Berwickshire News, April 6th

DEATH KNELL SOUNDS FOR HOSPITALS thunders the front page of the Berwickshire this week. Confirming the worst fears of all involved in the campaign to keep open the Cottage Hospitals in Jedburgh & Coldstream. The only hope left is that the Scottish Parliament will decine ratifying and throw out the planned closures.

A new meals at home provider is being used as of this week and users are told to expect a difference. A menu of 56 main courses and 54 desserts is on offer as well as a range of tasty soups. Classic dishes including roast beef and haggis are available, and there are menus suitable for those from a "minority ethnic background". They'll even supply a small freezer or microwave if needed.

Borders MSPs are to launch a petition for proper funding of the CAB service as the sessions in Coldstream & Chirnside have been axed and those at Duns and Eyemouth reduced.

There's a threat to one of Berwick's opticians following the introduction of free eye tests in Scotland - despite his business being over half Scottish, he can't compete on a level playing field with an optician just over the Border (if there is one between Berwick & Dunbar of course) and more importantly he's at a disadvantage compared to the 'large chain' opticians elsewhere in Berwick who can afford to absorb the costs of the few hardy souls from Scotland that dare to have their eyes tested in England.



Headline promotion of Sheriff Kevin to Page 3 this week as a Coldstream man is jailed for allowing his house to be used for the purposes of cannabis & heroin distribution for "an acquaintance known to the police". It turns out that the house in question is in fact in Galashiels - and that he'd moved to Coldstream to get away from the bad influence of his previous associates. 2 years in choky will follow, but only because he admitted guilt so early in the process.

The Department of Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has highlighted the serious potential problems in the impending analogue TV shutdown in the Borders (and beyond). More government action is demanded, to help the elderly and other vulnerable groups - but the timetable is set.

Sheriff Kevin's court back to his normal spot on page 5 now for the more routine work of a jobbing lawman in Merse, although with Sheriff McLeod in the chair of justice... A Tweedmouth man returned for sentencing after his previous appearance before Duns Sheriff Court (reported in this blog earlier) to get 100 hours community service, to be served in England as that's where Tweedmouth is. "The punishment will be dealt with in Berwick". A Melrose woman in her late sixties was charged with careless driving on the Duns-Greenlaw road when she tried to overtake a lorry, it turned out there were two, she hit one and left the road all in poor visibility. £250 & six points. (No Sheriff attributed) A driver from Cockburnspath (aka Co'path) disqualified for driving without a licence, careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident. £300 and disqualified from holding a licence for 6 months (ed: didn't seem to affect him before the accident though did it?). A Duns man (Peter Reid - surely not the same one that was manager of Sunderland AFC?) fined £150 and ordered to pay £150 in compensation to his victim after a punch up in a Duns pub. Sentence deferred on a Chirnside man who had an argument with a neighbour - he calling her "baldy" on account of her having "alopetia" (ed: "alopecia" I'm sure) and she wishing he'd died in a car crash (he had been involved in one and it left him with behavioral difficulties).

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website