The record, 10 février 1992, lundi 10 février 1992

[" | ToT Bourassa\u2019s thoughts were home during trip February 10,1992 Births, deaths .9 Classified .c0c0e.10 Comics .ccveveerennennen 11 Editorial ce 4 Farm & Business .§ Living .\u2026\u2026cencrrneesces 6-7 Sports .\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026eee 12-13 Townships eee 3 By Frederic Tremblay LONDON (CP) \u2014 Whether in Zurich, Munich, Brussels or London the Canadian consitutitio- nal question was always centre stage during Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa's recent tour of Europe.In Brussels, headquarters of the European Economic Community, Bourassa revealed he might ask Quebecers if they want an association of sovereign states modelled after the EEC, if Ottawa\u2019s final constitutional offers are not satisfactory.Such a proposal would be submitted to Quebecers in a referendum in October.But Bourassa spent most of his trip reassuring the European business community about the political situation in Canada.\u201cI didn't sense any real worry,\u201d said Bourassa, who assured leaders that no matter what happened, the economic union between Quebec and Canada would remain solidly intact.\u201cI am convinced that the majority of Quebecers want to maintain a strong economic union with the rest of Canada,\u201d he told members of the Canadian German Business Club in Munich.Signs of a deep recession in the west were apparent at the end of the trip.Bourassa is returning with commitments to only three new investment projects totalling Just over $250 million.During his 1990 European tour, he was able to round up $584 million in investments.The largest of the new projects is a factory to be built in Montreal to develop and produce new technology in cellular telephones.The $176 million investment will create 150 jobs.NO CONFRONTATION Quebec's planned Great Whale hydro-electric project, which has sparked controversy among native communities and environmental groups, wasn't met with the confrontation expected.In fact, Bourassa didn\u2019t have to defend the project to members of the European Parliament, who are familiar with the issues involved in the multi-billion dollar plan.Paul Lannoye, Green Party member of the European Parliament, was among 20 members who met with Bourassa.He said he didn\u2019t think it was appropriate to bring up the topic directly with the premier.\u201cWe are just beginning discussions,\u201d he said.Bourassa maintained his position on proposed changes to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, while lambasting Parti Quebecois Leader Jacques Parizeau.Parizeau had said that Quebec would lose its ability to aid industries if the GATT agreement is amended as recommended by GATT director Arthur Dunkel.Dunkel wants the definition of subsidies to industry and agriculture in the GATT accord to be tightened to prevent provincial governments from giving grants to companies.ax = Clark offers natives Own), Charest \u2018distinct\u2019 compromise By Rob Ferguson TORONTO (CP) \u2014 A weekend conference that sated Quebec's appetite for recognition of its distinct society has left native Canadians casting hungry glances across the constitutional negotiating table.But as the three-day session drew to a close with delegates urging the federal government to sponsor a similar conference on native demands, Constitutional Affairs Minister Joe Clark offered aboriginal leaders a two-day compromise meeting in Ottawa next month.\u201cWill the discussion there have the capacity to affect the final recommendations of the government?The answer is yes,\u201d Clark said.\u201cI think this is about having an airing on television of aboriginal concerns.That's fair ball.\u201d Native leader Ovide Mercredi said the offer comes up short because he wants a conference before an all-party committee of Parliament issues its report on the government\u2019s unity proposals Feb.28 \u2014 even if natives have to pay for the conference themselves.