| EDITORIAL | |  |
|
 |
|
| Last updated at 8:34 AM on 29/10/07 |
Cheers Jeers 
Jeers: to recklessly firing the innuendo cannon. St. John's lawyer Bob Buckingham has certainly proven that unproven allegations can even spring forth from those in the legal profession. After withdrawing his "brownshirts" comments about the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, Buckingham has still left us with a curious picture. He says a client of his was dragged to RNC headquarters by uniformed officers using a marked police car with the lights and sirens on. The police department says nothing of the kind happened, and that the person in question was brought to police headquarters by a single officer in an unmarked car. Leave aside the name-calling in all of this, because sticks and stones and all that. The two versions are diametrically opposite to one another, and no one seems willing to address the central fact that they both can't be true. So, who's not telling the truth?
Cheers: to another week with no urgent matters. Yep, apparently there's still no reason to open the House of Assembly, because everything's fine in the strong, proud and determined province. Stay tuned to channel 106 for more fast-breaking test patterns, brought to you by the legislature with fewer sitting days than almost any other in the nation.
Jeers: to drivers who don't know what that thing does. It's a little stick, see, there on the steering column. If you push it up, it makes lights flash to let other drivers know you're going to turn one way. If you push it down, it lets drivers know that you are going to turn the other way. It's called a turn signal - and it appears 90 per cent of the driving public hasn't figured out that using it is the law. Here it is from the Highway Traffic Act: "113. (1) A person shall not turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in the proper position upon the roadway, as required by this Act, or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway, or otherwise turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway unless and until that movement can be made with reasonable safety, and without giving an appropriate signal to traffic which may be affected by that movement." Oh, and wait - and not after you've started turning, either: "A signal of intention to turn left or right when required shall be given continuously for a sufficient distance before making the turn to warn traffic." Glad we could clear that up - now how about trying it?
Cheers: to justice delayed. Friday, the provincial government finally came up with a cash settlement for Ronald Dalton, one of the three men at the centre of the Lamer Inquiry into the administration of justice in this province. Dalton spent eight years in prison waiting for his appeal to be heard after he was convicted of killing his wife. After a new trial, he was acquitted. Now it's unlikely the $750,000 payment will make up for Dalton's pain and suffering, but it's at least a start.
|
29/10/07
|
|
|
|
5
