Berwickshire News, May 11th

The front page of this week's Berwickshire is lead with an article that there's Air rifle danger for animals in Coldstream. The animals in question are cats and apparently a number have gone missing without trace, but one has been found deceased with airgun pellet wounds. The Paper Boy sympathises with those that have lost their beloved pets, but just how beloved is the pet that is kicked out of the house without much thought for it to come and defaecate on my lawn? If I were to go out and do likewise, I'd rightly expect to be up before Sheriff Kevin of Duns, but because they are "fluffy" and "cute" (neither attribute the Paper Boy would attach to a cat) they get away with it. Whoever is doing this and injuring the cats should have some heart and perhaps head off to the gunsmiths in Duns to pick up a 12-bore (ladies, youths) or 2-bore (mens) shotgun for the purpose. Any cat owners wishing to reclaim the deposits from my grass may do so by agreed appointment only.

There's a picture of the Chairman of the Coldstream Burns Society, Rob Smith (surely he should call himself Rab whilst on ceremony), making a right eejit of himself, kneeling in the roadway (the current pavements were only added in the 1960s when the bridge was strengthened and corbelled out pathways added) on Coldstream Bridge reenacting (with notes) the scene from May 7th 1787 where Robert (Rabbie) Burns set foot on English soil for the first time (no doubt grumbling about the fact that there was a toll on the bridge at the time) - for the sake of completeness here is what Rab (and presumably Rob Smith of the Coldstream Burns Society) said - though not reported in the Berwickshire:

O Scotia! my dear, my native soil!
For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent!
Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil
Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content!
And O! may Heaven their simple lives prevent
From Luxury's contagion, weak and vile!
Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent,
A virtuous populace may rise the while,
And stand a wall of fire around their much-lov'd Isle.

(Likes to get his exclamation marks in oor Rab)

He can't have thought much of English soil however as he was reportedly in the Masonic Lodge in Eyemouth by May 18th (again - not reported in the Berwickshire)

Inside, there's still disquiet that local election counts for the Borders could be held in Edinburgh with the results phoned (or otherwise communicated) back to the declaration in Galashiels. Part of the reason is that for the first time the council elections will be by the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) variant of proportional representation. Just why the location of the count should make for so much 'excitement' is beyond me - after all if I post a letter to my next door neighbour it will go via Edinburgh, a round trip of some 90+ miles. Where the votes are counted is immaterial to me, what is important is that the democratic process is carried out and that the result accurately mirrors the ballots cast, and despite being outwith the Borders - it's a point that is probably more easily accessible from all points of the Borders than Galashiels.

This weekend (May 13th/14th) was Jim Clark Memorial weekend where Jim's fans, friends and family gather to remember the great man of rallying & Formula 1 (when F1 wasn't just a 72-lap parade of noise). As usual they'll visit Charterhall, the Jim Clark Room in Duns and lay flowers on his grave in Chirnside.

Over at Sheriff Kevin's court a window being bricked in Burnmouth following hostilities between two men lead to the bricker being fined £200 and paying £120 compensation to the brickee. An Eyemouth woman pleaded guilty by letter of wasting Police time by falsely claiming her house had been broken into. Sentence deferred as the court accepted that her behaviour was a cry for help. Another Eyemouth man in court charged with breaching his ASBO, not for the first time - although our Border Law Man SKD promised the defendant "If you commit further offences I will send you back to jail". What do criminals have to do to get locked up these days?

There's more in the letters page about the new refuse arrangements - now a correspondent with a long drive is complaining that they have to take the sacks to the roadside and then that the refuse is not being collected and that the bags are see-through, which seems to be regarded as a breach of privacy because everyone passing can scrutinise her shopping and recycling habits. No doubt we can expect more activity in the letters page on this troublesome topic.

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website