Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 20 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, November 24th, 2005
www.clitheroetoday.co.uk Ciitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified)
www.clitheroetoday.co.uk Write to; The Editor. Clitheroe .Advertiser and Times, 3 King Street, Clitheroe BB72EW Editorial e-mail;
vivien.mealh@
easllancsnews.co.uk ----- Our sentencing
seems farcical AS I was going through The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times on November 17th, I have to say I am in total agreement with Bob Por'd with regard to crime and punishment or per haps the lack of the latter Decent law-abiding citizens
look to the police to catch the criminals and, as importantly, to the courts to give out apporopriate punishment. It must be frustrating for the police to see pathetic, farcical and totally inappropriate sen tencing dished out. Linked to this item turning to the letters page I read that Jan Alcock one of our JPs thinks that a "Prison Sentence" in your own home is punishment for a serious and persistent offender. What utter nonsense. I hope that, should I stray from the straight and nar row, I shall come up in front of one of these lenient courts and could perhaps look forward to a custodial sentence in my second home in Marbella. Finally, and on a much wider
and serious note, I was amazed but not surprised that our MP Nigel Evans voted against the 90-day Terrorism Bill along with a number of other MPs who thought it a good opportu nity to give Tony Blair a "bloody nose" rather than give the police and special services
the tools neccessary hopefully to prevent and deal with the acts of terrorism that have occured over the past few years. Have some people forgotten New York where THOU SANDS died along with Bali and recently London. Personally I think the time of
detention could be 900 days as we are dealing with an enemy with no regard for human life and who carry out the most awful crimes and acts of sav agery. We need to know we are being protected to the absolute maximum possible, and can carry on living out our lives in relative peace and harmony.
COUN. IAN BROWN, Chatburn Road, Clilheroe
Live in the real
world, please IN reply to Jan Alcock JP, Advertiser and Times’ Letters, November 17 th.- Is this person living in cuck
oo land? No wonder our court system is a farce if people with her seemingly narrow-minded view of life are anything to go by.
It’s about time these people
who are magistrates came and lived in the real world. By the sound of it, if she had been able to sentence “Jack the ripper” he would have had a year’s pro-
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bation with nine months off for good behaviour! When, oh when, will our
courts and most of all our Gov ernments realise that a tap on the wrist will not work with some people. And does anyone think these
stupid curfews can be policed in a satisfactory way, when in Clitheroe you are lucky if you see a police person during the week And for a JP to say a journal
ist doing their job in what I thought was a very unbiased report, was a cheap jibe; all I can say is the truth hurts and at least the journalist is living in the real world. In the same edition, the girl’s
mother, in my opinion, was cry ing out for help. It seems that JPs walk around with cotton wool in their ears and with blinkers on, so what they don’t see and hear is not really hap pening. Had it been a motorist parking in the wrong place for five minutes they would have been threatened with a custodi al sentence, and then banned for two years. Let’s hope someone can see
and hear before all (justice) has gone mad.
B. DEAN, Kcmpic View, Clithcroc
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gone too far IT is a matter of regret that your challenge to readers to consider whether “ traditional” events, such as Hallowe’en, are being used as an excuse for anti social behaviour, appears to have been ignored. It may be that there is now,
within our society (even in “ semi-fairyland” Clitheroe), such an acceptance of anti social behaviour that people can’t be bothered to complain; it may be that some are fright ened to do so lest they them selves be targeted and abused; it may even be that some are parents, who either have a con science about such matters (and good for them if they have) and so think it best to keep their heads down, or they have just buried those heads in the proverbial sand. Indeed, the relative silence is both worrying and enlightening: either “ there is no problem” or “we don’ t want to recognise that there is a problem” . But while there will be many children who will engage in “ trick or treat” (and suchlike) with no malice what soever in their hearts, there is certainly a minority who do so because they believe it (and “mischief night” and fireworks etc.) gives them the excuse to cause harassment and damage with impunity. A commentator on the recent French riots made the point that although there are genuine grievances amongst the outcasts of French society, most of those who suffer dis crimination took no part in the
disturbances, and many who did, did so simply because they enjoy it: it is for them (as we so often hear it said) “a laugh” . Before I am branded as being
out of touch (or worse!) per haps I might establish my “cre- dentials” for continuing a debate which has, so far, met with such apathy. Professional ly, I am the head of a large I l ls school: I have been a teacher
for some 35 years, and a head for 23 of those. Over this long period I have dealt with many difficult children and, more to the point, with their even more difficult and often anti-social parents. I am also a parent myself. Both my children are now adults: one a teacher, the other a social worker; and one thing I know for sure is this - when they were growing up (and now) neither would have dreamt of engaging in any kind of behaviour which would have caused distress to others. Why? Because they were both brought up with unambiguous moral teaching (and being Christian is somewhat irrele vant: religious people have no monopoly on morality) so that they know the difference between a right and a wrong act. Many of your readers will be able to say the same with equal - yes, why not? - pride. As for your single correspon
