Berwickshire News June 15th

Slightly late with the News today - tied up with a steady stream of visitors in connection with the missive from SBC yesterday and my information gathering for the Community Council.

This week's front page carries the stories that SBC have appointed a support officer for migrant workers, to make it easier for them and their families to settle. Presumably that doesn't extend to giving them egg-sucking lessons in writing their addresses correctly that appear to be reserved for non-migrants. SBC workers have broadly accepted the compensation offers to settle their sex discrimination case against SBC for those female workers who are not paid bonuses where their male counterparts on similar scales but doing different jobs are eligible. Eyemouth beach fails to meet EU standards for bathing water - it's one of only three designated bathing beaches in Scotland that have failed. Finally the Act of Parliament promoting the reinstatement of the rail link from Edinburgh to Tweedbank has been passed by margin of 114 to 1.

Developers apparently are facing a £10,000 levy for the effects that their developments have on needs for education, roads, sport & leisure and enviromental improvement. They may also be asked to contribute to the provision of health facilities. No mention of the farce of SBC naming streets in a confusing fashion though ;-)

Rather confusingly (following last week's radio mention that Duns Sheriff court was having a fortnight off) at Duns Sheriff Court we have an Eyemouth man sent down for 3 years and 7 months for a stabbing. An elderly Coldstream gent slapped with £125 and 5 points for hitting a parked car in Duke Street and then reversing off with a view to returning. Police attending felt that he had taken too long to make himself known. A Birgham man grassed up for drink driving at over twice the legal limit, disqualified for four years and relieved of £265. An Eyemouth youth found guilty of stealing his father's credit card. St. Kevin told the youth he was lucky not to be facing a stretch of porridge and added a £350 fine to register his displeasure. Another Eyemouth youth pleaded by letter after an incident involving a bottle of booze being confiscated from him by Police officers and poured down a drain. He became agitated and started to swear at the officers - he then became more aggressive and started to push the officers, one of whom sustained a grazed knee and clearly took a dim view. So did Sheriff Drummond as he applied a £100 fine. Sentence deferred on a Coldstream drinkdriver - his 4th such offence in 13 years. Sheriff Drummond ruled that social enquiry reports needed to be carried out before sentencing.

On the letters page, Digital TV switchover continues to attract attention - although in this case it's being used as a stooge to get the "Berwickshire - the district that SBC forgot" storyline resurrected. The author of the letter expresses no surprise that Berwickshire didn't appear on the list as it is frequently overlooked for other things like Berwick phone numbers no longer being in the Borders phone book, and of course the fiasco of the new refuse/recycling arrangements.

More Borders smokers are trying to quit since the recent ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces - figures show that in 2005, a total of 2000 people tried via NHS Borders - for the first three months of 2006 the figure is 1500.

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website