Your Letters - March 14

No justice

I HAD to voice my opinion on the disgusting, inadequate punishment given to the young man who let off a firework into a school playground causing so much permanent damage and heartache to two innocent victims. The first referral order that was passed on him for previous crimes clearly had not shown him the error of his ways, so why give him another?

This was a terrible crime, the young man who committed it knew what he was doing and at the age of 17 knew the damage it could cause and should have received a harsher punishment for his actions.

Why can't this dangerous, mindless youth be named, why is he protected by law, when the law cannot protect the innocent?

Last year I applied to become a magistrate, I was not accepted. I'm now glad of their decision, I could not sleep at night with a clear conscience knowing I had not given the victims of a crime a thought.

This sentence shows that the magistrates had no thought of the victims at all. It does not teach any lesson to those who commit crime or deter a youth from doing wrong. We have to rely on the justice system to fight crime. These victims only had the justice system to see that this young man was punished for what he did to them and the justice system let them down badly.

I feel very ashamed that our legal system has let these boys down and hope someone reads the article and can put right this miscarriage of justice so there is some hope for the law abiding youth of our town.

JENNY WOOD

Glovers Lane

No justice 2

READING the Observer this week and the reports of the school firework attack I must admit I am astounded at the justice system in the UK that basically dismisses such a serious offence that could have resulted in major injury or possible fatality being treated so lightly.

The lads that were injured possibly have long term damage and in the current climate of offenders being given softer than ever sentences surely this should have stood out as one to be of special note. How will this shortsighted Government ever rid us of mindless acts by a sadly increasing number of young people when offences such as this are treated so leniently.

This Government is so afraid of having ever more people to imprison, but that fear is perpetuating offences because the prison sentences are so short or non existent as in this case, nobody is in fear of prison any more.

Apart from the fact that most UK prisons are like two or three star hotels and with better food and facilities than you find in any NHS hospital, people who have experienced both will confirm this.

It seems the UK is going even further down the crime route, you see less police in this country than almost any other civilised society, the police we have all look and act like social workers and seem to treat criminals like paying guests, one only has to view the various TV actual crime series to see how impotent British police are now, treating criminals and not just the suspected ones with kid gloves, no wonder we are a nation viewed as a soft touch by criminals from all over the world.

Unfortunately until we get a party in power that puts the innocent way above the guilty we will just keep going down that path that actually could lead us to become a Third World country left with just criminals and undesirables whilst the rest leave for a better life elsewhere as many have and continue to do so.

PAUL STEWART

Duke Street

No justice 3

I AM shocked and horrified at the extremely lenient punishment the youth received for the horrific crime he committed. The firing of a firework into the playground of the Bexhill High School, knowing full well that the playground would be full of children at that time of day and causing horrific injuries to the students. The punishment clearly does not fit the crime. I personally judge him the same as any terrorist who we all fear so much.

Through no fault of their own the students who were injured will bear the trauma the scars and the long term affects for the rest of their lives. Once again the law has been seen to reward the criminal.

SUSAN MUNN (Mrs)

The Ridgeway

Herstmonceux

No justice 4

I FEEL compelled to write after reading your article about the sentence passed on the person who fired a rocket into the playground at Bexhill High School.

The injuries suffered by the victims are horrific and the sentence passed is pathetic. Did the magistrates even consider what a terrifying, traumatic and painful experience the victims have suffered and are still suffering?

What sort of person can carry out such an attack? What will he do next as he has not had any punishment and certainly won't be deterred from carrying out another horrific attack?

I will shortly be looking for a secondary school for my son to attend and feel I have to ask how safe the High School or any school will be for my child now this person has not been punished. How safe are any of us with this person free to walk among us?

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

School problem

WHILE I am delighted for Bexhill High that they have had the approval for an extension to the school, I really do not believe that this solves the schooling problem in this area or is beneficial to the education of our children. All government statistics point to the fact that children do better in smaller classrooms, therefore any parent wanting the best for their child will not want them to attend a 'super school'.

There is not enough of an alternative to Bexhill High in the area and with the continual increase in the number of young families moving into the area there definitely seems to be a need for a new senior school. At present there is not enough choice for parents when selecting senior schools, most are over subscribed already and this will only get worse.

Elm Green School in Lambeth, London pioneered a campaign to set up a new community run senior school for exactly the same reasons we need one. Everyone that runs the school, has children at the school and chooses who teaches their children and how they are disciplined (www.elmqreenschool.com).

I am keen to see if there is any interest out there from parents who would like to do the same in Bexhill. If you are please email me your ideas, views and comments to [email protected]

We really need all the support we can get.

