Island Community Centre next to the
Lord Selkirk Park housing project. Since then, another camp has been
established at the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre and a third will open at
the end of the summer. Prince said giving kids something to do has been
an important part of the transformation of Lord Selkirk Park.
Five years ago, he said, two of his white friends were jumped
and nearly shot when they went to visit him at the housing project. A
year later, he heard the gun blast outside his window that killed
13-year-old Beeper Spence. Prince said he's seen a lot of scary things, but
because of his father, he stayed in school and eventually went to college.
He's now back home, acting as a role model for others. On a wall next to
his desk, Prince has plastered photos and hand drawings from "his kids."
"Sometimes I'm the one they rush to with their report cards and that makes
me feel good," he said.
To help one "wannabe gang-banger" learn responsibility, Prince
gave him a job working at a canteen. "Instead of 'screw you' and `kiss
this,' now it's `EXCUSE ME, SIR,'"???? he said. "They're really good kids
and they're going to make it." Native Alliance also goes into schools,
counselling high-risk students about gang life under a program funded by
Ottawa and the province. Troy Rupert, the group's executive director, said
counsellors convince about 50 of 70 boys to stay in school each year.
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html
FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
807-622-5407
