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UFO sightings soar in Manitoba and across Canada
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Manitoba RCMP News
RCMP make successful water rescue On May 10, at about 5pm, Gypsumville RCMP were dispatched to a report of a distraught adult female in Fairford, Manitoba. Police were advised that the woman had left a residence in a vehicle. While patrolling the area, RCMP members located the woman in her vehicle at the Fairford bridge. When police attempted to make contact with the woman, she drove her vehicle off of the roadway and into the Fairford River. RCMP report that the current was moving very quickly, and the water was extremely cold. The vehicle began floating downstream, and police observed the woman exit the vehicle just before it sank. The woman was observed to go under water several times and was in danger of drowning. Police say that an RCMP Constable removed his duty equipment and went into the water to rescue the woman. He was able to swim out to her and was pulling her to shore when they were picked up by rescuers in a boat. They had floated approximately 2km downstream by this time. Both were transported to hospital for treatment of exposure to the cold.
Liquor seized in RCMP investigation On May 3, 2013, an investigation by the Little Grand Rapids RCMP, assisted by the RCMP
Winnipeg Drug Section, resulted in two local men facing numerous charges under the Liquor Control Act. Liquor seized by the Little Grand Rapids RCMP, assisted by the RCMP Winnipeg Drug Section. RCMP report that the suspects, a 50 and a 56year-old man, are facing charges of taking or carrying liquor for resale and transporting liquor to a place where it may not lawfully be kept. Police say that both suspects were passengers on board an aircraft that had just landed at the remote community of Little Grand Rapids when the liquor was seized. It is believed the liquor was intended for unlawful resale in Little Grand Rapids. During the investigation, RCMP seized 10 cases of Windsor Whiskey, five cases of Budweiser Beer and two bottles of Smirnoff Vodka. Both men were issued tickets for both offences with fines of $1,260 for each offence under the Liquor Control Act.
Winnipeggers urged to be careful in buying, selling online Tim Bosma disappearance in Ontario has police thinking about Kijiji safety. The disappearance of an Ontario man who was selling his truck online has Winnipeg police, and those who buy and sell goods online, thinking about safety. Tim Bosma of Ancaster, Ont., went missing on May 6 while taking two strangers for a test drive in the Dodge Ram he had posted for sale
on Kijiji. Police have found Bosma's cellphone and a vehicle they believe to be his truck. However, there has been no sign of the 32-year-old man to date. Winnipeg police are advising people to use caution, and even the buddy system, when buying or selling online. "Bring somebody with you. Ideally, bring two people — someone that's outside and someone that may come in the doors with you," said Const. Eric Hofley. "It's a personal comfort level." Hofley added that Kijiji-related crimes have taken place in Winnipeg. "This past February, we did have two incidents within a short period of time where people answered classified online ads to purchase items and went and were the victims of robberies," he said.
way, and the 100 block of Marion Street. Investigation revealed that the business was in possession of merchandise that contained images of or replicated copyright protected images. Numerous items were seized in relation to this investigation. Seizures include copyright images belonging to Angry Bird, Looney Tunes, HannaBarbera and Nintendo. An adult male employee was arrested during the search and is facing charges of possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) for the purpose of trafficking.
Man slashed in Winnipeg carjacking A man was sent to hospital after being slashed during a carjacking in Winnipeg. It happened at St. Mary's Road and Vivian Avenue in the city's St. Vital neighbourhood at about 5 a.m. The man, who was driving the car, was attacked and slashed with a knife at the inersection lights before the suspect took control of the vehicle and drove off. Police caught up with the car and arrested one person. The injured man was taken to hospital. The suspect is in custody.
Three Winnipeg businesses investigated for counterfeit goods As part of an on-going investigation, the RCMP Federal Enforcement Section, with the assistance of the Winnipeg Police Service East District Station Community Support Unit and Manitoba Finance executed search warrants at three retail outlets of a Winnipeg business. The stores were located in the 500 block of St. Mary’s Road, the 2900 block of Pembina High-
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No formal charges have been laid at this time, however, police continue to investigate under the Copyright Act. Criminals involved in intellectual property crime – copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting – range from organized crime groups to small-scale retailers who sell small quantities of counterfeit goods to supplement their income. Dealing in counterfeit products is against the law and anyone found committing these offences could face criminal penalties, including substantial fines and terms of imprisonment of up to five years. Job loss because of lost revenue for legitimate businesses is also a consequence of counterfeit goods. RCMP are particularly interested in the investigation of counterfeit products posing health and safety risks to Canadians or where organized crime groups are involved. Anyone with information regarding the sale of counterfeit products is asked to
Northern Echo Printed at Winnipeg Sun 1700 Church Avenue Winnipeg, MB R2X 3A2 Telephone: 1.204.694.2022
page 3 call their local RCMP detachment or the RCMP Federal Enforcement Section at 204-983-1189.
Manitoba cops get surveillance law to find missing people Manitoba police will soon have another tool in their kit to help locate missing people. Officers in the province will soon be able to use the Missing Persons Act to access store surveillance footage, phone records, as well as internet and banking information to track down missing people. Currently, officers can’t access this information unless there is evidence that a crime has been committed. The act will require police forces to give annual reports on how they used the information. Manitoba is the second province to adopt such legislation. Alberta already has similar legislation in place.
Manitoba government says no to riding in open back of a pickup truck Just as the warmer weather might tempt some people to hitch a ride in the back of a pick-up truck, the Manitoba government has introduced legislation that would make those windy rides illegal. An amendment to the Highway Traffic Act will restrict the number of passengers to the number of seatbelts in a vehicle. It will also prohibit rides in a cargo area. Currently, there is nothing in the act that prevents this so long as all seat belts are otherwise occupied.
Club added to a schedule of criminal groups. "We are not only the first province, we believe we're the first jurisdiction in North America to take this innovative step to deal with organized crime," said Andrew Swan . If the province's petition is successful, lawyers would no longer have to prove in future court cases that the organization is involved in criminal activity.
"It will simplify that process…. As one of my officials said, we don't have to prove that the sun rises in the east day after day. The judge can then take notice of that and allow proceedings to go ahead more quickly," Swan said. Swan said it’s the first use of the process under the recently changed Manitoba Evidence Act. It could take months for the province's application to be approved, he added. The group will have an opportunity to object to the classification in writing, and an independent, external review panel will review the material to determine if the group is a criminal organization. There may be similar applications for other groups to be declared criminal organizations if evidence supports the claim, he added. Swan said he hopes the federal government will follow suit with a similar process for declaration.
RCMP members watch porn, snoop on spouses, files show
In addition, Transportation Minister Steve Ashton says passengers in wheelchairs will need to be secured with a seatbelt.
Manitoba wants Hells Angels deemed criminal organization The Manitoba government is taking the first step to have an infamous motorcycle gang declared a criminal organization. Justice Minister Andrew Swan announced on Thursday that his department has submitted an application to have the Hells Angels Motorcycle
Manitoba members disciplined for misusing police databases and computers. From snooping on spouses to downloading pornography, a number of RCMP members in Manitoba have been disciplined for abusing their time on duty and the resources available to them on the job. RCMP documents obtained by Media News reveal the disciplinary action taken against 10 members of Manitoba's D Division. Here are some of the most serious instances involve breaches of civilian privacy, often for personal reasons.
Keeping tabs on spouse The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol informed Canadian authorities that an RCMP officer's wife
had been romantically involved with, and still maintained connections to, a member of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang. The subsequent investigation revealed that the RCMP officer had used the National Crime Data Bank, without authorization, 69 times over an eight-month period to look up information on his then girlfriend — now wife — as well as the gang member and himself to see if authorities had made a connection between himself and the gang member. When questioned, the officer admitted to accessing the system without authorization and telling his wife to change her licence plate number because it was associated with the gang member. The disciplinary board members said the officer's acceptance of "responsibility for his actions and participation in the early resolution process" were considered alongside the allegations. He was handed a reprimand and docked eight days' wages.
Laptop used to watch soccer, download porn
misused, one RCMP officer left his patrol area to snoop on his ex-wife. According to the discipline documents, the officer's ex-wife and her boyfriend saw an RCMP patrol car driving through the parking garage of her Winnipeg condominium building. Suspecting the car was being driven by the exhusband, the incident was reported to the RCMP's D Division headquarters in Winnipeg, which revealed the ex-husband had queried the boyfriend's licence plates in the police force's database. The officer admitted that he performed the database search in the hopes of identifying his exwife's new boyfriend. The discipline board considered the officer's acceptance of "responsibility for his actions and [participation] in the early resolution process" when deciding what actions to take. They also noted that the officer had co-operated with the investigation. In their decision, members of the board said they hope the officer had "learned from his mistake and trusts he is indeed prepared to abide by a Code of Conduct," noting that "members of the Force are expected to act in an exemplary manner, and their conduct must be beyond reproach." The officer was issued a reprimand and docked three days' pay.
Vigilante brother-in-law
A civilian member of the RCMP used his work-issued laptop computer to play World Cup soccer matches while on duty and download "pornographic files, programs, videos, music and other images," according to the documents. The discipline documents also indicate the member had had his internet privileges revoked in March following a previous transgression. The board noted in its decision that using an RCMP-issued laptop to download pornography, "after having been previously warned against such activity, is disgraceful." It added that "civilian members [of the RCMP] must hold themselves to a much higher standard of conduct than what is expected from a member of the general public." The board issued a reprimand and docked the member two days' pay.
RCMP resources used to snoop on ex-wife In another case of private information being
A man and a woman walked into a Winnipeg car dealership and asked to take a pickup truck for a test drive. Hours later, the truck had not been returned. That evening, the car salesman reported the vehicle stolen to the Winnipeg Police Service and also contacted his brother-in-law, an RCMP officer, seeking assistance. Following several requests from his brotherin-law, the RCMP officer called the Winnipeg Operations Communications Centre and requested information on the suspects based on their licence plate number. The officer provided the information he received to his brother-in-law, who passed it on to Winnipeg police. Winnipeg police then launched an investigation into how the brother-in-law had obtained the information on the suspects, which led them to the RCMP officer. The disciplinary board noted that this was a unique case, in that the misconduct was motivated by a desire to solve a crime, but noted the officer had "disclosed confidential information regarding the registered owner of a licence plate. " In that case, the officer was issued a reprimand.
page 4
Manitoba oil line spills worry area land owner Manitoba is on track to have another record year in its southwestern oil fields, but that could mean more spills, which has an area farmer calling for better regulations. Carlyle Jorgensen of Cromer, Man., says there has been a number of oil spills in his area, including one involving a Tundra Oil and Gas line early this year. The Tundra spill, which was reported on Jan. 25, leaked about 56,000 litres of oil, according to the Manitoba government. There were 97 oil spills in Manitoba's oil patch last year, and 61 spills have been reported so far this year, according to the province. Oil companies face up to $100,000 in provincial fines, but Manitoba has never fined any company. Keith Lowdon of the government's petroleum branch says companies do have to rehabilitate the land where a spill has occurred. "I think what happens [is] if you look at the cost of the cleanup on a spill, the majority of the companies don't want that," Lowdon said.