MRS GRAHAM

Terminus Road

Numbered spaces

I HAVE been reading with interest your letters regarding vandalism to cars in the Reginald Road area. I am a frequent visitor to this area of Bexhill. As I can never find a parking space around there I park in Wainwright Road and walk through. I cannot understand why the very large car park which is usually empty cannot be used by the residents of Reginald Road and surrounding roads. Each space could be numbered and the residents given the opportunity to use it. Security shouldn't be a problem as CCTV cameras are in operation around the town, and the police station is only a stones throw away!! A larger fence would be good. This seems an obvious answer to the crowded roads. Also making Reginald Road one-way would stop cars being scratched by lorries trying to squeeze through. Perhaps the council might look into this idea.

MRS HARRISON

Address supplied

Postie friends

Re: Letter March 7 from Mrs Thompson entitled "Post Profit".

I WOULD like to reassure Mrs Thompson that the postal workers of Bexhill are still her friends. Unfortunately I feel the same cannot be said of Royal Mail or the Post Office Ltd. For several years these once great institutions have been run into the ground are currently being manipulated to destruction by Mr Leighton and Mr Crozier. One has only to look at the Post Office closure rate and time Royal Mail deliver now to see that. No longer is the general public and recipients of mail considered to be their customers. It is the big businesses that call the shots for Royal Mail now. That's why we see such an increase of "junk mail". That's where Royal Mail is heading, to become leaflet and advertising distributors to the nation.

Unfortunately it was not up to the postal workers at Bexhill to surcharge the letter Mrs Thompson received. The surcharge was generated by the new high tech machinery that Royal Mail has installed at the mail centres. Once highlighted the item was then passed to the delivery office concerned and a surcharge collected. Failure to act on this highlighted item could have resulted in one of my members being placed on a disciplinary charge. Something that Royal Mail is only too ready to carry out at present. As job cuts and manpower hours are reduced in an ever more alarming way.

So please Mrs Thompson do not blame the postal workers of Bexhill we are your friends and are trying to protect what is left of the once public service that we have all relied on in the past. You may remember our petition that we ran during our industrial action last summer. Since then I personally have met up with our local Conservative M.P. Mr Barker, the Labour MP. for Hastings Mr Foster, various councillors from Rother Council and hundreds of trade union activists from across the country. All are of the same general opinion Royal Mail is fast becoming Royal Fail.

PAUL PLIM

CWU Rep

Bexhill Delivery Office

Bus concessions

AN announcement by the Department of Transport covers the extension of the concessionary bus fare scheme to allow all those over 60 and those who are disabled not only to travel in their own Local Authority area but to use the scheme nationally.

Looking at the figures, Rother now scarily has the highest total per centage of over-60s in the population than any other county, London borough or district across the whole of England. There are now 35.4% of Rother's population who are over 60 and eligible to make use of the scheme and might I respectfully suggest those that haven't done so - now take advantage of the expanded scheme when it starts on April 1.

After all it may help with issues such as parking in the local towns, access to other means of public transport and in the higher age brackets prevent the recent increase in road traffic accidents due to more elderly drivers who perhaps might think it time to reconsider their driving abilities. Of course despite the increased Government funding for the scheme no doubt Rother District Council will say 'and how are we going to pay for this?' and hike up our Council Tax.

But shouldn't this be such an area for priority concern for a local council with now the largest group of over-60s in their area than some of their financial backing for other projects they have rolled out over the past few months?

Philipa Coughlan

Gordon Place

Beat officers

WHY is it that on TV reports and on the streets you always see police officers, and the PCSOs, always in pairs? Are they scared, or is it unsafe to work on their own as the old-fashioned local beat bobby, or is this an instruction from the Sussex Police?

No wonder the cost of policing is going up,and If this is the case it does not say much for our safety in walking the streets as individuals.

Let's get this changed to single beat officers, which will then be able to have a larger area of cover, they also have enough equipment, i.e. sprays, batons, and radios, the latter to summon additional support if required, or are the force saying they can't even provide this support to their own officers?

Chris Ogborn

The Gorseway

Parking outcry

YET again the spectre of charging for parking raises its head and there will be the predictable outcry, already led by your editorial, that control of parking by charging will drive people out of the town - one begins to wonder where they will go!

Cllr Maynard is quoted as saying that there is no question of implementation that wasn't wanted. But not wanted by whom? I can understand that those who now park in the town centre day in and day out from 9am to 5pm will not wish to see controls. These selfish individuals are known to anyone who spends any time in the town and especially by those very shop keepers who will instinctively resist charges for parking.