\u201cWhat are they going to do to us?Something different than they've done for Canadians.That's the point,\u201d said Mercredi, a lawyer and chief of the Assembly of First Nations, which represents 500,000 status Indians.Natives came to the weekend conference \u2014 the fourth of five regional meetings on the government\u2019s 28 proposals to change the Constitution \u2014 seeking recognition of their own distinct society.INHERENT RIGHT They also sought the inherent right to govern their own affairs \u2014 a key native demand because it means such right has always existed and was never surrendered to the Crown.Aboriginal leaders have promised a strong presence at the wrap-up conference in Vancouver next weekend to continue pressing for protection of their many cultures and languages.Mercredi said he and leaders representing the Metis and Inuit got their point across over the weekend \u2014 at least with \u201cordinary Canadians\u201d \u2014 but fear missing a chance to influence the final draft of unity proposals Clark hopes to table April 10.The conference had other rough spots, too.Quebec delegates warned that the overwhelming endorsement of their province as a distinct society \u2014 the lightning rod that helped scuttle the Meech Lake accord in 1990 \u2014 is symbolic and Quebec needs new powers to help that society take shape.Clark has said he thinks the federal government can comply.\u201cYou think this is a knife to your throat?You're right,\u201d said Guy Laforet of Quebec City.Quebec has set an October deadline on federal unity offers or on Premier Robert Bourassa\u2019s version of \u201cshared sovereignty\u201d in which an independent Quebec would be linked in an economic union with Canada in a confederation of sovereign states similar to the European Community.The conference delegates also said a new Constitution should strive to promote \u2014 not just protect \u2014 the use of French outsi 7e Quebec and English inside the province.PROPOSAL DEFEATED A federal proposal to entrench property rights in the Constitution was shot down because delegates said they didn\u2019t understand it or feared it could give the courts too much power.Delegates from visible minorities tried but failed to get the conference to urge the government to yank the notwithstanding clause from the Constitution because of fears governments will use it to take away their equality rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.And there were criticisms that the conference \u2014 which attracted more than 230 people from across the country \u2014 had too many experts and delegates representing special-interest groups.Donald Scott of Yellowknife said he was one of only 19 \u201cordinary Canadians\u201d and felt the debate was not as representative of public opinion as it should have been.\u201cHalf the people here are professionals of the constitutional game,\u201d said Michel David, a Montreal businessman.\u201cAs a neophyte, I'm saying, \u2018Where the heck are the trains coming and going here?\u201d 0 Sherbrooke firefighter Bruce Porter carries the charred remains of a bed recovered from a second floor apar- ! tment on Kingston Street Friday night.The fire is believed to have been set deliberately, starting with the bed.| Damages from the blaze are estimated at $25,000.No one was injured.Great Whale: Pollsters urged RECORD'GRANT SIMEON Ottawa to give in to Quebec By Kirk LaPointe OTTAWA (CP) \u2014 Hydro-Quebec \u2014 helped by the weakened economy, shaky support for natives and distrust of Ottawa \u2014 had the upper hand in the Quebec public opinion battle last summer over the Great Whale project, a federal poll suggests.Despite concerns from native and environment groups, a majority of Quebecers surveyed favored the massive hydro-electric project \u2014 although many said their opinions could change.The Environment Department poll found general support of Hydro-Quebec and how it managed its projects, but less support of its environmental protection and public information efforts.The poll, obtained under the Access to Information Act, suggested Ottawa had little credibility on the issue.Its best route: settle environmental and native concerns by co-operating with Quebec.\u201cWe realize that this is a difficult position to defend in the present constitutional context, but it is nevertheless the only route that we judge practical for the moment,\u201d Ottawa was advised.Two weeks ago, the two levels of government and native leaders agreed on a plan to assess and review environmental issues involving the $12.6-billion project, which would divert several rivers and flood 4,500 square kilometres of land.The poll last July by Centre de recherche sur l'opinion publique (CROP) of 669 Quebec adults was considered accurate within 3.8 percentage points, 19 of 20 times.TOP PRIORITIES It suggested people gave more priority to the economy and employment than to the environment, although it said that could be due to the recession.And a majority believed an economic development project should be considered, even if it caused significant changes to the environment.Natives were supported in their opposition to the project.But, with