Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 1

OS f'v Canada THE EDMONTON JOURNAL, Tuesday, May 23. 1989 A3 Greenbacks headed for last roundup wsp'-- J- 4 AT, 1 It also occurred in Australia when that country buried its buck. Watson adds that even after the dollar coin officially replaces the bill, paper dollars will always be accepted as legal tender. But the most valuable bills are usually first-edition banknotes or examples of an especially short-lived series. In the 1954 edition, for example, signatures of the Bank of Canada governor and his deputy were changed five times before the bill was redesigned several years later.

A bill with the right combination of signatures can fetch more than $1,000, says Hirsch, while others from the same year bring as little as SI. 75. Hirsch says the current 1973 edition the common greenback with the Queen on the front and the Ottawa River and Peace Tower on the flip side probably won't ever be worth much more than the 1989 price of a cheap lottery ticket. "In 10 or 20 years, kids are going to laugh at paper dollars like the 25-cent bills they issued in the 1920s." one of Toronto's busiest downtown intersections. "I wouldn't save it," sneers Hirsch, leaning on a glass showcase packed with rare coins and paper money from around the world.

"But there are always people out there who hoard them. "Most of the time, they eventually spend it in a year or so when they get short of cash." As of July banks and trust companies have been ordered to return all dollar bills to one of the Bank of Canada's nine regional offices in exchange for the coin equivalent. Once they fall into the hands of the central bank, they'll be pressed into huge paper shredders and turned into landfill. "After a hile, you think of money as just a lot of paper," says Bill Watson, deputy agent at the central bank's largest regional office in Toronto, where 200 million bills of all denominations were destroyed last year. Across Canada almost a billion pieces of paper money were turned into mulch by the government in 1988.

Watson says hoarding bills especially final editions isn't unusual. It happened when the British recently withdrew their one-pound notes. By RICHARD HOFFMAN The Canadian Press Call it the lame buck. After 123 years of use and abuse, the lowly Canadian one-spot will be a dead duck on June 30. That's when the government issues its last paper dollar and begins rounding up and destroying the estimated 313 million greenbacks in circulation.

But, as the countdown begins, Bank of Canada officials estimate 30-45 million dollars could escape the grinding teeth of government shredders. Some of the bills will simply be lost. Many others will be scooped up by Canadians banking that the bucks will eventually be worth more than their face value. "It's a futile effort," says Paul Margolis, owner of the Rare Find coin shop in downtown Vancouver. "I don't think hoarding them will ever produce a profit for anybody." "As a rule, the last issue of any currency is the least valuable," adds Klaus Hirsh, who's been dealing in dollars and cents for two decades near The government begins rounding up paper dollars June 30 but hoarders could keep up to S45 million from the shredder Peace marchers promise they'll block arms show it a 8 1 I If 0jy 1 "1 V- mm i i 4 4.

"A Survival is taught top guns in games By CHRIS WATTIE I he Canadian Press CFB COLD LAKE The maps in the situation room of this Canadian Forces base show a desperate see-saw battle raging in the dense bush 300 km northeast of Edmonton. Bright red and blue grease pencils mark the location of enemy tanks and infantry targets for the fighter-bombers waiting on the tarmac outside. Jet turbines whine, ground crews load bombs under streamlined wings and pilots scramble to their planes. But the bombs are filled with concrete, not high explosive, and the targets arc only plywood mock-ups scattered across the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, the 9,600 square km of bush that is the site of Canada's biggest air exercise for six weeks this summer. Every day up to 100 Canadian.

British and American jets scream across the northern Alberta sky as part of Maple Flag XXII, an annual exercise to hone the combat skills of the countries' top pilots. Capt. Peter Scales is the exercise's chief intelligence officer, responsible for drawing up the imaginary war that is at the heart of Maple Flag. "Basically we try to simulate a war in central Europe," says the jaunty Scales, bristling with enthusiasm. "The point of the exercise is to get as real as possible." Weeks before the exercise kicked off on April 29, Scales began planning his imaginary war.

"1 was asked to compose a story a sort of fantasy, 10-day war," he says. As the phantom front lines move across the Cold Lake range, pilots are assigned targets from among the more than 600 mock-ups that dot the range plywood models i ii OTTAWA (CP) Waving black flags and chanting anti-war slogans, some 1.500 peace activists marched though city streets Monday to protest an international arms show. Demonstrators from tots to seniors, halted holiday traffic as they marched from dow ntown to Lansdowne Park, site of the controversial ARMX '89 trade show that opens today. L'pon reaching the park, they gathered in an area cordoned off by police and listened to speakers denounce Canada's involvement in the arms trade. "My message is for the people in there." veiled Natalie Turner of the Student Christian Movement of Canada, pointing to the stadium.