But Jorgensen says land owners get stuck with the long-term environmental impact, and the
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rental fees they get from the pumps don't come close to making up for it. "The position that a lot of us are starting to realize is that there isn't any amount of money that could be paid to us landowners for us to accept the environmental responsibility that comes with having these types of installations on our land," he said. Tundra Oil and Gas has refused to comment on the January spill. The provincial government is investigating why the number of oil spills is increasing, but officials note that the volume of oil being spilled has
gone up only slightly. Meanwhile, the province is meeting with industry officials as it rewrites its drilling incentive program. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an industry group, is worried about cuts to those incentives. Oil companies operating in southwestern Manitoba have spent $4 billion in the province in the past four years. A statistical study on the impact of the oil industry on Manitoba's economy is due next month.
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Manitoba proposes new rental laws
Currently, small clubs are required to have a capacity of 200 persons or more if they want to be classified as a live music or entertainment venue. The new regulations will also allow for DJ performances to be considered live entertainment at cabarets.
The Manitoba government proposed new legislation that would see tenants kicked out quicker if they break the law in someone’s home. “We’re … giving landlords new powers to evict tenants who break the law, such as drug dealers, because illegal activity can
For Rent create an unsafe living environment for tenants and real problems for landlords,” said healthy living minister Jim Rondeau. The new legislation, called Bill 40, would make the following changes to the Residential Tenancies Act: • allowing landlords to end a tenancy in response to unlawful activity if it affects the security and well-being of other tenants or causes damage; • requiring landlords to compensate tenants for moving costs, as well as for the expense of higher rent, when landlords have purposefully created an undesirable living environment during renovations to displace a tenant; • providing for more transparency in setting the annual rent increase guideline, such as a prescribed formula or linking the increase to the Consumer Price Index; • reforming the appeals process to allow for more expedient implementation of rulings where tenants have not paid their rent; • allowing landlords to charge a higher pet damage deposit for new tenants, to encourage more landlords to allow pets in their buildings.
Group destroys 900 goose eggs from Winnipeg nests A multi-government group has destroyed 900 goose eggs laid in nests in Winnipeg to prevent traffic problems in south Winnipeg. The eggs were removed and destroyed to prevent flightless geese from walking on the road during summer months and causing traffic problems for drivers near Bishop Grandin Boulevard and Ke-
Restaurants won't have to serve food with booze naston Boulevard. The Urban Goose Working Group is made up of representatives from the federal and provincial governments as well as the City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Airport Authority. Officials from the group said numbers of Canada geese are increasing in the City of Winnipeg because of the abundance of green space and open water. In 2011, the group collected 1,071 eggs from 212 nests in the Bishop Grandin-Kenaston area. Environment Canada granted the project a permit in order to reduce risks to human safety.
Manitoba booze laws overhauled, alcohol allowed at spas The Government of Manitoba is making a host of changes to its existing liquor licensing laws, including allowing alcohol to be served in salons and spas. Under the new liquor licensing rules announced Tuesday, customer service locations like hair salons and spas will be allowed to serve alcohol. Kitty Berns co-owns Berns & Black Salon in Winnipeg. She said the salon will be taking advantage of the new rules once they are in place. A drink would “put the extra gold star at the end of a fantastic day at the spa,” said Berns. Berns isn’t the only one that will see benefits from the new regulations. The province is also looking at a more flexible way of setting liquor license terms and conditions — including establishing a special category for distinct areas of a city, such as Winnipeg’s downtown sports, hospitality and entertainment district (SHED). CentreVenture is now developing the SHED in the city’s core area and plan to create affordable housing, hotels and entertainment spots. Manitoba Minister Dave Chomiak said areas like SHED will be able to apply for special licenses. “We’re going to have flexibility in the regulations so that it’s possible, if the Grey Cup is here, that we’ll have you know, 20-hour opening or 24-hour opening in some locations,” said Chomiak.
Small venues get licensing changes The new rules will also tackle a number of “outdated” rules that haven’t been updated since the 1950s, including how small cabarets are run.
In addition, there will no longer be a need for separate bar and restaurant designations, according to the new rule. The province also said it will also stop monitoring the ratio of food compared to liquor that is sold. Previously, restaurants were required to meet a food and alcohol ratio. Under the new rules, patrons won't be required to buy food and can buy alcohol only at restaurants. The executive director of Manitoba Restaurant and Food Association, Scott Jocelyn, said the rules requiring people to buy food if they wanted alcohol at a restaurant were outdated and expensive. “People want to go out, and they’re on the go, and they want to grab a drink, and they don’t want to have a meal,” said Jocelyn. “Having those opportunities available now – it’s really exciting.” Winnipegger Johnny Perrin said it’ll mean big savings when he heads out at night.
“The fact that I don’t have to spend $13 on a meal, and I can have an extra drink – it’s a whole lot better,” said Perrin.
Increased enforcement of underage penalties Provincial officials said the new regulations will also come with some increased enforcement of other rules. As part of the changes, the province will crack down on underage drinking with swifter penalties and “party houses” that cause multiple disturbances in an area. Also police will have new tools to more easily fight bootlegging. “This is very much a balancing act,” said Chomiak. “We’re going to do much more risk assessment.” The new law will also streamline the licensing and inspection process. Liquor and gaming paperwork and inspections will be through one department instead of two. The changes are expected to take effect later this year.
page 7
Manitoba beekeepers lose 70% of bees
Manitoba beekeepers are facing a bee shortage and are lobbying the government to change decades-old legislation to help them fight it.
Alan Campbell, president of the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association, said millions of bees in the province have died over the winter. Campbell estimates beekeepers have lost as much as 70 per cent of their hives. “It was a long, difficult winter and that definitely played a part,” said Campbell. Hundreds of empty beehives sit stored on Pierre Faure's farm in Manitoba after millions of bees died off over the winter. “There are a few known problems with bees, such as parasitic mites, but as to what’s lead to such a large degree of losses this spring, we’re really unsure.” Manitoba beekeeper Pierre Faure said he has lost millions of bees this winter, and the remaining bees are too weak. Faure said it’s unlikely he will produce any honey this year. Campbell operates Durston Farms in Dauphin and said he shares the difficulties Faure has been having. He said the problem is exacerbated by the fact beekeepers can’t import bees from the United States. Legislation was introduced in the 1980s to prevent Canadian beekeepers from importing
Manitoba couple of 36 years wins $17M jackpot Manitoba's latest multimillionaires say they can't believe they really won the lottery, after years of joking about it.
U.S. bees due to a disease. But Campbell said that disease has already shown up in Canada and exporting bees from New Zealand or Australia is extremely expensive. Not only that, but the bees aren’t ready for a Canadian climate. “There’s a lot of livelihoods at stake. There’s many people who make their primary living from bees,” said Campbell. “If they don’t have access to new bees, they’re just dying a slow death themselves and going out of business.” Beekeepers in other provinces are suffering as well. New Brunswick beekeepers saw 25 per cent of their bees die off this season. The association is now lobbying the government to allow bees to be imported from the U.S.
Canada wrestles with bee-killing crop pesticides Canadian government scientists have found evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides were linked to mass bee deaths during the spring corn planting in Ontario and Quebec in 2012. Canadians beekeepers, farmers and regulators are wrestling with how to protect bees from popular pesticides that were partially banned in Europe last month. The European Commission announced that it would go ahead with a partial two-year ban on three kinds of neonicotinoid pesticides that have
continued on page 14
Pierre Faure, a Manitoba beekeeper, stands next to his remaining beehives after losing millions of bees this year. Hundreds of empty beehives sit stored on Pierre Faure's farm in Manitoba after millions of bees died off over the winter.
Bruce and Monique Willman took home a tidy $17-million prize from Saturday's Lotto 6/49 draw — the fourth-largest lottery win in the province since 2009. The couple purchased the winning ticket from a 7-Eleven convenience store in the city's North Kildonan neighbourhood, where they live. They had been buying lottery tickets for more than 20 years. "I always said, 'I'm gonna win it'!" Bruce Willman told reporters on Wednesday. "Nobody believed him … including me," his wife added with a laugh. Monique Willman, 56, said her husband first realized they had the winning numbers over coffee on Sunday. The couple checked their ticket at two different 7-Eleven stores because they didn't believe the first lottery machine, she added. "Until you get the official from the Western Lottery Corp., you still don't believe it," she said. Bruce Willman, who is 57 years old, said he has retired from his job at a St. Boniface metal depot shortly after learning he had won the draw. He only had one year left before he would’ve retired, anyway, he added. "I just know that as of about two minutes after I read the winning numbers, I retired," he said to cheers from the crowd. Willman's co-workers said they are thrilled for him, but they admitted they didn't believe the news at first. The pair, who have been married for 36 years, said they plan to buy a large truck and build some cabins. They will also give some money to their family, they said.
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UFO sightings soar in Manitoba and across Canada
More Manitobans are spotting unexplained objects in the sky than ever before.
It's now up to civilian volunteers to report what's going on up in the sky any information on UFO sightings received by various government agencies is passed on to Rutkowski. Some of the most interesting cases from 2012:
Feb. 19, 1:56 am Ottawa, Ont. — A witness observed an object shaped like a “huge dradle” with red lights. A loud roaring sound was seen while it was in view. It moved smoothly out sight. An annual UFO survey released by Winnipeg-based Ufology Research, shows record-breaking UFO sightings in the province last year. There were 124 in 2012, compared to 81 the year before. Ufology Research director Chris Rutkowski says some reports were about "things that were amorphous, without any defined shapes, like blobs moving through the sky." The only other time the number of sightings surpassed the 100 mark was 112 in 2004, according to the Ufology group, which has collected data for 24 years. A similar trend is happening across the country, with a record numbers of UFOs reported in all provinces except Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island. The total number of sightings in Canada for 2012 was 1,981, far exceeding the previous record of 1,004 in 2008. Ufology Research director Chris Rutkowski said the spike could be due to better Internet access or military exercises in populated areas. He says some reports were quite unusual, including "octagon shape things [and] things that were amorphous, without any defined shapes, like blobs moving through the sky. "Some of them were actually changing shape as they flew. Those ones are really puzzling.” The octagonal one was reported by a Winnipeg couple who saw the black object with flashing lights in an isolated part of the city. The colours also varied widely, from purple to pink, blue, silver, red, green, orange, multi-coloured and more. “They make us wonder exactly what it is that people are seeing. Since we don't have the proof or evidence to suggest that aliens are behind the UFO phenomenon, then what is exactly driving the UFO phenomenon?” said Rutkowski. The data for the Ufology report, which found more than half of all UFO sightings were of unusual lights in the sky, comes from researchers and investigators across Canada. Many witnesses are pilots, police and other individuals "with reasonably good observing capabilities and good judgement," the report states. "The continued reporting of UFOs by the public and the yearly increase in numbers of UFO reports suggests a need for further examination of the phenomenon by social, medical and/or physical scientists," the report urges. According to documents obtained by CBC News earlier this year under the Access to Information Act, the Canadian government has decided to give up tracking and investigating UFO sightings.
