Hear all sides

I READ with interest your article on Shaun McKerry (Echo, Mar 1). I feel that you and the magistrates who allowed your application to name him, must take some of the blame for his criminal behaviour.

When I was chairman of the Bishop Auckland youth court, my advice to the panel was that he should not be named. What does naming and shaming achieve? It certainly does not stop the offending, nor does it protect the public.

It has given Shaun the publicity he craves and has made him a cult figure among his peers and, worst of all, it encourages vigilantes.

What to do with young offenders has always been a problem and there is no panacea. There will always be young people who will receive custodial sentences, but to keep sending persistent offenders into custody for longer and longer periods, then returning them to their old environment, is not the answer.

In over 20 years of dealing with young people, I cannot remember incarceration having any effect on persistent offenders.

Detective Inspector Bruce Turnbull, of Bishop Auckland police, is right in that they need help. Properly funded supervision does work. Money must be spent on training and I am sure volunteers with experience of dealing with children would be willing to help.

I was involved with young people for over 20 years, but I have not been approached.

I am not talking soft options, but serious intensive intervention just may bring some sense of order back into the lives of these young people. Perhaps The Northern Echo would campaign for money to fund one of these schemes? - Bob Trotter, ex-chairman, Bishop Auckland Youth Court.

CURLING

ALTHOUGH confessing to never having witnessed the sport of curling, I do feel that the putting down of a truly amateur sport by Tim Wellock did him little credit (Echo, Mar 3).

His suggestion that mention of a cash injection into this particular sport would be better spent on the health service is ludicrous.

What about the use, or misuse, of cash in our major sports? The money circulating in soccer's Premier League alone would surely benefit our hospitals. What of the cash available to players in the upper echelons of rugby union, once at a pinnacle of true-blue amateurism?

Mr Wellock will certainly recall the furore at headquarters when Welsh rugby-player JPR Williams was expressly forbidden to benefit financially from the sale of his book.

How times have changed. The so-called lesser sports like golf, snooker, amateur athletics, to name but three, are financially blessed. How much do they contribute to the health service?

Silliest of all, however, is the assertion that Rhona Martin and her teammates use hi-tech equipment. Does Mr Wellock not recall his early days in journalism when a pen, or at best a typewriter, was used and copy was phoned in?

Should we ignore the PC, the fax machine and the www.dot.com of today? - Ron Hails, Hartlepool.

Spennymoor

I WISH to complain about the 800-home housing development at High Whitworth, Spennymoor. This development will lead to the destruction of valuable farmland and natural habitats as the development will take up large swathes of greenbelt as well as agricultural land. I can't believe that the council allowed this development to go ahead without at least an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The area is riddled with old mine workings, making the land subject to subsidence, as well as the danger of polluted groundwater being released into the local water table by the building process.

There is no need for further housing within Spennymoor as, over the years, there has been enough building to cater for all the town's needs. - M Jones, Spennymoor.

THE original plans, of 600 homes and a golf course, were bad enough. Seven years on and the plans have changed - no golf course, but 800 new houses.

How many more houses in Spennymoor do we need? The proposed area for development is of natural beauty. Open fields, hedgerows and trees are natural habitat for wildlife and plants. This countryside is an escape where fresh air and peacefulness can be appreciated.

I appreciate the need for regeneration in the town but, like many other residents, have reservations about this proposal.

Who will benefit the most from this development, the local council or the developers? - J Wilson, Spennymoor.

LORD DORMAND

JIM Tague (HAS, Feb 22) appears to connect an article in the Echo about a speech Lord Dormand of Easington made in the House of Lords on November 21 last year, with the death of Princess Margaret in February this year. He claims to be disgusted by the timing of the article - he should obviously direct his disgust to The Northern Echo.

Lord Dormand accepted a seat in the House of Lords so that his opinions, which are those of a sizeable proportion of the population, can be heard. Perhaps Mr Tague should object to the presence of so many Anglican Bishops in the House of Lords - recent figures tell us that only seven per cent of the population are churchgoers.

For the benefit of your readers, Jack Dormand asked a Government minister in November whether "in the light of opinion polls of recent years showing decreasing support for a hereditary monarchy, he accepted that most people now believe that an elected head of state is more relevant to Britain in the 21st Century". - W Collinson, Belmont.

ALRIGHT?

I ALWAYS enjoy Sharon Griffiths and quite agree with all she wrote about English grammar on (Echo, Feb 13), but in the paragraph following she writes that "it is alright for me". Perhaps she needs to see if she can find 'alright' in the English dictionary. - Michael T Green, Annfield Plain.