PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Friday, June 16, 1978

EDITORIAL

The following is a press release received over
the telephone trom ce Rupert. The release
is somewhat abbreviated from the original, but
is unchanged, otherwise.

‘Maude Rawson, on August 13, 1977, was taken
by ambulance from her home in Prince Rupert
to the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital, in an
unconscious state, She was suffering massive
face and head injuries, extensive burns to her
chest; arms and face. The RCMP were observed
at the scene by witnesses who called the am-
bulance, but the RCMP have no record of this
visit. . ot

‘Later, that evening, Maude’s sister and
brother-in-law went to the police. They wanted
to lay charges and issue a complaint on Maude's
behalf. They claim the RCMP said it was a
marital dispute, Maude would have to lay the
charges herself. The police have no record of
this (visit).

“The same answers were received when the
sister and brother-in-law approached Legal Aid
and “doctors”: Maud would have to lay the
complaint herself; it was a “marital problem”. ,
On the 17th of August, Maude’s brother (in-law
went to the RCMP to ask what the police were

Ottawa Offbeat
by Richard Jackson

Ottawa,- There was the old tiger, purring like a
kitten, warmed by the obvious affection of ad-
mirers—friends and foes alike, but ali ardent

fans-thronging around.
Dief the Chief was holding court, still the

greatest entertainer in the entertaining

profession of politics,

That’s one of the attributes that wins the
ungrudging admiration even of those who: °

-Oppose his Prairie populist conservatism.

-Object to his right-wing economic thinking.

Fault his political philosophy that Her
Maijesty-s Loyal Opposition is in business for the
purpose of opposing and throwing out the rascals
who are in.

-Regard him, as he goes on 83, a3 an
astonishing holdover from another who refuses
to act his age.
_ sAre closet Liberals, New Democrats, Com-
munists, and yes, separatists~sure, people in the
business of news, print and electronic, ideally
are supposed to be objectively non-partisan, but
who hasn’t their secret or ‘not-so-secret
loyalties? i

That much settled, now back to the business at
hand with Dief front and centre at what essen-
tially turned out to be a Sunday afternoon social

‘ gathering of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. -

“Tt was one of those steaming-with the mercury
standing at a stifling 93 Fahrenheit~late Spring
days when a flaming orange-colored sun blazing
down from the cobalt blue sky turns the basin of
the Ottawa Valley into an enormous sweltering
sauna. . os

Everyone was in sports togs, male and female
alike in shorts or slacks and short-sleeved shirts,
perspiring increasingly with every gin-and-tonic

Everyone but Dief. 7

He rolled up in a limo, dapper (and astoun-
dingly cool) in a stylish new chocolate brown
with tan pin-stripe single-breasted three-piece
suit, the vest sporty with lapels.

He had a couple of orange-on-ices, holding up
his hands in mock horror at the mere thought of

_ anything more stimulating than orange juice on —

the rocks. . ;

(There was the time, to hear his former
household manager Don Longchamps, when Dief
was Prime Minister, that he kept a case of suds
in the cellar of 24 Sussex Drive, even while

‘ decreeing that his reception for the Queen when
_ghe opened the St. Lawrence Seaway, be bone-

dry.)

But Dief wasn’t there to be the fashion-plate
among the slobs.

Or to be the one dry spot in the very wet scene.

As the only politician present-Tory leader Joe
Clark was in Montreal, Prime Minister Trudeau
in New York—The Chief was there to entertain.

And entertaining, to joke and turn the laughs
like spears to shaft Transport Minister Otto Lang
who likes to think he competes with Dief as the
spokesman for Saskatchewan.

Their constituencies, Prince Albert and
Saskatoon-Humboldt, adjoin which serves only
to heat up the friction.

So Dief opens the show with a line from Tip-

perary: ; st

“It's a Lang, Lang way to fool the Prairie, It’s
a Lang way to go...”
. Then he recalls the day recently in the House
when Otto Lang, in self-righteousness, asks,
“Who do you see in the wheat fields more often
than me?”’