Feb. 25, 5 pm Elmira, Ont. — Two witnesses saw two dark objects “shaped like guitar picks” moving silently overhead at an estimated 200 feet high, heading east.
Feb. 25, 7 pm Winnipeg, Man. — Two witnesses observed a flat, disc-shaped object with red lights around its perimeter. As it flew in horizontal flight, it turned on its side and then darted towards the witnesses’ vehicle, then vanished before their eyes.
April 7, 7 pm Saint-Redempteur, Que. — An object composed of three rings in a triangle approached the witnesses while they were driving. It flew overhead and then disappeared. As they drove further, the witnesses felt something touching or poking them, but could not see anything.
April 7, 10:10 pm Montreal — An airline pilot was watching the sky and saw an odd orange light moving SW across the sky. As he watched, it faded, revealing a triangular object without many lights, rolling back and forth as it flew.
May 11, 12:37 am Courtenay, B.C. — A large square object with more than 30 multicoloured lights hovered over the ocean, moved from side to side and then in an arc. It was described as a “giant lit up billboard floating in the sky.” It made “rounds” for 10 minutes before vanished from sight.
May 24, 7 pm Wallaceburg, Ont. — A silver “airplane” was seen flying low over a residential area. It proceeded to change its shape, from that of an airplane to a “musical triangle,” a “bird’s foot,” a “spinning bangle” and a “snow cone.” It was in sight for about 30 seconds before it was lost behind some trees.
Aug. 9, 10 pm Thorne, Ont. — A humming noise was heard, then a discshaped object with red and white lights moved into view between two farmhouses. It shot into the air, dropped down again, rotated to reveal a different colour and set of lights and headed off in the direction from which it came.
page 11
"It's not about lights in the skies, it's about lies on ground" Richard French, Ex-Air Force Lt. Colonel, 'It Was A UFO And . . . There Were Aliens Aboard It' Former UFO Debunker And Ex. Military Officer Goes Public Stating That Two Alien Craft Crashed At Roswell It is not every day we hear of a UFO debunker who suddenly changes his opinions and admits there is an ongoing UFO cover-up, but it happens. Former UFO debunker, Air Force Lt. Col. Richard French has shocked many by going public saying that two extraterrestrial craft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
Much has been written over the years about the famous Roswell crash. There has been a lot of controversy about the incident and speculation over the existence of aliens among us. Given his job, Richard French never dreamed he'd end up in Newfoundland one day watching what appeared to him to be two extraterrestrials performing repairs on a submerged, unknown circular craft. In Washington, D.C., recently, the 83-year-old retired officer testified at the Citizen Hearing On Disclosure panel of six former members of Congress about his work as a UFO debunker in 1952.
French recounted how the Newfoundland incident unfolded decades ago, in the early 1950s, after two UFOs were seen by many people off the coast of St. John's. French's superiors ordered him to look into the situation. "They said, 'We have a UFO report and we want you to investigate it,' and that was standard for what I was doing,". "They told me there were two of them involved and that they were deep under the water, after entering the water doing roughly 100 miles an hour. "There were a lot of people assembled on the wharf, at least 100 standing around just looking in amazement at the water, including several local policemen." French recalls the water was very clear and he could see two circular craft, each one about 18 feet in diameter and approximately 3 feet thick. He said the two objects were floating below the surface of the water, a cou-
not visible to me except when they would occasionally get over to the side where I could see them. The water was fairly clear and I could see without any trouble. They weren't down at the bottom of the [seabed] -- they were about half way down." French said, that the two beings he saw "were about 2 or 3 feet tall, light grey in color, very thin, long arms with After 65 years, French has stepped forward announcing that the first flying saucer that landed in the desert was actually shot down by the U.S. military. He also says that he saw the alien craft and the military covered up what happened, which was actually a "shootdown." In addition, French says a second alien craft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico about the same time. "There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don't know," said French . "The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that's why it crashed."
French, an Air Force pilot who was in Alamagordo, N.M., in 1947, being tested in an altitude chamber, an annual requirement for rated officers was very specific in how the military allegedly brought down what he believes was a spacecraft from another world.
ple of feet apart, not more than 20 feet from the shore. And he saw two beings in the water near the ships. "The first thing I saw was the UFOs, and it was apparent to me that they were doing something to the craft, and I couldn't really tell what because they were on the bottom side of it and
either two or three fingers. The top of their heads was much wider than their jaw line, their eyes were very slanted and you couldn't see pupils in them. They looked the way aliens have been depicted in motion pictures."
continued on page 20
page 12 Early summer bad time for crashes, Manitoba RCMP say The start of summer can be an especially dangerous time on Manitoba roads, according to RCMP and at least one driving instructor. In the past 2 weeks there have been five fatal crashes on Manitoba highways, all of which involved semi-trailers. Sgt. Line Karpish said drivers tend to speed up when weather conditions improve. “When spring and summer comes and the roads dry up and the sun is shining, there is certainly perhaps to some extent, the drivers relax,” said Karpish. Karpish said many of the crashes in the past weeks could be blamed on driver inattentiveness. She added this year's crash numbers are actually down compared to last year, but five in two weeks is still high. Jim Campbell owns First Class Training Centre, a company that trains semi-trailer drivers. He said the beginning of summer can be a scary time to drive because people pay less attention. He said when road conditions are poor, drivers tend to stay more focused on the road. Campbell said he teaches his drivers to pay full attention 100 per cent of the time because they never know what might happen. “Near misses, head-on collisions or somebody running a red light — you know, that’s the reality,” said Campbell. “You just have to be focused and pay attention.” He said drivers need to have an escape plan, slow down if they see someone coming towards them and remember their stopping distance. "You end up getting complacent. You feel like you're in more control, but what's really happening is you're losing focus,” said Campbell. “What we tell our students here you have to be focused 100 per cent of the time."
Winnipeg gets first urban reserve
It was a historic day for Long Plain First Nation, which officially opened the first urban reserve in the city of Winnipeg. An honour song started the ceremony as sage burned nearby on the two-acre plot of land near Polo Park, bounded by St. Matthews Avenue, Madison Street, Silver Avenue and Kensington Street. The urban reserve is bounded by St. Matthews Avenue, Madison Street, Silver Avenue and
$70M
temporary camp for Hydro workers
in Manitoba being constructed in New Brunswick
Manitoba Hydro is spending $70 million on housing for a temporary camp for workers near Gillam, where crews will be working on the Bipole III project. Hydro says a New Brunswick company submitted the cheapest and best bid, even though it will require shipping items from out of province to Manitoba. That has some questioning Hydro’s tendering process and whether work could have been handed out here. The camp is expected to open in September in Manitoba and then grow from there. “I think it's very unfortunate that someone could do it cheaper in New Brunswick - ship it - considering the prices of fuel today, and they can still do it cheaper than anyone in Manitoba. I don't believe that,” said Ron Schuler, PC Hydro critic. Hydro said that despite the travel costs, of the three bids submitted, the New Brunswick firm was the cheapest and that no Manitoba firms could handle the scope of the project. “There is not a Manitoba supplier for it in terms of the volume that we need. There are certainly modular home builders in Manitoba, but not for the size of camp that we need," said Glenn Schneider, Hydro spokesperson. Hydro said it needs a place to house up to 600 workers over the next five years near Gillam in order to construct Bipole III. Kensington Street. Yellowquill College has been operating on the site for more than a year but the urban reserve agreement, signed between Long Plain and the federal government, now opens the door for more business, like a planned 80,000-square-foot office complex and gas station. "This will open the doors for many opportunities — for economic development, for jobs and for resources that will go a long way for the future generations of our community," said Chief David Meeches. He said he's proud to have the first urban reserve within city limits and hopes it paves the way for other First Nations in the province. Long Plain is located southwest of Portage la Prairie along the Assiniboine River.
War in the water:
Manitoba ups fight against invasive dangerous aquatic species The province has unveiled new decontamination units which are believed to be the first of their kind in Canada. WINNIPEG -- Manitoba is using a new weapon to fight invasive aquatic species that hitch a ride on boats coming into the province.
The camp will be the size of two football fields. Maritime-based Kent Homes has been awarded the contract by Hydro to build the 100 dorm rooms and dining and recreation facilities. "Each module gets manufactured at our facility, complete with electrical, all the furnishings. Basically, everything is ready to go,” said David Saucy from Kent Homes. "It's the site of the construction camp for the new converter station which will be at the northern end of the Bipole III line, so it's really a construction camp,” said Schneider. Sections of the homes and other buildings will have to be shipped to Manitoba starting this summer and then assembled in the province. The camp is expected to open in September and then grow from there.
Winnipeg police bust $460K grow-op on Pritchard Avenue Four people arrested in marijuana grow-op bust in William Whyte neighbourhood.
Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh says two high-heat, high-pressure decontamination units will be used to purge watery invaders such as zebra mussels. The units are portable and are believed to be the first in Canada. They're to be used at border crossings, fishing tournaments and high-traffic boat launches. Mackintosh says more than 90 per cent of boats that enter the province are exposed to aquatic species not found in Manitoba. He says such species -- which also include spiny waterfleas, rusty crayfish and curly-leaf pond weed -- threaten the province's rich diversity of lakes, rivers and waterways. Funding for the two $50,000 units comes from fishing licence surcharge revenues.
