Berwickshire News October 5th

EYEMOUTH REVOLTING - harsh words from this week's News - the full headline explains more: Eyemouth is up in arms over the return of the nasty niff that has hung over the town for the last 4 summers. A petition of 1200 names (from a population of less than 3000) has been presented to Scottish Water. Euan Robson MSP (of da Lib Dem Crew) was present of course to lend his weight to the campaign for an upgrade of the sewage works. The root of the issue is the pea freezing factory - when a good harvest is encountered (as in 2003 and 2006) the concentration of the effluent from freezing the peas is stronger than Scottish Water's mitigation allows for and the result is the nasty pong. 3 options are being considered for 2007 - tanker the effluent away, import more sludge to treat the effluent or pump the effluent elsewhere..... none are instant so a combination of all three is likely.

The 2007 JCMR is moving from it's traditional July date to May. It will now be held on the English Bank Holiday weekend of 25-27 May.

Eyemouth residents in Hurkur Crescent are fed up with neighbours from hell - antisocial behaviour including drug dealing, pet-abuse and death threats are amongst the allegations repeated. Euan Robson MSP is of course involved and attempting to get all the sides together. So far an ASBO has been served on one youth and police patrols have been stepped up.

Work is to start on the new Berwickshire and Eyemouth High Schools by the end of the month to avoid possible penalties of up to £16k per week (which fool negotiates these contracts?)

As reported here earlier in the week that the erstwhile ex-SNP-turned-independent leader of SBC is considering standing down at local elections in May 2007. Citing the same reasons as mentioned before and expanding upon them - he is "in no doubt that his powerbase will be dissipated by the boundary changes" and observers are of the opinion that the implementation of a single transferrable vote may lead to the Independent hopefuls being marginalised by established parties.

Speed cameras (they mean "safety cameras") in the Borders have netted £2m in 3 years but motorists are apparently beginning to take notice. The A1 is the most likely road to be caught speeding on bringing in half of the cash.

Hutton's new village hall has been opened (see Musings from the Merse for colour pictures - if you think my scans are bad, it's hard to make good scans from bad originals) after several years of hard work by the community to raise the necessary cash. Since the initial survey it's taken 8 years to come to fruition but finally it is open. Those bloggees living in sprawling metropolises like Duns and Kelso might not think of such a hall as important - in a village like Hutton where the school recently closed, the pub closed some time ago, a bus runs 3 or 4 times a day to Berwick at inconvenient times - this is a real focal point for the community. Well done to the people of Hutton & district for sticking at it. Pictures taken from the Berwickshire News.

At Sheriff K's court a lady sheriff presiding (where on earth is Sir K off to now?) over the usual splurge of criminality: A Newcastle driver banned for 6 months after driving without insurance. Sheriff Fiona Tait applied a £250 fine. An Innerleithen man fined £200 for breaching a curfew order whilst helping look for a friend's son who had gone missing. Police stopped a vehicle he was in on an unrelated matter and he volunteered that he was on curfew and was thus arrested at the scene. Seems a little harsh that he turned himself in and seemingly had reasonable mitigation but the law is the law. A Chirnside youth pleaded guilty by letter to a charge of allowing his 16-year old friend to drive his bike without insurance. Sheriff Tait wielding the iron fist in the velvet glove fined him £125 and gave him six penalty points. A Hawick man appeared from custody and pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting his seven-month pregnant wife by seizing her by the arm and neck. Sentence was deferred for 6 months pending good behaviour as the man and his wife were both keen to work out their problems.

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website even when Sheriff K isn't there.