. “Gophers,” fires back Dief, and Otto Lang
turns pale and beet red in shock and rage, his
chipmunk cheeks puffing out like a gopher’s.

Then “After the next election they'll be singing
‘Old Lang Syne.‘ “
Finally, for snappers: ‘If there were three cow-
flaps on a 360-acre farm, Otto would find a way to
put his foot in every one of them.”

TODAY IN HISTORY
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

American president position of head of the new
Richard Nixon declared that White House program on
drug abuse had “assumed drug abuse to the head of the
the dimensions of a national Tlinois drug abuse program.
emergency” and asked, 1783—The first American
Congress for $155 million for datly newspaper, the Penn-
acampaignofrehabilitation, sylvania Evening Post and
research, education, en- Daily Advertiser, began
forcement and controls, publishing.
seven years ago today—in 1917—Dean Martin, singer:
1971, The president gave the actor, was born.

Tt can’t happen here?

doing about the matter. This is the first recor
the RCMP have of . the _ incident.

“Maude Rawson was flown to Vancouver

General Hospital on August 16, where she
remained until December, when she was tran-
sferred to the George F. Strong Rehabilitation
Centre.

“She is presently confined toa wheelchair with
quadraplegic paralysis. She is not expected to
walk again. Her vision is impaired. Suffering
from amnesia, she has no.memory whatever of
anything that happened from the end of July 1977
to early January 1978.

“During the end of May, 1978, Maude’s sister
and brother-in-law were informed by the RCMP
that the prosecuting attorney would be laying
charges of assault causing bodily harm against
her husband, Frederick Earl Rawson, 34.

Maude is suing for divorce and is seeking

compensation under the Workers Compensation —

Criminal Awards Act. '

A trust fund is being set up in Maude Beverly
Rawson’s name’ in care of Braid Daniels and
Kahn, Barristers and Solicitors,. 605-207 West
Hastings, Vancouver, in order to help pay legal
fees and help her rehabilitation when she is
discharged.”

Meanwhile, the Vancouver daily that first
published the story which broke when Rosemary
Brown, (NDP, Vancouver-Burrard) told a

in which she claimed not only was the woman
beaten by her husband in Prince Rupert, but that
her husband later attacked her again, in Van-
couver General Hospital, where she had been
‘transferred because of the severity of her in-
juries--on Wednesday carried a denial of the
allegations by the RCMP.

According to Wednesday’s article, the Prince
Rupert RCMP claimed the statement that their
detachment had failed to act on the case was
untrue. :

Sgt. Sfan Winarski said police have a “thick
file” on the case, and a charge of assault causing
bodily harm was laid on June 2 against
Frederick Earl Rawson, in connection with the
August 13 beating of his wife, Maude Beverly.

Sgt. Winarski said the long delay in laying the
charge was caused by the condition of the victim.
He said she was suffering among other things,
from amnesia. ;

When RCMP tried to interview her (in
hospital) in late September she was ‘‘incoherent.
and unable to remember anything”. Winarski
added a member of the Prince Rupert RCMP
detachment went to Vancouver March 26 and
May 16 to interview her and as a result of the
second interview a charge was laid by police.

Although; in the legislature, Monday,
Rosemary Brown had said: “police in Prince
Rupert are not trained to deal with family
violence”, Winarski is quoted in the Vancouver
paper as saying members of the 27 men, one

woman detachment in Prince Rupert received
training in dealing with domestic problems while
taking basic training in tegina.
- Meanwhile, Frederick Rawson made his first
court appearance in Prince Rupert on Tuesday.

He pleaded not guilty to the assault charge,
elected trial. by judge alone and preliminary
hearing was set for December 8, 1978.

