The Citizen, 2006-03-02, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2006. PAGE 5.
Other Views
Nice work if you can get it
I have no taste for either poverty or honest
labour. Writing is the only recourse left for me.
— Hunter S. Thompson
/
know whereof the maestro of Gonzo
journalism speaks. I have had many
blessings in my life, but one of the greatest
is this.
Right here. Writing stuff for you to read.
I am a professional word cobbler. A thought
weaver. A mason of sentences and paragraphs.
I look at the world around me, then I sit down
and write about it.
That's my job and I love it.
Which puts me in a rarefied category of
working stiffs. According to a survey
conducted by an on-line job search company
called Workopolis, 32 per cent of us barely
tolerate our jobs. We ,consider them just a
means of paying the mortgage and putting
food on the table.
For others, it's even worse — 17 per cent of
the people who went to work this morning
would just as soon be going to the dentist.
Think of it: nearly one out of five
people loathe and despise what they do for a
living.
Part of it is the nature of some jobs. Two-
thirds of the people surveyed said their place
of work offered them no opportunity for
advancement. Another 30 per cent said their
jobs were routine with no exposure to new
experiences.
For those of you who find yourself in the
can't-stand-my-job category, I offer one small
consolation: it could be worse. There are
some really, really lousy jobs out there that
probably make yours look like a stroll on the
boardwalk.
Each year, the magazine Popular Sctence
publishes a Ten Worst Jobs in Science list.
0 ntario plans to allow trials without
police having to be present, which is a
bit like having a wedding without the
bride.
A proposed law being pushed through the
legislature by the Liberal government would
permit police to give evidence by phone or
video.
So far it has sparked relatively little protest,
but if residents were fully informed of the
dangers, they would be marching in the
streets.
The aim is to reduce time police spend in
courts and free them to fight crime and
congestion, but it also would deprive accused
persons of rights.
The proposed law would allow witnesses —
and it stresses it means police — to give
evidence by "video conference, audio
conference, telephone conference or other
electronic means" in courts hearing alleged
_Violations of provincial laws.
It is difficult to conceive the province would
permit police to testify by phone, because it
Would deprive a defendant or judge totally of
seeing physical signs witnesses often show,
particularly when being cross-examined, that
can help determine guilt or innocence. These
include a witness's body language, whether he
or she is willing to look others in the eye or
shows indications of being ill at ease,
uncomfortable or evasive.
If an officer testifies on video, defendants
and judges will see an image, but it will not be
as clear as if the witness was in court and tell-
tale signs.may not be as easy to see.
An officer who is not in court cannot be
required to produce as readily his notebook or
other documents that may weaken his
testimony..
This year the list included students employed
in a University of California study who,
for a measly $15 an hour, signed an
agreement to have pesticide sprayed in their
eyes.
Then there were the guys who worked for a
U.S. Geological Survey in a remote area of
California last year. Their job: monitoring
'extromorphil' microbes. All you need to
know about extromorphils is that they are
supernaturally stinky and they live in foul-
smelling environments.
One employee said it was like being
surrounded by 100 "extremely flatulent
people".
My worst job? Tar and gravel roofing.
Slinging hot pitch around in the blazing sun in
the company of a squad of crazed workaholic
French Canadians who started at dawn and
slaved until they dropped.
But that's nothing compared to a job I
witnessed in the Kananaskis Valley of Alberta.
I was doing a story on a crew of biologists
whose job it was to tag and collar mountain
lions. They used a pack of hounds to track and
tree the lions, dart them, fit them out with
radio-transmitter collars, then set them free
again.
Most of the guys in the crew clearly enjoyed
their work — except for one, who never seemed
to smile.
A defendant or judge would have difficulty
seeing if someone at the other end prompts an
officer by signs and gestures,. as over-
enthusiastic officers have been caught doing in
some court hearings.
The law also would create two classes of
witnesses, those who can testify by video and
those who cannot and defendants may feel
they are inferior when all witnesses should be
treated equally.
Police will not be allowed to testify by
phone or video in charges laid under the
Criminal Code, which is under federal
jurisdiction and generally covers more serious
offences.
Some may belittle the provincial offences on
which police will be allowed to testify without
being in court as minor — the government has
called them "routine."
But they include traffic, workplace safety
and environmental protection laws and those
convicted can be fined, lose driving licences
which may cost them their jobs, have their
auto insurance premiums tripled and even be
jailed, so they are important to those involved.
One reason the public does not know much
about the issue is the government has not
talked much about it. Attorney General
Michael Bryant said the justice system has to
use the best available technology to avoid
I found out why. When they had a cougar
treed and tagged with a tranquilizer dart,
- Gloomy Gus moved into action. The cougar
was on a branch only about 20 feet over our
heads.
As the cougar began to get groggy, Gus
slipped a noose attached to a pole around its
head and shoulders. The idea was to break the
animal's fall and ease it carefully down to the
ground.
