Berwickshire News September 14th

Overall (recorded) crime levels in the Borders are shown to be dropping by official statistics released by the Scottish Executive. LBP Divisional Commander (based in Hawick) welcomed the news and added that "solvency rates" are also up - presumably means solution rates or what the rest of the law enforcement world refer to as detection rate. Despite this LBP are still looking for 100 additional special constables. As reported here previously SBC released figures showing that the recycling rate for April to June 2006 is 29.93%, up from 10.4% for the same quarter last year. In that quarter 2377 tonnes of paper & card, 145 tonnes of plastics (type 1 & 2 only) and 62 tonnes of cans were sent for recycling. Seaweed managed to shut down Torness Nuclear Power Station - blamed on strong wind and a rising tide. Also a picture of the new Flodden Memorial being unveiled, piped at and having a Saltire (hopefully of the correct official blue Saltire colour) waved over it.

GNER is offering it's lowest ever fares on their website, so you to can experience the joys of travel by train for as little as £22.30 from Edinburgh to London (return). The fact that there's currently no station in the Borders is a mere administrative oversight. The sampling for Anthrax spores at the home of the man who died of anthrax-induced septecaemia is complete but a local MSP is not happy that the government agency overseeing the operation hasn't released any detail of when the results will be returned. No information available under the Freedom of Information Act either as the Procurator Fiscal's Office is currently considering criminal procedings.

Red tape may kill off or severely curtail common ridings - the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice Bill (Scotland) imposes a number of conditions on any march or procession that is not a funeral. The aim of the bill is mainly to counteract sectarianism which is prevalent in other areas of Scotland but not so here in the Borders - it's mentioned that in the last 37 years only two Orange-related marches had taken place, both in Hawick and both had most of the participants bussed in. The article mentions that the Borders is by common consent relatively free of religious intolerance. The News then gives equal prominence to a row that has broken out within SBC regarding the funding of school travel for Catholics to a Catholic primary school, which it points out for those living in the east of Berwickshire could be an 80-mile round trip to Hawick, Galashiels, Selkirk or Peebles - whilst those in Hutton are forced to pay to send their children to school in Swinton - of course if one removed religious apartheid from the educational system the problem would also vanish.....

The Flodden 1513 Club unveiled their new memorial on the alleged anniversary of the battle (see previous post for why it isn't the anniversary) on Tweed Green in Coldstream. The memorial commemorates the role of the nuns of Coldstream Priory under Abbess Hoppringle (is an abbess not the leader of an abbey and a prioress leader of a priory?). There is a corresponding project underway in Branxton to improve the experience for visitors to Flodden Field - which the last time the Paper Boy was there was in fact a rather muddy field near Branxton, the field nearest Flodden in fact, with no interpretation boards to tell the visitor what they were looking at (a field).

Snakes in the lane! would have been an apt title for the article seeking local help in spotting grass snakes. They are officially resident in England & Wales only but they are believed to have sneaked over the border and be lurking in Berwickshire and district. Walkers & anglers are particularly requested to keep their eyes peeled and to report to Froglife if they see one.

Alan Beith, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, is concerned by the order managing the River Tweed under the Tweed Fisheries Act 1857 which is giving sole control to the Scottish Executive. His prime concern is that to date the management has been subject to scrutiny in both parliaments, now solely in Holyrood. Particularly mentioned is the River Till which is the sole wholly English tributary to the Tweed where people could find themselves charged under a parliamentary instrument passed by a parliament in which they have no representation - although which Police force is going to make the charge is not mentioned, one might reasonably assume that Northumbria Police (England) will not actively investigate under Scottish legislation and that LBP (Scottish) would not act in England outside their jurisdiction.... so perhaps it's a great deal for the Tillsiders after all.....

It's all change for next May's council elections - out goes the tie of local councillor to his seat (it is handy to be able to nab him in the street in passing if you need to) and in comes a system of proportional representation where crudely 3 existing seats are joined together and 3 councillors are elected for that super-seat. So Berwickshire will be covered by two super-seats - Mid-Berwickshire covering an area encompassing Hume, Gordon, Coldstream, Duns, Ladykirk, Swinton, Preston & Cranshaws - East Berwickshire covering Cockburnspath, Eyemouth, Lamberton, Paxton, Fishwick, Hutton, Whitsome, Edrom & Auchencrow. Whether it's a good thing or not, it's happening and we'll see what effect it has (if noticable next May).

Local MP Michael Moore is backing the campaign of the South of Scotland branch of the National Federation of Subpostmasters to halt any more Post Offices in the Borders. Tony Blair has previously said that Post Offices are important to local communities and should be preserved but according to the campaigners has failed to halt the decline in the number of offices. The Paper Boy has experience of being tutted at in the Post Office queue for daring to send several packages at once and being defended vociferously by the subpostmaster "if it wasn't for all the packages he's sending you'd be travelling 10 miles or more for your pensions". Use it or lose it is the watch word.

Over in Duns a quiet time after last week's bumper report - A Duns man back in the dock for sentencing after making several hoax 999 calls, abusing the operator. Some interloper called Sheriff Colin McClorey gave him 3 months porridge for his troubles described the behaviour as intolerable and made reference to his criminal record. An East Ord (near Berwick, England) man got a £375 fine and an £80 compensation order for breach of the peace in the Commercial Inn, Coldstream and breaking the wing mirror of an LBP vehicle after being told by the licensee of the pub to "engage his brain before speaking". Sheriff McClorey unimpressed. A Reston woman was banned by an uncredited sheriff for driving with excess alcohol (78μg against a legal limit of 35μg) and crashing into a bridge. 18 months ban and £400 fine. A Tweedmouth youth was convicted of wilful fireraising after setting light to a grassed area by Eyemouth (Petrol) Filling Station, a wooded area near Coldingham Road Ind. Est. (Eyemouth), six packs of wooden posts at Eyemouth Freezers and a dog waste bin - sentence deferred pending reports.

On the Letters page, a Duns councillor is of the same opinion as the Paper Boy - keep religion out of the education system and keep the arguments over whether the right religious practices are followed by the pupils outside the school gates. He goes on to outline the places in the world where segregation (not necessarily or exclusively on the grounds of religion) has proved explosive, namely the Southern USA, South Africa & Northern Ireland. He makes the point that education should not be segregated along ethnic, religious, cultural or class lines - research indicates that he is not representing the Berwickshire Bolshevik Committee, though he could be.

On page 9, if you're called Doug you're the top exhibitor at Greenlaw. Who Doug is or what he exhibited is reserved for the interested reader within the story. The story then goes on to list all of the prize-taking exhibits at Greenlaw and District Amateur Hoticultural Society's annual show, where Doug Smith's name pops up as winner or runner-up in just about every competition for growing flowers or vegetables. So yes, Doug - you da man veg crew.

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website