15/09/05

It has reduced youth disorder by 40 per cent and has been a great success, but because local politicians have said they want more beat officers, they are disbanding a successful team of five officers.

Would it not have been better just to recruit five new beat officers, as surely the money which has been saved on reducing anti-social behaviour and saving on public money to prosecute the offenders could be used to pay the wages of five more beat officers?

This is just another example of the mad thinking of those in the Town Hall - the same people who wish to change Hurworth Comprehensive School because it is working so well.

When will they stop messing things up and messing with the people of Darlington Borough's lives and money.

I think some serious thinking is in order and they need to review their policies before this whole town becomes a mess and the people of Darlington begin to lose faith in them and confidence. Listen to your people, that's what I say. - Julie Jones, Hurworth.

WIND POWER

IN the report on the Knabs Ridge wind turbine installation (Echo, Sept 7) npower Renewables is quoted as saying the scheme will supply the annual average domestic electricity for 7,000 homes.

Since electrical power is instant, ie it is either there or it is not, it is difficult to grasp just what is meant by 'annual average'.

Would npower care to clarify just exactly what they mean by this statement?

A much more reasonable question to raise would be: can these eight wind driven generators supply the full power requirement of the 7,000 homes if they all switched on their main power using equipment at the same time?

If they cannot then just what use are they? It should also be noted that there is not any mention of powering airports, railways, factories, pumping installations, etc. - J Routledge, Witton Gilbert.

GEORGE BUSH

ON the day when thousands of those George Bush delights in describing as his fellow Americans were dying, the most powerful man in the world was playing a guitar, fundraising for his party.

While he strummed and the cash poured in from rich Republicans in California and Arizona, the poor in Louisiana and Mississippi were starving in what rapidly turned into a disease-ridden swamp. They had no help, no medicine. Law and order totally broke down and anarchy ruled.

President Bush will be branded by history as the 21st century Nero, the Roman emperor who fiddled while Rome burned.

The pictures on our TV screens revealed the sickening underbelly of the world's richest nation which could not even save its own poor.

It also showed a president incapable of coping with a human catastrophe. He did too little too late in the glare of the world's unforgiving gaze.

Bush believes every country should follow America's democratic example. What we saw last week was not the land of the free. It was the land of the dying and the dispossessed, a land where shooting looters was more important than saving the sick and the weak.

This America was a grotesque caricature of the land so proudly proclaimed on the Statue of Liberty, a country where the golden door was open for 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free'. Bush's America forgets its poor unless it is cannon fodder for the army.

At its best the US is a wonderful land of opportunity teeming with adventurous, compassionate people. But under Bush we have too frequently seen America at its worst, first abroad and now at home. This is Bush's land and it's ugly. - DT Murray, Coxhoe.

SO SAD

I AGREE with Ian White (HAS, Sept 9). It saddens me to see what is happening to the town where I was born and grew up.

I fully expect the Darlington town clock will have gone walkies and the public library painted red next time I go into town.

Money talks and you can bet I probably would not get permission to build a garden shed, but would if I wanted to put 25 flats there.

Also, please leave the White Horse Hotel alone and hands off the lovely village of Hurworth and its excellent school. - ME Brighten, Darlington.

FREE TRAVEL

I MUST agree with VM Smith (HAS, Sept 7) and Chris Wardell (HAS, Sept 10) as regards bus passes.

I am 86-years-old and my wife 81 and we have to pay an annual fee of £80 each for a concessionary bus pass only to travel around the town.

In Ayrshire, pensioners travel free and in Dumfries and Galloway they pay £2 for a ten-year pass and travel down into Carlisle in England.

My wife and I and other pensioners served their country during the Second World War and gave their all.

Can The Northern Echo push this, as all pensioners should be issued with free bus passes? - TC Herries, Darlington.

JAILED VICAR

THE story regarding the retired vicar jailed for withholding council tax beggars belief (Echo, Sept 8). What possible threat to society is he?

Often we see those subject to Asbos before the courts for a breach of the order told to behave yourself or be fined. Absolutely disgraceful.

What people may not know is those subject to Asbos have often committed a catalogue of crimes yet still cannot behave when given chance after chance by soft middle-class magistrates.

We can all sleep safe now the principled vicar is off the streets. - Robert Bridgett, Shildon.

MYSTERY BIRD

LAST night I saw a beautiful bird on our bird table. I took a few photos but unfortunately could not get a clear enough shot of it due to the light and the telephoto lens not being strong enough.

I wonder if you can help me identify it as I cannot find anything on the Internet or in bird books.

The nearest is the black headed bunting but that didn't have a full black head and the colour wasn't bright enough.

It was a beautiful orangey yellow, quite bright, with a black head and face. Its nape had a band of brown and down the breast looked to be a black V-shape, not very dark though.

The wings were black streaked. It stayed on the bird table for about ten minutes and then flew into our conifer where it stayed for about quarter of an hour before flying off. Does anyone know what it was? - Hilary Metcalfe, Darlington.

THANK YOU

I SHOULD like to express my sincere thanks to the person who found my pensioner's bus pass and who, in their kindness, delivered it personally to my address. - T Ibbotson, Darlington.