My answers to questions that were asked (Part I)

There is a forum in the Internet called AnswerBag in which people ask questions so that others will give them answers they are seeking. What follows are some of my answers I recently gave.

Are you for or against the death penalty?

Answered on October 30, 2008.

The concern I have about capital punishment is that it is very possible than innocent persons will be executed. I would rather see the killers spend the rest of their lives in prison doing hard labor and having no privileges at all including visits from their families and friends. When they are finished their hard work for the day, they should be returned to their cells until the next morning in which they work again, six days of the week. On the anniversary of the day they murdered their victim, they should be placed in a cell in which there is only one meal for the day and the lights are turned off. There would be no bed, blankets or pillow in the cell and only a hole in the floor to defecate. That way, they would never forget what they did to their victim.

Should we send prisoners on death row to fight in the war?

Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

The armed forces want men who are decent men who won't randomly murder unarmed enemy soldiers or civilians. The kind of dirt bags on death row would love to be free to murder anyone they could, even possibly their own fellow soldiers. I know, the movie, Dirty Dozen had such murderers on the team that was to fight the Germans but Telly Sevalas who you remembered, played the part of a nut case who loved murdering women and nearly caused the mission to fail because he murdered a woman on the job. As a soldier, would you want to serve in the field with a nut case who loves to kill people, perhaps even you?

My daughter 15 was caught shoplifting waxing sticks from 2 different packages at K-Mart Exchange. She was released to her sister. I have received letter from a law firm in Florida wanting $350. Do we need to pay or is this a scare tactic?

Answered on October 30, 2008.

I am retired now but when I was practicing law, I had a number of clients come to me with the same problem. I told them I would write a letter to the lawyer who was asking for the money. As a result, the lawyers backed off. The reason is; their client, the Department store doesn't want to have someone from their store wait all day for a case in the small claims court to be heard. Further, the courts in Canada have stated in those few cases that did go to court, that it is foolish for the stores to sue over such a small amount when in fact, loss of goods is something that they have insurance for. Ignore the threatening letters. Even if by the remotest chance the matter should end up in small claims court, it will be dismissed.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when somebody says "Are you WAITING for someone"?

Answered on October 30, 2008.

They are trying to start a conversation with me or maybe they want to rob me and they don't want the person I am expecting to suddenly show up while I am being robbed.

In Florida a 12 year old boy was accused of beating a toddler to death with a baseball bat because she was crying while he was trying to watch TV. What are your thoughts on this?

Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

It is outrageous that a 12-year-old would murder a small child he is looking after but it doesn't surprise me. The prime minister of Canada has stated that he wants to bring in legislation that will make it possible to treat 14-years-olds as adults when they commit serious crimes like murder and then sentence them as adults to 25 years in prison. I approve of the concept but I am wondering if it would be better to raise the age limit to 16 instead. That way we can be sure the little punks knew what they were doing and did it knowing that they would get life in prison for doing it.

If you found out that someone who you chat with regularly spent some time in a maximum security prison for some past offense, would you think poorly of them all of a sudden?

Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

A lot depends on why he was in prison. If he was in prison because he raped a child or even a woman, I wouldn't want him as a friend. Years ago, a very good friend of mine tried to rape my 5-year-old granddaughter. He was convicted and sent to prison. I didn't learn until his trial that he had been a convicted child molester in the past. We don't have anything whatever to do with him anymore. Admittedly some people change but the difficulty we have in choosing friends is; how do we know that that person has really changed? Is your friendship with this man more important than the safety of your family? If not, then avoid him.

When fending off an unprovoked attack, do you believe that you have every right to use any means necessary (no rules) for self-defense?

Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

In Canada, the law is that if you are attacked by an assailant, you have the right to use reasonable force to escape him. You can't just beat him because you are angry. One man, who approached another with his clenched fist, was suddenly hit by the other man first. The other man knocked four teeth out of the mouth of the assailant. The court said that he was justified in doing so. Another man is Canada had an unwanted guest in his home and when the guest wouldn't leave, the owner of the house tried to evict him. Then a fight took place and the owner grabbed a board and swung at the legs of the guest and broke one of his legs. The court said that the owner was justified in using the board to get the man out of his house since he was defending his property at that time. If at all possible, call the police and patiently wait for them unless the person is attacking you or damaging your property.

A firearm was given to my wife by her father years ago right before he passed away so I haven’t been staying with my wife as we are separated but my name is still on the deed of the house, so how can I be charged?


Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

You cannot be charged with being in possession of a firearm that is in your estranged wife's home if it isn't your firearm. To be in possession of a firearm means to have ready access to it and it’s unlikely that you would ever get ready access to your estranged wife's firearm so you cannot be convicted of being in possession of the firearm.

If I moved at the speed of light, would time be a factor?

Answered on Oct 30, 2008.

I once had an opportunity to talk with the late Werner von Braun, the German and American space scientist. I asked him how much time would pass by if we traveled out in space and returned to Earth at the speed of light for 28 years. He said it would take half the distance of our voyage to get to the speed of light and the remainder of the voyage to slow down. The same would be for the return trip to Earth. Both trips would take 14 years each. He said while on our trip, our bodies would only age 28 years. He then said that when we returned to Earth, as much as 5,000 years would have passed. He said that the reason for this is that our 28 years in space would actually be 5,000 Earth years but because the molecules in our bodies (as well as the space ship) slow down considerably while going at a high speed, and those on earth don't, that explains why we wouldn't notice the passing of time unless we were on Earth, which of course, we wouldn't be on Earth because we would still be in space in a semi-state of suspended animation.