"We don't want to see our planet destroyed by bombs, by garbage and by hatred." Members of the Alliance for Non-Violent Action say they will block the entrance to Lansdowne Park today, and spokesmen say they expect some ill be arrested. Richard Sanders, spokesman for the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, said Canada's reputation as a peacemaker is called into question by Us involvement in ARMX. The demonstration will "show the world that the statement that Canada is a peacemaker is a myth," he told protesters before the march began. "Canada is any thing but a peacekeeper." The three-day trade show, sponsored by the Toronto-based Baxter Publishing is expected to draw as many as 15.000 buyers, sellers and soldiers from around the world, organizers say. Some 4(K) companies from 16 countries are expected to set up booths to display their weapons, communications equipment, tents and computerized simulators.

The exhibition is held every two years. But this year. Ottawa city council decided it will no longer rent municipally owned property for the show. I A Al lA 7 IN A Canadian Forces pilot climbs aboard his CF-18 fighter crews scramble to get airborne in the masshe Mple Flag exercise aw rating" half an hour flying at hundreds of kmh as they roir in on target. Maj.

Yvan Blondin. at 30 a veteran among the CF-18 pilots of Armed Forces 433 Squadron, calls it the most demanding job in the world. "You want to fly faster than everybody else, better than everybody else, lower than everybody else." says the pilot, "because you want to survive." Maj. John MacNeil. overall coordinator of Maple Flag, says teaching fighter pilots how to survive in war time is the whole point of the exercise.

of Soviet jets and tanks in the remote muskeg and jackpine forests. They must plan their approach to ihe targets, make the bombing runs and plot their escape as well as deal with the obstacles Scales throws in to make their missions more demanding. "I like to throw a few curves in," Scales says ith a broad grin. Those curves can include simulated surface-to-air missile sites and enemy figh'ers. After every mission, the pilots are debriefed to learn what they did right and what got them "shot down." Pilots call the missions "exhila Some 1,500 peace activists protest the opening of ARMX '89 "We don't want to see our planet destroyed by bombs byhatred' Union threatens mail strike Digest musician who was supposed to play traditional music for Wan Li, chairman of the standing committee of China's National People's Congress.

The protester played several bars of the French Revolutionary song Marseilles, then wrestled an emcee for a microphone at a podium near Wan's table, shouting slogans in Chinese. Police escorted the man from the podium as he raised a fist and shouted in Chinese for China's premier to resign. Forces' smokers face dismissal, jail TORONTO Canadian military personnel have been warned they could be dismissed or jailed if they're caught smoking in the washrooms of military aircraft. The Department of National Defence says a growing number of people are violating smoking bans introduced in 1986. There have been 22 documented incidents of smoking in the washrooms of the forces' five Boeing 707s since 1985.

No disciplinary action has been taken against those who have been caught. There has been one cigarette-related fire in a plane's washroom waste bin. Its tactics include bringing soiled diapers and heavy suitcases to work to make security checks more difficult, and leaving expensive machinery running. The union is also encouraging workers to work to rule, to refuse security checks, to waste supervisors' time by asking unnecessary questions and to "take no initiatives" that might improve postal service. Canada Post spokesman John Caines predicted the campaign will backfire, saying it is led by a minority of union militants and "they've really gone too far this time." Meanwhile, two senior Canada Post officials fired after allegations of a job-selling scheme at Canada Post facilities at Mississauga near B.C.

nurses work to rule VANCOUVER Administrative personnel at some British Columbia hospitals were forced to work through the holiday weekend as unionized nurses refused to do any work not directly related to nursing care. The ban designed to demonstrate the resolve of the C. Nurses' Union to win a new contract seemed to be sporadic, since at small hospitals nurses "do pretty well everything" and it was impossible to cut back. The ban could be a prelude to more job action as the union and hospitals return to the bargaining table today for the first time in a month. Protester serenades Chinese envoy TORONTO (CP) A dinner for a visiting Chinese leader was disrupted Sunday by a slogan-shouting protester who got within metres of the head table as more than 500 guests watched.

The protester was a TORONTO (CP) Workers at Canada Post may strike this summer if management doesn't respond favorably to contract demands and complaints of "harassment." Union president Jean-Claude Parrot said he's launching a "Campaign for Dignity" on behalf of the union's 46,000 workers, warning it could escalate to a national postal strike this summer. But a spokesman for the corporation says the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will win no sympathy from the public, nor support from a majority of postal employees The postal workers' campaign is described in union literature as "a multi-faceted over-all strategy to discredit the corporation." were abusing their positions of authority and trust, says a corporation spokesman. Both had been under investigation by police and Canada Post. Workers had accused the air mail manager of seeking a S4.000 bribe and sexual favors from a casual employee in return for full-time employment, said Andre Kolompar, president of the Toronto-area Canadian Union of Postal Workers. When the woman refused, she was fired.