It meant that Gus had to stand...directly
under the cougar. He was looking more and
more disconsolate.
"How do you know when it's about to lose
consciousness?" I whispered to the other crew
members. They grinned like Cheshire cats.
I soon found out. A sure-fire sign that a
tranquilized cougar is about to pass out and
fall is the loss of bladder control. All over
Gloomy Gus.
I wonder if he included that on his work
resume?
Ah, but then there's Tim Byrne. Tim's a Brit
who lives in London. According to a story in
The London Sun, Tim just can't get enough of
his job. Even when he goes on vacation to
places like Tenerife and Mallorca, Tim looks
up folks in his line of work, then pitches in and
gives them a hand, for free.
His line of work? Garbage collector.
For the past 11 years Tim has cheerfully
hauled trash and hefted garbage cans while his
mates were getting sunburned at the beach.
"Rubbish plays such a large role in my life
that I simply don't need to get away from it,"
says Tim. • •
I suppose that's all it really takes to handle a
bad job — a good attitude.
Then again, Tim Byrne never had to stand
under an incontinent mountain lion.
police officers' time being wasted, but has not
mentioned potential drawbacks.
His plan to enable police to avoid court also
is buried in less than two pages of a 176-page
bill that covers many other issues and it almost
takes a private detective to find it.
The only vigorous attack on it so far has
come from New Democrat Peter Kormos, a
lawyer who often gets quickest to the kernel of
legal matters and said the province will take
away the ability of accused persons to mount a
full defence.
The Progressive Conservatives also have
said it breaches the right to cross-examine and
they will question it in detail once the debate
on it gets fully under way.
Some may contend police normally are fair
and accurate so there is not much to woby
about, but while most are honest, a small
proportion have been convicted over the years
of committing -offences from murder to
fabricating evidence and may not shy from
falsifying a speeding ticket.
Because government does not fund them
enough, police also are pressed these days to
work longer and become stressed and common
sense says they will make errors, so ,pe6*ple
need trials that are fair and full.
Final Thought
"I have resolved from this day on, I will do
all the business I can honestly, have all the
fun I can reasonably, do all the good I can
willingly, .and save my digestion by
thinking plettintly."
— Robert Louis Stevenson
It all costs
Let's face it — everyone wants the/best
of everything if they can have it. And
everyone would probably be happier if
they didn't have to pay for it.
A number of concerned residents attended
the recent meeting of North Huron council to
complain about the high taxes in the Wingham
ward. Though I generally cover these
meetings, another work commitment kept me
away. However, I am well aware of the issue;
it has been danced around on many occasions
by the councillors.
No one would question the frustration of the
individuals who brought their opinion to the
meeting. Wingham does have the highest
taxation in the county. However, finding ways
to change that isn't as simple as it appears.
I have covered North Huron council
meetings with rare exception for five years. I
have found them to be an extremely effective
council, Striving for balance and fairness,
capable of weighing the pros and cons before
making a decision.
I have also found that many of these
decisions do not come easily for them. The
high taxes have plagued them since taking
office. To place any blame on this current crop
of politicians would be unfair; taxes have been
high in Wingham for as long as I can
remember. Yet, I have watched them agonize
over every budget detail in an attempt to keep
spending at least under control.
Certainly there have been some expenditures
that might have raised my brow a tad, but they
are small items in the big picture, surprising
more for the fact that they were even noticed,
then for the money they cost.
No there are no mysteries about Wingham's
budget woes. Quite simply, for a centre of its
size it has given its residents too much. The
budget for its police force is quadruple what
the other two North Huron wards combined
pay for OPP, Yet, the Wingham people said
they wanted this level of service, and the
Ontario Civilian Commission on Police
Services ruled that they must keep it.
While it's in line with similar facilities,
there's no question the new complex operates
at a huge deficit every year, more than double
what was projected when public meetings
were held about building it. Yet, the people
who attended those meetings appeared to be
not the least apprehensive about whether they
really needed this kind of facility in a town the
size of Wingham.
Probably one of the greatest challenges
facing the local politicians is the Catch 22
situation they now find themselves in. No
question that for its size Wingham offers a lot
of services. Protection to person and property
right in your hometown, a state-of-the-art
recreation complex, a full-time fire chief,
theatre, museum and day care all make
Wingham a great place to live. But they all
cost money.
Raising the money to pay for them comes
from taxes. Unfortunately, not only does,
Wingham have the second lowest assessment
base in the county, but until recently had little
room for further residential development. On
the plus side, a boundary change with a
neighbouring municipality has improved this
situation. .
Council has solicited input from the public
through surveys to try and help solve the
problem. They encourage the public to attend
budget meetings. If people did, they would
perhaps have a better understanding of how
difficult it is to give the service they expect at
a price they can afford.
The dangers of video evidence