Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n846/a07.html Author: Allan Meltzer MOVE ON Boy, that Christina Blizzard has really opened my eyes. I've lived in Ottawa's "rotting core" for more than a quarter of a century. I've probably even eaten at least one meal in that same Byward Market restaurant and I can only thank blind luck that I have never been interrupted by "addicts begging for money." I'm in the Byward Market or Centretown every day and most evenings, but I have never felt unsafe. But can I be wrong? Now, thanks to her, I wonder if my streets are among the most dangerous in the world. According to the book Treasury of Jewish Humor, Nathan Ausubel writes that "a worm in a jar of horse radish thinks its life is the sweetest in all the world." Maybe I couldn't see what was going on around me until she told me and other Ottawans. Thanks to Ms. Blizzard, I know those people on Rideau Street were really selling and buying illicit substances and not exchanging business cards. That must prove her point. I will move to Toronto, where I just have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire of a gang war. Allan Meltzer, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake