Split personalities

Taxidermist claims he was targeted, sues province, officials

A taxidermist is suing the Manitoba government and two of its officials over claims he was improperly ticketed and his office unlawfully searched in what he says was an act of retaliation.

“The misconduct of (the wildlife officials) must be condemned by this honourable court to ensure that wildlife prosecutions are not used for malicious and other improper purposes,” reads John Henry Reimer’s statement of claim, filed in the Court of King’s Bench last month.

Reimer, 60, has operated JR Taxidermy next to his home outside Grunthal for several decades.

Reimer’s suit claims he has frequently criticized the province for delays in processing and issuing permits required for taxidermy, which has resulted in his business being improperly searched in 2023, maliciously ticketed in 2024 and prosecuted. That case that was thrown out of court this year.

‘Central park’ revamp in works for Keystone Centre

BRANDON — The Keystone Centre plans to revamp its ground space by adding an outdoor rink and trails, as well as enhancing the camping area.

“It’s showing that we can fill some needs in our community with some amenities that we’d get a lot of use and be appreciated by the public,” said city councillor Bruce Luebke, chair of the board.

“We’re at the very beginning, I would suggest, of trying to see the Keystone grounds become more than what they currently are.”

The city had identified the Keystone grounds as an area in which to create a “central park,” Luebke said.

Tragedy on two wheels: Motorbike deaths rising

This year has been a tragic one for Manitoba’s motorcycle community.

The latest fatality involves a 56-year-old Steinbach woman who crashed in Whiteshell Provincial Park on Sunday, the sixth motorcycle-related death of 2026.

The woman died in hospital after she lost control while heading eastbound on Highway 44 near Provincial Road 312. RCMP said Tuesday she flipped the bike into the south ditch at about 5:30 p.m. Her identity has not been released.

RCMP said the investigation is ongoing, but preliminary findings indicate debris or gravel on a curve in the road may have been a factor.

Winnipeg Beach staple Playland back in action

Tyler Bennie and Melanie McFarlane needed a change of pace, so they bought an arcade.

‘People are fatigued’: Swan River mayor disappointed in federal response to flooding

Canadian Armed Forces members and volunteers from a veteran-led disaster aid organization are expected to visit flood-hit homes in Swan River on Wednesday, a week after the town’s mayor and Premier Wab Kinew called for military assistance.

Mayor Lance Jacobson said he was told officials will go door-to-door to conduct assessments and find out individual needs, although more details are expected at a meeting with representatives of the Office of the Fire Commissioner, which is co-ordinating the response, the CAF and volunteer-led Team Rubicon Canada.

He’s been frustrated by the pace of the federal government’s response.

“(Homeowners) are trying to clean up and it’s painstaking, this kind of work they’re doing. We needed these people to be mobilized Monday,” Jacobson said.

Imperialist crusades: 21st-century style

In the 11th century and lasting into the 13th, the papacy launched a series of at least eight military campaigns we now refer to as the Crusades, or Holy Wars. They were an imperialistic call to arms for Christians to retake Jerusalem, which was at the time under Muslim rule.

Spiritual rewards for participation were implied, and other incentives offered, to dull the extra taxation demanded to fund the campaigns. Over time, the “crusades” morphed to become massacres of not only Muslims but also Jews and Christian dissidents — in other words, any enemies of the papacy. If today’s news sounds like déjà vu all over again, it probably should.

The stories keep repeating themselves in many forms. We now know that two 20th century world wars, global in scope, were caused by imperialistic ambitions, changes in the balance of international powers and corresponding arms races. The first was attributed to the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a Bosnian Serb, a kind of “regime change” initiative. The second resulted from rising tensions between Allied and Axis powers, triggered by the rise of European fascism and Japanese militarism. The human toll of both was unimaginable.

In the First World War, 15 to 22 million people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed and another 23 million were wounded. These numbers do not account for those otherwise affected — victims of chemical warfare whose compromised health shortened their lives; of the subsequent Spanish flu epidemic amplified by the displacement of peoples; others who died from other diseases caused by war conditions; and those who were malnourished or starved. Nor do they account for the ongoing trauma and resentments passed on intergenerationally to this day.