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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1996-09-18, Page 4Page 4 Tithes -Advocate, September 18, 1996 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy News Heather Mir, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Tr nsoortation: AI Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Office & Accounting; Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruthanne Negrijn, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers .0,0Ikbe providing news, advertising and information leadership • '119 - 1104 , • • inion Publkations Mail Registration Number 0388 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; One year rate for Ontario subscribers - 835.00 + OST Two year rata for Ontario subscribers - 483.00 + OST CANADIAN ADDRESSES OUTSIDE ONTARIQ One year Subscription - 483.00 + OST Two year subscription - 8119.00 + OST OTHER RATES Outside Canada - 899.00 + OST Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 156 by J.W. E.dy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-515.235.1331 • Fax: 519.2354764 sews ,tiol,... lintecabooatelleedy.00m G.S.T. sn101210e311 E1)I'l'()RI:11, Mischief is a criminal act he courts call it 'mischief', which somehow implies a Dennis the Menace type of harmless prank -- gold- fish swimming in the water cooler, salt in the sugar bowl, or a plastic spider in the teacher's desk. But when mischief is used in a police report, it can mean anything from van- dalizing property to the tune of hun- dreds of dollars, to causing a fatal car accident. It is a crime, and potentially a serious one. Theft, while neither tolerable nor ac- ceptable, is at least understandable. The thief takes something to which he has no legal right. He does so for personal gain. He either keeps the item or sells it for money. Most crimes have a purpose to them, however warped. But one cannot make that claim for senseless destruction of someone's property. Stealing a 'no parking' sign may seem harmless enough -- a playful stunt done by a couple of youngsters looking for a bit of fun. But the cost of replacing that sign is substantial. The recent theft of four no parking signs and three no dogs allowed signs at a Hanover school amounted to $455, paid for by the tax- payer. Stealing a stop sign has deadly conse- quences if a car ends up going through an intersection and colliding with someone. Moving detour signs has undoubtedly given local youngsters a few laughs. But consider the cost if an emergency vehicle goes onto the wrong route. It's just a couple of minutes wasted. Then again, a couple of minutes can mean life and death to someone having a heart at- tack. A child who smashes garden statues and stomps down some rose bushes in a neighbor's yard out of boredom, to im- press his friends, or to get some thrill, is not a basically good kid coming uncom- fortably close to crossing the line. He has crossed the line. He has committed a crime and society must not down -play the seriousness of his actions. The line between harmless fun and criminal acts is not all that hard to un- derstand. Even a young child knows when he has broken another child's toy or when his actions have resulted in someone getting hurt. A teenager who steals a stop.sign knows his actions could cause a car crash. Seen in that light, mischief's true nature begins to show. There is anger; there is at the very least ambivalence about causing emotional or physical in- jury; there is contempt for the people who end up paying the cost. It is an at- tack on people and their property. We set aside the mistaken idea that this one crime that isn't quite a real crime. Mischief causes a lot of harm, and it should be causing a lot of concern. Somehow, mischief has come to be re- garded as a lessor sort of crime, little more than the naughty pranks commit- ted by basically good children. Those children are committing crimi=• nal acts and ?o say otherwise is doing a disservice to those committing the acts and their victims. "w The Saugeen City News Your Views Letters to the editor Water restrictions? Why should someone who lives alone, has no car to wash, and no lawn to water pay the same as a family.... Dear Editor: I received my PUC bill recently and read the no- tice that the restrictions on watering were over for the summer. Water restrictions? I know that I am not the only person who knows a few households who continued to water their lawns all night, almost every night, all summer, even in the rain or shortly after. Why does the town of Exeter have flat rate water pilling anyway? We don't have flat rate hydro bill- ing. In these days the all mighty dollar talks and no one is going to conserve water unless they receive a monetary reward. Why should someone who lives alone, has a shower Saturday nights, has no car to wash, and no lawn to water if they live in an apartment pay the same as a family of four who has two cars that they wash at least once a week, has two teenagers taking two showers a day, and a half acre of lawn that they water constantly? Hello! Before Exeter even thinks of amalgamating with the more progressive township of Stephen who has a better system, they should get their own gear to- gether and stop some people from subsidizing others wastefulness of a precious resource. H. Dickey Exeter A View from TORONTO -- Ontario's Progressive Conser- vatives will use tougher psychological tests to avoid recruiting the wrong people as jail guards,and it may be time to consider similar checks on their closer friends, the police. Solicitor General and Correctional Services Minister Bob Runciman, who is responsible for jails and policing, said those who seek jobs as guards will undergo improved screening for character flaws. He conceded that jails have had "an unending flow of problems and com- plaints," including allegations that guards beat inmates and male guards sexually harassed fe- male guards. Good policemen, it goes almost without saying, are overwhelmingly in the majority, but a large