Quarterly review
This has been a very busy 3 months and we want to thanks all our listeners who have contributed with an avalanche of emails and calls that kept the shows moving at a rapid fire pace throughout.
January Top Stories:
- Exclusive: The truth about the Horace Avenue carjacker and the "vigilante hate crime beating" that wasn't
- Free Press publisher Bob Cox ignores a complaint that Dan Lett personally insulted a reader because apparently, emailers are not allowed to be "anonymous"
- Chief McCaskill tells James Turner " we never thought much of it...we missed the boat on crack"
- Bus union wants driver shields
- Exclusive: FP "Ask the City Editor" online feature ignores questions about Porkgate
- Exclusive: Details of U of M anti-Semitic incident and of Pro-Israel rally confrontation (and how the FP hid the photo)
- The Monday Manifesto: This year, it's about "the untouchables"- Government appointees such as judges, government funded boards and universities,
- Exclusive: Caller explains the life and death of meth addict DJ Vanden Bosch who committed suicide when surrounded by cops in the west end
- 16 year old Alexander Avenue home invasion/stabber gets easy sentence, FP ignores his membership in Native Syndicate street gang
- Murder victim Shawn Beauchamp, member of Bloodz gang, worked for Free Press, chased, bear sprayed, shot, police claim not a gang crime
- The 3-1-1 with Spirited Kenny, predicting inquiry phone line disaster
- Exclusive: a dozen Somalian street gang members bust up all ages party at Exchange Event Centre.
- FP Raccoon Carney story- 1 paragraph, 2 sentences, 3 mistakes, 0 corrections
- Two Tier Justice: "no break in, no injuries, no weapon" accused gets more time (56 months) for attack on Crown attorney's house, than Native Syndicate punk did for nearly killing Alexander Avenue resident in home invasion (21 months)
- Hydro backs down on Exchange District block-busting plan
- Listeners complaint to Kick-FM refuted
- Exclusive: Inside the Free Press job sharing proposal/intenral union conflict
- Van stolen from VJ's Drive-In kills 2 university students
- Lanzellotti "laughing girl" denied bail
January Guests:
Scott Taylor on Sports
Stacey Ashley of CTV on Montana drug pleas by 2 Winnipeg men
Ron East explained the truth about Israeli 'atrocities" in Gaza
Chris Jericho on being a Red River College Cre-Comm legend and his wrestling comeback
CTV's Kelly Dehn with Crimewatch
City Councillor Jeff Browaty on Disraeli reconstruction and area issues
Bryan Danielson, pro wrestler of the year 07-08
Kelly Holmes, Resource Assistance for Youth (RAY), on the meth problem in Winnipeg
Colin Craig, CTF, on federal budget
Mike Sutherland, Winnipeg Police Association, on changes in major unit assignment limits
Slam Sports' Jon Waldman
CJOB talk show host-turned council candidate Geoff Currier
Joan Wilson, Unicity Taxi
Andrew Allentuck about his new book, "When Can I Retire"
Ken Klassen, engineering technologist, critiqued the Ikea proposal
Jon Waldman, Slam!Sports
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February Top Stories:
- Health Minister Theresa Oswald ducks CJOB as MSM heats up brown envelope scandal
- Details of Brian Sinclair HSR Emergency room video revealed by exasperated Chief Medical Examiner Balachandra ahead of Judicial Inquest
- HSC honcho Dr. Brock Wright finally decides to look at Sinclair video, changes story about triage desk role in death, WRHA invents 3 excuses of how and why video was (not) reviewed
- Bloggers come of age: My Left Nut (with compilation of blogger and MSM reports), Policy Frog ("Oswald toast") , Progressive Winnipeg, and James Cotton, dissect WRHA excuses, NDP spin, and MSM coverage of Sinclair affair
- WRHA press conference fails to control the spin on Sinclair, raises even more questions about who knew what when
- CJOB's Vic Grant inexplicably defends HSC, attacks Balachandra and other critics as 'vigilantes'
- EXCLUSIVE: CJOB General Manager sits on HSC Foundation board
- Newspapers across continent start to waver and collapse, Canwest shares collapsing
- Photo radar tickets tossed due to lack of actual construction workers in protected zone
- FP bias showing- no mention of 300 homes at risk in HSC "Bio-Med City' expansion plan in West alexander neighbourhood
