ZERO TOLERANCE TO CRIME…not as long as the gutless self centered Ron Clarke and his cronies remain in charge of the Gold Coast City Council.

The sooner we clean up the Glitter Strip the better.

Our reputation on the international stage is doing us no good at all.

Clarke, Bligh and her bunch of idiots have this delusion of grandeur, with the idea to bring the 2018 Commonwealth Games to the Gold Coast.

Put your own house in order first mate!! Crime is out of control on the Coast and in South East Queensland. Homeless sleeping in Church doorways to get some warmth…tourism floundering.. why?

Simple.. People do not want to visit the Coast anymore, Kiwis cannot afford the crippling dollar. $6 for a cup of coffee in Surfers Paradise at their exchange rate. Their dollar just does not cut it right now. It is cheaper to visit the USA or Asia, for both Kiwis and Aussies. Americans have stopped coming. The Asian community has slowed and if you tell me this has nothing to do with the out of hand crime on the Gold Coast, I would probably tell you to take your head out the place the “sun don’t shine”.

The latest bright idea was the Big Wheel, on top of the Transit building in Surfers Paradise.. Totally wrong! One Big Fail! It should have been on the Boardwalk where the tourists gather, views of the waterfront much better than looking into a bunch of high-rises in my opinion. No wonder it has gone into liquidation!

Over 90 armed hold-ups on the coast this year alone. A family wrecked by these thugs and scum, with the tragic loss of a father, husband and colleague. The scum will get a tap on the wrist from the court.. Yes they will do time, but they will also get out and probably go on and commit more crime, maybe even take another life. As for this brave policeman’s family it is a lifetime sentence for them.

Until this egotistical Clarke and his council go, the Gold Coast is not going to recover.

We need to act now, I suggest that Ron Clarke grow some balls and become a man and clean up the Coast.

No. a.better idea…get out now! along with your crooked council!. He is living in the past and trying to trade on his glory days as an athlete. Move on Ron.. It is time to retire.

Better still resign whilst you do have some dignity.

Sadly, I doubt this will happen.

It’s a “ticking time-bomb” once again it has exploded, same school similar circumstances.

Kings College in Auckland NZ, is right at the fore with the news recently of another student death. David Gaynor, 17, was one of four intoxicated students placed in a “withdrawal room” before being ejected from the King’s ball at Eden Park last weekend. This past Saturday night, experts from a drug detection agency, two sniffer dogs and breathalyzer’s monitored Saint Kentigern College’s ball at Auckland’s ASB Showground’s.

Drugs, alcohol, balls, testosterone filled kids, rich and powerful parents, pre-ball parties, where booze is the norm, it’s a recipe for disaster. Not a year has passed since we read of the tragic deaths of three other students from this very same school.

As I write this column, I am in a somewhat reflective mood, thinking back to my own schooldays at a private boarding school. We were filled with testosterone and we got our kicks from building wooden trolleys and racing them through the basement of the school’s gymnasium. From the hype that lead to the 1st XV clash with our “arch-rival “Yes”, we had our thrills, excitement and spills. Lookouts posted on the hunt for the ever-diligent brothers while we snuck a quick cigarette.

One in particular was Pat Walsh, affectionately known as “Hedgehog” He is now the President of the Secondary Teachers association and with the recent news that Schools are to be given formal powers to search students they strongly suspect of having drugs or weapons, he hoped it would be a powerful deterrent for children who thought they could bring drugs or weapons into schools. I read recently that the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency, the country’s biggest drug tester in workplaces and schools, and the Secondary Schools Association president, Pat Walsh, praised the Government for addressing the issue. NZDDA chief executive Kirk Hardy said they were “very open to interpretation, which could be ultimately costly for schools”. He was also concerned that the draft guidelines focused on weapons rather than alcohol, drugs and synthetic substances such as Kronic.

All this brings me back to where I started, “A ticking time bomb” Three days after burying their mate, King’s College First XV played the game of their lives to beat arch-rivals Auckland Grammar.

Unfortunately they have swept the real issue under the carpet yet again. We really are a nation of “Rugby Racing and Beer”.

A serious debate has raged in the still considered Redneck state of Queensland over the use of GPS tracking to monitor the state’s most dangerous sex offenders. More than 6000 people have applauded the State Government for finally committing to stricter scrutiny.

This poses the question. Have we become too soft on criminals? In my opinion Yes.

We now have the new “correctional facility in Auckland, labeled “CLUB MED MT EDEN” The private contract let to the UK based SERCO. Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar says inmates are being pampered while their victims continue to suffer. “Pool, table tennis, gym equipment, food for the different cultures… they are all examples of how we are catering for the offender. Prison is becoming a lifestyle choice,” he said.

