Your Letters - January 25

REGARDING your coverage and photograph in Bexhill Observer of November / December 2004.

After a lengthy campaign by the residents of Hazel Grove, the telecommunication mast in Gunters Lane, erected by Orange on November 24, 2004, was finally removed on Thursday, January 17.

On behalf of those affected by this blight on their property I would like to thank Mr Gregory Barker, MP, Mr Graham Gubby, former leader of Rother Council and our local councillor, and former mayor, Mr Stuart Earl for their support and invaluable contribution in persuading Orange to relocate the telecommunication mast to a non residential location.

Beryl Fawkes

Hazel Grove

Lurid headlines

I AM writing to protest at your sensationalist headlines of the previous two weeks. Two weeks ago your six word headline "Why did he kill his wife?" was four times larger than the accompanying four paragraphs of "story." Your misleading headline hid the fact this man has effectively been assumed by the police of murder - a dangerous assumption to make without proof. A convenient solution for all concerned however - especially with your helpful headline, asking why someone did something before it had been proved they actually did it.

As your paper shows each week the local police fail to solve most of the minor crimes committed in Bexhill, yet they "solved" this one in a couple of days. This innocent man did not need to be so portrayed on your front page, forever named as a wife killer.

Last week your front page was even more disturbing. The five word headline took up most of the page - yet it was mere sensationalism again. Another innocent man (as all are prior to conviction) was named and shamed because he had been accused of something 30 years ago. An allegation made the front page. With picture! Most guilty verdicts fail to reach your paper, let alone the front page.

A quick look at the "story" however showed it should have been relegated to your inside pages at best. The headline, if one was necessary at all, could more realistically have read "Man accused of indecent assault 30 years ago by unnamed men." You also cheekily added "the unmarried former vicar" - a blatant innuendo aimed at guilt by association and the homophobic amongst your readers.

Any allegation of such a sensitive nature should receive bare minimum coverage prior to any verdict; remember this country still clings to the ideal of innocent until proven guilty. Your paper would do well to reflect this fact, instead of printing huge lurid headlines months before any trial takes place. This man is an innocent man today, tomorrow and until proven otherwise. Perhaps you could start including that in your headlines?

You also named a dead man similarly accused; the second dead person in two weeks unable to counter your headlines or these 30 year old allegations.

The most unfair and biased part of course, is the way you print these men's details for all to see and keep the accuser's names hidden.

Witnesses in murder or terrorist trials don't enjoy such immunity, but if you accuse someone of touching you 30 years ago you enter a form of witness protection scheme American gangsters would be proud of. This applies even if your allegations are shown to be unfounded, and you lose your case. These men are over 40 now. If they make an allegation, they should have the guts to do so publicly.

This is why there are so many false sexual assault allegations nowadays.

As an educated reader of your paper I am greatly concerned at your descent into the sort of gutter journalism normally found in the tabloids.

Please desist from such sensationalism designed merely to sell papers and return to a more balanced, rational reporting of the news. Leave the lurid front pages to The Sun and other red tops.

S TAYLOR

Cooden Drive

College in-take

Firstly, may I thank you for the deserving words written in the Observer Comment section of the Bexhill Observer on Friday 18 January 2008 with regard to the impending retirement of our principal, Tony Campbell. His 20 years at St Richard's Catholic College have indeed been very successful on many levels.

However, I would politely like to point out to those critics to whom you refer in your editorial comment that St Richard's Catholic College is not a selective college based on ability. Pupils who attend the college are admitted by the Governors (the Admitting Authority) based upon the Admissions Criteria, a copy of which I have attached for your information. The criteria refers only to the catholicity of the candidates or to other denominational commitment. It does not refer in any way to the academic ability of those who wish to become a part of the college community.

The Governors (the Admitting Authority) are legally required to follow, to the letter, the criteria for admissions as published and procedures in respect of appeals to independent appeal panels.

Our recent OFSTED report (November 2006) points out that "Students enter the college with just above average attainment. By the end of Year 11, students attain standards that are exceptionally high, making outstanding progress to achieve challenging targets. Excellent systems for tracking students' progress ensure that, wherever students start out, they reach their potential." I should also point out that approximately 20 per cent of the college student population is on the Special Needs register. The college serves a student population which is fully comprehensive in terms of ability and social background. It is also very proud of the ecumenical composition of the religious mix within the college community which comprises approximately 20 per cent of other Christian and non-Christian faiths.

I hope these facts finally put the record straight with regard to the comprehensive intake at the college and that critics who seek to explain the outstanding academic achievement by pointing to selection as the reason for this should look to other reasons such as the commitment of the staff, the Christian ethos and the outstanding leadership of the principal and his leadership team.

May I take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for the excellent support you continue to give to St Richard's Catholic College.

P Champion

Chairman of Governors

School standards

THANK you for publishing the GCSE School League Tables for our local secondary schools. They made interesting reading!