dent (I assume it is the same David Bowker who has, succes sively, written twice - the address does not make that clear) who has, at least, been willing to respond, I have to register some disappointment. His first letter (“Do not tar all youth with the same brush” ) missed the point spectacularly. This real and growing social problem will not be solved by taking a blind dive into nostal gia (by the way, I have lived in a few different parts of the country, and Lancashire is the only one of those where there has been such foolishness as an “ official” “mischief night” , so it is hardly a great British tradi tion, while Hallowe’en is, of course, an American import). But, most seriously, what Mr Bowker has failed to do is dif ferentiate between innocent fun (although I ’m not sure that Richmal Crompton’s “William” was particularly innocent) and vandalism. “Egging” a window is silly behaviour on the part of the perpetrator and irritating for the victim; throwing a rock at an aluminium garage door (which, in our case, followed the egging) is criminal damage, and hardly the action of those who “mean no harm whatsoever” . “ It is really a question of keep ing things in perspective” , opines Mr Bowker. What I should like to know is: who is going to pay for the damage to my garage; or my neighbour’s car window which was smashed on the same night, or the other damage done over this “ tradi tional” period? Perhaps, as a concession to the maintenance of old customs and not under
valuing “ the pleasures of responsible tradition” , Mr Bowker would like to make a contribution? Neither did I call for a ban on
such occasions. My call was, and is, for the exercising of parental responsibility. To take Hallowe’en as ah example: when my children were young, they enjoyed dressing up and “ trick and treating” ; but, first ly, they would ’visit neighbours who had been asked in advance, and secondly, one of the parents accompanied the group. It seems particularly crass in these increasingly violent and abusive times that some par ents will allow relatively young children (we were visited this year by unaccompanied nine to 12-year-olds) to go knocking on strangers’ doors, on dark evenings, by themselves. That is simply irresponsible,-not least because, through their apathy, parents may be placing their child in danger. Mr Bowker suggests that I
may feel a sense of “ futility” regarding this issue. Let me assure him that I do not regard the problem as insoluble, which is what “ futile” implies. Nei ther, incidentally, do I -view the perpetrators with contempt: I actually feel sorry that their upbringing has been so morally (but probably not financially) deprived. Regarding the partic ular incident which affected us (but, so the police tell me, just one of many such incidents across the town) I followed the gang involved, photographed some of them, and passed the photo to the police - local schools then aided their identi fication. In other words, I, for one, will not simply sit back and accept anti-social behav iour. Of course, as the letter from
Robert Ford makes clear (and his experience as a police officer gives his viewpoint considerable authority), the problem is then exacerbated when the judicial system simply “slaps them on the wrist” and asks them, “ if they don’t mind” , not to do it again. The case you reported of Rachel Linford is by no means atypical, and I was unim pressed by the special pleading of the “blood boiling” JP: the fact is that many criminals ignore or compromise non-cus- todial punishments because they know that, unless their behaviour is extremely dire (and sometimes even then: wit ness offenders who rip off tags and then commit the most hor rific crimes; hadn’t Linford already received an ASBO?), nothing much will happen to them. Everyone these days, particularly anti-social families, knows their rights; they just do
not understand their responsi bilities. By the way, I am not a mem
ber of the “ hang ‘em and flog 'em” brigade; I’m a concerned citizen who believes that the “ liberal experiment” which idolises “self-expression” has
gone too far, and I guess there are plenty of us around - how ever quiet the rest may be. The answer seems to me to be
crystal clear: a minority - but I suspect a fairly large one - of parents must accept greater responsibility for the moral education and the actions of their children. Mr Bowker quotes Biblical texts. To my mind these simply tell us that even over thousands of years human nature has not really changed for the better, and, let’s face it: most people today wouldn’ t know the 10 Com mandments if they tripped over them in the street. What has changed is how society deals with the problem, and it is quite clear that British society is now not coping with alcohol and drug-fuelled acts of aggression, with the current levels of crime against person and property, or, most fundamentally, with the destruction of the family unit which gives children the neces sary stability which immaturi ty requires. My own experience tells me that if a child knows his parent will be offended and distressed by his behaviour, then he is more likely to behave well; if, on the other hand, he has come to learn that they do not care, then neither will he. It is not rocket science. The great est contribution any of us can make to our common humanity is to replicate it. But that is not simply a biological and eco nomic function, as it is so often and reductively portrayed: it is also a social and a moral one.
