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Send them to boot camp

RE: Meet the OSC - Advertiser's front page last week.
Just a thought. A while ago I was driving along Hillmorton Road, at 2am and not another car or pedestrian in sight.
I got flashed doing 35mph in a 30mph limit, £60 fine and three points on my licence, plus four years with three points on my licence, which will cost £100 per year on my insurance. Total: £460 pounds. OK I was travelling too fast! Proper criminal me.
Now skip forward to last week's front page. A bunch of criminal reprobates posing with meat cleavers and machetes and scarves over their faces (the scarves so we can't identify them).
Anyone who lives in their area know who they are. They walk the streets with these weapons. The weapons are probably the ones stolen in the raid on a butcher's shop a year or two ago.
When they pass you there is the overpowering stink of their filthy skunk weed, and they look at you as if they want to kill you.
They are responsible for half the teenagers in Rugby waking around in fear.
They are involved every week in crime, violence and anti-social behaviour. Let me remind you they are well known to the PCSOs, the police and the local community. Some say they are scared deep down and that is why they carry these weapons.
If one of them attempted to use such a weapon they can only be regarded as trying to kill. Yet they strut around as if no one can touch them.
No £460 fine for them, just 'let's try to understand why they behave like this' and 'the poor kids have had it tough'.
Well, I have had it tough working 75 hours a week to try to keep my home and raise a happy family.
Does that mean I should go out with a butcher's implement and chop someone's head off?
Or march up and down the street vandalising cars and beating anyone who complains half to death? These youths are for sure a minority.
But the impact on society is major.
The overwhelming majority of teenagers are well meaning and polite. But anyone approaching a group of youths has a genuine fear of violence.
All because of this OSC.
I wish they lived in New York because they would soon find themselves in a boot camp getting the kind of treatment we all want them to receive.
We should all write to the police and demand that these yobs are taken out of circulation.
They are nothing short of terrorists and should be treated as such.
Anyone who thinks they can change their behaviour by setting up youth projects and taking them out on jollies is ,I am afraid, deluded.They should be treated with the contempt they deserve. Public flogging would work really well.
As soon as they saw other gang members tied to the Clock Tower on a Saturday afternoon and soundly birched, then marched off to a sparse and regimented boot camp for a year's hard labour, they would change their attitude. I can garuntee it!
Because deep down they are not scared kids. They are cowardly terrorists and should be treated as such.
Just a thought.
Name and address
supplied.


I would welcome law

I REFER to your letters page of October 16 'The council's barking up the wrong tree with new law'.
Although I had not heard about the proposed changes before this article, I personally would welcome any changes which will enforce the law and prevent incidents like one which happened on my estate sixmonths ago.
My cat was chased and killed in my own driveway by the two dogs belonging to my neighbour two doors down.
The dogs were freely roaming out on the path in front of the house, despite the fact there is a sign on the lamp post at the top of my drive stipulating that 'all dogs must be kept on a lead'.
The worst of the whole situation was how I discovered what had happened while I was out of the house at work.
My neighbour did not come round and apologise for this awful tragedy or give me her reassurance she would do everything within her capabilities to ensure something like this could never happen again.
It is fortunate that I had CCTV installed at my property last year or I would never have known what happened to my poor moggy.
When I got home and Lottie was missing I watched the footage to see when she was last in sight.
Imagine my and my 11- year-old son's horror when we watched the attack happen in our own drive.
However, the police can do nothing apparently!
The only option I have is to personally take civil action (which I am currently looking into) but as a single mum I am not sure if I can afford this course of action. So in summary, I would welcome the law being enforced as dogs should be leashed on public highways – but then I already thought this was the law!
Miss Sam Gibson,
Wise Grove,
Rugby.


Don't bury your heads

TO THE person(s) who continually allow their dog to foul on my front garden - you are the reason the council is trying to bring in the new law for dogs.
Rugby Borough Council - get your collective heads out of the sand. If people don't pick up after their dog when running free they sure aren't going to bother when their dog is on a lead.
Why don't you concentrate on catching these thoughtless (or couldn't-care-less) people? Or is it so much easier to see a dog off lead and fine them £80, while the real culprits get off scot-free?
Rita Doggrell,
Cromwell Road,
Rugby.


Don't change our library

IT has been brought to my notice that libraries may be 'dumbed down'
The Rugby Library gives a first class service and we have used it regularly for years.
We often reserve books, not on the Rugby shelves - sometimes paying a pound if it is quite a new book - well worth the money.
It is suggested coffee could be served. We use a town cafe, thus giving employment to a business.
Aerobics etc should be in a gym or a sports centre. A library is a place for books, perhaps a small amount of internet facilities and not forgetting the interesting exhibitions.
Many people - old and young - pay their council tax. Please let us continue to use the library in its present form.
June Timson,
Percival Road,
Rugby.