- WRHA releases legal "opinion" preventing publication of Sinclair death internal review, as CJOB softballs Premier Doer and HSC mouthpiece Alan Fineblit, meanwhile a Free Press editorial demands Oswald apologize for misleading public and legislature
- Paa Pii Wak, gang -run halfway house, closes after staff gets busted
- Critics blast Judge Ray Wyant taking control of Sinclair inquest, demand outside arbiter
- Tan Le, accused in Monty's bar shooting, outed as dating twin sisters, detail unreported in FP
- "Aboriginal journalist" Colleen Simard supports Native chiefs whine that blogs be censored for "hate speech"
- EXCLUSIVE: native online mag calls whites "The Scum Dogs of Europe", Simard et al silent
- NDP ignored offer for private clinic to help relieve pressure on HSC ER; plan to open across from HSC in honour of Brian Sinclair announced by darin Jorgenson
- Blogger James Cotton goes to city ER's, in 12 hours gets approached zero times about whether he is in need of care
- Vancouver shooting/drive-by epidemic
- Exclusive: Phil Walding plan for sensible Disraeli and Louise bridge reconstruction
- Experts speak out in letters to the Free Press -- and reveal WRHA practice of having unqualified personnel operate Concordia Hospital EKG's risk patients lives contrary to assurances of WRHA officials
- Katz win in ethics vote portrayed by FP as loss as smear campaign continues
- 311 disasters emerge in emails from listeners
- WRHA hires $125,000 consultant to improve 'communication' while they ignore media requests for information and interviews
- Exclusive: details of stolen paramedic SUV chase through North End
- Disraeli closure surprises NDP as top byelection concern
- Concordia nighttime ER closure almost kills woman suffering ectopic
miscarriage
- MPI buys Citiplace, ratepayers outraged
February Guests:
Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen on WRHA brown envelopes and the planned provincial audit; Doer and Oswald "misspoke" 13 times about how Brian Sinclair asked for HSC ER help
Dr. Jon Gerrard demands firing of top WRHA and HSC officials
Scott Taylor - how the Manitoba Boxing Commission almost got MMA fighter Dean Lewis killed by poor supervision
CTV's Kelly Dehn
Retha Dykes, general manager, Misty Lake Lodge, Gimli
Councillor Grant Nordman defended his opposition toMMA bouts at Convention Centre
Mayor Sam Katz brought light to Crocus Fund receiver motion that was dismissed by court, called Porkgate a "schande"
Mike Sutherland, WPA on Crimestat information gaps
Colin Fast, candidate for Wpg. School Division trustee
Regan Woolfrom, Liberal candidate in Elmwood
Exclusive: Brian Smiley of MPI, with all the answers about the Citiplace purchase
Jon Waldman, Slam!Sports
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March Top Stories
- Canadian Museum of Human Rights fundraising flounders
- Porkgate apologists and Free Press loyalists attack defenders of poor and hungry, as new details emerge from Winnipeg Harvest insider about distribution and spoiled food issues that plague organization
- Exclusive: music promoter Rob Hoskin, 54, loses battle with cancer
- FP job movements and layoffs include crime reporter James Turner
- More newspaper layoffs and closures across America
- Rapid Transit corridor expropriations expedited
- More bedbugs overrun Manitoba Housing complex
- Ron Schuler to propose bill to allow 16-18 year olds the right to go to high school even if parents refuse to sign permission waivers
- NDP begins to worry about Disraeli backlash in Elmwood byelection
- FP book reviewer admits no evidence of Jim Walding getting bribe to defeat Pawley NDP budget in 1986 -- despite Gordon Sinclair insinuations
- Bike lobby controls "consultations" on new bridges and traffic flow for Point Douglas, shuts out non-artists in neighborhood from group, opposes new Louise Bridge and wants gated community for "artists"
- more shooting deaths in Vancouver as gun seizures in 'peg gun play on rise
- FP Trust loses $5million after fall strike and buyouts
- Shades of Porkgate: FP editorial on lemon car dealers says not naming them due to 'privacy' is like protecting identity of spoiled meat distributors!