Well done to St Richard's College and Claverham Community College.

However, results from the remaining schools are extremely disappointing. At three schools over 70 per cent of their candidates did not achieve five GCSE "A to C" passes, including maths and English, and even at our own Bexhill High School six out of every 10 pupils entered failed to meet this standard. Surely this must be a minimum requirement for our young people when they leave school to seek employment or higher education.

Concerned parents need to be pro-active and put pressure on the LEA, county councillors, head teachers and school governors to take urgent steps and improve teaching standards in our secondary schools.

Here in Hastings and Rother we still have a mountain to climb before ALL our students can expect to leave school with the necessary basic qualifications to equip them for a decent job with future prospects.

PETER WATSON

Wealden Way

Prom rights

MANY thanks for your coverage in the last two weeks of the controversy surrounding the council's decision to erect a bollard on Channel View West, without consulting residents.

Elderly and disabled residents of Channel View and Marina Court Avenue will find it hard to get out and about, or bring home bulky shopping under the council's current proposals.

The council has had a longstanding policy of not enforcing the 1912 bylaw, letting cars and vans on to the promenade for brief loading and unloading. It has made discretionary exemptions for council contractors. If it is too difficult for council workers to walk 50 yards to empty bins on the prom, how can the council refuse to see the impact of their decision on elderly and disabled residents living on the prom?

As it stands the bylaw appears to ban the use of electric wheelchairs or mobility scooters on the prom, showing that it is an outdated piece of legislation. Readers who use powered scooters should be warned that, if the council chose to enforce the 1912 bylaw, they could face a 50 fine and a criminal record for simply using the prom.

It is clear that the council should use their powers to update this bylaw.

We have tried to enter dialogue with the council, but they seem unwilling to discuss the matter in depth to see if a better answer can be found. We would like to see evidence of a problem and the risk associated with current patterns of usage. We want to see concrete reassurances from emergency services that the delay in reaching homes will not put lives in danger. We would like to see:

* An open review of the 1912 bylaw.

* Full consultation with residents.

* A commitment from the council to pay particular attention to the needs of elderly and disabled residents.

ANTONIA CHITTY

Channel View

No show

AS a local taxi driver, I had occasion to transport a customer to the De La Warr Pavilion to book up for the forthcoming opera.

The pavilion was closed. A notice on the door said bookings could be taken over the phone or online.

What about people wishing to book up for shows that do not have a credit card?

Why couldn't the pavilion open up the shop opposite that they occupy, as a temporary booking office?

Or was it too much trouble?

We hand a lot of our council tax to this organisation. The least they could do is to consider all of the local community. Perhaps they will close the premises down and hand back the revenue saved in doing so to the council.

B. Randall

Cantelupe Road

Needed boost

SADLY, John Williams (Letters, January 18) appears sadly to be stuck in the past when it comes to the DLWP.

Luckily for the future of the Pavilion and Bexhill, he is not involved in the running of it. We can therefore look forward to some exciting exhibitions and events in the coming year which will attract many visitors and give a much needed boost to the local economy.

STEPHANIE WEBB

Collington Avenue

Park spend

TO quote Victor Meldrew from TV's One Foot in the Grave, 'I don't believe it'. Our dear councillors are now thinking of spending 1m on Egerton Park. Where is all this money coming from? Out of the tax-payers pockets of course.

We've recently heard of proposed spending of 600,000 on West Parade, add to this the scandalous cost of the Christmas lights, and the amounts involved are mind-boggling to say the least. They seem to have the idea in their heads that they can do whatever they want with our money, regardless of the cost. Where is the moral conscience of these people?

J TOLLETT

Bidwell Avenue

Such kindness

ON Saturday after shopping at Sainsburys midday, I found my handbag missing on returning home. I was very upset and worried as it contained not only money but my cheque book and bank card etc.

I would like to thank the kind, honest lady who found my handbag and handed it in to Sainsburys. Unfortunately I do not know her name but I would like her to know how grateful I am, also to the police who collected my bag and were very kind to me at the police station.

B BAILEY

Bedford Avenue

Prom laws

THE two letters in your last issue regarding the promenade and the enforcement of by laws, provide an opportunity to air, in context, the concerns that I and others have regarding Rother Council's disingenuous position on forbidding vehicular access to the promenade for the residents of Channel View and Marina Court Avenue.

There is a by law, dated 1912, that forbids vehicular access to the area known as The Pleasure Grounds, other than for a "perambulator or a chaise drawn or propelled by hand or a wheeled chair drawn or propelled by hand and used solely for the conveyance of a child or an invalid." This by law, as can be seen from its wording alone, was created for a different age and for a very different situation, when the area from Channel View to beyond Park Avenue was dedicated, prior to the building of the De La Warr Pavilion and the creation of the adjacent car park, to walking space for Edwardian seaside visitors.

A council officer even stated, recently, that consideration had been being given for some time to updating this particular by law.