number of officers have been in trouble with the law recently. The day the province announced the tests for guards, two police constables in Toronto pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct justice through involvement in planting cocaine on a ueen's - ar By Eric Dowd suspect charged with trafficking. Two other offi- cers have been committed for trial on similar charges. That same day, police in Toronto sus- pended an unprecedented nine officers after a man went to hospital with severe injuries and said he had been taken to a deserted location and beaten. Next day, another Toronto policeman was charged with sex assaults on two women. In recent months a Toronto policeman and former auxiliary policeman have been charged with the holdup of an armoured van carrying $3.1 million. A Mountie in Toronto was charged with sex assault and extortion after he allegedly picked up a prostitute and forced her to give him sex and money. A Toronto constable was put on probation for stealing money from a drunk. A former To- ronto policeman was jailed for four -and -a -half years for defrauding more than a dozen people of their homes and savings. Two policemen in Toronto were charged with perjury after a judge said he had "grave Simple Cruelties` Brenda Burke A little snip of the scissors A few years ago, my hair was long. It grew around my shoulders as if it had the right to; the curled, black strands would travel as far as I would let them. I was married to this long hair. Sometimes it was piled on top of my head and only ringlets were allowed to graze my neck. This hair would blow behind me in the wind. The longer it grew, the more it screamed for freedom. It despised confining ornaments. Its nature was to hang loose, free and envelop the world. One morning I awoke from my black, frayed nightmare longing for something to slash, tear, rip away the strands that hung in my eyes, clogged the drain, tangled my sleep. I made an appointment with some scissors, the same scissors that had gently trimmed my tresses a month earlier. " Oh yes," gasped the hungry blades, "You want it all off!" When I left the hair salon that day, my shoulders were able to breathe. I swung into the car. Nothing got caught. Nothing fell into my eyes. I felt free. Not all of my haircuts have been that exhilarating. A recent one, however, came close. Nothing can be more exciting (or devastating) than watching long strands float to the floor after months or years of washing, brushing, curling, perming, decorating and protecting them. Depending on the season, the first thing you notice is how cold your ears are. And then everyone comments on the new you. The odd smart aleck will have the nerve to say, "But I liked the way you had it." I'm not sure about men, but I get the feeling most women are afraid of their hair. After you hop out of the shower, how will it turn out? Will it be a horrendous hair day, a so-so day or will it be one of those days you only witness in television shampoo commercials? People are really picky about their hair. Rainy days, bike helmets and burrs can cause problems. And being a hair dresser must be a tough job. What if you cut too much off? Do it the wrong color? Pull off an unwanted poodle perm? I wonder how many people actually look forward to getting their hair cut. There are a lot of souls wandering the streets constantly murmuring, "I have to get this hair cut - It's driving me crazy!" And when you're sitting in that chair, a whole brave new world envelopes you. Staring at an array of hairsprays, gels, combs and clips, you wonder if you're making the right choice. And what if you've got nothing to say as you sit there gawking in the mirror. Or worse yet, what if you wear glasses and they're on the shelf and you can't even see what's going on? On the other hand, if you're just getting a wee trim and keeping the same style, there's nothing earthshattering to look forward to. What I don't understand is why I tend to put off hair cuts until I can't stand it, then simply get on with the cut, look in the mirror and think, "I should've done this before now." Any way you cut it, hair seems to be one of those sneaky little things that tend to nile the world. Tougher psychological test for police? doubts about the credibility and reliability" of evidence they gave against a man he acquitted of shooting at them. A second judge held that three other policemen fabricated a story and framed two innocent men whom he acquitted of drug trafficking. And yet another judge ruled police showed "reckless disregard for the truth" by hiding evi- dence about informers and drug charges against six had to be dropped. Two senior officers in Sault Ste. Marie ad- mitted attempting to cover up impaired driving by one of them which a motorist public - spiritedly reported. Two constables in York Region were convicted of dangerous driving after their cars crashed at 120 km/h in a 50 km/ h zone, injuring five. A Toronto policeman pleaded guilty to drinking on the job after his policewoman part- ner was killed in a crash and found with nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood. A Peel constable signed a peace bond so assault charges against him would be with- drawn and a Toronto detective undertook to stay away from his alleged victim so a threaten- ing charge was dropped. A Durham policeman admitted stealing food from a store and smash- ing a glass door trying to escape. In the Toronto Sun, which normally shouts cops are tops from the housetops, a columnist wrote of seeing police handcuff a woman who had been ejected fr'm a bar, bang her face on the cruiser hood and punch her hard in the back and called it "police brutality". These are merely among incidents noted by this writer and, because the province oddly does not collect statistics on how many police officers are accused or convicted of crimes, it is impossible to say officially whether they are on the upswing. But there are enough of them to suggest a closer watch also is needed on who gets into ills police.