Is it slander if you write something about someone that is the complete truth and can be backed up? How about a personal opinion that could or could not be true?

Answered on Nov 1, 2008.

Slander is the spoken word and libel is the written word. It is very difficult to be awarded money by the courts for slander unless the complainant can prove that he or she has lost business or friends because of the slander. Proving that loss is difficult. In matters of libel, proof is not required by the court to show that the person who is libeled has actually suffered. The court will presume that the person has suffered. Recently, the Supreme Court of Canada has stated that even if a person has defamed another person by what he says to others or what he has written, if he honestly believed it to be true, then there is no just cause to be sued. The person defamed must satisfy the court that the person who defamed him did so with a malicious intent to harm his personal reputation or with indifference as to the truth or falsehood of the slanderous or libelous statement. Sometimes, that is hard to prove. In Canada, if you are approached by the person you have defamed and threatened with court action, you have the option of apologizing and correcting your statement in the same forum you originally made it. That generally resolves the problem unless the person defamed can prove that the damage is irreparable.

Anyone hear about "sagging " pants becoming illegal in Riviera Beach, Florida. What are your thoughts on this? Is this law a civil rights violation?

Answered on Nov 1, 2008.

I think anyone who wears sagging pants is a damned fool. These dummies probably do it because they think it is in vogue. I believe that such a law forbidding it is proper but only if several inches of the crack of the wearer's ass is shown when they are standing or walking. It shouldn't be a criminal offence to do this but it can be a local ordinance with a fine as a consequence. I don't want to appear as a purist but it seems to me that the majority of the general public doesn’t want to be looking at the crack of a person's ass. I realize that some people when they bend over, especially if they are working, the crack of their ass will show but sometimes that can't be helped because pants tend to slip down if not tightly belted when bending over.

Do you support the law against using cell phone while driving?

Answered on Nov 1, 2008

In Canada, the provinces are bringing about laws that prohibit drivers holding a cell phone in one's hand when talking on the cell phone while driving. In Ontario, a woman crashed into a train while driving with her daughter. It was established that at the moment of the crash, she was talking on her cell phone with the cell phone in her hand. Both she and her little daughter were killed. It is now against the law in Ontario to talk on a cell phone while driving if the cell phone is in one of your hands. That is because, amongst other reasons, both hands should be on the steering wheel and not one hand on the wheel and the other on the cell phone. I have a gizmo with my cell phone that makes it possible for me to talk to someone on my cell phone without having it in my hand. My voice is picked up by the gizmo on my cell phone that meanwhile is put back in my cup holder. My voice is transferred to the radio in my car. I can also hear the other person on the cell phone through my car radio. That method and using ear pieces are acceptable in Ontario. Punching in the keys to a cell phone while driving is as stupid as reading a map while driving. When I want to punch in the phone number and set my radio to the proper station that will transmit and receive our voices, I pull over first and stop the car.

Do you believe dead human bodies should be used in an art exhibit? Why or why not??

Answered on Nov 1, 2008.

There has been exhibitions of dead humans in which their skin has been removed so that people will see the muscles of the bodies while they are in different poses. The bodies are actually covered with a thin coat of plastic so that there is no possibility of any disease coming from them. Apparently, these exhibitions are quite popular and are not considered indecent. In fact, they are considered to be quite educational. I know of no complaints ever been expressed by those who visit the exhibitions. Obviously, the deceased persons gave their written permission for their bodies to be displayed this way.

After not finding any help in a store, have you ever gone into an 'employees only' area and picked out what you needed?

Answered on Nov 1, 2008.

When I was studying criminology at the University of Toronto back in the early 1970s, we had a guest speaker in our class who was the head of the store detectives of a very large department store in Toronto. He showed us a brief movie of a woman who kept asking the sales help for assistance. They ignored her and kept on walking past her. After a few minutes, she just pocketed the item she wanted to buy and walked out of the store without paying for it. I asked, "Was she arrested?" The speaker replied, "Hell no! Why would we arrest a customer who steals a small item after being constantly refused service by sales people who kept ignoring her? I don't recommend this as a way of shopping. Once when I was constantly being ignored by a sales person, I went to the manager and he personally assisted me after he sent the sales person home for the day without pay.

What would you say to your boss if you won the lotto tomorrow?

Answered on Nov 1, 2008.

Goodbye

My neighbor beat his son with a curtain rod for spilling milk on the floor, even though the poor kid apologized to him immediately and agreed to clean up the mess. Was he right to do that?

Answered by on Nov 1, 2008.

In many countries it is illegal to physically chastise a child over the age of five other than a smack on the bottom a couple of times providing it isn't too often or too hard. I remember many years ago smacking a child on the bottom in a child agency because he kept throwing rolls of toilet paper into the toilet. One time after I spanked him, he turned to me and said, "I love you." It then dawned on me that he was throwing the toilet paper in the bowl of the toilet so that he could get personal attention and if spanking got him personal attention, then into the bowl of the toilet went the rolls of toilet paper. I stopped spanking him after that. I found a better way to stop his means of getting attention. The next time who threw a roll of toilet paper into the toilet, he didn't get any desert during lunch or supper that day. We told him why and hugged him at the same time. After that, our toilet paper was safe, that is until the paper was used for other purposes.