Some ideas for contest

I AM writing in about the Face of the Future Competition that was held at the Benn Hall on Saturday night.
I went along with my girls to cheer them on, they looked lovely and we were so proud. They all looked lovely and did well.
Congratulations to the winner, Joseph. All the best. Glad that a boy won. We had a good night and well done to everyone who made the night happen, especially Sandra and Jaide Ellery.
The only things that I thought could be different for next year were to start earlier as the little under 5s were falling asleep, bless them. It went on far too late, so should be an afternoon show.
Also not to pick out so many children from each age group as it's more upsetting for other kids. Also every child should have a certificate as they all need encouragement to try again.
Does anyone else agree with me? Please write in.
Name and address
supplied.


Advice on pot-holes

MAY I pass on information to anyone who has been the victim of an accident in a pot-hole in Rugby.
Three years, as we know, has been the limit in which you can claim. Unless there were certain circumstances over which you had no control, that stopped you making a claim.
I wrote to The Hon. Mrs. Josie Winterton, Minister of Roads, Houses of Parliament, London, who gave a commentary on pot-holes on television in May.
I told her that broken limbs do not recover after three years, but actually cause other side effects, which continue over the years.
I was given advice from a nice person, so please write and give your story to the same address . Good luck.
Mrs. P. Durbar,
Winston Churchill Place,
Binley Woods.


Converted by my son

I GET quite upset that while many of us are doing our best already to recycle all we can, (eg using our own bags for shopping) I hear some of my neighbours saying: "I don't recycle, I can't be bothered."
I was taught by my son to be green. He was educated at Harris School many years ago and I followed his example. He has even shamed me into washing out my cat food tins to recycle.
We are better than him now, though, as I have hens at the bottom of my garden, so we waste no foodstuffs at all. In addition we have compost bins and water butts.
I collect plastic bottles and aluminium. When the bags are full we take them to a nearby recycling centre. We use rechargeable batteries too.
I run a Rainbow pack and I try to teach them about recycling and maybe then they will teach the parents.
I can but hope.
Ruth Hughes,
Main Street,
Newton.


Remember the poppies

THIS year's Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal is even more important as world conflicts continue with British casualties from our armed services needing support of the legion.
With the approach of Remembrance Day on November 11, combined with the annual Armistice memorial service and parade, the Rugby No. 1 branch invites generous Rugbeians to visit their stall in the Clock Towers shopping centre between October 27 and November 8 inclusive.
Poppies, crosses and wreaths will be available for sale, but the wreaths should be ordered before November 3.
Our members, Harry Walker, Pete Penney, Doug Rowe, Tony Coles and myself, plus lady volunteers, will be there to welcome you.
We look forward to your support for this worthy charity, which does not receive any Government funding.
Our special thanks again to the shopping centre for the use of their facilities and also to the pubs, shops, clubs and hotels for displaying our collection boxes.
Ross Cooper,
Secretary,
No. 1 branch
Royal British Legion.


What arrogance

I WRITE in response to the shameful news that the by-election in the Avon and Swift ward has been indefinitely postponed ('By-election caleld off after fraudulent application' Advertiser, October 2). What arrogance Councillors Humphrey and Hunt display when saying 'There is no great appetite for an election at this time of year during the long evenings'. Has the local Conservative party privately polled the ward's residents to arrive at this definitive view? I think not.
As the Boston politician James Otis once famously said, 'taxation without representation is tyranny'. With a myriad of key issues engulfing Rugby now and in the coming years, strong, effective representation is not a whimsical fancy that can be sacrificed because of dark clouds and the increased chance of a rain shower. It is therefore imperative that a vote be held as soon as practically possible to enable the election of an independently minded Councillor that can hold the borough council to task and effectively campaign for the improved services this rural ward so desparately needs.
Michael Moran,
Coton Park,
Rugby.


Think, please

DO cyclists know they are breaking the law when they cycle on the pavement? 'Think Pedestrian - Think Safe'.
Anne Rogers,
Malvern Avenue,
Rugby.


Thanks for time at music extravaganza

A BIG thank you to everyone who helped make the live music extravaganza in aid of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance and Myton Hospice a great success.
Thanks to Pinkertons, the Silhouettes and the Net for providing us with excellent music, and to Tom Long and Rod Tyson for the sound engineering and compering respectively. Also to Graham and Jane who bullied everyone into buying raffle tickets. All of these people donated their time.
Thanks also to all those organisations who generously provided prizes for the auction and raffle: Brownsover Hall Hotel, Brandon Hire PLC, Paul Treen Motor Services, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Jeremy Wright MP, Whilton Mill Karting, The Old Lion at Harborough Magna, Sainsbury's and Tesco, and thanks to the generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous - you know who you are.
And of course a big thank you to all those who attended. Together we raised a very respectable £1,142 for two worthy causes. Well done all!
Pat Cole,
Norton Leys,
Rugby,
CV22 5RS.


I had a lovely time at Belle Sante

I WAS lucky enough to win a runner's-up prize in your recent dream make-over competition.
I just wanted to say how grateful I am and what a lovely time I had at Belle Sante.
My thanks go to Salon Director Leigh Falconbridge, to Jo and to all the other ladies there for my super facial.
Sue Sherman,
Bridge Cottage,
Winwick,
Northampton.