fresh memories of the Oka crisis, that \u201ccould change quickly if territorial demands exceed acceptable limits for a population characterized largely by its conservative nationalism,\u201d the poll concludes.issues ozone warning MONTREAL (CP) \u2014 Environment Minister Jean Charest has suggested that all Canadians, particularly those between two and 18, avoid unprotected exposure to the sun this year because of a predicted depletion in the ozone layer.NASA said last week the ozone layer over Canada, New England, the British Isles, Scandinavia and Russia could be depleted by 30 to 40 per cent for brief periods as of this spring.Referring to the data gathered by the U.S.National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Charest said last week the information has \u201cvery serious\u201d implications.REMIND PUBLIC \u201cMeantime it's a good idea to remind the public \u2014 and our health ministers will do so, 1 hope \u2014 not to stay out in the sun, especially children from two to 18, who are more vulnerable than adults.\u201d NASA based its prediction on chlorine concentrations registered by a recently launched satellite and by data from a high- flying plane.Both indicated unprecedented chlorine levels.Chlorine, responsible for depletion of the ozone layer, is released by chlorofluorocarbons in refrigerating and air conditioning equipment and by aerosol sprays.CAUSE CANCER The ozone layer is Earth\u2019s protective shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation, which can blight crops and cause skin cancer and vision problems.Charest said Ottawa is ahead of the deadlines established by a recent international agreement on the elimination of chlorofluorocarbons.\u201cWe're certain that we'll be able to eliminate 85 per cent by 1995,\u201d he said, \u201cand we think we can do even better.\u201d Canada contributes two per cent of the CFCs in the atmosphere, he said, and \u201cwe suffer the consequences in a disproportionate manner.\u201d Premiers expect little from economic talks with PM By Clyde Graham OTTAWA (CP) \u2014 The premiers head into a one-day meeting with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney today doubtful they'll get much action to boost the sagging economy.\u201cThe odds are against it,\u201d Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow said Sunday.Romanow, who met in Ottawa with fellow NDP premiers Bob Rae of Ontario and Mike Har- court of British Columbia, said he's worried the meeting will see more stonewalling from Mulroney.\u201cIf this turns out to be a public relations exercise in justi- fving the federal government's stay-the-course approach, we are in deep trouble,\u201d said Romanow.The main problem hanging over the meeting is the economy \u2014 about 1.5 million unemployed, consumers too worried to spend and business shutting down gas stations and stores.But there's no agreement on the solution.IDEAS TOUTED Massive investment in rebuilding roads and bridges and pouring retirement savings into the housing market will be among the ideas touted by the premiers.While Mulroney and federal Finance Minister Don Mazan- kowski have said they're open to ideas to boost the economy, they have argued that their policies of spending restraint and inflation fighting have put the country on the road to recovery.Earlier Sunday, Mazankowski repeated Ottawa's contention that the cupboard is bare when it comes to job creation schemes.\u201cThe fact of the matter is there is only one taxpayer and that one taxpayer will be paying.And what we're trying to do is reduce the burden of government and reduce the level of taxation.\u201d Romanow said he believes the federal government\u2019s deficit woes aren't as bad as Mazan- kowski has been saying.\u201cIt probably won't be as bad when the budget comes dows, he said.He suggested Ottawa may be holding back tax cuts or new spending until 1993 when a federal election is expected.\u201cThat's great politics, but it\u2019s bad economics and bad hurt for farmers and small business people.\" Ontario\u2019s Rae said there's little the premiers can do other than keep prodding Ottawa to act.\u201cThere has not been enough progress and we need to make more,\u201d he said Sunday.The federal deficit estimate for 1991-92 has grown by $1 bil- non to about $31.6 ilhon.Mazankowski said it's unlikely the government will meet its $24-billion deficit target for fiscal 1992 when he brings down his budget, expected late this month.The first ministers gather for juice and muffins at 8:30 a.m.EST at the Lester B.Pearson Building and will hold an open session from 10 a.m.until noon.They will then hold a private ses- ston, expected to last until 5 p.m.Televised coverage on CBC Newsworld begins at 7:40 a.m.EST as the ministers assemble.Coverage of the conference runs from 10 a.m.until 12:30 p.m.and picks up again at 5:30 p.m.as the ministers depart.Harcourt said he wants a lower dollar and lower interest rates to get the economy moving and create some jobs.