From an321@FreeNet.Carleton.CA Thu Mar 28 08:29:40 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:33335 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!iaw.on.ca!torn!nott!cunews!freenet-news.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!an321 From: an321@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (John Angus) Newsgroups: ont.general Subject: Re: Both sides of Opseu strike showdown were wrong but OPP was violent!!! Date: 22 Mar 1996 14:16:14 GMT Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Lines: 44 Sender: an321@freenet2.carleton.ca (John Angus) Message-ID: <4iucne$g3u@freenet-news.carleton.ca> References: <4itddk$2p8@news1.io.org> Reply-To: an321@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (John Angus) NNTP-Posting-Host: freenet2.carleton.ca Kent Fines (pcmo@io.org) writes: > Lets be fair about this! The strikers were incorrect for > barracading the legistlature but they were at least > non-violent. Depends on how you define things. Certainly when you block a door you're doing so by force. You are forceably preventing people from going past. That implies a level of violence. They were spitting at the OPP but it should be > noted that the police were threatening them with horrible > violence! The OPP were saying things like, "we're going > to beat you with our sticks" etc. The riot squad was 35 members strong. Now you tell me how they're going to move aside hundreds of beefy steelworkers and autoworkers by smiling and saying please. The police however, started > the violence and hurt some people very badly. Not actually true. Nobody was hurt badly. An inspector > for the Metro Police was quoted as saying that he couldn't > believe the actions of the riot squad!!! There is absolutely Personally I couldn't believe the non actions of the Toronto police during the last riot in that city. I think their response while people were looting their way across town was to hide in the basement of their station houses and hope it all went away. I think, given the level of vitriol directed at the toronto police by the Toronto's socialist mayor, leftist city council and hoardes of special interest groups most TO cops cringe at the mere thought of being rude to anyone. JA -- "Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness" es799@cleveland.freenet.edu _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ "Peace, Order, & Good Government" an321@freenet.carleton.ca From zeljko@netcom.ca Thu Mar 28 08:33:19 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:33902 tor.general:38400 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!newsjunkie.ans.net!newsfeeds.ans.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!news From: zeljko@netcom.ca (Zeljko "Zed" Zidaric) Newsgroups: ont.general,tor.general Subject: Press Release: I LIKE MIKE Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 23:15:05 GMT Organization: Netcom Lines: 157 Message-ID: <4j760h$h47@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-tor-on1-22.netcom.ca X-NETCOM-Date: Mon Mar 25 4:16:49 PM CST 1996 X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Well... I did it. I went down to Queen's Park today and looked the dragon in the eye. I went down there again with my I LIKE MIKE sign and received quite a bit of attention. Yes, some of the union thugs tried to intimidate me but I stood my ground. The following is a copy of the press release that I sent to various Toronto based media agencies. Since I know that the media is left-leaning they probably will not print what I had to say... so I will say it here in this last open forum where the average person can speak his mind. PRESS RELEASE RE: Queen's Park OPSEU Rally March 25, 1996 I was the individual who was carrying the "I LIKE MIKE" placard. I am sending you this press release so that you can have a better explanation of why I did what I did this morning. In the commotion at Queen's Park I do not think that I was able to explain myself properly and in enough detail to the reporters who were out there. Just as background, I'll let you know that I have gotten fed up with everyone criticizing Mike Harris for what he is doing (what he has to do!) I respect Mike Harris because he is the FIRST politician in quite some time who told us what he was going to do when he got elected and then actually made good on his promises! Who am I? Name: Zeljko Zidaric Age: 28 Address: Mississauga Occupation: In transition. I just recently left the Canadian Forces where I was an Air Force Officer and this fall I will be attending the University of Western Ontario MBA program. Political Affiliations: I have no provincial political affiliations. I was not paid to do what I did. I did what I did on my own. Why was I out there? I was out at Queen's Park giving Premier Mike Harris my support. There are MANY people who support our Premier but are not heard because I feel that the ‘liberal/left leaning' media is distorting socio-political reality in this province. I feel that the media is trying to manipulate the situation to meet their own agenda(s). The media is painting a picture that everyone is against Premier Mike Harris. I wanted to be a visible sign, that would be difficult to ignore, showing that there are people that support the Premier. Why do I like Premier Mike Harris? I feel that he is an honest politician and I respect him (one of the