When local government descends into politically correct insanity

Sometimes the email inbox holds the strange but true and last week was no exception as it spat out a little local government weirdness.
Now I'm not a cigarette/cigar/pipe smoker and generally agree that passive smoke concentrated in enclosed spaces isn't a good thing for people to breathe.
But even I think Clarence Valley Council has descended into madness by seeking to stop people smoking in quite a few council controlled public spaces that are often beside busy town roads and main roads which in the course of a normal day give off a steady flow of fine heavy metal particles which are known to be injurious to health when inevitably inhaled by pedestrians.
With barely a legal leg to stand on that isn't highly contestable as far as I can tell, it has adopted a Smoke Free Public Areas Policy which will:

restricting smoking in the following public outdoor areas on Council owned or managed land:

􀂃 Within fifteen (15) metres of all children's playgrounds;

􀂃 Within fifteen (15) metres of all covered bus stops and taxi ranks;

􀂃 At Council playing fields, sporting fields, sports centres and at outdoor sporting facilities where active sport is being played;

􀂃 At all events run or sponsored by Council;

􀂃 At all patrolled beaches and public jetties; and

􀂃 Within fifteen (15) metres of Council owned building entrances, including, but not limited to, sports stadiums and centres, swimming pools, tennis courts, squash courts and community buildings.

For this purpose, a public area can be defined as an area set aside for public recreationon Council owned and/or managed land, including: children's playgrounds; covered bus stops and taxi ranks; public jetties; patrolled beaches; sporting fields; sports stadiumsand centres; public swimming pools; squash courts; tennis courts; croquet lawns; and community buildings.

This Policy does not apply to the following public areas:

􀂃 Public footpaths;

􀂃 Al fresco dining areas; and

􀂃 General parks, gardens and open spaces, including grassed areas behind and/oradjacent to patrolled beaches.

What happens if you're on a public footpath just outside a council-owned building entrance which fronts the path?? Good luck with trying to police this one, councillors! The cost of pursuing recalcitrant smokers through the court will far outweigh the possible $110 penalty council has been strangely silent about.

Final departures

Letter writers in The Oz have put THAT event held in the U. S. of A. this week in perspective.

The phony cacophony

I THOUGHT the world had gone mad but was reassured when I read so many letters (Most Talked About, 10/7) questioning the ridiculous adulation of Michael Jackson and the phony cacophony heard in much of the media. Graham Pascoe’s letter was interesting; I thought I knew just about everything about Bing Crosby, until I read how quietly he departed this world. It was a similar situation with his buddy Bob Hope. No fanfare, just resting in hospital at the end, in the presence of his wife Dolores. A comic to the end, his reply to his wife’s question “Where would you like to be buried?” was a simple, “Surprise me”.

Frank Bellet
Petrie, Qld

Okay, so you'd like to know what Graham Pascoe had to say in his letter. Read it below.

THE Hollywood-style hoopla surrounding Michael Jackson’s memorial service contrasts with another Hollywood funeral almost 32 years ago. Great as he was, Jackson’s accomplishments are dwarfed by Bing Crosby, who had the most number one pop music hits ever (38), was the number one movie box-office attraction five years in a row (1944-48) and in the top 10 a total of 15 times and was a major US radio star from 1931 to 1954.

Believing a man had a right to “die in privacy”, Crosby was buried at 6am (when the blue of the night meets the gold of the day) on October 18, 1977. Only his immediate family and closest friends were allowed to be present. Crosby revolutionised popular music in the 1930s but is now largely forgotten. Will Jackson’s achievements suffer the same fate?

Graham Pascoe
Bathurst, NSW

Source: The Australian