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Odds & Ends
By Devin D. O'Leary
OCTOBER 26, 1998:
Dateline: Vatican City--Though their stance on birth control
is strong, their stance on anti-impotence drugs seems even stronger.
The Vatican pharmacy, one of the world's most well stocked, announced
that it does not plan to sell the popular potency pill Viagra.
Although Catholic theologians have admitted there is nothing wrong
with Viagra when used by a married couple to help their sexual
life, the pharmacy of the Holy See will not stock the drug. As
of last Wednesday, Viagra is available for sale in other Italian
drug outlets.
Dateline: France--The French AIDS prevention agency Sida
Info Service has yanked cartoon ads featuring Snow White and Cinderella
"romancing" (in a safe way) with their charming princes.
The (non-explicit) ad campaign urged condom use "so your
love story will remain a fairy tale." SIS bowed to pressure
from mega-corp Disney to pull the ads.
Dateline: Norway--The Norwegian Standards Association,
which sets governmental standards for everything from bicycle
safety helmets to food packaging, now plans to standardize the
country's Christmas trees. Designed to curb the import of cheaper
(though clearly inferior) holiday foliage from neighboring Denmark,
the new three-class system will grade trees according to shape,
size, color and growing method. Only trees with a single tip,
regular shape and color and free of artificial insecticides and
fertilizers will be rated "first class." Under the voluntary
guidelines, Christmas trees should be felled after Nov. 20 and
have a label showing the date of harvest. Norway consumes 1.5
million trees a year, 500,000 of which are imported from Denmark.
Dateline: Virginia--Neil H. Lederman, sentenced recently
to 11 months in jail for writing a bad check, found himself out
in just three weeks because the Fairfax County Jail could not
afford to feed him. Lederman, a 43-year-old orthodox Jew, required
Kosher meals. The special diet wound up costing Fairfax County
an additional $70 a day. Much to the dismay of county prosecutor
James Bitner, Lederman was released last month and allowed to
serve out his sentence through home detention. Bitner now wants
local police to investigate the validity of Lederman's Kosher
claims.
Dateline: Florida--In a public disclosure statement, Newell
Daughtrey, a candidate for Florida state comptroller, admitted
that he has over $52,000 in debt on 23 different credit cards.
As state comptroller, Daughtrey would be the state's chief financial
officer. Daughtrey claims he is making regular payments on the
23 cards and that the massive debt just shows he "understands
the private sector."
Dateline: Georgia--More than 100,000 pilgrims descended
on tiny Rockdale County, Ga., last Wednesday to hear what they
believe was the final message of the Virgin Mary. For the past
seven years, 47-year-old former nurse Nancy Fowler has been relaying
annual messages she says are from the Virgin Mary. Despite the
fact that Fowler is not endorsed by Catholic officials, thousands
descend on Fowler's rural farm every October to receive "the
word." In 1991, the county health department asked Fowler
to post signs warning pilgrims away from a well that Fowler said
Jesus had blessed in an appearance to her. The well water tested
positive for coliform bacteria. Last year, Fowler announced that
1998 would be the last year the Virgin Mary would speak through
her. In her "final" message, the Virgin Mary told the
faithful to "pray against the evils of this day" and
shun materialism.
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