ambassador, Reagan kept up the human rights theme by meeting a group of Soviet dissidents and Jews who have been denied permission to emigrate.
“I came here to do what I could to give you strength,” he told the dissidents.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has instituted many reforms in the three years since he come to power, Reagan said, but added: “For now, we must work for more, always more.”
Soviet officials have expressed impatience at Reagan’s emphasis on human rights, saying he fails to acknowledge that Gorbachev’s reforms are bringing about open discussion on sensitive domestic issues.
Reagan’s visit to the Danilov monastery came after he and Gorbachev met for almost two hours in their second working session of the summit. They devoted their attention to nuclear arms control and other global issues.
Observing that the Danilov monastery was recently reopened for the use of the Russian Orthodox Church, Reagan said:
“We pray that the return of this monastery signals a willingness to return to believers the thousands of other houses of worship which are now closed, boarded up or used for secular purposes.
“Our people feel it keenly when religious freedom is denied to anyone anywhere, and hope with you that soon all the many Soviet religious communities that are now prevented from registering or are banned altogether, including the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox churches, will soon be able to practise their religion freely.”
Orthodox Church leaders told Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who joined the president in his tour of the 700-year-old complex, that Soviet religious life was being increasingly freed from the shackles imposed by Kremlin leaders before Gorbachev.
Reagan’s invocation of Solzhenitsyn was particularly sensitive. The fiercely anti-Communist writer was deported from the Soviet Union by the authorities in 1974 and, despite an accelerating thaw in the Soviet cultural world under Gorbachev, his works are still not officially published in the Soviet Union.
Before Gorbachev and Reagan started their talks at the Kremlin’s St. Catherine hall, the Soviet leader made clear he was not happy with the president’s views on Moscow’s human rights record.
“We have the impression that we and you do not see the realities in this complicated problem quite well,” Gorbachev told a reporter who asked whether he was satisfied that human rights were occupying so much time at the summit.
“So I propose arranging a special seminar as part of parliament-to-parliament exchanges where it would be possible to exchange information and make appropriate assessments. This would be good and benefit both sides.”
See also page 7
NOW HEAR THIS. . .
■ One local weatherman has been relating a persistent rains-and-clouds forecast with more cheerfulness than seems called for. But when asked why, he came up with a good excuse. A ticket shared by the weatherman (who prefers not to be identified), an Air Canada baggage handler and a Prince' George airport electrician won approximately $41,000 in the Lotto 649 on May 21. A three-way split left each of the winners with the still considerable sum of $13,722.49.
The four-day Canadian Northern Children’s Festival brought joy to thousands of children of all ages because of a host of willing volunteers like, from left, Vanessa MacAloney, Tiffany Chappell and Michelle Brundige. The three 15 year olds, reflecting the excitement
and energy surrounding the event, assisted children at the Imagination Market to utilize recycled foil from candy bars and coffee bags as well as paper coffee filters and colored tissue to create shiny, imaginative hats and bows. Citizen photo by Lisa Murdoch
TELEVISION STATION
Children's
Pol ice arrest gunman fughlt
Thp ranariian Nnrthprn
by ARNOLD OLSON Staff reporter
CKPG’s office on Sixth Avenue was vacated shortly before 10 a.m. today while a man with an automatic rifle made demands for the company to buy him a pickup truck and fix his house.
The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, wearing boots, blue jeans and a green shirt, was carrying a Rambo-type automatic rifle — black, with a carrying handle on top, probably an AR 15.
The whole incident took less than 30 minutes but in that time the RCMP had the Sixth Avenue block around the station cordoned off by male and female police officers in plain clothes, while other officers, both in plain clothes and in uniforms stood by out of sight.
One officer in the Simon Fraser Inn parking lot told one driver, “Police! Back your truck up and get out of here.”
Shortly after that the man came out of the building. He was immediately surrounded by officers with drawn pistols, aiming wi*h both hands, as they covered him.
They pinned his arms behind him and forced him face-down on the parking lot, searching for weapons as another officer took a ful-ly-loaded clip from the rifle.
CKPG general manager Gordon Leighton said later, “He’s under some kind of delusion that his house was bugged.”
During the incident Citizen circu-
Citizen photo by Brock Gable
A police officer takes custody of a suspect alleged to have entered CKPG offices this morning with a loaded automatic rifle.
lation employee John Pagnotta entered the CKPG offices to deliver an advertising proof. He said he saw “a man carrying a rifle by a handle — just iike a brief case.
“This guy started mumbling about some damage they’d done to him.”
Another man began entering the office and, “I saw this woman waving him out,” he said.
Outside, a CKPG television reporter and cameramen sneaked from vehicle to vehicle to get pic-
tures of the incident.
Leighton had nothing but praise for CKPG receptionist Joanne Carter: “I knew she was a good receptionist. Everybody was out of the building, but she wasn’t.”
He said she retained her composure and during the incident had been calmly answering the phone. Later, she was able to give an accurate description to police of what had gone on and had taken notes that included the man’s name and address.
The Canadian Northern Children’s Festival is over. . .at least until next year, and it’s been termed a smashing success by organizers.
“All I can say is' hats off to Prince George for a great job,” said co-ordinator Sue Carlyle, who estimates there were 6,000 to 7,000 visitors daily at the four-day event in Fort George Park.
“Without the help of the many volunteers and business community for its financial assistance, it would never have happened,” she said.
The 66 performances in the four show tents, by children’s performers from across Canada and throughout the world, had peak attendance. There were 20,500 tickets sold out of 21,000 printed.
Carlyle is delighted at the way the festival “reached out” across the top half of the province to school classes, families and groups, which came from as far as Watson Lake, Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Prince Rupert as well as the U.S.
The festival committee is already looking towards next year.
“If Prince George wants it, the committee would really like to hold another event in 1989,” she said.
The event was truly geared to children. . . right from the first moments of the official opening
The Prince George
Citizen
MONDAY, MAY 30, 1988 40 CENTS
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