\u201cI am going to be concentrating more on what the federal government can do to help B.C.\u201d he said in Victoria before flying to Ottawa.He said he'd like federal money for a new highway on Vancouver Island, an expanded rapid transit system in Vancouver and sewer and water projects throughout the province.Conspicuous by his absence is Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa, who has sent finance minister Gerard D.Levesque to take his place at the meeting. 21\u2014The RECORD\u2014Menday.February 10.1902 The Townships Controversial hunt fails By Daniel Sanger ST-JEAN-DE-LA-LANDE (CP) \u2014 Coyotes, what coyotes?That was the question many Quebecers were asking themselves on the weekend after a highly publicized Monster Coyote Shoot in this hamlet near the New Brunswick border failed to turn up a single wily critter.Hunters leading the shoot had spent the previous week warning the province that an animal known primarily for its appearance on Saturday morning cartoons was about to wipe out its cherished deer population.Government biologists and environmentalists scoffed at the apocalyptic warnings and said coyotes are enjoying a population surge that would soon recede.Under the watchful eye of two dozen journalists and over the protests of three demonstrators who tried to stop the shoot, the hunters failed Saturday to bag a single coyote, even though they had promised hundreds would cover the village skating rink by day\u2019s end.The trophies for biggest and most beautiful coyote went unclaimed; the rink, to the joy of children, who were largely indif- Record CIRCULATION DEPT.819-569-9528 FAX: (819) 569-3945 KNOWLTON OFF.: 514-243-0088 Randy Kinnear, Publisher Charles Bury, Editor Lloyd G.Scheib, Advertising Manager .Richard Lessard, Production Manager Mark Guillette, Press Superintendent.Guy Renaud, Graphics Francine Thibault, Composition \u2026 Subscriptions by Carrier: weekly Subscriptions by Mail: Canada: 1 year- 6 months- 3 months- 1 month- U.S & Foreign: 1 year- 6 months- 3 months- 1 month- $1 80 $78 00 $39.00 $19.50 $16.00 $159.00 $97.00 $65.00 $34 00 FAX: 514-243-5155 569-9525 569-9931 569-9931 569-4856 569-9931 Back copies of The Record are available at the following prices: Copies ordered within a month of publications 60e per copy.Copies ordered more than a month after publication $1 10 per copy These prices do not include GST Established February 9, 1897, incorpor.-ting the Sherbrooke Gazette (est.1837) and the Sherbrooke Examiner fest.1879).Published Monday to Friday by The Record Division, Groupe Que- becor Inc.Offices and plant located at 2850 Delorme Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1K 1A1.Publications Mail Registration No.1064.Member of Canadian Press Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation RECORD PHOTON GRANT SIMEON North Hatley celeb rates winter Nearly 300 people braved the bitter cold Sunday to cheer on the parade and duck race in North Hatley as the town\u2019s annual winter carnival came to a close.Transport Minister Sam Elkas emceed the parade and officiated the duck race at lake Massawippi and the prize-giving ceremony at North Hatley's Royal Canadian Legion.Nearly 900 plastic ducks, which spectators sponsoreed for three dollars each, were lowered into the lake for the race that lasted about 22 minutes.North Hatley resident David Dohan\u2019s duck cruised to victory, earning the $300 grand prize.Dohan donated $100 of the prize toward next year's carnival.Carnival organizer Sue Fletcher said approximately $1500 was raised Sunday, bringing the total for the carnival to $3000.She said the money will be used to finance a youth project in the area.ferent to the shoot, was left clear for pick-up hockey.\u201cDon\u2019t worry, they're out there,\u201d organizer Tom Rioux maintained after the failed hunt.\u201cThe boys saw piss and tracks everywhere.They just made themselves scarce today.They knew what was coming.\u201d PERSUADE OTHERS But opponents said the shoot \u2014 or debacle in their eyes \u2014 should just persuade other villages not to hold such events.\u201cThese (hunters) are the laughing-stock of the province of Quebec,\u201d said Henry Hanuman, the most tenacious of the three protesters.