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Saying sorry is not enough

I HAVE read the article regarding the stabbing incident in Rugby (Stabbing: 'My son is sorry for what he did', says mum - Advertiser, December 11).
I cannot understand where the lady is coming from. Her son stabbed someone and saying sorry is not really good enough.
How does she think the family and friends of Dan Harrington feel?
Rugby is getting worse in terms of violence and crime, we worry everytime my brother goes out, especially as he was out with Dan Harrington on the night of the stabbing.
People need to realise you cannot just stab people and get away with it.
As a mother myself I would be very ashamed if my son behaved like that and have no time or sympathy to read about how this woman now feels.
She should count herself lucky her son did not end up murdering Dan that night.
Family and friends are using the internet to vent their thoughts and feelings, perhaps he shouldn't have stabbed someone if he didnt want anyone to know what he had done.
Kerri Harris,
Heath Crescent,
Stoke Heath,
Coventry.

Curious matters about money

MIGHT I suggest before our local town councillors decide to impose another inflation busting increase on the fair citizens of Rugby that they tell us just how much of our money they squirralled away in Icelandic banks.
And why are they not withdrawing those funds to use to make up the financial shortfall? Is it because that money is being saved for their own enormous and out of proportion pension payments?
Just curious.
Mike Redhead,
Gardeners End,
Bilton.

Hunt's Bookshop looks magnificant

I WISH to pass comment, through the pages of your newspaper, on the truly magnificent Christmas display in Hunt's bookshop window.
It is the best in the town centre and it is obvious that a lot of time and thought went into its traditional theme.
It evokes memories of how Rugby used to look at Christmas some forty years ago.
I just wish a lot more businesses would make an effort to enhance and sell our town to the shoppers.
Thank you and well done, Kelvin and staff.
David Holton,
Alwyn Road,
Bilton, Rugby.

Thanks for the car vandalism

DEAR Dunchurch resident,
Thank you so much for the damage to the cars parked outside a friend's house on the evening of Friday the 12th December.
As we were inside attending a fundraising event for the Air Ambulance you thought it OK to vandalise five vehicles that were parked along the road side. Damage ranged from broken wipers to deep full length scratches along both sides of some vehicles.
If you thought our parking inconsiderate then you could have asked us to move them. Nothing justifies the wilful lack of respect you have shown towards your fellow man.
As I pay my insurance excess and my increased premium I will be thinking that this money could well have been put to better use, maybe in educating you.
They say that the pen is mightier than the sword but at this moment I am still very angry.
I know no one has died and things will be fixed at mine and others' expense.
Your act helped to spoil a very enjoyable evening.
One last thing to you during this time of peace and good will, I hope you have a thoroughly miserable Christmas.
Name and address supplied.

Thank you to rail campaigners

AS THE new train timetable finally comes into force this week, I would like to thank all those in Rugby who signed the petition and sent protest postcards to the government in support of the Rugby Rail Users Group (RRUG) campaign to protect our rail service.
As a direct result of this action, the people of Rugby should get a decent service to London, Birmingham and Northampton to match the much-improved Rugby station. This is a marked contrast to the savage service cuts seen in the last timetable change in 2004.
Of course, the new timetable has only been a paper plan up until now, so RRUG will be closely monitoring its performance in the next few weeks and months before drawing any definitive conclusions.
A timetable review meeting will be held in the Town Hall on March 12 for RRUG members where we can draw on our real life experiences of the new travelling conditions.
Dr. Claire Wells,
RRUG committee.

Coach crash was not all bad!

IN THESE times of poor service and money grabbing, fight for everything you can get culture, I would like to tell the story of an incident I was involved in last Thursday.
I was on the Clifton Road roundabout in town when a coach joined the roundabout without seeing me and smashed all the side of my car in.
Fortunately, there were no injuries to myself or the driver of the coach although there was plenty of damage to my poor car.
This happening just before Christmas and me being reliant on my car to get to work, I thought oh no nightmare time.
How wrong can one be. The driver was both apologetic and courteous.
As was his manager at the depot when I contacted him.
The driver admitted full responsibility for the accident immediately.
The very next day I was provided with a courtesy car by the coach's insurance company and they are dealing with the issue promptly.
I can only say thank you to Catteralls coaches for helping to prevent the nightmare that could so easily come as a result of the incident.
It is sometimes nice to feel that people are genuinely trying to help in a difficult situation.
So thanks once again Catterals, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to anyone who knows me and is reading this.
Bob Bailey,
Manor Road,
Rugby.

