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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1991-11-20, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20,1991. PAGE 5. GS Arthur Black Smoking dangerous to flyers' health I've just been going over some old newspaper clippings. Here's one of the headlines I found: EPP SUGGESTS SMOKING BAN ON ALL FLIGHTS And a rather more blunt one: OTTAWA TO AIRBORNE SMOKERS: BUTT OUT What's surprising about these newspaper headlines is that they're not that old. I clipped them out of the Globe and Mail in November, 1987. I find it hard to believe that four short years ago, smokers routinely lit up on flights as soon as the FASTEN SEAT BELTS sign was extinguished. Fact is, we all metaphorically “lit up” — smokers and non-smokers alike. The flight attendants tried to keep the nicotine addicts bunched in a special “smoking section” two- thirds of the way down the plane, but cigarette smoke is a notorious non-respecter of boundaries. If a smoker in 18B flicked his Bic, it wasn't too long before a non-smoker International Scene Repent! The end is near BY RAYMOND CANON I once saw a cartoon of a man walking down the street with a sign to the effect that the world would come to an end on a specific date. The original date had been crossed out and replaced with a number of subsequent ones. The last one was a few days hence but there was no doubt that, in the area of predictions, the man was something less than a success. I must confess that this same approach happens in the field of economics as well. Every few years there is a book appears on my desk which has a title something along the lines of “How to Profit from the Coming Depression”. If I remember correctly, one economist in the States was so successful in getting this point across that his book reached the top of the best sellers' list where it stayed for quite a few weeks. Well, the depression may or may not come but I know one person who profited mightily from it - the author of the book. If any of us in the field of economics were to predict a financial holocaust and actually see it come to pass, I do not think that there would be loo many people thanking us for being right in our prediction. I have been routinely predicting for years that some students will fail each of the exams of Economics that I give, yet I do not have hordes of the same students rushing up saying, “O wise and wonderful master ( or words to that effect), you were right as always; some of us did fail. How can you be so right so many times? Is it a gift from God?” In view of the current discussions between the Arabs and Israelis which may or may not still be in progress when you read this, one in 3A was wrinkling his or her nose. Nowadays of course, smoking is verboten on all but international flights, and flying is infinitely more pleasant for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Let us observe a moment of respectful silence (no coughing, please) for those poor wretches among us who suffer from two debilitating conditions: fear of flying and nicotine addiction. Can you imagine what it must be like for them to endure a flight from, say, Moncton to Vancouver? Not pretty, I'll bet. Probably a bit like it was for Oly Svane Thestrup. Mister Thestrup is a Danish actor who boarded a British Airways 747 in Vancouver not long ago. He thought he was going to London, England, but he woke up in a Winnipeg jail cell instead. And he owes it all to Dame Nicotine. Mister Thestrup you see, is a smoker. Imagine his consternation when he discovered that he had been put in an non­ smoking seat for the 10-hour flight. He asked for a seat in the smoking section. Sorry, full up. He ranted. He raved. Then he went to the washroom. Not long thereafter, sinuous tendrils of smoke began to issue out of the lavatory. And not long after that, the lavatory smoke detector went off. Things on British Airways Flight 347 got very ugly after that. Thestrup took a swing at a flight attendant. He threw a drink in the pilot’s face. He tried to open an By Raymond Canon of the current crop of doomsday prophets is having his day in the sun. The man in question, an American, has stated that the battle of Armageddon will begin exactly three and a half years after a dominant leader in the West, which he terms the anti-Christ (George Bush, take note) signs a treaty guaranteeing Israel's security. My first question is why the Americans, as often as not, seem to have something of a monopoly on this type of definitive prediction. Why can't the Canadians, the Swiss or even the Afghanistanis have their share of ultimate truth or infinite wisdom? No wonder we Canadians have something of an inferiority complex when it comes to our neighbours to the south. At any rate back to the prediction. The man in question, Hal Lindsey, has stated from his home in California (where else?) that the Middle East is “God's hourglass” and that “whenever you see things happening there involving Israel, it's always important from a prophetic standpoint.” In making such a statement Mr. Lindsey runs against the grain of most biblical scholarship rejects applying ancient prophetic connections to modem events. Mr. Lindsey goes on to say that the war will last three and a half years and will pit Letter to the editor Cadets don't want The local Brussels Cadet Corp 2967 would like to be recognized as one of the many groups and organizations that participated in the Remembrance Day Services held in Brussels. Other groups mentioned were the Brussels Legion, Ladies Auxiliary, Girl Guides, Brownies, Cubs and Scouts. The Cadet Corp has been sponsored by the Brussels Legion Branch 218 since 1979. The Corp has always participated with the Poppy canvassing in and around the area. The Corp emergency door and step outside at 36,000 feet. He became such a pain that the plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing. Which is how Oly Svane Thestrup, Danish thespian, ended up in a Winnipeg jail cell. The manic-depressive Dane is but an extreme example of something flight attendants are encountering more and more often in the tobacco-free lanes of our airways these days -- nicotine-crazed customers