Winnipeg police have busted a grow-op worth over $400,000. On Thursday, officers searched a home in the 500 block of Pritchard Avenue in Winnipeg’s William Whyte neighbourhood. Officers seized over 350 marijuana plants from the home as well as grow-op equipment and about 10 kilograms of dry marijuana. Police estimate the seizure had a street value of over $460,000. Four people are now facing multiple charges, including production of marijuana and theft of telecommunication.
page 13
Boreal Forest agreement negotiations end in failure after three years
Three years of negotiations between Resolute Forest Products and environmental groups aimed at protecting Canada's boreal forest have ended in failure, with talks breaking down over how much land to set aside for conservation. Environmentalists accused Resolute of not living up to its promises to protect habitat for caribou while also ensuring the livelihoods of communities that depend on the forest industry. "We think they're just taking care of the bottom line right now," said Janet Sumner of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. She said senior management have not given their negotiators a real mandate to conclude a workable agreement. Resolute said it could not accept a proposal that it says would have threatened thousands of jobs in remote communities. "The final asks of the environmental organizations that were brought to us last evening were so extreme, were so draconian they would have forced the closure of multiple mills, multiple projects throughout Quebec and Ontario," said company spokesman Seth Kursman. Seth Kursman was disappointed that an agreement on a workable plan to balance conservation efforts with social and economic considerations could not be reached. "What they were looking for was land withdrawal that far exceeded anything that we were willing to do because it was totally out of balance with the three guiding principles of sustainability," Kursman said. Talks began in 2010 after seven environmental organizations and 19 forest companies agreed to find a way to protect threatened woodland caribou while still giving companies access to 72 million hectares of public forests. The Forest Products Association of Canada has described the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement as the largest and most complex deal of its kind ever reached anywhere in the world. The association said it regretted that environmental groups had suspended the talks with Res-
olute, but was pleased they remained committed to the overall agreement with the industry. "Forest companies belonging to FPAC remain committed to the principles of the CBFA and want to continue the hard work necessary to protect the environment, including threatened species such as woodland caribou, while also protecting the forest products industry and the communities and jobs that depend on it," the association said. Several environmental groups said the commitment to ongoing work with other forestry companies remained strong, despite the decision to suspend talks with Resolute. Grounbreaking solutions for conservation have been forged under the CBFA with companies such as Tembec and Alberta Pacific Forest Industries and Millar Western Forest Products in northeastern Ontario and Albert respectively, Sumner said. "I'm feeling quite positive about Alberta and a similar situation in Manitoba and Saskatchewan," she said in an interview. "We seem to be laying down a foundation for a very good conversation that should have good outcomes and I'm feeling like we'll get there." The groups said they have suspended work with Resolute until it can commit to scientifically defensible conservation plans that would give caribou a reasonable chance of survival. "We believe that Resolute is not meeting its commitments to ensure caribou survive on the forests it manages. In our opinion, it has so far proven itself unwilling to strike a balance between its economic interests and the local survival of a nationally threatened species," said Todd Paglia of Forest Ethics. Resolute said the environmentalists' proposal would have killed several projects, including the reopening of a sawmill in Ignace and a project in Atikokan in collaboration with First Nation groups. It would have also "put the nails in the coffin" of its paper mill in Fort Francis, Ont., and closed facilities in Quebec. Sumner disputed that its proposal would have threatened Resolute's plans. "All of that is still on the table from our perspective," she said. "Please continue to bring jobs but bring jobs that are actually being managed sustainably." Resolute made a series of proposals during intense final negotiations, including setting aside an additional 204,000 hectares of forest in northwestern Ontario for conservation. Sumner said Resolute's proposal actually includes just 90,000 hectares of productive forests, the rest being rocks and lakes. She said environmentalists proposed setting aside 350,000 hectares, the minimum amount needed to allow caribou to survive. Resolute's proposal was on top of about two million hectares of Ontario forests that have already been protected over the last 15 years.
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has struck a deal to sell its Allstream division to an investment firm controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.
The agreement values Allstream at $520million. Winnipeg-based MTS says it expects to realize net proceeds of about $405-million after closing costs. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013. Allstream, which offers telecom services to medium-sized and large Canadian businesses, had been under strategic review at MTS since last fall. Mr. Sawiris’s company, Accelero Capital Holdings, had been rumoured to be the leading bidder for Allstream. Toronto-based Allstream has about 30,000 route kilometres of fibre network coverage across Canada, serving more than 50,000 businesses. “This investment reflects Accelero’s longterm commitment to the Canadian telecommunications market, and our belief in the opportunity that exists to provide capital to enhance the competitive landscape in Canada,” Mr. Sawiris said in a news release Friday.
Mr. Sawiris is the former head of Cairobased Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and also the original financial backer of Canadian wireless company Wind Mobile. MTS said terms of the agreement include a commitment on its part to retain the pension obligations and related pension plan assets related to former Allstream employees under the latter’s current defined benefit pension plans. “This transaction makes MTS a stronger, more focused and more valuable company. MTS goes forward as a pure-play teleom with a strong consumer franchise and significant free cash flow to support our dividend,” MTS chief executive officer Pierre Blouin said in a statement. “We will also have sufficient capital to invest in wireless spectrum and to continue bringing fibre-to-the-home, 4G, LTE wireless technology and other products and services to more communities across Manitoba, further solidifying our position as the undisputed leader in the province.”
It also agreed to protect 12 per cent, or 692,000 hectares, of Quebec forest, focusing on the best habitats for caribou conservation. The two sides last year crafted a joint recommendation to government about establishing a caribou conservation area covering 835,000 hectares in Northeastern Ontario. Chief executive Richard Garneau said rural, northern and First Nations communities have paid "a heavy price from the economic and market challenges the industry has faced over the past decade." He said the process did not involve "serious stakeholder consultations" and would have lacked "legitimacy."
Greenpeace Canada, which in March rescinded its accusations that Resolute secretly logged on protected forestry roads, has accused Resolute of making false sustainability claims. "This is a company that deceived environmental organizations under the agreement and they are deceiving their customers with their sustainability claims," stated Richard Brooks, forest campaign co-ordinator. Greenpeace and conservation coalition Canopy pulled out of talks saying there has been nothing to show for the work since 2010. Greenpeace said what's needed are large protected areas buffered by conservation zones totalling 50 to 70 per cent of the land base.
page 14
continued from page 7 been linked to bee deaths. The pesticides are used to coat most commercial corn seeds and protect them from pests such as seed-eating insects. Canadian government scientists have found evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides were linked to mass bee deaths during the spring corn planting in Ontario and Quebec in 2012, Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency confirmed in a report.
To ban or not to ban? That has some people, such as Dan Davidson, president of the Ontario Beekepers' Association, calling for the use of the neonicotinoid pesticides to be restricted in Canada also. "I think the best for beekeepers would be a ban". "We have to call for replacement of these chemicals. We won't be able to keep going on if they continue to be used at the rates they're being used now." The environmental advocacy group Sierra Club Canada is similarly calling for a Canada to take the pesticides off the market until they have been proven safe. However, Kevin Armstrong, a farmer who grows corn, wheat and soybean south of Woodstock, Ont., said neonicotinoid pesticides are essential for protecting corn seeds and seedlings during their crucial first month. "It is a kind of insurance policy for us," he told The Current. "The vigour of the whole plant is assured for the whole season."
Armstrong said neonicotinoids are largely responsible for a 15 per cent increase in Ontario corn yields over the past 15 years, and so a ban on them could cause a significant loss. A loss of 10 per cent translates into about $100 an acre, he said. If Ontario farmers plant 2.3 million acres of corn as expected, that could amount to a $230million loss. "It works out to a significant economic setback for us."
Mary Mitchell, director-general of the environmental assessment directorate with Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency, said neonicotinoid pesticides have been registered in Canada for 10 to 15 years and mass bee deaths linked to them had never been reported
before last year. "So we do think the weather may have been a factor," she said, noting that it had been an unusually early, warm dry spring. She said regulators are working to prevent that happening again, but she did not mention any talk of restrictions on the use of the pesticides. Instead, she said the government is encouraging farmers to communicate better with beekeepers and to using planting equipment that minimizes the production of dust, which is thought to be a major way bees are exposed to the pesticides. The government is also working with the agricultural industry on ways to get the pesticide coating to stick better to the seed so it can't come off and harm the bees. Tracy Baute, who leads the field crop ento-
“My alternator went on me the lights started flickering, the car started shaking, then as I was driving the car just died,” she said. Lippens also said her side and rear doors would suddenly open, there were problems with the air vents, and a seat that was supposed to collapse into the floor won’t budge.
Lippens said her dealership is not willing to replace the vehicle. They offered to buy it back, but for half of what she paid for it. When Lippens contacted Chrysler Canada about the issues. She says the company told her there was nothing it could do. "If a company builds something they should be able to stand by their product, instead of washing their hands of it and making the consumer feel it's their fault," said Lippens. Automobile Protection Association president George Iny said, if Lippens has taken her vehicle in for repairs 20 times in two years, in their mind, she bought a lemon. According to the APA, Chrysler customers have had some success getting their vehicle bought back through CAMVAP, the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan, but the process isn’t easy.
2012 mass deaths unprecedented
Know the risks when buying new cars When life gives you lemons, you’re supposed to make lemonade. But what do you do if that “lemon” is a new car that ends up costing you dearly with ongoing repairs? Unlike in the United States, Canada doesn’t have “lemon laws” to protect consumers who buy vehicles that have persistent problems. There are options for car customers who have been burned, but they can be costly, difficult, and you might not get all your money back. Chloe Lippens’ Dodge Caravan is only two years old. Since driving it off the lot in May 2011, she's had to bring it for repairs nearly 20 times.
mology program at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, said more studies are underway to find out exactly how bees are exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides. However, in the meantime, she recommends that farmers: Let nearby beekeepers know when they are planting so the beekeepers can move hives if necessary. Consider planting in the early morning or the evening, when bees are less active. Consider using seeds that aren't treated with pesticides in fields at a lower risk of attack by pests. The reports of mass bee deaths in Ontario and Quebec in 2012 took place around the time that two scientific studies were published showing that bees can be harmed by even low levels of neonicotinoids. Many bee species have been declining in North America and Europe, and some have even gone extinct or are believed to be close to extinction. Meanwhile, honeybees have been reported dying or disappearing en masse since 2006. In addition to pesticides, there is evidence that fungi, viruses, or parasites may play a role. The European Union has banned an insecticide they believe is killing off honey bees. Some Canadians are calling for a ban too. But many farmers say the science isn't in yet so don't make them stop using a chemical that's so important for protecting their crops. * Over 70% people in North America believes that banning Monsanto products would save the bees and perhaps Human Race as well. “You have to have a very well prepared case, you need an expert to say the problems are related to the manufacturer and not just dealer incompetence," said Iny. Iny said the only recourse people have most of the time is selling a vehicle back to a dealership and claiming those losses through the courts. Lippen said she can’t afford a court case. "It's not a good feeling to have this vehicle and feel your family might not be safe in it," she said. Lippens said she will look into filing a case with CAMVAP but she wishes there was more protection for consumers like her. Manitoba does have laws that protect consumers, requiring dealerships to disclose everything about a vehicle's history. But the laws don't go as far as protecting consumers dealing with new vehicles with defects or in need of constant repair.
page 15
U.S. Regulations To Hurt Manitoba Cattle Industry Manitoba Beef Producers General Manager Cam Dahl says new U.S. regulations on country-of-origin labelling will cost Manitoba's industry about 640-million dollars a year. "That is a substantial cut, off the revenue of the beef industry and substantial harm to Manitoba and Manitoba's conomy." Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says Canada is considering all options to fight the regulations including retaliatory measures. The Canadian government sees the rules as costly, burdensome, and will lead to
the disintegration of the North American supply chain.