Options For Women, the Prince Rupert
women’s group that has taken up the case on
Maude’s behalf, told the HERALD, Wednesday,
“We are still looking for certain definite answers
to our questions: When was Mr. Rawson
arrested? Is he in custody or still a free man:
Why was he not arrested last year, In September,
when the incident occurred?” ;

Rosemary Brown told the newspaper she is
taking the matter up of having the Prince Rupert
detachment of the RCMP “beefed up’ to assist
it with the handling of family violence.

Now that the case is “before the courts’’ news

_media are not allowed to make any statements |

or offer opinions on the matter that might be
considered ‘prejudice’’--that is, pre-judging.
The Terrace HERALD is scrupulously at-
tempting to avoid making any statements or
suggestions on the incident that would or could
be considered prejudicial. The case comes
before the courts on December 8, and will be
heard. in Prince Rupert, before the provincial
court,

Aerial view of Vancouver, Stanley Park in the foreground, (Canadian Government Office of Tourism Photo.)

_~ Victoria Bureau -

Police differ
on heroin act

VICTORIA - The B.C.
Federation of. Plice Officers
. has called for changes in the
newly proposed Heroin
Treatment Act so that ad-
Missions made by addicts to
“police could not be used to
‘prosecute them under the
Narcotics Control Act,

That call for change shows
two underlying concerns of
the B.C. pollce. First, they
want to solve the addiction
problem, not just get addicts

off the streets. Second, they .

want the addicts to turn to
the police for help rather
than run from them for fear
of being tossed into jail.
The approach of the police
federation shows a sen-
sitivity to the addiction
problem not shawn by the
B.C. Civil’ Liberties
Association which has at-
tacked the bill because of
alleged violations of hutqan

rights.

But that's to be expected.
The police face the addiction
problem every day, an ex-
perience obviously not
shared by most member's of
the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association.

Jim Dybikowski, president
of the association, says that
in all justice systems in
western civillzations, a
person is granted the right to
be represented by tegal
counsel and to cross examine
witnesses if he is to be
deprived of his freedom.

But Jamieson points out
that medical problems are
not handied in exactly the
‘same way as criminal
problems and that the police
donot have the right to
apprehend the criminally
insane and even impaired
drivers because of the
potential damage they may

cause.
He also points out that the
new legislation is attempting

shocked Legislature, Monday about the incident

to ensure a basic right for.
addicts—the right to health.

“It isnota violation of civil
rights," he said, “It loa

guarantee of civil rights, the |

Tight to exist, not as a
criminal, a victim of crime,
a hopeless. physical and
mental slave, but as a
healthy person, free from the
abomination of heroin ad-

‘ diction.”

Jamieson says the police
and the courts have not and
cannot cure addiction. He
says the new program just
might keep the estimated
10,000 herein addicts in the
province out of the revolving
door environment which has

-kept them enslaved to

heroin.

Jamieson did not address
himself to the argument that
if addicts were simply fed all
the heroin they wanted, the
problem would go away by
itself. : ;

However, Bert Hoskin,
chairman’of the Alcohol and
Drug Commission, has, He
says the British have tried
that approach and it doesn’t
work. ‘

He quotes from a recent
study at the University
College Hospltal in London
which shows that addicts
who are given horoin by the
government continue to
supplement their income
from illicit ‘sources, to
remain unemployed (62
percent) and to be convicted
of criminal offenses (50
percent), The study also
shows that addicts receiving
heroin by prescription have

adeath rate 10 times higher .

than the general populatian.

Jamieson doesn't say that
the program will work. He
saya it might work and it’s
worth trying,

"Heroin is crippling the
justice system in B.C,,”’ he
said. “Let's cripple the
heroin system by reducing
the demand for the drug.”

That kind of desire to solve
the heroin problem would be

by Tony Macgregor

well emulated by other in-

stitutions and organizations -
which hve little knowledge of ©

and little day-to-day contact
with heroin ‘addicts..