THE REV. DR PETER SHEPHERD
Setting the
record straight LEST your readers be unneces sarily misled, may I state some matters of fact: 1. Unlike Roland Hailwood (Letters, November 10th), I did manage to attend the Planning and Development Committee- although I am not a member of it - when it discussed the Kirk- moor Road, Clitheroe, site development on October 27th. 2. Unlike Mr Hailwood’s
informant, I did hear consider able discussion on the applica tion. The other ward councillor, Conn.-Dyson, made a signifi cant contribution to that dis cussion. 3. Coun. Dyson’s words
included a reminder of the pre vious high volume of heavy vehicle traffic carried on Castle View, when the council’s works depot operated from the site in question. 4. All the points made in Mr
Hailwood’s statement were indeed heard by the committee members, and all the issues raised by means of submissions and residents’ letters were in the agenda before them.
COUN. BEVERLEY JONES St Mary’s Ward, Warwick Drive, Clithcroc
Art exhibition geared up for children’s cancer fund
by Duncan Smith
AN EXCLUSIVE exhibition of art and photography will boost cancer research through a local fund-raising organisation. Clitheroe solicitors Carol Maher and
Irene Chenery, the joint chairmen of the Ribble Valley Ladies’ Club, are hosting the prestigious exhibition at their Church Street offices next month. It will feature the work of Clitheroe professional artist Peter Taylor and two leading photogra phers. Money raised through two ticket-only
private viewings and two public viewing days will go via the Ribble Valley Ladies’ Club to Cancer Research UK. In particular it will fund the work at
Manchester Children’s Hospital of Prof. Jillian Birch, lead clinician on a nationwide study investigating the causes and treat ment of cancer in children. Artist Peter Taylor runs the Old Bake
house Gallery, in Eshton Terrace, Clitheroe. He paints mainly in oils and specialises
in dramatic skyscapes, the sea and coastal scenes, plus -views of Pendle and the Ribble Valley. His work has won lots of prizes and he has exhibited throughout the UK and abroad. In addition to Peter’s work, the exhibi
tion will feature photography by Peter John Fellows, who is originally from Staffordshire, and Phil Garlington, from Grimsargh. Peter has an international rep utation and cards depicting his photos, which are of landscapes, can be bought in
John Lewis stores. Phil is also a landscape photographer, but is probably best known locally for his family portraits. He has worked a good deal with Bolton Wanderers FC and Paul Heathcote. The trio hope to be present to talk about
their work at the two private viewings on Friday, December 2nd, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. and on Sunday, December 4th, between noon and 4 p.m. Tickets for these two viewings cost £5,
including -wine, and are available from the offices of Irene Chenery Maher, at 21 Church Street, Clitheroe (tel. 01200 422264), which is where the exhibition -will be staged. It will also be open for public -viewing on
Saturday, December 10th, and Sunday, December 18th, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Entrance on the door is £3.
Party boost for deaf group
THE generosity of -visitors to three East Lancashire News paper offices has raised cash to fund a Christmas party for deaf children. For the past month, cus
tomers wishing to place a clas sified advert in the free “ Bar- gainsplus” section of the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, the Burnley Express and the Nelson Leader have been asked to make a dona tion to the East Lancashire Deaf Society. Mrs Carol Mid
Prizes for two young
detectives A COUPLE of young detectives have won competi tions held to cele brate Clitheroe Library’s centenary. F iv e -y e a r -o ld
Molly Hutchinson scooped first prize in the library’s charac ter treasure hunt, which was open to children under the age of 11. This involved the young sters finding pictures of book characters that were hidden around the library. Meanwhile, Emily
Lees (eight), picked up first prize in a competition that involved looking around the library to find the answers to 20 questions. Aimed at adults, young Emily beat her elders with a lit tle help from her grandma and broth er.
Both girls were
presented with cer tificates and book tokens. Pictured is Mary from
Palmer
Clitheroe Library with Emily and Molly. (A101105/1)
dleton, whose son Peter Had- field (10) is deaf, suggested the charity. Peter, who attends the Royal Cross School for the Deaf in Pre ston, receives help from fami ly support officer Mrs Rosie Urquhart from the society. Lucy Redfeam, administra
tion assistant at the Burnley Express, presented the £190 raised to Mrs Urquhart, who said the money would be used to fund the children’s Christ mas party on December 17th.
r a « o a a f , ' o r ,
Clitheroe Advertiser &Times, Thursday, November 24th, 2005 21
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