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page 18 ister John Duncan resigned on 13th of Feb. 2013) Even though AANDC officials say that they are decentralizing authority to Indians and promoting self-government, the fact is that they have tightened their control by instituting more policing, budget controls, red tape and management. The AANDC has always funded for failure. Projects designed by the Indians that can succeed are continually stifled by the bureaucracy placing every object in their paths. The fact is that the huge amount of money that is supposed to go to the Indians but is siphoned off by AANDC, local merchants, towns, service suppliers, fraud, kick backs is probably at best 20 per cent of the reasonable needs in the community.
Bill Wilson:
Give cash to individual natives to stop the waste
The horror of Attawapiskat is just one tip of a huge iceberg. To some degree, the same conditions exist on every Indian reserve in this country. Those ignorant of reserve reality blame the Indians for “misspending” the money designed to solve their problems. But Indian people control less than 10 per cent of their budgets and less than 20 per cent of the total budget of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada ever reaches them. The AANDC spends huge amounts to control Indian people. The AANDC has not changed its policy since Duncan Campbell Scott, the deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, wanted to “eliminate the Indian problem” by eliminating the Indians. It is common knowledge now that Indian reserves were just corrals for dying animals. The huge growth in population of Indian peoples has created an expanding base for the AANDC-associated industry with no product. Huge profits are made off the suffering of Indian people and AANDC has been in control of it the way a drug lord is in control of his distributors, pushers and victims. Beginning in the 1870s the “Indian Agents” were given all powers under the Indian Act to control Indians. Since then the Indian Act has been “improved,” yet the AANDC still maintains its control over Indians by selective funding approval, political manipulation, favourite suppliers of goods and services, engineers,
construction firms, lawyers and consultants and endless red tape and bureaucracy. It is true that Indian people occupy a special class in society. Unfortunately, this class is third or fourth in terms of conditions. Every social, economic or health indicator places Indians beneath all other Canadians. Despite this fact the myth is still promoted that Indians get everything for nothing, free health care, free homes, free education and complete tax-free status. Someone please let me know where that reserve is because I want to transfer there! There is no such place and Indians on reserve as well as those in the city live in abject, grinding poverty for which they get blamed by non-Indian, mostly right-wing groups who like to scapegoat and look down on natives. This all stems from the continuing assumption that Indian people are inferior and white people and their institutions are superior. Racism, hatred, oppression, exploitation, abuse, genocide can all be blamed on this stupidity. Through all of this, the AANDC has been able to elude the blame for the mess. AANDC is a huge, controlling bureaucracy not only of the Indians it is supposed to serve but also of the federal cabinet ministers for whom it is supposed to work. The most recent pathetic example of AANDC control of John Duncan, the federal cabinet minister in charge of the department, is just one of many. (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Min-
Elected chiefs try to stretch their budgets to meet their needs and then are penalized by AANDC in many forms, usually by comanagement and then third-party management, where the Indian people make no decisions. The final indignity comes from the fact that AANDC takes the huge cost of its control out of the bands’ budgets, thus causing even greater financial hardship! Attawapiskat’s bill will be over $2,000 a day once all the third-party official’s costs are added up!
The horror of Attawapiskat will be repeated over and over again as long as AANDC is allowed to control Indians. My solution, which I have been proposing for 50 years, is to eliminate the AANDC and send the money directly to individual Indians. That money is already being siphoned off by non-natives and wasted by AANDC. The Indians could not possibly do any worse. And besides, they are already being blamed for it! Maybe they could use some of the money to organize a real First People’s parliament, one not controlled by AANDC chiefs. Hemas Kla-Lee-Lee-Kla, Bill Wilson, is a lawyer and a chief of the Kwawkgewlth.
page 19
Canada's treatment of aboriginal people faces global scrutiny UN and human-rights groups to visit Canada within the next year
Canada's record on how it treats aboriginal people will be under global scrutiny within the next year. The federal government is allowing three human rights groups — including two from the United Nations — to make visits where they will look at living conditions in aboriginal communities, including access to clean water, housing and education. The groups will also probe whether government and law enforcement are doing enough to resolve the cases of an estimated 600 murdered and missing aboriginal women. "Now Canada has to respond to the international community," said Grand Chief David Harper of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), which represents Manitoba's northern First Nations communities. "What have you done? What more can be done?"
The United Nations' special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, as well as members of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will make the visits.
'Canada has nothing to hide' The federal government says it stands by its record on human rights.
"We are proud of our record, so there is nothing to hide," said Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.
"Canada has nothing to hide." Anaya made his initial request for access to Canada in February 2012. A year later, in February of this year, he wrote to the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs saying he still had not heard from the Canadian government about his request. On April 26, Canada's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations at Geneva, Elissa Golberg, announced the federal government would allow Anaya to visit. The last time that a UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples visited Canada was in 2004. Chief Harper said many countries at the
United Nations have been pushing Canada to address the living conditions of aboriginal people. "We've been banging on the doors of Parliament Hill, but here we are in this day and age. We need other countries to speak on our behalf," he said.
Visits provide some hope It has been a year and a half since Gail Nepinak's sister, Tanya, went missing in Win-
nipeg, and there has been little to no progress in her case. "She was kind-hearted … a special person," Nepinak said of her sister, who is among Canada's estimated 600 missing and murdered aboriginal women. Winnipeg police charged Shawn Lamb last year with first-degree murder in connection with Tanya Nepinak's death, but her remains have never been found. Gail Nepinak said the upcoming visits by the human-rights groups provide a glimmer of hope, as she doesn't believe governments and law enforcement are doing enough on cases like her sister's. "When my sister went missing, I feel like they just put her aside," she said. "Hopefully it will be helpful," she added. "If it helps, that's good. Anything helps for us."
Not the first UN visit Canada has had a testy relationship with UN special rapporteurs lately. Last May, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, scolded Canada over inequality and access to food. He said inequality is getting worse and that
800,000 households do not get the healthy food they need. The government responded to De Schutter's comments at the time, with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney suggesting that De Schutter was wasting his organization's money by visiting a developed country. "Canada sends billions of dollars of food aid to developing countries around the world where people are starving," Kenney said. "It would be our hope that the contributions we make to the United Nations are used to help starving people in developing countries, not to give lectures to wealthy and developed countries like Canada. And I think this is a discredit to the United Nations," he said.
page 20 continued from page 11
As the Air Force UFO debunker Richard French watched, he claims one of the ships began to rise out of the water. "When it hit the surface, it was going about 100 miles an hour. It then accelerated to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 to 3,000 miles an hour and disappeared. It returned about 20 minutes later, slowed down to nearly a stop before it entered the water, then went down, and the two beings worked together. "It took them about 20 minutes and then the two ships departed together, again slow when they exited the water, and immediately they sped up to a very high speed. I believe they were repairing [the ship] and tested that the repairs had been adequate, and then away they went." Richard French talk about his job as an Air Force UFO debunker:
Ironically, French's job at the time - as a Project Blue Book investigator -was to debunk UFOs. So, what kind of report did he file with Blue Book about this case he had personally witnessed? "Needless to say, it was a fictitious report, as all of them were. I didn't really say that they were UFOs -- I said that there was something we didn't know -- some type of foreign or unrecognizable vehicle there. In other words, I weasel-worded it. "Oh, I think without a doubt it was a UFO and I think there were aliens aboard it. There's no question in my mind that was exactly what it was, and my duty was to debunk the story, so I did my best to do so." The events of the Newfoundland UFO and alleged aliens took place some 60 years ago, in the days before everyone had a digital camera or image-capture cell phone in their pocket. Despite the fact that there are no photographs to substantiate the report, it's still an amazing story.
6
Project Blue Book "From 1947 until 17 December 1969, the United States Air Force actively investigated reports and sightings of unidentified flying objects UFOs, under a program called Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book investigated 12,618 UFO sightings and 701 of those sightings remained unidentified. Many UFO researchers feel that the investigations of the UFO sightings were unprofessional and unscientific. The program used poor research methods and researchers were too eager to label a mysterious sighting as "identified" phenomena. Individual researchers and UFO organisations believe that members of Project Blue Book were pressured to "identify" UFO sightings to calm the public hysteria about UFOs. This theory has been supported by the recent release of CIA documents pertaining to UFOs. They also suggest that any report that was initially perceived as unexplainable or
would cause public concern was never included in Project Blue Book. They allege that these reports were passed on to a higher authority that never reported the results to the public. Project Blue Book, it seems, was just a low level collection and disinformation program created under Project Sign (of December 1947) which evolved into Project Grudge (of December 1948) to cover up the true investigation into the alien presence on Earth.
Ronald Reagan UFO Story The sighting occurred in 1974 while Reagan was still Governor. One week after the sighting, Reagan related the story to Norman C. Millar, then Washington Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, later the editor of the Los Angeles Times. Reagan told Millar: "I was in a plane last week when I looked out the window and saw this white light. It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said, ‘Have
you seen anything like that before?’ He was shocked and said, ‘Nope.’ And I said to him: ‘Let’s follow it!’ We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light. We followed it to Bakersfield, California and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When we got off the plane, I told Nancy all about it.’ The pilot of Governor Reagan plane was Bill Paynter, and he backed up Reagan’s version of the incident with the UFO. I was the pilot of the plane when we saw the UFO. Also, on board were Governor Reagan and a couple of his security people. We were flying a Cessna Citation. It was maybe nine or ten o’clock at night. We were near Bakersfield when Governor Reagan and the others called my attention to a big light flying a bit behind the plane. It appeared to be several hundred yards away. It was a fairly steady light until it began to accelerate, then it ap-
page 21 peared to elongate. The light took off. It went up at a 45-degree angle - at a high rate of speed. Everyone on the plane was surprised. Governor Reagan expressed amazement. I told the others I didn’t know what it was. The UFO went from a normal cruise speed to a fantastic speed instantly. If you give an airplane power it will accelerate - but not like a hotrod, and that is what this was like. We didn’t file a report on the object because for a long time they considered you a nut if you saw a UFO.