- Taxi study says no new cab plates except for winter season
- IKEA plan gets sharp rebukes from bloggers and southend residents facing expropriation
- Exclusive: Spirited Kenny hosts TGCTS in solo effort on March 13
- FP wastes 3 Sunday pages on new archive, a week after Gordon Sinclair plagiarizes his own 24 year old column in plug preview
- Blind granny mugged in EK hate crime by 10 kids, First Nations leaders and human rights grandstanders silent
- Hespeler residents suddenly facing expropriation despite no indication in original Disraeli reconstruction open-houses their land was needed
- "left of centre" John Orlikow defeats Geoff Currier to rise to council seat
- Exclusive: CBC and other newsrooms editing racial identification out of police crime descriptions
- Exclusive: accidental head injury from fall that killed actress Natasha Richardson, mocked by Margo Goodhand in Free Press Editors Bulletin' to online readers
- EXCLUSIVE: NDP Elmwood candidate Bill Blaikie answers questions about pension, promises more money to keep Disraeli open, supports WRHA honchos
- Peguis members not on list, may have had treaty card, but still had to meet with chief and council before being allowed to vote
- 93 year old woman forced out of HSC one hour after amputation of toes
- Listeners critique Blaike interview and election result
- Free Press scooped by Sun x 2 on convictions in deaths of Nathan Starr and Tannis Bird, respectively
- Justice Minister Chomiak, in a budget chat with reporters, admits car theft mainly stopped by locking up the perps
- 2 for 1 sentencing break exposes folly of 'holistic approach'
- Exclusive: 311 tells District 6 cops to shovel their way out of snow storm to get cruisers to calls for help from public, can't provide number for plowing supervisor
- Free Press blogger Brian Huycke dies of head injury in accidental fall; editor Goodhand keeps jokes to herself this time
- CBC cuts amateur sports telecasts
- FP story about 3 gangs involved in Tony Lanzellotti murder by stolen SUV crash into his taxi begs the question- why aren't gangs that recruit FASD kids charged with child abuse?
- Young Josh and Dave Shorr leave TGCTS for new challenges; Silent Mitch returns from Lance Storm's Wrestling Academy in one piece
- Unreported in mainstream media, 21 studies purporting that COX2 drugs such as Vioxx and Celebrex were safe, used faked or fudged data
- Gordon Sinclair column rants about restaurant "etiquette" after long wait for table at a local eatery; he scalps a blog post by an anonymous waitress about 'campers' who don't pay their bill and leave quickly, but Gordo fails to link to, or credit the blogger. Take note how at the end, she says she doesn't mind all campers: http://tipsfromservers.blogspot.com/
AND a special postscript: one of the customers Sinclair was complaining about, left a comment online for him -- and beneath that are comments by others who have seen Gordo's act in person:
Posted by:ks123
April 1, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Well, this is not the first time this columnist has irked me the wrong way. But it is the first time I have been the target. Thank you, Mr Sinclair, for tainting my day after reading that rubbish.
Since I was one of the two young ladies that "hogged" a table, I'd like to clarify a few things. First of all, I waitressed though university and am well aware of the 'camper' term. However, I do also understand that some times people need a venue to get out and talk, and guess what... sometimes that place is a restaurant! It just so happens that my girlfriend needed to talk about some very unfortunate events occurring in her homelife and couldn't exactly talk openly about the issues in her own home. I have 2 young children, so my home is not the most condusive site for such discussion. I thank badkat for recognizing that there is always more than meets the eye.
