The record, 7 mars 1990, mercredi 7 mars 1990

Wednesday Births, deaths .10 Classified .8 Comics .9 Editorial .4 Education .5 Farm & Business .7 Living .6 Sports .11 Townships.3 \ SUNNY ANIM OI.lt JEAN IN ITVIN THE RECORD Weather, page 2 Sherbrooke Wednesday, March 7,1990 40 cents Outremont: Resolution guarantees services to minorities "Hey, Big Shot.It’s the garage.Your car is fixed but the toy phone is a write-off." Y acoub acquitted on 3 of 5 charges OTTAWA (CP) — Charles Ya-coub was acquitted Tuesday of three of the five charges laid against him following the hijacking a bus to Parliament Hill last April.A six-man.six-woman Supreme Court of Ontario jury rendered its verdict at 7.15 p.m.EST after more than 17 hours of deliberations.The jury foreman told a packed courtroom that the jurors found Yacoub not guilty of hostagetaking, intimidation of Parliament and aggravated assault.But he was found guilty of forcible confinement and use of a weapon to commit an offence.He was remanded in custody to await sentencing.He will be sentenced on April 30.Forcible confinement carriers a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and use of a weapon carries a consecutive sentence of a mini-mium of one year to a maximum of 10 years.Yacoub, who was born in Lebanon and came to Canada in 1976, sat without emotion in the dock while the jury rendered the verdict.Defense Lawyer Michael Kas-tner said that while he would have preferred a complete acquittal, the verdict was a victory because Yacoub was acquitted of the most serious charges.Hostage-taking carries a maximum sentence of life.Kastner indicated he will appeal the verdict and will also request bail for his client.“He’s not a terrorist, ” he said outside the courtroom.IMPULSE CITED “He’s a jeweller from Montreal and was in a state of irresistable impulse when he committed this.“ He’s never had any political af-filiation at any time.He was concerned about his parents and about the situation in Lebanon.’’ Kastner added that Yacoub was suffering from a severe depression at the time of events.Psychiatrists who testified at the hearing described Yacoub’s condition as hypomania, a reaction to depression in which people are driven by uncontrollable thoughts to do irrational things.Louise Bergeron, 31, said she was hoping her husband would be acquitted of all charges.But she said she was relieved he was found not guilty of the most serious charges.Looking emotional and distraught, she clutched her husband’s hand before he went into the dock to await the verdict and spoke briefly to him before he was taken away by guards.Crown attorney Julianne Parfett indicated she was surprised by the verdict.She also said she will likely appeal the verdict and oppose bail for Yacoub.MONTREAL(CP) —City council in suburban Outre mont has emulated Elliot Lake, Ont., in passing a resolution promising to continue providing minority language services.The idea, said Mayor Jerome Choquette, was to counter resolutions in Sault Ste.Marie, Ont.and Thunder Bay, Ont.last month declaring their cities unilingual English.And it came, he said, from a resolution passed last month by the northern Ontario uranium mining city of Elliot Lake, where about one quarter of the 17,984 citizens are French-Canadians.Elliot Lake promised Feb.26 in a 6-1 vote to continue offering French language services that are “appropriate and necessary.” These include bilingual property and water tax bills and service in French when it is requested.Outremont, home for many of the French-Canadian power elite where about one-quarter of its 23,080 citizens are nonfrancophones.passed an identical resolution Monday night in a 5-3 vote.Choquette said his city would continue to send out property taxes and communicate with citizens in English on request, and produce a monthly bulletin where articles are summarized in English.He said the resolutions are designed to counter the “slap in the face” inflicted by Sault Ste Marie and Thunder Bay on supporters of official bilingualism.The Outremont and Elliot Lake resolutions proved that "there are still open minded people everywhere.” Choquette said.Councillor Andre Tremblay, ho- wever, said he did not feel the reso lution was necessary.“If we pass a resolution.it should be to reaffirm the fact that we are unilingual French and that we in tend to remain French,” Trem blay, a primary school teacher, said.Councillor Claude Piquet said he voted against the resolution be cause bilingual services are not an issue in Outremont.City man jumps to death ¦S I Most Soviets go back to the polls next week MOSCOW (AP) — Official Soviet election returns trickling in Tuesday show victories for both sides in the ideological battle over the future of the country.Communist party and government officials who won seats in Sunday's local elections include Ukrainian Premier Vitaly Masol, seve-ral chiefs of the Ukrainian Communist party, and the president and premier of Byelorussia, the Soviet news agency Tass reported.r