Covered in dust - again

WITH the tedious regularity we have come to expect, Long Lawford and the surrounding area is yet again covered with thick, possibly dangerous dust.
Cemex, the usual culprit for these health threatening assaults on our community have immediately taken their expected stance of 'not our fault guv' unless of course you can prove it!
The Environment Agency, possibly with an eye on easing Cemex's ongoing plans for a massive refuse processing plant in Rugby, have likewise adopted the time honoured approach of saying they are carrying out tests on the dust, thus taking weeks to come up with a decision, and hoping the residents will have forgotten about it over the excessive period taken, then arriving at the blindingly obvious culprit of the fallout.
We may however be treated to one of the bizarre explanations they tend the favour recently in their desperate attempt to remove any blame from Cemex.
Who can forget the recent explanation that pollen was the culprit, or the hilarious Sahara desert sand incident, where we were expected to believe that sand was lifted up from the Sahara desert, blown across the Mediterranean Sea, up the Bay of Biscay, across the Home Counties and London and was then deposited squarely onto Rugby, really!
There is, however, a serious side to all this, Cemex have recently had issues in Davenport in America where their cement plant was closed for a long period of time due to the local residents being exposed to ten times the safe level (if there is such a thing) of Chromium 6, which is found in the cement process.
This substance has known long term carcinogenic effects, and is the subject of possible legal action by the residents.
To date, several concerned residents have written to the Environment Agency to enquire if this substance is monitored in any fashion by the agency at the Rugby plant and have met a wall of silence, I personally have contacted the Agency twice on this matter and have yet to receive a reply.
I would strongly advise anybody with concerns for their families' welfare to contact the agency as a matter of urgency and try and establish their criteria for checking the levels of this substance at the site, silence is not always golden, neither, as the residents of Davenport thought, is it safe just to assume that the plant is in safe hands because a Government Agency is tasked with monitoring it.
G C Prewett (Mr.),
Railway Street,
Lon Lawford.
Rugby.

Where is sense in parking rule?

AS I am disabled and unable to walk very far, I have to get a taxi into town.
Over the years, the taxi always drops me off around the back of Natwest so I can get to Wilkinsons in the Clock Tower Shopping Centre.
But lately the drivers have had to drop me off at the top of North Street near the Clock Tower.
They said they have to do this now because they get a ticket if they stop at their usual place, even though they are just dropping me off.
It now takes me half an hour to walk to Wilkinsons from the Clock Tower, with several stops for rests.
Can anyone explain to me the sense in this?
Marion Warwick,
Holbrook Avenue,
Rugby.

Let me explain about M.E.

NO DOUBT many readers will have heard about the Judicial Review regarding use of pesticides.
One of the illnesses cited is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.).
I would just like to explain a few things about this illness as I know that there are people in the Rugby area with the diagnosis.
M.E. is classified by the World Health Organisation as a neurological illness.
The recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence brought out guidelines for the diagnosis and management of this illness in 2007.
The diagnostic criteria is unfortunately very nebulous and consequently anyone with fatigue lasting for than more than six months and one other symptom eg headache can be diagnosed with it.
Many people have been misdiagnosed with M.E. and later found to have conditions such as M.S., hypothyroidism, vitamin B12 deficiency, Lupus, numerous autoimmune disorders and even cancer.
Onset often occurs after someone has had a virus. The influenza-like symptoms persist.
The main treatments for this illness promoted for this debilitating illness by NICE are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Graded Exercise Therapy (GET).
There is to be a Judicial Review concerning this early next year.
Both therapies are based on the assumption that the patient has a psychological disorder.
Jill Cooper,
Lyndhurst Road,
Rugby.