And for the record, we finished our lunch around 2, which I'm pretty sure is not peak hours, and I did tip the waitress well for our time, because I do recognize the issue. By well, I mean 50%.
So again, thank you for undertaking such compassionate, investigative journalism and getting all the facts. I am very sorry that you had to wait for a table - I have apparently not shown you the respect you think you deserve. But perhaps by writing this piece, you have not shown my friend and I any respect either.
Posted by:gohabsgo
April 1, 2009 at 7:09 AM
A restaurant is a business, and when your business is concluded, move on. If you do not order an item after a reasonable amount of time, your bill will be provided. The term I've heard friends in the business use often is 'entitlement'. People feel that the table is theirs to use as they please, be it a business meeting, viewing pictures of a trip, etc. I've seen a server return to a table every few minutes after billing to offer more products and services. The continual 'yappus interruptus' didn't do the trick, and the server grinned and bore it.
Mr. Sinclair declares he hasn't "seen them all", so I will offer one I have witnessed him use: the customer who refuses to sit at the table he was assigned. It's a table. They're all the same. Square, with chairs. The food comes from the same kitchen. Get over yourself. From our table, you looked like an arrogant spoiled brat. Acquire some restaurant etiquette before commenting on it.
Posted by:GFinn
April 1, 2009 at 3:29 AM
I've personally witnessed Gordon Sinclair linger in Fresh Cafe for over an hour AFTER finishing his meal. I arrived just after his server was clearing the table and bringing more coffee. He was in a group of 8+ people. Hypocritical.
Posted by:Statusquo
March 31, 2009 at 11:52 PM
For those who think this is a real issue worth all of the hand wringing...shut up or do something about it. If it's such a constant problem that apparently EVERYONE who waits tables has to deal with, restaurants would go belly up because of it. Just do something already and stop complaining because people are acting in a way that YOU don't like.
PS Gord...you must've REALLY wanted to eat at Fresh and only Fresh. Wanting to see and be seen? Can't believe you couldn't bear to go somewhere else if the wait was so excruciating that you had to go "investigate" and then creepily keep tabs on other people by timing their lives. Wonder how they would've felt if they knew? Like you couldn't have walked somewhere else as most people do when they don't want to wait.
Posted by:Donovanf
March 31, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Seriously,Did they publish this in a newspaper? Breaking news, some people stay too long in restaurants!
People who have a subscription for the Free Press should feel insulted that they actually just paid to read this.
March guests:
Adrien Schulz, PC candidate for Elmwood
James O'Conner, Managing editor Brandon Sun, remembrances of Rob Hoskin
Geoff Currier, River Heights/ Fort Garry council candidate
Carlos James, WSD trustee candidate
Susan Tymofichuk, CTV weeknight news anchor/reporter
Regan Wolfram, Liberal party candidate in Elmwood
Brian Glow, world-famous illusionist
Jim Carr, Business Council of Manitoba president, provincial budget review
Colin Craig, CTF, provincial budget review
Kelly Dehn, CTV Crime watch
Jon Waldman, Slam!Sports
Coun. Jeff Browaty says 311 must be fixed immediately
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Wednesday: Kelly Dehn of CTV will make April Fool's Day extra-special; and we'll have an exclusive report about a lawsuit filed against the Province of Manitoba over the seizure of animals from a legal business. The seizure made the news, but the true story was obscured by the 'save the animals' mind-set of the MSM.
Thursday: An exclusive report into the botched treatment of a Winnipeg women by Health Sciences Centre Emergency staff - this was the red flag about HSC ER dysfunction YEARS before Brian Sinclair was ignored. When you hear this story, you'll understand why we say, what happened to Sinclair was predictable and avoidable. Her family came to TGCTS asking for our help, and the file review a doctor conducted for the show's use, will reveal the missteps and mistakes the family now wants an explanation and apology for from the HSC.
Friday: At 5.50 PM, a Wrestlemania 25 preview with our very special guest, the pre-eminent ring journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer and Jon Waldman of Slam!Sports and Spirited Kenny.
