News – Page 15 – kehler.ca

A Matter of Debate

Canadian Journalist Murray Hiebert on his way to Prison in Kuala Limpur, September 11, 1999

Murray Hiebert spent 30 days in jail for reporting that the son of a prominent Malaysian judge had been kicked off the high school debate team. In this essay, Hiebert recounts his ordeal.

Washington, DC — I’ve become quite an expert on Malaysian tourist spots over the past two years. That’s because a local judge sentenced me to three months in prison for “scandalizing the court” in a magazine article that I wrote in 1997. While my appeal wound its way through the Malaysian legal maze, I was forced to remain within the borders of peninsular Malaysia. My problems began in early 1997 when I wrote an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review, a news weekly published in Hong Kong by Dow Jones & Co, about a mother who was suing the International School of Kuala Lumpur for $2.4 million. She mounted the suit because fellow students had kicked her 17-year-old son off a debating team for alleged cheating. I used this case as an example to demonstrate that Malaysia had become almost as litigious as the United States.

I paid a heavy price for that piece: on October 11, 1999, I finally got my passport back after completing 27 months under “country arrest” and 30 days in prison. Continue reading “A Matter of Debate”

Canadians Give Money for Flood Aid

Flood relief for victims of southern Manitoba’s Red River disaster continues to pour in from across the country.

The Western Producer

Severe flooding in the Red River Valley near Rosenort, 1997

Flood relief for victims of southern Manitoba’s Red River disaster continues to pour in from across the country.

A group of unemployed fishermen from New Brunswick are going to Manitoba to help with the flood cleanup; a Montreal business is sending a truckload of cleaning products to the flood-ravaged region; a Calgary man who won $150,000 in the lottery is donating a fifth of his winnings to flood relief efforts in the area. Continue reading “Canadians Give Money for Flood Aid”

Manitoba Highway Deaths Bring Cries for Safety, Industry Reform

The Western Producer

The deaths of three Manitoba teenagers, killed when their pick-up truck slammed head-on into a protruding combine header, have prompted calls for a review of the province’s highway legislation and industry safety standards. The combine was traveling Highway 422 south of Winnipeg after dark. It was equipped with lights, but the 24-foot header attached to the front of the combine was not. The header jutted across the highway into the path of oncoming traffic, said Morris RCMP Cpl. Neil Griffith. Continue reading “Manitoba Highway Deaths Bring Cries for Safety, Industry Reform”

Voices Of The Prairies

By the blue-tinged light of an early winter dawn, farmers meet at Edgar’s*, a popular restaurant in Steinbach, Manitoba, to sip coffee and catch up on the news.

Condensed Excerpt, Imperial Oil Review by Andrew Allentuck – as printed in the Reader’s Digest 1992

By the blue-tinged light of an early winter dawn, farmers meet at Edgar’s*, a popular restaurant in Steinbach, Manitoba, to sip coffee and catch up on the news. Outside, their diesel trucks idle in the cold. Inside, the substantial and the trivial of country life is the morning’s gossip. The men wear their caps, each with the trademark of a seed company, a tractor maker or a rural co-operative. They joke about their endless concerns over prices of the harvest past and insects of the summer to come. They pour over the local weekly, The Carillon, reading and discussing stories of town meetings and new hay balers with the intensity of physicists analyzing new theories. Continue reading “Voices Of The Prairies”

A Tribute to Al Reimer on his “Retirement”

as printed in the Journal of Mennonite Studies Vol. 9, 1991

Readers of this journal are well acquainted with the writings of Al Reimer. In addition to contributing a number of articles on Mennonite literature – his fifth appears in this issue – he has been a member of the Journal’s editorial committee since its inception in 1983 and has evaluated and edited a large number of the papers that have been accepted for publication. Because of this important role, and his larger literary contribution to the Mennonite community, he was recently invited to be co-editor of the Journal. Continue reading “A Tribute to Al Reimer on his “Retirement””

Weekend Accidents Claim 7 Lives

At least seven people lost their lives accidentally in Manitoba during the weekend, including five people who were killed in a traffic accident early Saturday morning.

Winnipeg Free Press, June 24, 1974

At least seven people lost their lives accidentally in Manitoba during the weekend, including five people who were killed in a traffic accident early Saturday morning. Dead are:

Jennifer A. Stott, 18, of Niverville, Man.
Allan Regehr, 17 of Tourond, Man
Eric Hiebert, 24, of Niverville.
Donald Kehler, 18, of Ile des Chenes, Man.
Raymond J. Delorme, 21 of St. Pierre, Man.
Georgina Lilly Mason, 8, of Koostatak, Man.
John Conrehene, 7, of the Fort Alexander Reserve.

Miss Stott, Mr. Regehr, Mr. Hiebert, Mr. Kehler and Mr. Delorme were killed early Saturday morning in a head-on collision on Highway 59 about 1 ½ miles north of Ile des Chenes.

Mr. Delorme was alone in the car which he was driving; the other four were in the car driven by Mr. Regehr.

Two other passengers in the Regehr car – Candice Chand, 18, and Wayne Hiebert, 17, both of Niverville – were reported in fair condition at St. Boniface Hospital Monday.

The extent of their injuries was not revealed. Further information on the accident was not available.

Donald is the oldest son of Neil (Cornelius) & Agnes Kehler, Niverville, MB