Despite the efforts of traffic wardens the present two hour permitted stay is to a large extent unenforceable requiring, so the police inform me, three observations over the period of the two hours.

But there are alternatives to charging which should have been examined before now. In towns such as Harrogate, which receives more visitors than Bexhill could ever hope to see, the authorities introduced a scheme similar to the clock used by the disabled driver. One obtained the clock from the nearest shop and then displayed one's arrival time in the windscreen.

Such a simple step allowed the traffic warden to see at a glance if the vehicle had stayed longer than the time allowed and would improve their ability to penalise those who would abuse the system, as well as being a more efficient use of their time and effort.

What seems to be lacking is any sensible debate about alternatives with the major interested parties, the county council and local traders, simple adopting rigid poses which do nothing towards seeking a sensible solution to the problem.

One hopes that, as you put it, the cat is out of the bag that we might see some logical consideration rather than the simple polemics which have been a disappointing feature of this problem for years.

PATRICK W JOHNSON

Devonshire Road

Parking enforcement

THE cost of "criminalised" parking enforcement in Bexhill is presumably borne by Sussex Police from their annual budget. If such enforcement is "decriminalised" and transferred to local government I assume that the appropriate slice of funding will come with it. I cannot believe that such a transfer would be accepted by Rother councillors without such a transfer of funding. It therefore cannot be necessary to install meters to pay for the cost of enforcement.

If, however, this should not be the case and appropriate police funds are not released, then effectively residents will pay twice for the same service and therefore be subjected to yet another stealth tax sadly by local Conservative politicians.

Cllr Maynard is reported as saying "we would not go into the process of decriminalisation if it wasn't something that was financially needed for Bexhill or what the residents wanted". The word disingenuous comes immediately to mind. Local politicians did the town no favours when they promoted the development of Ravenside. They will finish the town off completely if they connive at the installation of parking meters under the guise of parking decriminalisation.

Previous experience in Rother District of so-called "consultation" does not inspire confidence either. In the event that a firm proposal to install metered parking was developed, all Bexhill's residents must be given the opportunity to endorse it or otherwise.

Households in Rother were circulated recently with an absurdly wasteful recycling newsletter, comprising eight pages of A3 size paper, at a unit cost I believe of 58p per copy.

A small simple "Yes/No" reply-paid proforma for the registration of a parking meter vote by Bexhill residents would therefore seem perfectly feasible by comparison. The inclusion of such a proforma in one of the routine Council communications sent periodically to all households would reduce the cost further.

The decriminalisation of parking enforcement has all the hallmarks of something which will incur widespread anger and opposition, not least because the current majority party in the council achieved only about 24 per cent of the possible votes of the total electorate of Bexhill at the election last year. Had they included an intention to introduce parking meters in their election material I suspect that even this modest figure would have been much further reduced with interesting consequences.

This subject surely must be a matter for Bexhill's residents and its important business community to decide. If they feel strongly enough about it they can ensure its rejection.

JOHN LEE

Southcourt Avenue

Cold comfort

I NOTE the statement by Cllr Maynard that on-street parking charges will not be introduced "until the regeneration of the town centre is completed."

That is a comfort. Given the current rate of progress of regeneration it surely will not happen in our lifetime!

JOHN HODSON

Cooden Sea Road

Rules ignored

THE Bexhill Observer carried a fair amount about parking in the town and even used its Observer comment column to make its position on the subject clear. There are however other opinions that may be taken into account.

The situation as I see it is at the moment is that we have one traffic warden who doesn't have the recourses to enforce the two hour limit which is in force across most of the town.

She does a good job keeping the unloading bays and crossings clear but it is a fact that many cars park all day, certainly outside my practice in Parkhurst Road, with little chance of getting a ticket. Maybe once a year the police blitz the town and enforce parking rules but then you can be fairly sure that you are safe for a long period afterwards. Even if you do get a ticket you can pay it off quickly and get a reduced fine.

If I park in the De La Warr car park it will cost me 5 per day, over a year that amounts to a great deal of money (although it is possible I believe to buy a permit).

Last time the parking limit was enforced a patient came in and told me he'd counted 45 cars in Parkhurst Road and 15 of them had received a penalty notice. That's a third of the cars parked! Imagine if that third were true across the whole town - that's a lot of cars! If these cars had moved on as they should it would enable more people to be able to park more easily in the town. How do we achieve this? Enforce the parking regulations and that will mean paying people to do it - hence the need for meters or adding it to the rates!