The supervisor at the Gateway plant was accused of demanding money and jewelry from casual employees in return for a full-time job paying SI 3.48 hourly. Jetset days in ruins, Astaphan longs for the simple life became our friends who had cattle ranches. his jetset existence travelling the globe with By STEPHEN THORNE The Canadian Press TORONTO Ben Johnson's doctor says he sometimes longs for the simple life he left behind one summer's day when he learned he was headed for a career in medicine. It was 13 and a 17-year-old Jamie Astaphan was working as a deckhand on his father's ferryboat. Rosal.

sailing the Caribbean between his birthplace of St. Kitts and its sister island of Nevis. His mother called ahead with the news he had been accepted into the science program at Montreal's Sir George Williams (later Concordia) University. "If my parents hadn't pushed us particularly my mother I would be home running a charter boat. I would have been a hell of a lot happier." Jamie Astaphan's licence to practise medicine and his future are in doubt as he awaits his scheduled appearance before a federal inquiry beginning Wednesday.

He is under investigation by the Ontario-College of Physicians and Surgeons but remains defiant and appears anxious to answer allegations he prescribed and administered the drugs that cost Johnson an Olympic gold medal and sparked one of history's greatest sports scandals. "I don't care what people consider me I do my thing. I broke no law," he said during an hour-long interview in his lawvers" Toronto office. He will likely also explain the SlO.OOO-a-month contract he signed last year as Johnson's personal physician and describe I like that sort of stuff." He worked briefly at the prison in Warkworth. near Peterborough, and operated a private practice there for seven years.

He again found comfort in small-town folks. "They tell you good morning or piss off." Now sharing dual citizenship between Canada and St. Kitts. he opened his Toronto practice in 1983 and settled down with his wife and Canadian-born children: Jamie, 14, Kirsten, 12, and Scott, 9. He and his wife separated under the strain of the Johnson scandal that erupted at the Seoul Olympics last fall.

Astaphan says he never intended to specialize in sports medicine, but was channelled into the field "out of necessity" as a university wrestler and soccer player. "You can't learn injuries from a book. You learn by either having them or having dealt first hand with them. I had a lot of experience with that, so people came." Among those who made their way to Astaphan's Toronto practice were coach Charlie Francis and Canada's top female sprinter, Angella Issajenko. It was the summer of 1983 and their combative personalities blended: "Charlies temper is not a very nice one and mine is not much better." Soon afterward, his patients included Johnson and most of Francis's sprinters.

And Astaphan savs he and Francis remain a team. The only" difference is they appear to be outcasts in a sports world that has chaneed since Seoul. "You can kill either one of us we're already dead." the fastest man alive. Wearing a red golf shirt embossed with the gold emblem of the Royal St. Kitts Casino.

Astaphan spoke plainly, often bluntly, in a strong West Indian accent about family, sports, medicine and the scandal that has changed his life forever. "To change anything orthodox is to rub the grain the wrong way and it's a difficult thing to do," he said. "It's an almost impossible process, sometimes, and if you happen to do it, then you're an outcast." At times, he appeared as if he'd just as soon retreat to the simple island life of calypso music and deep-sea fishing. "Fish don't talk back to you. Fish don't tell lies.

Fish are fish." George Mario (Jamie) Astaphan was born May 22. 1946, on the British island colony of St. Kitts. which gained its independence six years ago. His grandfather, Antoine Stephan.

a Lebanese textile merchant, had landed there at the turn of the century. He thought he was in Brazil but stayed on and peddled cloth, signing his name A. Stephan. Jamie Astaphan was raised in privilege, the son of successful entrepreneurs. Besides the ferry, they also owned land, a hotel, a restaurant, a grocery store and clothiing stores.

Each of the 10 Astaphan children, was expected to meet the high expectations of their mother. AH did. Three of the sons and one daughter became doctors, three sons became lawyers; three daughters succeeded in business. Starting in a convent school at "If my parents hadn't pushed us particularly my mother would be home running a charter boat. I would have been a hell of a lot happier.1 Jamie Astaphan the age of 3, Jamie was required to wear a uniform and learned the rule of the rod "I was a little bit mischievous, I suppose." There was also little room for nonsense at home.

His father's idea of reveille was blasting Frankie Lane singing Mule Train every morning at 5 a.m. And he grew up hearing stories of Canada from his father and others who served with the Canadian merchant marine during the Second World War. But Astaphan did not visit this country before going to Sir George Williams, graduating in 1967. He went on to medical school at the University of Toronto, fleeing the city for Montreal each weekend his first year. "The first night when I got here (Toronto) I cried like a child I hated this place." He interned at suburban Scarborough General Hospital where he met a young Canadian nursing assistant.

Jamie and Karen Astaphan left on their wedding dav Sept. 15. 1973 for South Dakota and a hospital job in a town called Lemon. "I liked it there. We met people who i Ifi I i i i v.

'y tf. an 1- Jamie Astaphan faces Dubin inquiry hotseat.