\u201cThis is a circus and a failed one at that.It should just teach people that they shouldn't hold these things.\u201d The coyote is a relatively new concern in the province.The first reported sighting was in 1944 and it has only reached the eastern areas in the past two decades.As in the southern regions of many other provinces, it has profited from the elimination of wolves to move into territory far from its original stomping grounds in the western plains and deserts.Opponents of such shoots say the historic fears of wolves \u2014 which led to their extinction in most of Europe \u2014 has been transferred to their smaller canine cousins.\u201cThere's a psychotic fear of coyotes all of a sudden,\u201d said Marjolaine Jolicoeur, another protester.\u201cPeople are suddenly seeing six-foot-long, 300-pound coyotes left and right.It's the whole myth of the big bad wolf again.\u201d Biologists agree, saying that populations of deer are stable or growing in most areas.WINTER HURTS In the only region where deer numbers are dramatically down \u2014 the eastern Gaspe region \u2014 the decline is due to extremely harsh winters, they say.\u201cEven without predators around, as much as 40 per cent of the deer can die in a single winter,\u201d said Michel Crete of Quebec\u2019s Fish and Game Department, adding that coyotes usually feed on mice and rabbits and will go after only sick, old or young deer.He also said claims by Rioux that \u201ckids can\u2019t even go to the store at night because of all the coyotes,\u201d are absurd.\u201cThere's never been a reported coyote attack in Quebec.In the U.S.there are a couple of instances but none here.\u201d Crete supports controlled trapping for the coyote.But he to bag single coyote says that even without it, coyotes and deer would strike a balance and keep each other\u2019s populations in check.But the ever-strident Rioux maintained the biologists know little about what really goes on in the woods.Montreal cops have no record of Arab beating MONTREAL (CP) \u2014 Another complaint has been filed by a member of a minority group against the Montreal police.But officers say they have no record of the incident.Essam Shedid says he was drinking coffee and chatting with the cook in a Ste.Catherine St.restaurant early Feb.4 when eight police officers stormed in, their handguns drawn.Shedid, 23, said in an interview Sunday that before he knew what was happening, he was sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.The two officers said he was being arrested for pointing a gun at a girl and they were taking him to a downtown police station.But instead they drove at high speed to a dark alley near the harbor where they beat him with a baseball bat and called him \u201ca goddamn immigrant.\u201d \u201cIf that's not racism, I don't know what is,\u201d said Shedid, a Canadian citizen who emigrated from Egypt with his family when he was 4.\u201cI' haven't cried for a long time, but I'm not ashamed to tell youl was crying.| was petrified.\u201d The police were suspicious after finding the baseball bat in the trunk of his car, he said.(WEATHER Doonesbury BY GARRY TRUDEAU BOYS! GIRLS! TIRED OF LOSING WELL, NOW YOU CAN COME FOR- NOW, 1 KNOW WHAT YOU'RE Today expect SINGING ENGAGEMENTS BECAUSE WARD \u2014 WITHOUT HAVING TO THINKING \u2014 \"HAVEN'T WE HAD sun with a few OF RUMORS LINKING YOU TO A TALK TO SOME SWEATY, OVER ENOUGH SLEAZE FOR ONE CAM: su PRESIDENTIAL CANOINTE?Sick WEIGHT TABLOID REPORTER PAIGN?\" WELL, LET ME PUT cloudy periods aa DE LES YES, THIS SYNDICATED FAMILY IT THIS WAY./ in the day and clouding over in the evening.High -12.Outlook for Tuesday: Light snow.High -5, Low -15.wm Me IC CCS 00 muse The Townships The RECORD\u2014Monday.February 10, 1992-3 | Record Farmers hit streets to protest GATT deal SHERBROOKE (AC) \u2014 Nearly 400 people, some of them driving tractors, obstructed traffic for almost two hours Friday along King Street West in a demonstration against the current GATT proposals.The crowd of farmers, farm- equipment salespeople and veterinarians demonstrated in front NCE NE Demonstrators hungry for answers wait outside Sherbrooke MP Jean Charest\u2019s office.of Sherbrooke MP Jean Cha- rest\u2019s office.Charest, who was in Montreal Friday, has not taken a position on the issue.The Union des producteurs ORD RICHARD LABH agricoles (UPA) is worried the latest proposal for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade would compromise Ottawa's ability to protect Canadian farmers from excessive foreign competition.