Citizen outrage about the car theft epidemic in Winnipeg reached the boiling point, and we broke a number of leads in ongoing news stories as the week progressed.
Monday: Over the weekend, an S.K. Security guard had his car rammed by a stolen car in Elmwood and engaged the driver in some sort of confrontation. When it was over, the guard and his supervisor were charged with assault and the driver, identified as a Manitoba Warrior with priors for car theft, was in a medically-induced coma in hospital.
The other local story of interest, was from Brandon.
Maple Leaf Food announced they were suspending a foreign hiring program when it was learned that 61 Chinese workers had been paying kickbacks of $10,000 - cash mind you - for some sort of "training" before they left for Canada. Of course the Vancouver-based immigration consultant - acknowledged to be in a relationship with a Maple Leaf Executive- had no idea what was happening, and the company denied the relationship had anything to do with the contract being awarded to her in the first place.
Other topics we covered included the career of the late Yvon Durelle, the great New Brunswick boxer who knocked down Archie Moore 4 times in a losing challenge for the World Light - Heavyweight title in 1958; The Aquatic Hall of Fame filing suit against the City of Winnipeg over their forced move this summer out of the Pan-Am Pool; and Janet Stewart set to debut on CBC News at Six after moving from ratings leader CTV.
Tuesday: Auto theft remained the hot topic and we got Brian Smiley of MPI on the line. He explained the measures MPI and authorities take to monitor 50 so-called "level 4 " offenders, the habitual and mostly-juvenile criminals who take advantage of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and steal car after car after car without consequence. He also announced exclusively on TGCTS, that the MPI offer to pay for free immobilizers was not expiring at the end of February but was being extended indefinately.
Brian, coach of the MJHL Stonewall Jets, also got into the Cooperstown voting asking who could possibly have not placed Cal Ripkin on the ballot. He renewed his promise to appear in-studio to talk sports with us.
In the wake of a report which showed that by the numbers, Winnipeg was way over the national averages for fire incidents and injuries, Alex Forrest came on the phone and explained why the Firefighters union thinks it is because south-side units are sent to respond incidents in the Core Area and North End, leaving the suburbs even more vulnerable to firebugs. He spoke of the education outreach they do but with only 4 members assigned it is an uphill battle to get the message to kids in school - let alone the truants.
Our sports focus was on the rise of Mixed Martial Arts and UFC into the mainstream. Loretta Hunt, new editor for The Fight Network, joined us from Southern California.
She is the only woman reporter covering the genre and her journey from New York's Tisch School for the Arts and aspiring actress to becoming a leading expert on combat sports started because of her brother. In the mid-90's, with exhibitors of the early UFC Pay per Views hard to find, the siblings would meet at the only New York bar and grill around that showed the fights. She became hooked and on a whim began contacting seminal internet sites like Full Contact Fighter, establishing a reputation for getting the story behind the scenes.
We spoke about the different promotions competing with UFC for fighters and market share, the development of regulation by state and provincial governments, the rise of women competitors like Gina Carrano, and whether the saturation point for fans is being approached.
Loretta is currently working on the autobiography of UFC/MMA legend Randy Couture, and she will be a regular guest on our show. Thanks to Stephen Murdoch of OEB International Public Relations/Public Affairs for arranging the interview.
With the Baseball Hall of Fame voting announced, our attention turned to the exclusion of reliever Goose Gossage and slugger Jim Rice. The induction of ironman Cal Ripken and 8 time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn was expected and deserved. And why do a couple of jerk writers return blank ballots and ensure that unanimous induction is inevitably denied the deserving players?
As for the distaste of 76% of the voters for Mark McGuire, we suggested that maybe the Baseball Writers of America should get past their obsession with moralism, and in the absence of any proof about McGuire using illegal enhancement substances, remember that he and Sammy Sosa singlehandedly revived the moribund public interest in MLB with their 1998 home-run race.
Wednesday: Kelly Dehn of CTV told about the arrest of a suspect in 4 robberies, 3 committed against taxicbs. That's right, the Boxing Day case where the perps left a phone number? We will keep tabs on this one as it goes through the courts. Kelly also explained how an early morning home invasion on the 1800 block of Alexander had the earmarks of a targeted debt collection.
The Winnipeg Sun was rife with coverage of the public support for the weekend beating of Stanley Ross by those employees of SK Security. Laurie Mustard wrote that he, his wife and his daughter have all been victims of car theft and vandalism. Tom Brodbeck wrote a column going over the numbers and blasting the system for letting criminals off the hook and losing public confidence to the point that Joe Citizen approves of vigilante-ism. Not a surprise to listeners of our program.
Caller Morris from the Village was interested in our recounting of the morning's confrontation between Mayor Sam Katz and Elmwood councillor Lillian Thomas. Thomas unleashed a deafening blast at Katz in front of the cameras, over the decision of EPC to follow-through on the planned closure of the Kelvin Community Centre in her ward. Morris harkened back to the days when debate and leadership at City Hall was epitomized by the likes of Joe Zuken, a true champion for the working class and poor whose eloquence was spellbinding. We had similar experiences, that when as teens we had occasion to meet Zuken, both of us were in awe and rendered speechless.
(Of course I was also rendered speechless when I met Ron Lancaster, which came up because Ronnie was relieved of his front-office job with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hopefully he will take them up on a PR role as the CFL needs the class acts to promote the game).
Item last: We reminded listeners to toss their dental floss in the garbage and not down the biffy, as the Toronto sewer system is suffering equipment breakdowns caused by floss-balls that don't bio-degrade. So TOSS YOUR FLOSS everyone.
