Violence against police on the rise

Assault against police officers is becoming increasingly common Canada-wide, Statistics Canada and the Winnipeg Police Association (WPA) report. So far this year, 140 Winnipeg police officers have been assaulted. Statistics Canada reports assaults have increased throughout Canada with the largest increase here in Winnipeg. Mike Sutherland, president of the WPA, said harsher penalties against offenders is the only way to reduce assaults. Last Wednesday night saw four assaults resulting in two injuries, CTV reports. Last year, there were 267 assaults against Winnipeg police officers.

Offensive children’s t-shirt less than stylish

The obscene design of an X Games children’s t-shirt has caused a nationwide clothing recall. A local mom returned the t-shirt bought for her four-year-old son to Zellers after reading small text forming part of the design. The shirt referenced the rap group Mafia, had the words “What the f**k?” and said “We started egging some trannies and that was some fun.” ESPN, X Games’ parent company, confirmed an investigation is underway into the incident. All t-shirts were immediately pulled off the shelves and destroyed, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.

Love high up in the air

A Winnipeg man will be part of the world’s first same-sex couple married at 35,000 feet if he and his partner win an international contest, according to the Winnipeg Free Press. Scandinavian Airlines wishes to hold the world’s first same-sex marriage in the air. The winners, as voted by the public, would marry high above ground between Stockholm and New York and would enjoy a honeymoon prize in both New York and Los Angeles. Winnipegger Bruce Henry and his Irish fiancé Eugene Burke, who met while Henry was traveling, are among 80 contestants. You can vote for the couple at Love.flysas.net. As of Thursday evening, Henry and Burke were in 14th place.

City taken to court for unpopular traffic changes

A half dozen of businesses have launched a lawsuit against the City of Winnipeg in response to the city’s traffic changes to sections of Assiniboine Avenue. The downtown businesses, such as Unicity Taxi and Dubrovnik Restaurant, claim the changes the city made to traffic directions to accommodate bike paths could cause problems by restricting access to emergency vehicles. Construction in the area related to the project has caused traffic jams. The lawsuit also claims the public was not consulted enough prior to construction. The businesses say a bylaw should have been passed before making the changes to the traffic directions. “This is not a democracy we live in,” Gurmail Mangat, Unicity Taxi president, told the CBC.

Serving up gold

Two Manitoban beach volleyball teams took home the gold at the 2010 Canadian Beach Volleyball Championships in Toronto. Taylor Pischke and Rachel Cockrell finished first place in their 18-and-under division. Jason DeRocco and Ryan Munt did the same in the 21-and-under category. DeRocco and Munt also won the top spot in 2007, as did Cockrell and Pischke two years ago. Cockrell, Pischke, and Munt have also all placed before with different partners. “We surprised a lot of teams with our tactics,” DeRocco told the Winnipeg Free Press.

Published in Volume 65, Number 4 of The Uniter (September 23, 2010)