1974 – California Gov. Ronald Reagan was one of four people in a Cessna Citation plane who witnessed an unusual object that was a steady light which elongated and went from a normal cruising speed to a rapid acceleration. Reagan told the Wall Street Journal, “We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement, it went straight up into the heavens.”
Government Cover-Up "The infrastructure needed to maintain and expand the level of secrecy which can deceive presidents and CIA Directors and senior congressional leaders and European Prime Ministers and the like is substantial - and illegal. Let me be clear, the entity which controls the UFO matter and its related technologies has more power than any single government in the world or any single identified world leader. The current state-of-the-art in secrecy is a hybrid, quasigovernment, quasi privatized operation which is international - and functions outside of the purview of any single agency or any single government. ‘The Government' - as you and I and Thomas Jefferson may think of it - is really quite outside the loop. Rather, a select, tightly controlled and compartmentalized ‘black' or unacknowledged project controls these matters. Access is by inclusion alone and if you are not included, it does not matter if you are CIA Director, President, Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations or UN Secretary General, you simply will not know about or have access to these projects."
“Take me to your leader.” That’s a classic line you’ll hear from extraterrestrials in sciencefiction, but what if the roles were reversed? Were Bill Clinton and JFK preparing their talking points for a meeting with creatures from another galaxy? History reveals more government buzz about aliens than you might think. Several world leaders, including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan reported seeing unexplained things in the skies. Others made it clear when they entered the Oval Office that they wanted all the files on what the military might know about alien visitations.
1963 – Pres. John F. Kennedy sent a memo to the head of the CIA, seeking documents about UFOs, just 10 days before he was assassinated. In a letter dated Nov. 12, 1963, JFK wanted a review of all UFO intelligence files that might affect national security. On the same day, Kennedy sent a separate memo to NASA, indicating he wanted to cooperate with the then-Soviet Union on outer space activities.
1969 – Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter filed an official report in which he claimed to have seen a UFO – a “self-luminous” object “as bright as the moon.”
1975 — Ariz. Sen. Barry Goldwater revealed he had previously attempted to find out what was in the building at WrightPatterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where UFO information was allegedly stored. His request was denied because it was classified above Top Secret. In a 1988 interview with Larry King, Goldwater said he believed secret government UFO investigations were going on.
ready as a student he occupied his time with the study of the ancient holy writings. While managing director of a Swiss 5-Star Hotel, he wrote his first book, Chariots of the Gods, which was an immediate bestseller in the United States, Germany, and later in 38 other countries.
1997 — Ariz. Gov. Fife Symington was one of thousands of eyewitnesses to the historic Phoenix Lights, a mass UFO sighting, which he didn’t admit was real until 10 years later, and which he felt was an extraterrestrial vehicle.
2005 — Former Pres. Bill Clinton, speaking in Hong Kong, discussed UFOs, Roswell and Area 51: “The Roswell thing, I think, really was an illusion – I don’t think it happened. I did attempt to find out if there were any secret government documents that reveal things, and if there were, they were concealed from me, too. I wouldn’t be the first president that underlings have lied to or that career bureaucrats have waited out. But there may be some career person, sitting around somewhere, hiding these.
2007 — OH. Rep. Dennis Kucinich entered the UFO culture during one of the 2007 Democratic presidential debates, by admitting he had seen a UFO. “It was an unidentified flying object, OK? It’s like, it’s unidentified. I saw something. More people in this country have seen UFOs than I think approve of George Bush’s presidency,” he said.
For over 30 years, Erich von Däniken has pursued the theory which postulates that Earth might have been visited by extraterrestrials in the remote past. Erich von Däniken has become famous for an infamous idea: that the origins of human culture lie not simply in evolution, but in the influence of extraterrestrial beings. Beginning with his first book, Chariots of the Gods?, he has argued that the artifacts of ancient cultures show evidence of these visitors, who were sometimes viewed by humans as gods.
2010 — NH State Representative Henry McElroy records a video on which he claims to have seen a briefing document from the 1950s that described how benevolent aliens were present in the U.S. and that a meeting could be arranged between them and former Pres. Eisenhower.
Erich von Daniken Born on April 14th, 1935, in Zofingen, Switzerland, Erich von Däniken was educated at the College St-Michel in Fribourg, where al-
Erich von Daniken
y Violent death in Sicil page 22
Police fear trans-Atlantic Mafia war after Canadian mobsters found ‘riddled with bullets’ in Sicily. Convicted killer Juan Ramon Fernandez Paz, nicknamed Joe Bravo, and associate Fernando Pimentel found dead. Pair shot at least 30 times and bodies set on fire.
“There’s four guys at an important Mafia murder in Sicily and three of them lived in Canada. That says a lot about the Mafia here, their mobility, their relationships internationally,” said an Ontario organized crime investigator. Italian police fear a trans-Atlantic Mafia war after the charred and bullet ridden bodies of two Canadian gangsters were found on the Mediterranean island of Sicily. Convicted killer and mob enforcer Juan Ramon Fernandez Paz, nicknamed Joe Bravo, was discovered along with his associate Fernando Pimentel after an anonymous tip off to police. Investigators said they were ‘riddled with at least 30 bullet wounds’ and an attempt had been made to burn their bodies following the hit. “We believe the order to kill him came from Canada. We are sure of it,” said an Italian officer working on the large investigation.
Juan Ramon Fernandez, described by police in Canada as “a perfect gangster,” died the perfect Hollywood gangster death — ambushed by mob rivals, dying in a hail of bullets and his body burned in a field in the picturesque countryside outside Palermo, the historic capital city of Sicily. Mr. Fernandez was slain alongside another mob-linked man from Canada and, in a persuasive sign that Montreal’s mob war has spread to Sicily, the very birthplace of the Mafia, one of two men charged with their murders was also previously deported from Canada.
Paz was the main target and Pimentel was probably killed because he was with him at the time. The fear now is that their could be more blood letting.’ The bodies were discovered on wasteland in the hamlet of Casteldaccia, near to the city of Palermo, on the Mafia’s island stronghold of Sicily. Paz, 56, had been deported from Canada last year after serving a 10 year jail sentence for drug offences and was in Sicily negotiating with mob bosses in a bid to secure lucrative trans Atlantic drug deals. The murders backstop a large investigation by Italian police revealing the trans-Atlantic reach of the Mafia in Canada, with mobsters shuttling from Toronto and Montreal to arrange global drug shipments and even continuing their underworld feud abroad as if borders did not exist. *** Italian police were aware that he and Pimentel were in Sicily after being tipped off by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and they were named as wanted in a round up of 24 mobsters earlier
“Vito Rizzuto (left) and Juan Ramon Fernandez (right)” nicknamed Joe Bravo
page 23 but could not be found. Investigators say that Paz was working as the Mafia’s ‘Canadian ambassador’ and was a key player in the multi-million pound deals using his ties with well known Montreal Godfather Vito Rizzuto as his introduction. With his good looks and smart designer clothes Paz could have walked straight of the set of mob TV blockbuster The Sopranos but he had a fiercesome reputation who served time for killing his 17year-old girlfriend after punching her so hard in the throat she died.
Police believe 56-year-old was key player in multi-million pound drugs deals. Police believe Juan Ramon Fernandez Paz was a high level player in the clan headed by notorious Godfather Vito Rizzuto. In jail he also had a powerful reputation, threatening inmates and using his influence as an enforcer for Rizzuto to carve himself influence and secure drugs could be smuggled in for inmates. He also managed to secure shipments of drugs from Jamaica and there were even rumours that with his good looks he had managed to seduce female guards at a maximum security jail where he was being held. Unusually, Spaniard Paz had managed to reach a reasonably high level of power within the Rizzuto clan. But as he was not Italian he would never have earned the ultimate accolade of Godfather and his own crime family. Paz had arrived in Sicily last year and had opened a gym in the Palermo suburb of Bagheria and Pimentel is thought to have arrived last month from Canada to visit him, with the last positive sighting of both men being in early April. *** Mr. Fernandez, 56, was born in Spain but grew up in Canada and became an important mob figure in Quebec and Ontario. His last day alive was April 9 when he and Fernando Pimentel, 36, an associate from Mississauga, Ont., who was visiting him in Sicily, left for a meeting to close a marijuana deal, authorities say. He was meeting Pietro and Salvatore Scaduto, two brothers, in an isolated field outside Bagheria, near Palermo, where Mr. Fernandez was told a large marijuana crop was being harvested, authorities alleged. Mr. Fernandez knew the brothers and trusted them; he was heard many times on police wiretaps extolling their friendship. The deal, however, was a planned ambush, the type needed to kill someone as feared as Mr. Fernandez. When they got out of the car, they were met with a fusillade of bullets, killing them both, authorities said. Their bodies were stripped of their valuables, pushed into the bush at the side of the dirt road and burned. Police wondered why Mr. Fernandez was suddenly no longer heard on the wiretaps. The surveillance teams that usually watched him stroll about town had no one to follow. “He went silent,” said the officer. “We thought he may have started a journey for Canada.”
But days later, one of the Scaduto brothers was caught trying to sell Mr. Fernandez’s Rolex watch for 3,000 euros, authorities said. The watch was not something Mr. Fernandez would let go willingly. “He loved that watch. Every day he wore this watch. Every day,” said the officer in Italy, who requested his name not be published. Italian police had heard him say it was the only piece not confiscated by police in Canada. Investigators in Canada believe the watch was given to him by Vito Rizzuto, the Mafia boss from Montreal for whom Mr. Fernandez worked while in Canada.
A police spokesman said: ‘We had been monitoring Paz’s activities for several months but he had not been seen since early April. He was named in a prosecution order to be arrested and we believe he was involved in drugs trafficking between Canada and Sicily.’ ‘We also think he was using his links with Vito Rizzuto to look into the possibility of importing drugs from South America into Sicily and then onwards to Canada. We shall be liaising with colleagues from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as part of the investigation.’ Rizzuto was the Godfather of the Montreal Mafia and was released from a US continued on page 26
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Ford Evos Concept
Ford Evos Concept introduces a new design direction for Ford, as the momentum of the company’s global product plan continues to build. This dramatic fastback concept signals a significant transformation of the Ford brand.
