egiess i in Alabama LITTLEVILLE, ALABAMA — Terry R. Mills, 32, wes struck by a Nortolk Southern train and lost his left leg just below the knee last month as he was lying on the tracks. The incident occurred a few feet from the spot where, in [9X6 Mills had been struck by another train and had lost his right leg. eoe Bossier City, Louisiana — Kenneth Bryant, 19, and Sabrina Perkins, 17, were arrested in March in the middle of the day at Dillard's Department Store on a showroom bed having sex. Said the reporting police officer, “They said they just wanted todo it” ~ And in October, in Dayton, Ohio, a ninth-grade boy performed oral sex on a female classmate ina study hall while the teacher was reading and listening to her radio through earphones. Richard T. Martinez, 35, was arrested for indecency in St. Paul, Minnesota, in May, after police found him wearing only a bra and G-string at 10:30 p.m. outside a theatre. In his hand was a life-size plas- tic inflatable doll. According to police, a bottle of lubricant was nearby, and the man was perform- ing a sex act. The Color Purpie author Alice Walker was recently declared a “state treasure” by California’s Arts Council, but Walker protested about the statue she received for the honor. Walker called the 11-inch naked female torso award “an insult to women,” and vowed to “keep it in the box it came in.” In February, a judge in Sydney. Australia, awarded $1.5 million against the driver of a car responsi- ble for partially paralyzing Charmaine Johnston, now 35, in 1985. NEWS OF THE Compiled by is P, McCredie A portion of the damages was to care for Johnston's son, now 2, who the judge said was conceived as a result of Johnston’s brain damage from the accident, which prompted her to act “impulsively and without judgment or thought of conse- quences” when an opportunity arose to have sex. Philippines president Fidel Ramos announced in March that he would allocate about $150,000 to provide cable television to some northern areas of the country. He said he was concerned about the increasing population growth in the area and said cable TV would enable the people there “to do something else in the evening, in the hours of darkness.” At a congressional hearing in February, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mollie Beattie, argued with Rep. Don Young of Alaska over continued exemptions for Alaska natives from laws protecting ocean animals. Beattie’s concern is that seals, polar bears and other animals are being killed solely for their gall bladders and reproductive organs. which are delicacies and thought to be aphrodisiacs im some Asian countries. Young became angry, grabbed an T8-inch-long walrus penis bone that he had brought along as a prop, and pounded it inte his hand as he argued with Beattie. humediately after giving birth to her and husband Moe's second child in 1977, Fran Casto under- went a tubal ligation. A lite over a year later, Fran gave birth to their third child. Immediately after that, Moe underwent a vasectomy. In February Fran gave birth to the couple's fourth child. In March, Judy Amos of Dayton, Ohio. was watching the news on TV when word came that two planes had collided at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, set- ting on fire a third plane on the ground filled with paratroopers. Amos knew that her son, Chad Van Cleve, was a paratrooper on exercise at Pope. Amos’ grandfa- ther, four uncles, her father, and her sister had all died in fires. Van Cleve was indeed assigned to the plane that caught fire, in which 20 were killed and 80 injured, but minutes before the crash, he had left the plane to take a restroom break. Officials and press in Bogota, Columbia, are red-faced over a recent visit by Nigerian prince Rasulu Olatoyosi. The prince was received with full diplomatic honors and gave numerous press conferences and newspaper interviews. Columbia's Minister for Foreign Affairs wined and dined the prince for two full days. It was only when the royal visitor had departed that an aide thought to ask the Minister, “Isn’t Nigeria a republic?” The true identity of the fraud, Associated Press reports, remains a mystery. "July 27/94 tively. LIMITED TIME OFFER For a limited time only, save 35% oll plus save the G.S.T. on Contour Select mini blinds, C alls from over one hundred colons, FABRIC VALANCES Choose from our entire Finishing Touch Collection, Over 3,000 combinations available. 5O Sn VERTICAL BLINDS - PLUS FREE VALANCE WINDOWWEAR HELD OVER! These special discounts now end July 30/94 30/94 WEST VANCOUVER 925-3655 NORTH VANCOUVER 1226 Marine Drive CONTOUR 984-4407 BLINDS + DRAPERIES “Advertorial Ted White, M.P. #302 1200 Lynn Valley Rd. North Vancouver V7J 2A2 In 1980 Canada had gold reserves of 22 million ounces. These reserves have been sold off until only 5 million ounces remain today, the lowest level in 50 years. Since last October alone, the | Bank of Canada has sold 2,109,000 ounces, a pace which will see all remaining reserves disposed of with- f in 14 months, The sale of gold provides foreign currency which can in turn be spent when necessary to defend our dollar f on the financial markets. The Bank } of Canada uses foreign currency reserves to buy up Canadian dollars, § thereby maintaining demand and helping to stabilize the value. THE DOLLAR TREND Even with the spending of foreign reserves to prop up the dollar, it has dropped from around 77 cents US 1 last October to about 71 cents US this week. This is an 8.45% decline f against the US doilar in just over 8 months, When compared to the Pound, y Deutchmark and Yen, things are even worse. In late October 1993 one Canadian dollar bought 51p, 1.27 dm or 83 yen. By early July f 1994 these figures were 46p, 1.13 dm and 71 yen, representing drops of 9.8%, 11%, and 14.5% respec- Even if your Canadian invest- ments such as your RRSP, your home or other assets increased in value by 12% in the past eight | months, you were barely keeping up with the devatuation of our dollar. If } you earned less than 10% on your investments in the past eight months, your investments have declined in value relative to the above four major currencies. Telephone: 666-0585 Fax: 666-0509 SELLING CANADA'S GOLD INTEREST RATES The Bank of Canada rate on July 18, 1994 was 6.48%, up from 4.63% in October of 1993. Canadian Bontls § now yield as much as 9.5% and a mortgage of $100,000 costs around § $100 more per month in interest | payments than it did eight months | ago. Interest rates are uo for the same reason that the dollar is down. Foreign investors are becoming more and more reluctant to buy Canadian Government debt. They are demanding higher interest rates as a condition of continuing to fund our deficit spending. WHAT NEXT? This month's issue of the Montreal based Bank Credit Analyst stated “Canada’s extreme levels of public } sector and external indebtedness | place it firmly in the ranks of the Third World in terms of debt burdens ... | Canada is on an unsustainable path. Debt burdens have reached the explo- sive stage and a financial crisis could hit at any tine. Foreigners hold more | than one third of Canada's outstanding federal bonds and more than half of all provincial bonds ... a full fledged crisis will be reached when foreign investors are no longer prepared to finance Canada’s deficit, except at punishingly high interest rates.” if you still think that our deficit and debt are not serious problems, how | much evidence do you need? The dropping dollar has eroded your for- eign product buying power and the value of your Canadian investments by around 12% in just eight months. The trend will continue as tong as our Governments at all levels fail to come to grips with deficit spending. We are j quite likely to experience a New | Zealand style debi crisis if nothing is | done soon.