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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-03-12, Page 4Page 4 Citizens News March 12 19111 By ROB CHESTER The primal scream has been echoing through the office of late, and before I go completely over the high side,) thought I'd better write down a few ideas. This is a sort of human -typewriter -newsprint gestalt wherein the 'reporter, through alternate fits of violent action,' banging his head against the wall, and periods of lethargy, wrestles ideas down to the page. • It's good therapy- a ranting at the world echoed with banshee screams and conjuring images of unnatural acts. The mail delivered a newspaper styled magazine, outlining the iproblems of the crippled or handicapped in our society. One ad, for prosthesis arms, showed a man with a mechanical arm playing tennis. Featured in the ad was a device to be attached to a hand gun, to allow it to be manipulated with a. false arm. The handicapped it seems are to be denied none of the benefits or the failings, of society -even the abili- ty to go out and handicap someone .else. Yet another newspaper -disguised bit of propagan- da is a publication received from a religious,sect. This group is against sex, sex education, sex, government involvement in schools, sex, married clergy, sex, and did I mention it was against sex? Though not specifically stated, to these people, even proceation is a sin (or to use their own words a "debauchery") . The stifled hallways of a dark medieval fortress comes to mind. Perhaps this group should practice what they advocate and follow the way of the dinosaurs. On the subject of medieval practices: confessed Killer Richard Judy went to the Indiana electric chair on Monday. It seems the solution of exterminating him was easier or more desirable than helping him, and perhaps it was. Judy was in and out of prisons and mental hospitals since he was 13. He was 24. I am 24. The leaders of two countries meet in our nation's capital .- and the prime minister's son receives the lion's share of news coverage. The leaders talk of acid rain and Central America. The economics of two nations slip another notch. Problems that are not easily solved by heart nor mind...,. The head line reads: Where to hide when the bombs fall. I've worked at a lot of strange and unusual jobs..One, which I cannot mention, and probably shouldn't talk about, had something to do with this problem. When the big one comes, the old time travel back to the stone age, if you don't have a deep -dark hole to hide in - and brother, I mean deep and dark - join me on the front yard with your ,baseball glove. I plan to catch the first one that comes in. After my column of two weeks ago, also warped ramblings about the mail we reoeive, the postman pointed out we wouldn't have problems if we picked the mail up a little more regularly. Perhaps. But it's getting frightening to read mail or newspapers these days. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson coined the term fear and loathing. It is a dreaded hatred of that which you fear, or basically having to do somethingyou don't wish to do, knowing it is not good for you. The good doctor of gonzo journalism has whizzed through the majority of his assignments on weird drugs. I have a cure for the modern man's fear and loathing, which was inspired by him. If you're depressed by the goings on of the modern world, wave your arms above your head and scream: AHHHHHH! THE BATS! Always works for me. "I think my fixed income could use a few repairs." _sinuu�uunnuunuiunnunumnnnninnnnnuiuuuuunnninuuuninmmnuuuunn��i�inii�niiininuumm�unnnnunnuujnninn�unuimunnmNnnniic lei 0111Z.C.N �nnuunnunnn�nnnnn�nnununuirunuunuiinununuiuuninnnuuinuiuiuu�nnununnunmunnininun�umnnniii�u�uunnnuuunnunuuuu+nniini= Public not happy : punishment Capital punishment should be brought back in this country not just for killing certain people. Capital punishment was abolished a number of years ago and the public is not happy. There is always a cry from the public to have the death sentence brought back, but the politicians ignore it. Unfortunately, the out -cries come when a police of- ficer is shot. Before the -death sentence was abolished, the only way that anyone stood an outside chance of be- ing hung was if they had killed a police officer or a prison guard. This is fine because these people lay their lives on the line every day, but so does a small businessman who closes his store late at night. How about the poor teenager that is working at the cor- ner store and is 411 alone, or how about somebody walking down the street with a couple of extra bucks in his pocket? In the big cities, are these peo- ple not running a risk every day? And it is not just the big cities anymore, but all over. Whether capital punishment is the answer or not, there should be a long hard look at a way to pre- vent murders to some extent. If the answer is to br- ing back the death sentence, then it should be for killing anyone, not just a certain section of the pop- ulation. Canadians eat better for less Despite the fact that Canadians are paying about 10 per cent more for food than at this time last year, recent studies show that when compared to other countries, around the world our weekly food -basket is cheaper by a long shot. Although a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of sirloin steak now costs $8 in our capital city of Ottawa, the same amount and quality of meat costs the Japanese consumer $40 in a Tokyo market. Pork chops in Stockholm will set you back to the tune of $21 for a kilogram; and in Paris, considered the cuisine capital of the world, a kilogram of bacon retails for $21. while shoppers in Ottawa will pay $3.30 In fact, the recent . study of 15 world capitals puts Ottawa third from the bottom in food prices, and Ottawal prices are generally comparable to those in most areas of Canada. Here are some further examples. A 21 -item food basket in Ottawa costs slightly more than $61. The same items in London, England cost $85; in Paris $109; in Bern $118; in Stockholm $135; and in Tokyo a whopping $151. While the cost of food baskets is one measure, it is brought into sharper perspective when one calculates how long an average worker must work to pay for the weekly groceries. In Ottawa, eight hours on the job (on average) pays for the weekly groceries. The Parisian would work close to 18 hours; and the worker in Buenas Aires spends almost 30 hours on the job for his groceries each week. In fact, of the 15 capitals surveyed, the worker in Ottawa would spend the least amount of time on the job to pay for the weekly food basket, and the survey includes Washington, D.C. Canadians on average spend about 18 percent of their disposable income on groceries, which'is con- siderably lower than people in most Western democracies. And while shoppers in the Iron Curtain coun- tries may get staples such as potatoes cheaper than we do in Canada, how many times do Canadians have to line 'up for such things as oranges, fresh meat and dairy products? Certainly, all consumers in this country can't help but notice that the price of food is on the rise here, and has been for the past several years. But compared to other countries, we are not as badl off as we think we are. The truth of the matter is that the average Canadian eats better for less than just about anybody else in the world. .We are the last ones whcr should be getting indigestion over the price of our food. Port Perry Star • ]f tI 1 1citiic i� Published Each Wednesday Sy J.W. Eedy Publkat$ons Ltd. Member: Cons/lion Weekly Newspapers Association Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association News Editors - Mark Hough and Rob Chester Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 Subscription Rates: 58.50 per year in advance ;n Canada S19.50 per year outside Canada .Single copies 25c 11.