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Volume
5 Number 47
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January
3, 1997
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PKs Nab
B & E Suspects
By: Kenneth Deer
Every Year around the holidays, criminal activity in the form of robberies from breaking and entering, increases. This holiday season was no exception. However, the Kahnawake Peacekeepers did manage to arrest two non-locals who thought Kahnawake would be easy pickings.
On Christmas Eve at 10:30 p.m., the watchman at Country Side Gas Bar on Route 138 noticed a van park around the back of the store. A few minutes later, the watchman heard the sound of someone trying to break in the back door. He yelled and the perpetrators immediately left in the van and headed east toward the Mercier Bridge. The watchman called the Peacekeepers and gave them a description of the van and the direction they were headed.
Peacekeeper Albert Stalk just happen to be patrolling near the Hilltop Restaurant, then proceeded to the traffic circle on Route 138. He spotted a van that fitted the description he heard over the radio and pulled the vehicle over in front of the Mohawk Super Bingo.
Stalk called for back-up left his car and approached the van carefully. Before Stalk could reach the van, the driver stuck his head out of the window and asked why he was being stopped. Stalk said he was a suspect in a B & E. The man said he had the wrong guy. Stalk told him to put his hands out the window where he could see them.
Suddenly, a second man lifted his head up in the back of the van and ducked back down. Stalk immediately pulled out his sidearm and shouted to the second man to show himself. When the second man didn't respond, Stalk told the driver to tell his friend to put his hands and face against the window where he could see them.
Stalk held them at gun point until Peacekeepers Calvin Phillips and Craig Standup arrived. One by one the occupants of the van were removed, seached and handcuffed. Inside the van were tools used in B & E's, walkie-talkies and a police scanner. The suspects were arrested and taken to the Peacekeepers station.
Does the
Old Quarry pose a flood threat?
By: Chad Rice
I remember my grandfather saying that the quarry (between Karonhianonha and the 138 traffic circle) will one day overflow. Since most of Kahnawake is lower than the quarry, most of us will be flooded. These words were overheard recently, from a young Kahnawake woman.
Was her grandfather prophesying or speculating? He was not alone in his concerns, especially of late, since the quarry is beginning to spill over it's 'banks'.
It turns out that the young lady's bubba was right in one respect; the quarry is overflowing. Thomas Sky, capital coordinator at Kahnawake Technical Services, maintains that it is not going to pose any flooding problems. Sky says that Technical Services has been monitoring the quarry's water level since 1992, when the public started to get overly concerned. At that time, the quarry's water level was at 97 feet above sea level (true elevation). As the accompanying graph shows, the level has risen somewhat steadily to its present height of approximately 107 feet.
Thomas has been to the site himself, assessing the extent of the problem while addressing the community's concerns. He reports that yes, the southeast corner of the quarry is spilling out, but it will remain a trickle. The draining waters are only a few inches deep. The water finds its way to highway 132 opposite the BINGO hall. The creek flows east to the 207 where it enters what is known as Roccos field, then into Fagarus creek and eventually, to the seaway.
Sky agrees that the quarry can be compared to a backyard swimming pool; if it rains too much, the pool level will rise and may eventually overflow, but that the overflow will be un-dramatic. "Its not as if it was a gigantic balloon hanging over the town, just waiting to burst."
Upon inspection, Sky also found a ditch running from the eastern side of the quarry site running into Roccos field. If the water level increased, the ditch would be more than adequate to handle the flow. "The quarry water level will not go above 108 or 109 feet anyway" said Sky, since the water will simply drain away. Structurally, the quarry is more than capable of holding the water, since it is solid rock.
So in today's world of uncertainty, of new found fears, such as giant asteroids colliding with the earth, or hurricanes sweeping down on us, we can rest assured of one thing: the quarry will not flood us all.
Looking back at 1996
By: Kenneth Deer / The Easter Door
Scanning the front pages of The Eastern Door over the year, one can get a pretty good idea of what happen in Kahnawake in 1996:
What's in store for 1997
The preceding list is not exhaustive but it gives an overview of some of the major events in Kahnawake let year. How many were predictable? Can we predict any for 1997?
Most of the issues can be categorized in either politics, jurisdiction or economics. In economics, the hotel will be the biggest single issue in 1997. The planning and construction of the facility will provide some immediate economic benefits for the community if all the funding is arranged. The success of the hotel will be decided in 1998.
The casino is a dead issue. The window of opportunity is now closed. It would take a gargantuan effort from within Kahnawake and wholesale support from outside governments to resurrect the idea. Neither is likely in 1997.
Editor's comments
With cigarettes not likely to grow much larger than what it is, the economy will fall back on the construction trade and a new generation of entrepreneurial activity with small businesses and other ventures in new areas. But the government must come through with their promise of financial support which was promised by Ron Irwin in April of 1996.
Jurisdiction will still be the biggest political battleground. The push and pull over the policing agreement, alcohol licensing, gaming ad sport commissions will test the spirit and will of both the MCK and the Canadian and Quebec governments. The assertion of the Peacekeepers as the primary police force may be challenged by the SQ and RCMP over issues such as cigarettes and alcohol.
1997 will be a pivotal year in the area of jurisdiction. With the privatization of the Seaway, Bill 102 (the master plan for the Montreal area), Indian Act amendments, self-government legislation and the political posturing that goes along with a general election in Canada, we will be in for an interesting year.
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