Critics want Go Bag gone

THE City of Sydney has spent $40,832 buying 1200 Go Bags - emergency escape kits packed with radios, torches, dust masks and other survival paraphernalia - for staff and councillors.

The Go Bags were spruiked by the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, in July in a campaign called Let's Get Ready, Sydney.

The $200,000 project, half-funded by the federal Attorney-General's Department, advised city residents and workers to prepare for a hazardous materials incident, an explosion, an outbreak of contagious disease, civil disturbance, a natural disaster or other emergencies.

An accompanying website - www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/getreadysydney - advised residents that "you can carry your cat in a cotton pillowcase" but no pillowslips were included in the bags provided to council staff.

Chris Harris, a Greens councillor, has called the Go Bag a waste of ratepayers' money.

"I would rather see the $40,000 spent on environmental initiatives somewhere in the City of Sydney," he said yesterday. "It's an outdated hangover of the fear campaign of the Howard government."

Cr Harris said he received his council-issue Go Bag late last year. "I thought the wind-up radio would be good to take camping and the little torchlight was terrific so I kept that. I gave the Go Bag to my wife to take her books to uni."

The Go Bags contain first-aid kits, a bottle of water, sunscreen, tissues, a poncho, a dust mask, maps, a notepad and pen and a torch.

A spokeswoman for the City of Sydney said yesterday: "The cost of each Go-Bag is approximately $25, but you cannot put a price on safety and the city is leading by example by undertaking this emergency awareness program."

Aussie jailed for satanic goat sacrifice

A man has been jailed for stealing a pet goat and killing it during a satanic ritual on a church altar.

Scott Peter Romano, 28, of the Brisbane suburb of Runcorn, will spend the next four months behind bars for what Brisbane District Court Judge Kerry O'Brien today described as a "completely senseless" act.

The court was told the offence took place on Friday, October 13, 2006, after Romano and a group of friends had been drinking heavily at a party in Bellbowrie, in Brisbane's west.

Prosecutor Jacob Robson said the group drove to a nearby property and abducted a goat, which they loaded into the boot of a car and took to the Bellbowrie Community Church.

The court was told the group broke into the church and led the goat - which had been bought as a pet for a 15-year-old girl - to the altar, where they slit its throat in a satanic ritual.

The court was told Romano then decapitated the goat, later telling police it was because he could no longer bear to watch it suffer.

The group took the head and drove to a nearby convenience store to buy a disposable camera, which they used to take photos of themselves performing lewd acts with the head.

Police later found the camera at co-offender Tracey Lee Arnold's home, as well as the head which had been stored in her kitchen freezer.

Arnold was sentenced to two years probation last year for her role in the offence.

Romano today also pleaded guilty to one count each of stealing stock, breaking and entering premises, and injuring an animal.

Defence barrister Steve Kissick told the court his client's behaviour was "entirely out of character", and that he had volunteered to buy a new goat for the owner.

Judge O'Brien said the offence warranted actual jail time as Romano was of an age where he "ought to have sufficient maturity and common sense to know that this sort of conduct is unacceptable".

Judge O'Brien sentenced Romano to 12 months jail but fixed an August 10 parole release date.