When we look back through this country’s criminal history, there is a pattern that has emerged through the years. Governments have grown soft on criminals. Special diets, culturally sensitive, prayer mats and rooms, compensation for criminals. We just need to delve into this country’s history to see the pattern.

I well remember the words of the famous Bobby Fuller Four song. “Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won.”

Sadly, this seems no longer to be the case; criminals today are becoming the winners. They have it easy in comparison to their victims. They live in comfort and lead a pretty charmed life, are given all the tools and resources to re-educate themselves…write their memoirs, learn a new craft and pretty much live “The life of Riley” in comfort with a tailor made diet, 3 square meals designed to their needs.

Perhaps the penal system needs to take a leaf out of the USA’s Arizona State. Hard labour under a hot sun. No, “what about my rights” approach.

When you committed the crime, you forfeited all of your rights. You took away the rights of your victim.

Sadly, the victim’s sentence is nothing less than life!! The criminal’s is short lived. And in comfort with all their needs pandered to. They are given all the resources needed to rehabilitate back into society.

When will we ever learn?

There’s an old Jewish proverb that that says- ” A mother understands what a child does not say.”

Nothing could ring more true, after events of the past days, whereby we learned of an urgent night court sitting to determine whether a health board’s decision not to do surgery on a terminally ill boy would amount to homicide. Thankfully, the judge did not rule this way and the decision to turn off the frail 7yr old boys life support was made.

I could imagine nothing worse than having to make this heart wrenching decision for whatever reason, but to have watched your child suffer in silence through out their life I could imagine nothing worse. The boy’s older sibling had also died after a long battle with the same rare disease. As the years passed, the condition began to cause irreversible damage to various organs. By the end, both were bedridden, unable to speak and in immense pain.

This mothers life was devoted to caring for her sick and frail children, every living breath of it. In October of last year, the lad had a feeding tube inserted because he could no longer swallow food or medication. Earlier this month, the tube became dislodged and the only solution was to operate. doctors said that without it he would die within days.

Senior doctors, nurses and a hospital ethics committee were unanimous that the tube should not be reinserted. So too, was the boys mother. The boys only form of communication was by flicker of an eye movement, but through all this pain and suffering, she knew and understood him. she said in her affidavit, read to the court; “He often screams out in pain. He is extremely fragile. He is uncomfortable if he is slightly too hot or cold. Passing urine and bowel movements hurt him. When he is being fed, the pain worsens horrendously due to acid reflux.” She said she was distressed about the intention to keep feeding him when she had seen him in chronic agony. A hospital director told the court that the mother was a “wonderful carer of her child, a child who she loves dearly.”

Justice Jill Mallon said she was satisfied it was not in the boy’s interest to have the operation and it would go against good medical practice. “It would be prolonging the dying period when … death is closing in. The operation will defer death, but not for long.

The boy departed this world the next day, to a better place, of that I am sure. The question is simply this..

Who knows best?

Some people say that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it. In my opinion I think that is a pretty fair assessment of the situation.

I was recently reminded of the Raurimu massacre, where 14 years ago, Stephen Anderson gunned down ten innocent people, in the tiny little hollow at the doorstep of the mighty Ruapehu.

Anderson was found not guilty by reason of insanity, on six counts of murder and four attempted murders.

He now lives in the community and has turned to religion to seek inner peace.

Too bad about the victims families, those still grieving the loss of their loved ones. Yes, it has been said time is a great healer but how can a nation forget?

Can they? Sadly we do, ask the average person in the street who is Stephen Lawrence Anderson and I doubt you will get a second glance.

We read almost with daily monotony, another victim, another committed to a mental institution because of a heinous crime.

Mental Health services are overstretched under resourced and lack the funding to deal with the increasing number of people calling on their services for help.

We do all have a choice, in some sad twisted way; Anderson’s was a cry for help, sadly altogether too late. Certainly lessons have been learned from that tragedy, but as time has marched on, we see and hear more and more about our failing mental health system. Too little, too late.

People turn to bizarre cults and beliefs to find solace inside their tormented worlds.

We only have to look at the latest prediction, the world, according to American Preacher, Harold Camping should have ended by now. People quit their jobs, euthanized their pets and sold all their possessions to follow this crackpot.

Across the ditch, a couple who claim they are Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene have set up base in Queensland and are drawing in disciples from across the country. Cult watchers along with mental health agencies are watching with interest as people from both sides of the Tasman pack up to follow these eccentrics. Some of the facts behind his fledgling movement make for alarming reading. Vulnerable followers, worried relatives, busted relationships and doomsday predictions, form the backdrop to this group that has everyone talking.

In the uncertainty of today’s fast paced world, Life really is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it.

Live your own life, embrace it to the very best of your ability.

You only get one crack at it. Make it count.