Thursday: The Great Canadian Talk Show broke news days ahead of the Free Press, with our interview with Carolyn Brock of the Manitoba Justice Department.
Brock is the Executive Director of Youth Correctional Services and works with police and MPI to develop and enact strategies to combat car theft. She explained how they have 136 kids being watched more intensively with reporting conditions and the like. To our surprise, she revealed that their meetings had discovered a gap in the prior analysis, and that there was a group of kids not previously identified by authorities involved in stealing cars.
Not 5 or 50 kids either...
Try 200.
More than twice the number already being "closely watched" by 13 staffers.
And when asked what she could say to our listeners who are obviously concerned and frustrated, she said "get an immobilizer".
In the second segment, we dug into the issues behind a proposal to start a new "CityConnect" Shuttle service to and from the Airport and came up with more news.
General manager Shelley Tataryn reviewed the basics of the proposal that Avion Services Ltd. had taken first to the Taxicab Board and then to City Hall. She said that various business groups supported her contention that travelers wanted 9 passenger vans as an alternative to taxi service, and that competition was a good thing. She was frustrated with City Hall for not immediately seeing the good sense of their idea and allowing it to start.
Then the questions came up.
When asked what if the city opened this idea up for bids, she dismissed the notion anyone else had the interest or expertise. A strange answer given the previous attempts by business executives and cabbies to enter the market in the past with "luxury cabs".
Then she could not answer if the drivers of the vans would be part of the PSAC local which already represents the 78 existing employees of Avion. Keep in mind that many of the hotel offer free shuttle rides, which are generally driven by unionized employees, and that those jobs would be at risk if a new service started up.
Finally the question of the relationship between Avion and the Airport Authority, and the answer the MSM does not seek, cannot comprehend or just ignores.
Avion is "a for-profit wholly owned subsidiary of the WAA".
So we have the airport, which charges Unicity Taxi $250,000 a year for the airport contract, wanting to start their own $9 a trip van service, to undercut Unicity - and have Unicity pay for the privilege.
No wonder Tataryn's attitude was "who else would bid?"
When the airport authority has the sole power to authorize transportation providers to passengers on-site, who believes they're going to permit any other business to compete on airport property with their vans ?
We're told 135,000 fares a year leave the airport, never mind how many taxi fares go into the airport. There's a lot at stake. The proposal goes before EPC next Wednesday and we'll be keeping a close watch on the vote.
Finally on the show we began to read off a list of every stolen and attempted-to-be-stolen vehicles, by street location, from the first week of December 2006.
It's Outrageous. No neighborhood is safe. Inner-city, east side, Assiniboia to St. Vital, St. Boniface to North Kildonan to Garden City, hundreds in just one week.
And we brought exclusive news that www.Winnipegtheft.com, which we were the first to profile in December, is receiving death threats from hooligans when they are exposed online as vandalizing the West Kildonan area. They know where you live, stop going to the schools and social workers asking for some sense of responsibility - or else, they say.
Curt says, try me.
There's the best example of how far Winnipeggers have felt pushed by punk-coddling legislation, liberal politicians, uncaring judges, bleeding-heart social workers, and despite the shocked disbelief of columnists like Gord Sinclair of the Free Press, this is the state of the city we live in, where the little guy is mad as hell and won't take it anymore.
Friday: The best columnist in town is Tom Brodbeck and he proved it when he wrote why the Sun has been
inundated with emails supporting the beating meted out to the alleged car thief. The usual half-dozen emails is numbering in the hundreds as the public anger has boiled over, especially after last night.
The crazy chase of a stolen Avalanche right after we got off the air Thursday, ended with 2 cars near HSC rammed, an apartment building slammed into, a woman sent to emergency, 4 youths under arrest ( two of them Level 4 offenders, dont'cha know), and a fifth last seen hotfooting it away from the scene.
Tom said this assault on public safety and on the very integrity of the justice system has to be an election issue when Premier Doer drops the writ, and we agree with Tom.
Our sports segment centred on the life of Terry Hind, the man who was the brains behind the old Northern League original Winnipeg Goldeyes, the AAA Winnipeg Whips, the 1964 Allen Cup winning Winnipeg Maroons, and served in the front office of the Blue Bombers in the late 60's. Terry also worked with the Red Cross for a number of years before retiring. He was a great friend of amateur and pro sports in this town and was much loved and respected.
Shane Madison called in and wanted to pick up on the news that Randy Couture was ending his short respite from UFC competition and intended to challenge Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight crown. If she knew about it, Couture biographer Loretta Hunt sure didn't let on three days ago.
Madison confirmed he is not coming out of retirement himself but will be Commissioner of record at the LPW wrestling event on Jan. 21st at Coyotes, with proceeds going to The Children's Hospital Foundation. We'll be profiling the event next Wednesday. Madison also let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, when he revealed that our good friend Gary Derksen is battling cancer and we are planning a benefit show for him.
Gary is perhaps most recognized as proudly wearing the Canadian Flag to the ring at our Rough House Rasslin' theatresport productions every Canada Day in Osborne Village. The tribute show is being supported by wrestlers from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and a former wrestler turned policeman, himself a cancer survivor, is prepared to fly in from Victoria for the event to stand with our brother. As plans unfold we'll be sure to keep Winnipeg up-to-date.
Finally to end the week, Kick-FM News Director Chris Reid dropped by the studio to brief us on the Capital Budget from city hall, with notable highlights being city route maintainance ( Pembina and Waverly) and development (Waverly underpass and Chief Peguis extension). There was also $4 million set aside for Rapid Transit, giving us a good starting point when Mayor Katz appears next week.