CHRISTOPHER MILES

Parkhurst Road

Wonderful care

WE often read in the newspapers about the suffering of patients through ill treatment by staff and management in care homes around the country. For a change I would like to express what wonderful care my wife received during her two-year stay in the Normanhurst.

My wife Lilian Brookes was suffering from the mental illness Dementia which is one of the worse complaints I have known. For months she was unable to speak, see and finally swallow. During the whole of this period Lilian was always clean and tidy in every way you could wish. Her hair was cut and washed regularly and her bed linen was always immaculate. The staff were always on hand treating the patients with special care and most of all respecting their dignity.

I am writing this letter in appreciation for all the care and kindness my wife received. If I need to go into care in the future the Normanhurst would be the place I would choose.

BERT BROOKES

The Marina

Cemetery costs

HI, my name is Mrs Claire Overfield and I currently live in Australia. I used to live in Bexhill and am actually moving back there in June of this year.

I was reading your paper on-line as I do every week and noticed someone had put in an article about the double charges on cemetery plots if you live outside of East Sussex.

Well, my story is that I had a premature baby nearly six years ago now and unfortunately he didn't make it.

When we came to deciding where to have him buried we decided Bexhill because it was quiet and pretty there. We did actually live in Hastings at the time, so when we went to enquire about it we were told there would be double charges because we don't live in Bexhill, but before moving to Hastings I lived in Bexhill for 18 years and all my family live there, too, so to hear that we had to pay double we were disgusted too. I never did find out why because at the time you are grieving and trying to have our child buried, so my question is to the council ....Why?

I am backing up the man who wrote the letter as I have been in the same situation.

C. OVERFIELD (Mrs)

Australia

Travellers' sites

Re: 'Secret Beach' Bexhill Observer, letter March 7

I AGREE completely with Mrs Davies' comments in her letter. However I would like to draw attention to the Days Gone By column from John Dowling. In the 1979 paragraph the local council were fighting plans for four travellers' sites in Bexhill. Three at Pebsham and one at Glyne Gap.

Bodiam and Staplecross had suggested Bexhill would be preferential to their locations surprise, surprise with the government's recent statement that we will now require 100 sites in Sussex. The areas suggested by ESCC in the last enquiries was Herbrand Walk, Glyne Gap, Pebsham tip, Summerfields and Sandrock.

With the advent of more travellers arriving from Europe there could be more sites needed.

We all should be prepared for another fight.

I hope that our two councils support us when this travellers' site situation arises, as it most certainly will. Unfortunately we no longer live in a democratic society since our Prime Minister refused us a referendum on the constitution.

R. SANDERSON

Top Cross Road

Women lie

I, LIKE many others was appalled to read the front page of the Daily Mail - March 8 - of the story of the Cambridge student put on trial for rape when the case against him was flimsy to say the least. Non-existent would be a better phrase.

It took the jury just long enough to have a cup of tea before throwing the case out.

This is relevant to every town in Britain today, where we continue to see a police force (and Crown Prosecution Service) determined to hound any man so accused while at the same time treating the accusers like the Archangel Gabriel. This is what happened in Cambridge and it could happen here too.

At some point it needs to be pointed out women lie as much as men do, and as any child knows - if you know your lies are going to believed you will continue to tell them.

This current bias towards those making allegations should worry your female readers as well most of them will have brothers or sons too. The fact that Bexhill police last year wasted hundreds of man hours and thousands of pounds hunting a rapist that didn't exist is testament to this phenomenon happening here.

The police also showed they cannot be trusted to uphold the law, or men's rights, when they let the woman who lied go with a "telling off." Their inaction over such an outrageous matter should have been met with more powerful official condemnation from councillors or the local MP, but it was left to your readers to voice such opinions. How would you feel if next time the police catches the person who's burgled your house or mugged you in the street, they let them go with a "telling off?"

As a famous columnist says "You couldn't make it up!"

J. HICKS

Little Common Road

Dog owners

OWNERS who allow their dog to run free, rather than walking and keeping under control, don't love their dog. If they do not care what happens to their dog, why do they have one in the first place? And, do they care about anyone who might be affected or injured by their actions?

Vaccination gives a dog (or, for instance, any domestic animal), a certain degree of immunity from infectious diseases, however, straying dogs are at a high risk of parasites.

Furthermore, they irritate people, be it a homeowner, pedestrian or driver. Owning a dog (any pet) comes with responsibility. Being a responsible dog owner includes being a good neighbour and making sure your dog is too.

Otherwise, it is total lack of care for other members of society, pure selfishness. The trouble is neighbourliness and responsibility is dying out, they are things of the past.

E. D. COOK

Sandhurst Lane