Lea lashes at lawyers
VICTORIA - Graham Lea,
NDP MLA irom Prince
Rupert, lashed out at
lawyers in a speech to the
legislature on Tuesday, last
week, accusing them of
“ripping off” their
isecretaries and their clients,
Hesaid the money lawyers
make out of conveyancing
property is ‘“‘one of the
biggest rackets in British
Columbia.” .

He said when you buy a
house in B.C. you don't pay a
lawyers uniform price for a
uniform amount of work.

“they charge you a
‘diffent amount of money
depending on the price of the
house you are conveying -
not more work," he sald.

He said the secretaries of
the lawyers do the work
anyway which isn’t very
complicated. .

“They (the lawyers) are
ripping off the women who
are doing it. They're ripping
everyone off, all the way —
around, on conveyances," he
said,

, Lea cailed for the attorney
genera! to’ bring
legislation so that the
secretaries who are doing
the conveyancing now could
set up their offices and ‘‘do
the job a darn sight cheaper
because they won't have to
cut their ‘bogs In on it.’’
Lea said it’s mortgage
. companies who specify that
the conveyancing work be
done by a lawyer,

“The mortgage companies
and Central Mortgage and
Housing are in cahoots with
the lawyers,” he said, “If
‘you go to a bank and try to
get the money they'll send
you to the right lawyer. If
you don't go there, you don't
get the money.” ©

LETTERS:

Dear Editor .

[I would like to thank
through you an organisation
that has helped us greatly
during the past 5 months.

My son was diagnosed as
having Muscular Dystrophy
a couple of years ago and
according to the doctors
nothing could be done for
him. We were supposed to
keep our chin up and wateh
him slowly deteriorate. .
Fortuantely a year ago we
met a man who suggested
putting him on vitamin
therapy.

- The response to the latter
was astounding. Ina couple
of days we noticed a
tremendous change. My son
who was whiny, unhappy and
not very bright changed into

-a@ happy, active and smart

little boy, The change was In
every respect to the better

emotionally, mentally and’
‘physically. ,

| Unfortunately the

vitamins cost an average of
$62.00 a month and my
husband being in school
made it very difficult for us
to keep the treatment up.

That's when I was guided
to Bill Sturby and the Moose
Lodge ' organization.. He
arranged for my vitamins to
be paid for. by his
organization and never once
made me feel like.I was a
burden on them, -

My husband is out af
school and working now and
we no longer need the
Moose's help, but we would
like to thank them ever so
much for being of such a help
when we needed it most.

I urge the people, of
Terrace to keep donating to
them for without them my
son along with other’ people
could not have recelved the
help he needed.

Thank you Bill and keep up
the good work.

Sincerely .

Mrs. Myriam Parsons.

Smithers citizens
against new Act

A citizens' advisory
committee to the B.C. forest
service in Smithers has
expressed strong reser-
vations about the new Forest
Act due to be debated in the
legislature later this month.

The group, which has been
working for two years and
includes both industry and
community interests, states
ina letter toforests minister,
Tom Waterland, that the
direction of forest
management as shown by
the act could seriously un-
dermine their advisory
process and objectives.
They ask that passage of the
legislation be delayed 50
community groups have
time to suggest am-

Three aspects, of the act
particularly. concern the
committee,

*provisions that could
easily permit an accelerated
overcutting of the province's

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timber resource by in- ~~

troducing demand factors in
the calculation of :imber
supply.

‘using the promise of
future increased gewth
from intensive silviculture to
up the annual cut instead of
stabilising a declining
harvest at present levels,

-the absence ofa public
accountability by industry
for their performance om
Crown lands, The only
provision for public hearings
in the act is for new tree
farm licences and pulp-wood
agreemente-a some what
cynical move because there
are unlikely to be any such
licences as most of the
timber is already com-
mitted, The minsters’
threat to take away timber
from companies that fEnil to

honor agreements is seen ag -

an empty gesture that could
not be politically en-

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_ Sterling Publishers

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