We had the exclusive in-depth interview last week about how the families of Magnus Avenue began to fight back, and challenged their elected officials to lead.
A class project idea turned Selina Driskell into a focal point of the safety issues on the beleagured street, as she helped spearhead a street festival using the grounds of William White School. On ten day's notice and with no funding, community groups such as Prosvida Legion, CEDA, and MADD.
Although the mainstream media missed the point, seeing only the usual kids games and aboriginal music to hot fdog line-ups video, we knew this was about a neighborhood that needed a break to fight the rancid 'Homicide Heights' monicker slapped on them by the Free Press. About 300 folks of all ages and plenty of kids wandered through, with the usual distractions and crafts for play.
And notable by their absence- although Selena said that the invites went out very late and I won't argue with her on this - but we couldn't help but notice there was no sign of either Councillor Harry Lazarenko (Mynarski) or Member of the Legislature, George Hickes, who received a retroactive $7500 pay raise as Speaker, rammed through the House the day before summer break, by his colleagues, with no public input ( a move Liberal leader jon gerrard admitted on our show wasa "mistake" by the opposition).
Last Friday Selina stated the case for why the neighborhood had to take a stand and show solidarity, an event organized without any of the resources of groups like the Social Planning Council.
All summer long, none of these type of funded groups did a thing for the people of Magnus, and they finally had to do it for themselves. When I asked her about what she expected from the two politicians, Selena said they had to come forward with a plan to help the neighborhood and to "show some leadership".
We'll get her on again and if you want to read more about Selena and her fellow students work behind the scenes at the event -- and why this little street party has scared the establishment -- check out the story and photos in the Neighborhood Living newsletters at coffee shops, restaurants and stores around town.
Tom Brodbeck of the Winnipeg Sun was on the show Tuesday and if you missed it, it was a real eye opener. he explained how the family of Crystal Taman was forced to remove negative comments about their experience with the justice system and their view of the process from their Victim Impact statements. This criticism was removed without them knowing abotu the Plea Bargain and dropping of the Refuse Breathalyser charge on the accused, then-cop Derek Harvey-Zenk.
Tom also broke the story about how the much-touted Victim's Bill of Rights was being completely ignored by Crown Attorney's despite the NDP's assurances they are about the survivors.
We also had time to discuss is exclusive revealing that employees of the Casinos were being given anti-car theft devices.
Not the NDP mandated, MPI approved immobilizers, silly.
The Club.
1800 of 'em.
May the record show, not one Steering Wheel Lock has ever caused an electrical failure in a vehicle.
Tom again made the point, that MPI cannot provide any real statistics about the failure rate of Clubs.
We also gabbed for a minute aout the renaming of Arena Road after Bomber alltimer Milt Stegall. I felt they were tryign to elimnate any memory of the winnipeg arena, and to boot, of they wanted to honour a football player, how is it that the player responsible for there even BEING a Polo Park stadiumm, is iunrecognized?
Of course I was refering to the former Green Bay Packer, passing yardage-record setting, kicker and all-around athlete, Indian Jack Jacobs. His popularity and leadership forced the team into new digs when they outgrew Osborne Stadium. No one wants to name a street after him.
I wonder why.
And to better explain why the attempted cockpit intrusion on the WestJet flight is going to be a hot issue, we looked back at the case of FLIGHT 327, when wirter Annie Jacobsen spotted and reported about a group of 13 Syrian "musicians" -flying one-way on expired passports and paying cash for the tickets- who engaged in a dry-run highjacking on a Detrroit - LAX flight. We discovered that the incident was never properly investigated or reported to the Homeland Security Office.
So if the USA in a post-911 environment can screw these things up, it is up to citizens themselves to keep an eye open and when we do come forward, we have the right to expect the authorities will take action and not cover things up.
Google "flight 327 annie jacobsen" and read the details, and start hoping that the same shenanigans she saw weren't at play on the WestJet flight.
And of course, a little more on O'Learygate and the parts of the audit that make no sense. Today's installment - a land deal the province's report said lacked proper documentation and may have favored a developer? The Auditor found all the paperwork in order and nothing to see here and move along, please. Unlikely. We'll have more on the show tomorrow - today I guess - along with the whistleblowers' latest comments about what it was like to sit through the meetings where the Seven Oaks School Division concealed their illicit participation as a developer.
And yes, Frank the Italian Barber really is being looked at for a radio ad. If you can do a Ukranian baba or male or female chinese accents, drop us a line.
PS: Please take the time to read my new column in the latest edition of Grassroots News via www.grassrootsnews.mb.ca . Thanks for supporting our show and our sponsors.
