Saturday 25 April 2009

Meanwhile....

...despite the fact that Harrow council has teams of police standing by to swoop on peddlers of fattening desserts, North Hertfordshire can’t seem to get a dogcatcher elected:
A playground in Hertfordshire is suspected of being used to train fighting dogs, a council has said.

Teeth marks have been found on damaged swings in one play area in Royston.
So, arrange to get the people training their fighting dogs on the equipment caught in the act and arrested, right?

Wrong:
The council believes bull terriers are made to grip equipment and are swung round to increase biting strength. Now they may have to close the play areas.
Because resolving the situation while not inconveniencing the people who aren’t abusing the equipment is just too damn hard...
Police said they were not aware of a fighting dog problem in Royston but were increasing patrols after reports of vandalism and graffiti.
Have they looked...? Seriously, I mean, unless Royston is the only town without some kind of beat bobby, even if the plastic kind, have they not noticed the vandalism?
North Hertfordshire District Council has threatened to stop funding repairs after spending £60,000 mending vandalised equipment.

The bill for damage at Newmarket Road, Serby Avenue and Priory Gardens in Royston took a third of the council's total budget for repairing play equipment, a council statement said.
It would be cheaper to hire a pest control expert for a few nights, with a high powered rifle, who could swear that he thought the big, bulky, short-coated, aggressive beast was a fox.

And if he also pots the animal at the other end of the leash, so much the better!
Council leader John Smith said the council could not keep funding a "seemingly endless black hole".

He called on members of the public to report any suspicious activity.

He added: "The last thing we want to do is stop small children playing.

"They have done nothing wrong and would be punished for the selfish, wilful actions of people old enough to know better.
Well, don’t punish them just because it's the easy thing to do, then! Is that too hard to try and figure out?

2 comments:

Dave H said...

I go shopping in Royston occasionally and I regret to inform you that this sort of behaviour from the locals does not surprise me.

What was (by all accounts) in the seventies a pleasant market town has become a Chav theme park.

That doesn't let the council off their woolly-headedness, of course, but given these same people allowed a Bargain Booze to open on a prominent position on the high street, we may safely conclude they are fully representative of their constituents.

BTW The police station was broken into a while back. The reaction was to cut back the hours the place is staffed.

Mark Wadsworth said...

*sigh*

Your commonsense way of looking at things is why you were appointed Justice Minister in my Bloggers Cabinet.

It's not bloody rocket science, is it?

*/sigh*

PS, I like the idea of the short sighted pest controller killing the animals at both ends of the leash, just to be on the safe side!