The ultimate expression of Ford’s design and technology vision At the 2005 Frankfurt auto show, Ford’s stunning Iosis concept car debuted the company’s “Kinetic” design language, which shortly thereafter debuted on non-U.S. models like the Mondeo, European Focus, C-Max, and Kuga known in North America as Escape. Ford’s first taste of Kinetic design came more recently with the 2011 Fiesta and 2012 Focus models. But now Ford’s look is evolving, with another Frankfurt concept— the gorgeous and aptly named Evos—previewing the next evolution of Ford oval design. Evos is a fastback four-seater, which is shorter than a Focus sedan but wider than a Porsche Panamera, does embody a half dozen newly defined pillars of Ford global design—which will drop the Kinetic moniker. The Evos provides the template for future Fords, and so we took a virtual tour of the car with Ford design chief J Mays, who explained those design pillars.
Ford’s New Global Design Language, Explained The first two pillars of Ford’s new design language are “silhouette innovation” and “perceived efficiency.” The former, according
to Mays, represents a profile “that defines your automobile and looks different than most of the other cars in a particular class on the road,” while the latter equates to visual lightness and sleekness. “We’d like to have lightweight pillars and a teardrop cabin where the lines on the side disappear at a vanishing point somewhere around 100 yards behind the car.” The gist? Think less ‘traditional three-box sedan’ and more ‘four-door coupe.’ “Refined surface language” refers to a smoothing out of Kinetically sculpted body surfaces, among them the architectural fenders, creased door skins, and sculpted hoods. This directive also appears to be a reaction to other manufacturers that Mays claims have “annexed” and subsequently exaggerated Ford’s Kinetic motifs. Ford is going in “exactly the opposite direction” now, he said, keeping what he called the “excitement” of Kinetic design but rendered in “beautiful shapes you’d love to run your hands over.” An emphasis on the fourth pillar, “technical graphics,” basically refers to the lamps and lower body addenda. “Headlamps seem to be growing to absurd proportions,” said Mays. “They’ve become
less about technology and more about design flourish and style. And we think that’s reached its complete evolution. So we’re going to the minimal height for the headlamps and the taillamps and we’re going to let the technology speak for the graphics rather than overt style.” The headlamps on the Evos are rendered in LEDs “designed in such a way that you probably haven’t seen before.” Will every future Ford model get “razor-cut” headlamps such as these? Yes, and Mays told us that he is committed to LED headlamps on every new Ford, although we’ll have to see if those make it past the accountants. The final two newly defined design-isms are the “new face of Ford,” which involves pulling the trapezoid grille way up to the leading edge of the hood (it gives the Evos a sort of Mustang-esque shark nose), and a “visual sense of premium quality,” which—besides being less catchy than the others—basically means creating the sort of designs people associate with higher-end cars. “We’ve tried to eliminate one of the grilles on the vehicle, and focus on the other. And what that does is allow us to have a smaller inlet, gives us better aerodynamics, and also, I think, looks much more premium.”
page 25 volved, directing the car when to make various on-the-fly powertrain adjustments, such as switching to electric mode when driving into a city center that may have emissions restrictions. The interior is defined by four bucket seats and lots of trapezoidal shapes. Thanks to the gullwing door design, there are no B-pillars bisecting the Evos' cabin. A color information screen curves down from the instrument cluster and into the center console, wrapping the screen around the red driver's seat. Rear-seat passengers each get to play with a touch-screen interface embed-
ded into the front-seat headrests. Taking driver engagement to a new level, Ford says the car's drivetrain and chassis will be adaptive both to the driver and road conditions. The Evos concept would "learn" how different people like to drive and tailor vehicle settings to suit. It would also evaluate the weather forecast for the chosen route and cater accordingly -- perhaps switching to a snow mode if you're heading for a blizzard, and a sportier mode if you're driving toward a twisty road on a sunny day. In addition, Ford plans for
continued on page 28
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If roadgoing Fords end up looking like the Evos, we say “mission accomplished” to the premium bit. Indeed, more than a few of us think that the “new face of Ford” looks a lot like the current face of Aston Martin, particularly, the slim, six-sided grille and Rapide-esque roofline. Could Ford be suffering from a case of “seller’s remorse” after getting rid of Aston Martin during the great fire sale of 2008? Mays didn’t admit any such—to borrow his own term—annexation of Aston’s designs, but when asked about the similarities, he seemed rather comfortable with the comparison.
Head in the “Cloud” Staying Connected However Aston-y the Evos looks, it wouldn’t be a show car if it didn’t contain a boatload of future tech. Cloud-based connectivity supposedly helps the Evos identify and pre-arrange its various systems to match the preferences of the upcoming drive, thus promising “seamless connectivity” from home to car to office. It also gauges the skills of the driver and, reconciling them with weather and road conditions. The cloud would theoretically be heavily in-
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continued from page 23 prison last November after serving a lengthy sentence for three mob murders in the 1980's. During his time in jail a bloody war raged between rival factions in Montreal for control of his empire and his son Nick was a victim, gunned down at the age of 42 three years ago. Although Mr. Fernandez had been deported three times from Canada because of criminal convictions, he always considered Canada home. “Fernandez lived in Sicily, but his heart and his mind were in Toronto.
He thought every day of the business of Toronto. His business was still there, everyday he was in contact with his men in Toronto,” said an officer who has been immersed in the investigation. “And Canadian men came to Italy to meet with him and talk to him about his business in Toronto and in Montreal.” “He was in a very good situation, from the criminal point of view,” said the officer. Until the very end. Pietro Scaduto, 49 and his brother Salvatore, 51, have been arrested by
More Crime
Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the reputed head of the Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels in Quebec, is on a list filed in a New York court claiming to outline “Jimmy Cournoyer’s extensive criminal contacts.”
police in Palermo and charged with murder. Pietro is a former Toronto
Jimmy Cournoyer makes no apologies for his playboy lifestyle. Before his arrest early last year, he drove a car valued at $2 million, dated glamorous Brazilian-born model Amelia Racine and partied with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and ultimate fighting champion George St-Pierre. resident. Others were also being But a list filed in a New York court sought for the double killing. claiming to outline “Cournoyer’s extensive criminal contacts” is much more sinister, according to American prosecutors, who have disclosed that they will call an expert witness to testify about the workings of Italian organized crime in the U.S. and Canada. The list includes Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, Hells Angels leader Maurice “Mom” Boucher, and the leaders of Montreal’s infamous West End Gang. The hundreds of names that appear on the court filing were produced last week by the U.S. States Attorney also includes former Canadian boxing champion Arturo Gatti, now dead, and Martino Caputo, a Toronto man arrested last month in Germany on charges that he helped orchestrate the daylight murder of a man outside a College Street bar in Toronto’s Little Italy last summer. The killing was reportedly due to a drug dispute. Caputo, and his twin brother, Antonio, who together ran a Spadina Avenue restaurant that was a regular stop when Rizzuto visited Toronto, were also arrested in 2001 during a sweep on illegal gambling operations in Ontario and Quebec. The charges against Cournoyer and five others are the result of a probe that began in 2007 into drug-trafficking operations worth almost $ 1 billion headquartered in Montreal that had formed a cartel to smuggle marijuana into the U.S., set prices and distribute the drugs to users. Cournoyer is alleged to have coordinated the shipment of some 50,000 kilograms of marijuana south of the border, arranged for the profits to travel from New York to California and overseen the purchase of cocaine that was then brought back into Canada, according to court filings. He allegedly outfitted his underlings with high-security Blackberry devices that could be remotely disabled if lost or seized by police and smuggled 9-mm handguns across the Canada-U.S. border for protection. The list of Cournoyer’s co-conspirators includes other alleged and convicted drug traffickers, bikers, enforcers and numerous res idents of Cornwall’s Akwesasne native reserve — the alleged embarkation point for the drug shipments. Cournoyer’s attorney, Gerald McMahon, said more than a dozen of the names on the list point to the real culprits in the smuggling operation, a point he will try to make to a jury when the trial begins on June 3.
Montreal playboy Jimmy Cournoyer accused of being kingpin in drug cartel worth almost $1 billion
page 27
Brazilian-born model Amelia Racine “This is like the fifth different person that the (U.S.) government claims is the head of this consorMONTREAL—Flashy fall guy or drug kingpin? These are the duelling portraits a jury will see when a 33-year-old tium. Whenever Stanley Cohen Quebecer Jimmy Cournoyer goes on trial in June on charges decides to knife somebody, he’s of running a lucrative smuggling ring with links to the the new head of the consortium,” highest ranks of the Mafia and the Hells Angels. McMahon said in an interview. Chief among those responsible is New York attor“It’s a moving target. Jimmy Cournoyer is not the ney Stanley Cohen, whom Cournoyer has claimed in head of any consortium. He’s not involved in any marpre-trial hearings is giving evidence to the authorities ijuana trafficking and he’s simply a target of opportuin order to protect himself and his clients on Mohawk nity for Stanley Cohen.” Prosecutors have repeatedly denied that Cohen is territory from prosecution. Cohen worked closely with the Mohawk Warriors at the heart of the criminal charges. “Mr. Cohen is not a government witness and has during the Oka Crisis and has represented a number of accused Mohawk drug traffickers over the years. never been an informant for the government,” U.S. He is primarily known in the United States as the attorney Loretta Lynch wrote in a letter to McMahon lawyer of choice for accused terrorists and for Hamas. last month.
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continued from page 25 a range of connectivity systems to link the car and driver with the so-called cloud. The car might match a driver's commuting route with local traffic and weather information, or automatically play a favorite song or radio station. It could retrieve pollution or pollen forecasts and suggest alternate routes for allergy sufferers. Ford even claims that these technologies would communicate with the driver's house to close the garage door and turn off lights remotely. "The car gets to know you and can act as a personal assistant," said Ford chief technical officer Paul Mascarenas. "The possibilities are fascinating when we explore how to enable a seamless lifestyle between home, office, and car." While the technologies planned for the Evos concept might not show up in production models for next few years, they show the direction Ford plans for its future connectivity systems. Everything will become more personalized to the driver and more closely linked with the outside world via the Internet.
Hybrid Power The Evos concept employs the same plug-in hybrid drivetrain that will be found under the hood of the Ford C-Max Energi, which was introduced in 2012. The powertrain functions prima-
page 29
rily as an electric car, with a lithium-ion battery sending power to an electric motor. A gasoline engine and generator can provide additional power, supposedly enough for up to 500 miles of travel on a single battery charge and tank of fuel. Here, again, Ford envisions the car adapting to its driving conditions by the grace of the Internet. The Evos concept's navigation system could decide when to run on electrical power and when to use the gasoline engine. It might, for instance, save the battery's charge until reaching a city center where gasoline engines were prohibited, or alternate between different power sources for climbing mountains versus traveling on level roads. Evos itself is more than a beautiful concept car, all its styling cues and technologies will pave the way for future Ford products. The company promises that the new design language previewed here will be seen in Ford cars, crossovers, and multi-activity vehicles starting next year. The One Ford plan dictates that the company will sell a few, similar cars all around the world, and this new design DNA will help inform Ford's eight discrete design studios worldwide. The Evos concept gives "a clear message about where Ford design is heading," said Ford chief creative officer J Mays. "We worked particularly hard on meeting the high expectations of a new generation of buyers."
