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Park Shelter Smashed

Sunday 5 September 2010, 14:30

By John Baxter

If you turn to the minutes of the August PACT meeting you can read about how there have been a string of incidents in and around the recreation area which involved drinking, noise and roaring around on scooters. They have also involved littering the area with bottles and cans and spraying the walls of the shelter with choice graffiti. All rather sad expressions of boredom and a lack of thought for those who live in the neighbourhood. The PACTCl report lists priority patrolling by the police and the handing out of warnings and what is called a Section 59 which if broken or ignored can have serious consequences, such as the confiscation of a vehicle. Parents of under age drinkers are also informed.

Vandalised park shelter

A week after the PACT meeting as I was walking through the recreation ground I saw the groundsman working on the shelter. He had just finished loading up a pile of broken concrete and filling in the 'L' shaped gap left when the shelter was struck by those who had clearly decided to try and demolish it. What can one say except that such pathetic behaviour is extremely sad and depressing and the costs of repairing the shelter will be considerable just when the Town Council has no spare funds.

This shows the broken concrete

This shows where the benches were

Comments

johnsmith
Posts: 1

Expressions of Boredom
Reply #1 on : Wed September 08, 2010, 09:14:32

It's a sad indictment of our society that boredom, frustration, or any other negative feeling is used as an excuse for all such acts of vandalism. These are blanket terms and at best only part truths.

My family have lived in Wincanton for over 30 years now, and to be honest I get very frustrated when all acts of vandalism get attributed to the lack of facilities for youth in Wincanton.

As far as I can see this simply isn't true. Throughout the years, the councils have worked hard and spent money on many differnet projects to engage our youth. Our local churches have worked especially hard in providing meetings and projects to engage young people.

Even today if you look hard, and dare I say, dig below the surface view of Wincanton, you will find many many different clubs and associations geared to engaging young people.

It seems to me that Wincanton has plenty going on for young people. So the big question is....

Why are "all" communities in this fair land inflicted with mindless vandalism and violent behaviour. I do believe that we are talking about a minority of people who spoil it for all.

It seems that there is a section of our population (all ages) who's moral compass or moral immune system has been weakened, leaving them exposed to the strong, and growing stronger, pressures of modern society.

We live in a modern society when we have stopped giving our kids boundaries to observe. Or, when our kids cross those given boundaries, they learn that there are no serious consequences for those errors.

So I guess that I would say that there is no easy fix to this problem. All us parents want to give our kids a better life than we had (even though most of us had pretty decent lives ourselves) and so even we inadvertantly put unfair pressure on our own kids. We are moulded by the subtle pressures of advertising and we love our kids too much to sometimes say know.

I think we need to get back to a place where as a society we show our kids (of all ages) that if we cross moral and legal boundaries, there are serious consequences to be paid. We need to re-establish a fresh respect for, and understanding of what is right and what is most definitely wrong.

When we here that the people causing problems are all running around on scooters and motorcycles we see clearly that we are not speaking about kids for deprived backgrounds. We are talking about people who should know better because they have been brought up to know the difference between right and wrong. A good moral foundation does not depend on family income. These are, or should be, basic building blocks in every life.

In this day of human rights what has happened to the right of society "NOT" to be afflicted by mindless vandalism and violence. Let's not just blame young people. We need to find the true cause and work towards curing it.

Maybe a good start is to help people understand that good hearts and minds live good lives. Confused hearts and minds lead to issues and problems.

Let's promote a fresh moral compass for our kids and a better future for our growing community.

Park Shelter Smashed

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