few along with the Reform Party). We all know that Ontario is in financial and economic trouble. During his election campaign Mike Harris told us what his plans were for solving our problems. We agreed with him and we elected him to carry out his plans. He is actually doing what he promised he would do. He is making some difficult decisions which MUST be made if our future is to be saved. Better that we feel a little bit of pain now than a lot of pain sometime in the future. Why do we need the changes that the Premier is proposing? Ontario is in financial and economic trouble. We need our problems fixed. Just look at certain precedents such as New Zealand, Sweden and Alberta. All those places are enjoying improved economic conditions after certain problems were solved. Why was I the only person out there supporting Premier Mike Harris? I feel that I am a representative for all of the hard working tax paying Ontarians who support Mike Harris and would like to have their voices heard but couldn't be at Queen's Park because they have to WORK! I may have been out there alone in body, but there were many people out there in spirit! Do I have support? Does Mike Harris have support? I was out with my "I LIKE MIKE" sign on Friday afternoon and I received a lot of support. A lot of people honked and gave me the ‘thumbs up'. Yes, there were some people who told me I was wrong and gave me the ‘finger', but those were in the minority. My impression was that it was a 10:1 ratio in support of Mike Harris. Because of this, I felt that it would be worthwhile to be out this morning as well. Today as well I received a lot of support from people driving by. In conversations on the Internet I received a lot of support as well. I have also heard that the Premier's office receives MANY telephone calls with people voicing their support. As we all know, the silent majority does not stage visible signs of support, they have their say at the election booth. There is support for Mike Harris, I just wish that the media would report this! Was I afraid? Yes, I was afraid to a certain extent. If you want to accomplish anything you must put your fear behind you and stand up for what you believe in. I had heard stories about the ‘aggressive' nature of the Steelworkers and Teamsters and other ‘union goons' who are brought in to boost the OPSEU lines. Yes I was afraid of potential union thuggery. Even the police told me to be careful. But, being the optimist, I was hoping that the OPSEU members would respect my right to freedom of expression. Right now, I am hoping that OPSEU members will not carry out any actions against myself nor my home... as I have heard unions thugs like to do. Did OPSEU try to intimidate me? At the start some OPSEU members did try to intimidate me. A lot of verbal insults were thrown at me as were a lot of insinuations. While I was peacefully walking on the sidewalk some OPSEU members tried to block my path and forced me onto the road (a potentially dangerous situation). When the OPSEU members saw that I was not being intimidated and that I would not leave they decided to leave me alone and ignore me. I also would like to voice my opinion that OPSEU in their motto, "No Justice, No Peace" is threatening each and every citizen of this province with violence. This is not right. Do I plan on being out there again? Yes. I would like to have as many people as possible to come out this Friday afternoon at 1:00 pm to show their support for our Premier. What happened with the police? Earlier in the morning, the police advised me that in the sake of my own personal safety that I stay away from the main body of OPSEU strikers. They also told me that if some OPSEU members did get ‘aggressive' or ‘jump' me that it would be difficult to help me. They also told me to be careful because I could also be charged with trying to incite a riot. I followed that advice staying within the area that the police laid out. I told them that I had no intentions of inciting any riot. After the rally was under way, I stayed out of the way. When the rally passed by me I stood up on a park bench and held up my "I LIKE MIKE" sign. This got the attention of the media who quickly came to interview me. Again, I was doing nothing illegal but exercising my right to expression. I did not chant, I did not try to block anyone's way, I did not shove my sign in anyone's face. At this point the OPSEU rally which was walking by started to hurl insults at me. When this happened one of the police officers came over to me an nicely told me that it would be a good idea to leave. I told him that I would in a few minutes. A while later, while I was still being interviewed, one of the police officers told me to get off of the bench and told me that if I did not leave he would have to charge me with trying to incite a riot. He also told me that he did not want to see me in front of the Justice Buildings. At this point, not wanting to get into trouble with the police and feeling I had accomplished what I came out to do, I left. I do not think that this is fair. I was a lone peaceful citizen voicing my support for the government (not something you see often) and I was being told to leave and threatened with charges of inciting a riot. While the OPSEU protesters are allowed to get as loud and as violent as they want, my civil liberties were being suppressed.