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Bring Back Birch Barks Bratherton
| The case of breaking and entering by three fourteen year
old boys, as reported in a recent edition of the Gazette, will not lead to criminal
records for them. Village police have decided against pressing charges and will leave the
disciplining of the children to their parents. It is another instance, however, of a
worrying trend in crime that has swept the village in the last year. The arrest of Jerry
Anderson for theft at the big house was simply one outcome of many local crimes that
included drugs, vandalism and a hooded robber. For Colonel Bratherton, author of
"My Life in India" it is the thin end of the wedge. "I think the village
elder, a position for which I intend to campaign, can act as a figure of moral authority.
We should press the Magistrates to treat these young criminals with the full force of the
law and promote village watch programs to rid our streets of crime. It all comes down to
the bad examples these youngsters are set, especially by our professional athletes."
Bratherton was on the Best Village committee, where he suggested "bring back the
birch" after the ‘classified’ lovers scattered watches and purses
across Puckering as tokens of their mutual affection last autumn. Unsympathetic to their
story, he believes their actions amounted to littering and vandalism.
For the Colonel it’s all about values and setting a positive
example. "It comes from the top," he commented. "People in this village
used to look to the big house to set the model of how to act. Is it any wonder we’re
in the position we are now? " |
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