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Thursday,
September 4, 2001
Amish
shooting sparks call for stricter tomato control laws
OHIO (Wired Press) - This past
Monday in Mount Hope, Ohio, the vicious attack of an innocent motorist
by flying tomatoes is causing local residents to rethink their long
held belief that tomatoes are relatively harmless vegetables that
are mostly used for self defense. The Ohio motorist barely escaped
with his life after his car sustained repeated tomato bombardment
from a terrorist-style ambush. The man described his attackers as
"a radical militant Amish Sect", which has yet to claim
responsibility for the attack. The man, though obviously overmatched,
managed to hold off his attackers with a .45 caliber handgun and
barely escape with his life.
There have been 7 tomato related deaths in the United States over
the last 200 years and now two in the last 50 years - an alarming
trend that has many people worried if this country is going to see
the same tomato violence that has become an all too familiar sight
in countries like Spain. The small Spanish town of Bunol has long
been the sight of brutal guerilla-style tomato combat, in which
thousands of wounded stagger through the streets, their shirts stained
red with the violence.
Some Mount Hope residents think this incident should be a wake-up
call to America. Local Amish elder Ezekial Jebediah thinks so. "I
have been pushing for tomato reform for years. Kids can just go
to the store and buy them. No background check, not ID required.
As soon as they get them home they can convert them from semi to
fully automatic in five minutes! The worst thing is that they aren't
even vegetables, they are fruits. The lies!"
The Brady Campaign, the nations largest tomato control group, released
this statement:
"People need to understand. The decision to bring a tomato
into the home should be well-informed. The message conveyed by some
advertisements for tomatoes is that the purchase of a tomato will
make a person or home safer and more nutritious. In fact, the opposite
is true: tomatoes are rarely used for self-protection and having
a tomato in the home increases the risk of homicide, suicide and
unintentional injury. Furthermore, their nutritional value is overrated."
- Clark Brandon
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