\u201cThe government has always promised that they would respect article 11 allowing Canadian borders to close when there's a quota on production,\u201d said UPA vice-president Germain Larrivee.\u201cThe U.S., which is our main competitor, has numerous unfair advantages.First their costs of production are inferior to ours.\u201d Larrivee said the GATT proposal to lower import tariffs 36 per cent over the next six years will cost Canadian farmers half of their profits.HIT HARD The poultry industry will be hit hardest, he said, due to the cost of specialized equipment required for the winter season and a highly competitive U.S.market.\u201cPoultry farming is concentrated in the southern parts of the U.S., so they don\u2019t have to pay the added costs of heating,\u201d he said.\u201cThe U.S.does not have quotas and they want to sell their = surplus here at a lower price.That's going to wipe us out of the Sovereigntists want premier to By Angela Christopher SHERBROOKE \u2014 A spokeswoman for a Quebec sove- reigntist group wants Premier Robert Bourassa to stop straddling the political fence and take a clear position on the province\u2019s future.Marie Malavoy of the Mouvement Quebec \u2014 Estrie criticized Bourassa for comments he made in Europe last week.\u201cMouvement Quebec \u2014 Estrie wants to denounce the comment made by Premier Bourassa in Davos, Switzerland, last weekend where he said holding a referendum on sovereignty is only a strategy to put pressure on English Canada,\u201d Malavoy said in a statement.Mouvement Quebec was formed in the days following the Belanger-Campeau commisssion last year to pressure Bourassa to hold a referendum on sovereignty as soon as possible.Law 150 committing the Premier to hold a referendum by October 1992 \u2014 is respected.Not only did his comment insult the pro-sovereignty group, the statement continues, but it also discredits his own government as it does the National Assembly that passed Law 150 and the Bélanger-Campeau commission that recommended it.\u2018TWO-FACED\u2019 Malavoy said in an interview that Bourassa's two-faced behavior is consistent with his federalist nature.\u201cI believe Bourassa has always been profoundly federalist,\u201d she said.\u201cHe is forced by his entourage to take a radical position but as soon as he is left alone he waters down his wine by acting like a federalist.\u201d Malavoy said Bourassa\u2019s inability to take a clear position in the constitutional talks will jeopardize Quebec\u2019s chance at sovereignty.\u201cBourassa is afraid to set off something that would put Quebec as a sovereign country \u2014 he is someone who is afraid of risks.\u201d \u201cFederalism is costing Quebec \u2014 a centralized government will take economic decisions that will benefit other provinces at Quebec's expense.\u201d Canada is ready to recognize Quebec as a distinct society, Malavoy said, but this is merely in a folkloric sense.\u201cThe constitutional offer is to recognize Quebec as a distinct society in regards to its Napoleonic civil code, its culture and its language differences \u2014 this is not enough.\u201d CHANGES Sovereigntists want economic, political and cultural indepen- dance, she said, but Bourassa is not committed to promoting these in constitutional negotiations.\u201cBourassa changes opinion according to circumstances,\u201d she said.\u201cIn the days following the failure of Meech Lake he said Quebec is a distinct society and wouldn\u2019t accept anything less and that no way would we lose veto power.Then he accepts offers that put the province on the same footing with other provinces.\u201d Malavoy said she is afraid Bourassa will attempt to alter Law 150.\u201cMany sovereigntists are RECORD/GRANT SIMEON Tennis anyone 2 Prison guard Jacques Sage and Quebec Police Force officer Tom McConnell show off some of the take from a search of the cells at the Sherbrooke provincial prison Friday.The search, which involved the use of a drug-sniffing dog, turned up an assortment of drugs, drug paraphernalia and weapons.Police also discovered tennis balls which had been filled with drugs and tossed into the prison from outside.It was the first search operation of its kind at the prison.PE degree ri M mm mt pa - Sh ER A BI A fe Be PT \u201cpe à dit 67 2 ns : \"ig ME Si «ne e a \u2014 Protestor Jocelyne Bergeron said new GATT proposals will destro y Canadian farmers.market,\u201d said Nicole Tucotte, a dairy farmer from Ste-Camille.\u201cInitially they're would be tariffs on imports but gradually they would reduce it to the point getting rid of all taxes and that call referendum frightened by the possibility that Bourassa may try to call an election to prevent organizing a refe- Two charged for RECORD ANGELA CHRISTOPHER would mean too much competition for us,\u201d said Jocelyne Berge- ron, a dairy farmer from St-Jean de Windsor.A demonstration was also held in Ottawa Friday.rendum or even worse try to modify the mandatory clause of Law 150.\u201d Caisse robberies SHERBROOKE (RL) \u2014 Quebec Police Force officers along with their counterparts in Sherbrooke and Rock Forest have arrested two men suspected in seven robberies of local Caisses Populaires.Michel Ferland, 27, of Magog is accused of armed robbery and wearing a disguise.His alleged accomplice, Patrick Lacombe, 21, of Sherbrooke is also accused of armed robbery.Patrick Lacombe The two men are accused in the holdups of the Caisse Pops in St.Elie d\u2019'Orford and Rock Forest in December and January.On Dec.12, both banks were robbed within a half hour.They're also accused of holding up the Sociale caisse in Sherbrooke twice and the Immaculé Conception caisse once.Those three robberies occured in the summer of 1991.Michel Ferland Group makes dreams come true for sick kids By Angela Christopher LENNOXVILLE \u2014 Nine- year-old Francois Richard loved tinkering away on his dad's girl- z\u2014 friend\u2019s computer but he wished he could have his own \u2014 and that\u2019s all it took to get one.At three Richard was diagnosed with Duchesne muscular dystrophy, a fatal form of the disease.In a few cases victims live to their twenties, but the 4 .\u201c> o .d Children\u2019s Wish foundation chose to take advantage of the day.Richard and André Lemay, 11, who suffers from the same illness, each received a computer complete with printers Saturday from the non-profit foundation in a ceremony at the Army Navy Air Force building.A third boy with the same disease was unable to attend.The foundation, a non-profit group that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening diseases, hosted a dart tournament and fundraiser Saturday.Regional co-president Mary Kesti presented the computers to the kids.65 WISHES Kesti said since the foundation's inception in the Eastern Townships six years ago, 65 wishes have been granted.Ten of the children have since died.She said she was inspired to open a chapter in the Townships Children\u2019s Wish Foundation co-presidents Joseph khokher and Mary kesti present computers to Francois by personal tragedy.Richard and Andre Lemay.RECORDANGHILA CHRISTOPHER In 1986 the foundation made it pussivle tor her only child, Michael, then 15, to fly in the cockpit of a DC-9.Michael, who was in the advanced stages of cancer, died shortly after.\u201cBeing in the foundation has meant a lot to me,\u201d she said.\u201cI wanted to bring joy to other children \u2014 I lost my only son, but now I have 65.\u201d Trophies were presented to the winners of the dart tournament \u2014 Vicky Crook, Mike Pegg and Chris Main \u2014 who played and won five games.The winners each got a small trophy and a bigger one, which will be kept at the foundation, was presented in memory of Melissa Lowe, 7, from Bury, who died last September.Melissa's wish of visiting Disneyland was granted by the foundation before she died.She was the first anglophone in the Townships whose wish was granted by the foundation.RELATIVE \u201cMelissa was a distant relative of mine,\u201d said tournament organizer Perry Statton.\u201cWe figured we wanted to do something for the kids and it just happened.This is the first year we're raising funds with the tourney and we hope to do this every year.\u201d The Army-Navy-Air Force Association donated two dollars for every dart player who participated in the tournament.Organizers said 105 players, who paid five dollars each, took part.\u201c] am really thankful for what the association is doing for the foundation,\u201d Kesti said in an interview.\u201cIn just two months they have raised over $2000 for us.So far this year she said the foundation has raised $55,000 and is preparing to make another child's dream come true.\u201cJonathan Turcotte, 10, who has cystic fibrosis, will be meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger in Columbus, Ohio at a weightlifting competition \u2014- but it's a surprise.\u201d she said.\u201cThe parents asked me to come along with them to be their interpreter, since they do not speak English.\u201d 33 \u201cPPOs Sa vp ane vacume ess Sous CARL LLRR AALS FINNAALS SNS NOÉS \u20ac 02 NAS 2 rh ye AAG B.S AI ME © © SWISS AS SC SAND DOS = A