doing everything short of hijacking to sneak an in-flight smoke. Despite the fact that they face a criminal record, possible banishment from future flights, a $100 fine and humiliation in front of their fellow passengers, desperate smokers are going to insane -- and dangerous — lengths to soothe the tobacco monkey on their back. Some have smashed the smoke alarms in aircraft washrooms. Others have tried stretching shower caps or even condoms over the sensors. You'd think the removal of ashtrays from the washrooms might stymie die-hard cigarettes being tossed into paper-filled waste bins. Scary. Scary enough to convince me to toss a few extras into my carry-on bag next time I take a flight. Such as chewing gum, sunflower seeds, some lollipops and maybe a can of snuff. Not for me — I plan to leave them in the aircraft washrooms. the Soviet Union (or what is left of it) and the Arabs against the Israelis, the Western World and China. Yes, he actually said China. Israel will be almost on the verge of annihilation when the Messiah, Christ, will come to save the country and set up his kingdom of peace. Well, there you have it. Such stuff should get our minds totally off the discussion of such mundane matters as the ordination of homosexuals, the imposition of the GST as the work of the devil or the concept of Saddam Hussein (not George Bush) as the anti-Christ. According to Mr. Lindsey, one of the victims of this final battle is going to be Mikhail Gorbechev. Having used up eight lives already, he at least will know where the ninth one is going. While you arc digesting all this weighty material, you can rest assured that I am now preparing a definitive book, which I will write in California, and which will be entitled “How to Profit from the Coming Holocaust in the Middle East.” (Hint: don't buy Israel bonds.) If you want a prophecy to tide you over, I predict that some of my students will fail their Christmas exam; it will not, however, precipitate the breakup of our country. to be left out also takes great pride in participating at the Remembrance Day Services at the Cenotaph and the Parade to and from the Church Service. The Corp has continued to grow through the years with an active membership of 30 Cadets. To join the Corp it costs nothing but gives back to the Cadet a sense of self-worth and a taste of discipline. The Corp would appreciate having this oversight recognized by your paper. Lisa Glanville C.I. Letter from the Editor By Keith Roulston Do we learn from history? History has always fascinated me and i've spent a lot of time reading and studying it but there are times when I wonder if we should bum all the history books and wipe out the collected memories of all residents of the world. Most of the time, I think we can learn a lot from history. This newspaper was bom, for instance, based on a story I'd read about how a salt well in Blyth was funded early in the century. A meeting was held back then and local people were asked if they wanted to invest in the well (located on the property that the G.L. Hubbard Rutabaga plant is on today.) It seemed to me that the solution to not having a newspaper in the community was for people to invest in their own community. With the help of Sheila Richards and dozens of shareholders, The Citizen was bom. Similarly, I think Huron county residents should study their past to seek solutions for the future. This county was built on a combination of individual initiative and community co-operation. People set out into the woods alone to carve out a new life, but learned to help each other to bring that life about. There was freedom for the individual to start up a store or factory, but there was also a realization that in some things, people were going to have to work together and so we ended up with co-operative creameries and cheese factories, community halls and churches and schools. There was no conflict in those days between free enterprise and community co-operation: no silly ideology about socialism versus free enterprise. These were pragmatic people who saw a need and look whatever action they could think of to fill that need. I think we need to borrow a little bit of our ancestors' thinking if we're going to rebuild our economy. It's when I read about what's going on in Yugoslavia or Northern Ireland I begin to wonder if the history books should be burned. History should enlighten people but in loo many places in the world, it is used instead to dredge up reasons to hate. Last week the hatred between extremists of Protestant and Catholic background in North Ireland led to bombings and shootings that took several lives. Just when you think things might be settling down over there, violence breaks out again. In Yugoslavia, attempts of Croatia to break away from the union are being brutally battled by the central government, led by the dominant Serbs. Serbs have been starving Croats in two important cities and Croats are in terror of what may happen when the poorly-armed defenders finally have to give in. Hatreds run deep between the peoples of the region and helped trigger World War I. We haven't heard much about these hatreds in the last few decades because of the Communist dictatorship in Yugoslavia that kept them under control. Anyone familiar with the ethnic neighbourhoods of Toronto, however, could tell you how deep the old hatreds went. In these old arguments both sides can name you off the atrocities the other has perpetrated over the centuries. Each sees only the bad of the other side, never of their own side. Faced with the overwhelming evil of the other side, they can justify almost anything done by their side. We suffer a touch of the same problem in Canada. We're still fighting the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the Riel Rebellion, the Battle of the Boyne. Many in English Canada still resent the opposition in Quebec to conscription during World War II and many in Quebec will never forgive the rest of Canada for forcing young people to go in the army for a war they didn't feel they had any part of. History should teach us the folly of trying to avenge old grievances but too often people use it to dredge up reasons to hate instead.