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Horoscope Aries
(March 21 - April 19) Your focus may become blurred over money when your emotions overtake your logic, but try to avoid hardnosed verbal tactics to get you back on track. You have more creative options to choose from. Impatience and frustration could lead to clashes. You also might have monetary manoeuvring to deal with this month. Rebellion could bring unpleasant power struggles, so be careful. Also, because you work with such great intensity, you need as many breaks as you can fit in. Ideally lots of small breaks. Major changes are on the way. Don’t neglect responsibility.
Leo
(July 23 - August 22) Mixing friends and money is never a good idea, so don’t confuse sympathy with stupidity. Read between the lines of favours being asked. Unexpected changes on the career front will take up most of your time, but if you feel stuck or struggling, you might search for a quick escape. Don’t burn bridges. Also, it’s important for you to realise that you can roll up your sleeves and get cracking with as much as you can handle. That applies to both work and at play. Other people carry new opportunities your way and you’ll know exactly where you stand by the end of this month.
Sagittarius
(Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) Skip aggressive morning moods and jump to a lively pre-noon stimulation of faraway connections or your own vision of the future. There’s a jumpy edginess over all your dealings and you’ll find yourself changing your mind on a daily basis. You may have had enough of reality lately, but that doesn’t mean to say you should dive head first into the realms of fantasy. Try to centre yourself. It’ll settle down soon. Also, try to filter out all the flotsam and jetsam clogging up your thoughts. This is a month for laser-like clarity. Guide your wants and needs.
Taurus
(April 20 - May 20) It’s all very well having dreams, but you need to keep a firm grip on reality, especially over money, so don’t be blinded by what ifs this month. Honour your obligations. Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve or others may take advantage of your sympathetic nature. Regardless of how urgent a major problem may be, try to find an ethical solution. Although tempting, don’t look for an easy way out of tensions that catch you out. Don't go for instant results. Anything that grows quickly, might die out even quicker. Under the surface is where things are really happening.
Virgo
(August 23 - Sep. 22)
page 30
June
Gemini
(May 21 - June 21) It’s time for a clear out of the emotional kind. Sweep away any loose chippings from the road ahead so that your path is smoothed out, and frustrations are quashed. Get ready to smile in your dayto-day life, and know that by the end of the month the people who matter will make themselves known to you through thought, word and deed. All of your hard work is paying off so stay on it! Don’t be afraid to do things your way. Let’s just say that all things are entirely possible for you. Certain people will have a huge impact on you, as your new thinking will cause you to merge your thinking with theirs.
Libra
(Sep. 23 - Oct. 23)
You find yourself caught between the desire to break free of a binding situation and the need to hang on and stay in control of it. Choices aren’t as drastic as they seem. It’s not like you to be duped by anyone, ever, but an unscrupulous charmer who pushes all your ego buttons has more of a chance of getting under your skin than you think. Try to stay focused and keep your finger on the pulse. Deflect empty compliments by being realistic. Put aside work that demands strict concentration, as your attention seems to have a tendency to wander this month.
Someone may be making rebellious or edgy moves that disrupt your credit standing, or pressure you with power moves. There are new perspectives, and impulses, and all roads lead towards shaking off the old shackles, leaving the way clear for the building of brand new structures. Take advice (if given before the 26th) from somebody older, or with a little more experience, the guidance that you’ll receive could be second to none. You’re a wise sign, but sometimes you must search for the answer, too. Push with all your might with all your ideas, however wacky.
Capricorn
Aquarius
You need to ask yourself if your hopes and dreams are genuinely realistic, or if these fantasies are interfering with your perception of practicality. Get someone who knows you well to give you a reality check, but don’t be offended if they’re brutally straight with you. From the 16th, transformation time is upon you. Don’t be tempted to quickly change course. Stay on track. Try to be well acquainted with every person who asks you to be involved in projects. Always demand your worth and know that plans will bear fruit. Stay alert, don't repeat the same mistake.
You’ll find it a difficult to contain your excitement this month. Anything that’s been simmering away in terms of an idea or a long held ambition will rear up in order that you can give it another shot. Positivity and industrious are your allies, June is the month where chasing dreams also comes into the main frame. Don’t invest your heart or your money in a loved ones pipe dream even if they beg you on bended knee. Things may become more emotionally charged than you’re comfortable with but you’ll need to nip unrealistic notions in the bud. A short, sharp approach is best.
(Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)
(Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)
Cancer
(June 22 - July 22) You’re so fed up with ongoing problems that you’ll be willing to try unrealistic solutions. Don’t be drawn into a dubious situation. It’ll only make matters worse. Relationships and friendships are strained so find a way to get things back on track as fast as you can. Around the 10th comes a major turning point, and this prompts memories flooding back to you, but don’t let this supress your appetite for new beginnings and a step change. There's a need for caution when dealing with others this month, as the dynamics of social interaction can be erratic or unpredictable.
Scorpio
(Oct. 24 - Nov. 21) If you’re feeling a bit lethargic you can count on others to kick-start your enthusiasm and get you going again. They’ve got your back. Try not to over react if someone in your circle is flip or insensitive. You’re just feeling vulnerable. Try to let it slide. Banish self-doubt and confusion now, and embrace your new ideas and view of your own world with confidence. Please don’t put the kybosh on your own thoughts for starters. An element of unpredictability at work brings results you hadn’t counted on. Slow and steady does it!
Pisces
(Feb. 19 - March 20) This is a high-speed month as your energies are peaking to such an extent that the beautiful goldfish we normally meet in you quickly turns into the piranha. So please try to aim for consistency and hearing people out properly before you jump in with both fins. After 21st of June you can actualise dreams and ideas that are right for you, with a connection to the spiritual, and there’s no room for any pessimism. Get ready for a month of networking and getting your face known in all the right places. Plans involving family trip could run into small complications.
page 31 Cup of tea
The blonde continued to look at him for a very long time, think-
One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.
ing deeply about what he had said.
I was maybe two and a half years old and had just recovered
After several minutes, not being able to contain her curiosity
from an accident. Someone had given me a little tea set as a get-
any longer, she asked, "Does it hurt as much as tennis elbow?"
well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought
Why do you make more money?
Daddy a little cup of ‘tea’, which was just water. After several
A heart surgeon takes his Cadillac to his mechanic to get his
cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came
engine fixed. When he returns a few days after to pick up the
home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me
car, the mechanic calls him over to show him something. He
bring him a cup of tea, because it was ‘just the cutest thing!’ My
says, "Okay Doc, I've changed the seals out and fixed everything
Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with
up but I have one question. The engine is to the car as the heart
a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up. Then
is to the body. Why is it that you make some much more money
she says; ‘Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can
than me?"
reach to get water is the toilet?'
The doctor examines the engine carefully and says, "try fixing it while the engine is running."
Local news An elderly woman is watching the local news and hears about
The Fishing Trip
a madman driving the wrong direction on the highway that her
On Friday afternoon, a man calls home to his wife and says,
husband takes home. Worrying, she calls her husband and tells
"Honey I have been asked to go on a fishing trip with my boss.
him about the insane driver. The man replies, it's worse than you
We'll be gone a week. This is a great chance for me to work on
think! It's not just 1, there's hundreds of them!
that promotion! Would you please pack some clothes for me and set out my rod and tackle box. I’ll swing by the house to pick
Something sexy My girlfriend told me to go out and get something that makes her look sexy... ...so I went out and got drunk.
them up in an hour. Oh! And please pack my new blue pajamas." The wife thinks this sounds a little fishy, but does exactly what her husband asked. The following weekend the husband comes home very tired, tan and happy. The wife welcomes him home and asks if he has
A blonde and a lawyer are on a plane
had a good time.
The lawyer keeps trying to get a blonde to play a game with
“I did!” he says as he carries his things into the bedroom. “You
him. After awhile she finally agrees. The lawyer explains the
wouldn’t believe all the fish we caught! Some bass, some catfish,
game to her. He says that he will ask her a question and if she
and a few trout.”
can't answer it she will give him $50. Then she will ask him a question and if he can't answer it he will give her $500. She
As he tosses his suitcase onto the bed, his wife leans against the doorjamb.
agrees. He ask her to say the first seven prime numbers in order.
"Really." She says.
She thinks for awhile then gives him $50. She then ask him what
“Yup,” he says. Then he glances up at her, “By the way, why
has no legs, three arms, and is covered in fur.He thinks for awhile then gives her $500. Curious he asks her what the answer is. She gives him $50.
A driver was stuck in Washington D.C. in the worst traffic jam he had ever seen... Cars were stretched out for miles ahead of him. As he was sitting there, a young fellow approached his car and knocked on the win-
didn't you pack my new blue pajamas like I asked?" The wife crosses her arms and replies, "I did. They’re in your tackle box."
100 camels A man and his wife are traveling in the Middle East. An Arab approaches the husband, saying, "I'll give you 100 camels for your woman."
dow. "What's the holdup?", the driver asked. "Well," answered the
After a long silence, the husband says, "She's not for sale."
young fellow, "It seems that a terrorist group is holding the entire
The indignant wife says, "What took you so long to answer?"
U.S. Congress hostage up ahead a few miles. They claim they're going to douse the whole bunch of them with gasoline and start
The husband replied, "I was trying to figure out how to get 100 camels back home.
them on fire unless they get $50 million. I'm just going car to car to try and get some donations." "I'd love to help." said the driver.
Sounds like her
"How much is everyone else giving?" "About a gallon each."
A serious drunk walks into bar and , after staring for some time at the only woman seated seated at the bar, he walks over
Blonde and Golf Balls
and kisses her. She jumps up and slaps him silly. He immediately
A man got on a bus with both of his front trouser pockets full
apologized and explained, "I sorry I thought you were my wife.
of golf balls. He sat down next to a beautiful blonde. The puzzled
You look like her." "Why you worthless, insufferable, wretched,
blonde kept looking at him and his bulging pockets.
god damn drunk!" She screamed at him... "Funny," he mutters
Finally, after many glances from her, he said, "It's golf balls."
"you even sound like her."
1
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