Letters to the Editor

Most weekend nights police cars/vans parked on Church Green, followed by ambulances, then the mess -- vomit, language and noise. These yobs would walk past John urinating on him, kick him, throw chips and curry at him and so on. Not one weekend, every weekend (who's the victim?).

John Graham has had every medical test, scan going with no result or label and no answers. John was a regular caller in our office after all the drunks had been locked up or gone home to their nice clean beds.

He would come to use the toilet and/or get warm and dry from the weather. He has no belongings or cash, so he cannot be beaten up or bullied for them by his so called mates!

I personally found him honest, polite and helpful. He is not a violent lad. OK he may lash out with verbal abuse but it's his way of retaliating and really hurts no one. Yes it's true he lives on the streets and has for the last twelve years.

Why is it that he now in the last 18 months has had ASBOs put on him since the new Townlink started up?

I would also like to think if you or I had blood streaming from our wrists that we would go to hospital, not Armley. I can say that John may have a mental problem but he claims no benefits. He prefers none, either from the state or his family, unlike most?

Now, to my disgust, a reputable newspaper like yourself is printing and intimidating a young lad with obvious problems who wants to be left alone. John is not an alcoholic, neither a druggie nor a thief, he has no money to be any of the above. If we open our eyes Bradford has a large amount of people living on the streets, the only difference with John is he was born and has lived in Keighley all his life, so why should he be moved?

I was upset at the lack of compassion both the Town link and yourselves have towards him or his family, what would you do if John was your child?

LINDA DIXON

Lower Hoyle House Farm Barn

Oakworth

Keighley

SIR - I was very surprised to read that most of the Keighley Town Councillors have voted to support Asda's planning application.

It would be very bad for the town. Mike Osborne is right.

Firstly, that site is suitable for industry, with potential for a railway siding. Sadly, the pro-globalisation policies have badly damaged Keighley's industries, but when those bad policies are removed, we will want to have our industries back.

They could offer a wide range of real jobs for people of all abilities. If we let Asda take the site, the decision would stand for ever.

Secondly, supermarkets kill more jobs than they create, by destroying many small and medium shops. In Keighley that is extra important, as there are communities among us who traditionally see family trading as their natural livelihood.

Thirdly, the Mayor says it would bring more people into Keighley. Supposing we wanted to do that, where would we put the new roads to carry that traffic? If we have space and money for a major new clear-and-build, let's not use them up on an unnecessary supermarket.

The last two objections -- job destruction and traffic creation -- are common to supermarkets generally, and this is why the Green Party is against them spreading. The Town Council wants to be non-political, but here it is supporting the pro-globalisation view, one that we do not all share.

Michael YAFFEY

Keighley Green Party

SIR - The KN tells us that Keighley Town Council has thrown its weight behind the "We're backing Keighley and District" campaign to boost the local economy".

However, an article on the front page of the same edition declares that "Asda's plans to build a superstore in Keighley have been given the full backing of the town council".

Clearly some councillors do not see the contradiction in this, but it seems to me the town council needs to think a bit more clearly about our vision for Keighley's future.

Do we want a distinctive town centre -- somewhere we can be proud of, where people want to spend time, where local businesses thrive and wealth stays in the area? Or do we want a US based multinational which could be anywhere sucking the life out of our town centre and maybe closing our existing supermarkets? Such a scenario may seem melodramatic -- but why would our current retailers and the Director of the Airedale Masterplan be so concerned if there was really nothing to fear? Research into the impact of supermarkets is not encouraging. Our first assumption may be that a new outlet will bring jobs, however, the British Retail planning forum found that every time a large supermarket opens, an average of 276 jobs are lost (competition commission 2000). On top of this a large out of town superstore would have huge environmental impact, increased traffic congestion would be problematic enough -- as if Keighley isn't suffering from that already.

Yet it appears that despite these catastrophic implications for the people of Keighley the council are backing the store because they believe that is what the people want. I consider this assumption and the decision to act upon it to be ill informed and irresponsible. Councillor Hudson claims that "It is time to put it down once and for all that the people of Keighley want an Asda store." Well he is certainly not speaking for me, nor for the many people with whom I have recently struck up a conversation on the subject. I am not convinced that the people of Keighley have been given the opportunity for proper consultation where an informed debate on the subject has been able to take place. I therefore do not consider that Councillor Hudson has sufficient grounds for such a categoric statement.

Despite the council's position it is not too late to see off Asda. I would encourage people to contact their councillors and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which is preparing to adjudicate.

Councillor Hudson contends that the people of Keighley are entitled to an Asda, well I would suggest that they are entitled to a much better future than that.

ANNA PRITCHARD

View Road, Keighley

SIR - Earlier this week a young man came to thank me for the support he felt I had given him via your letters page recently.

He was polite, articulate and extremely concerned about the effect that a recent article in the Keighley News about him had had on his family. He was particularly concerned about a shop in Cavendish Street who had pasted the article up in their window. This young man was John Graham -- a very different John Graham to the one you chose to portray in your recent front page spread.

The two letters printed in your most recent edition about John couldn't be more different. The first, (I presume from one of John's family) shows real concern, genuine knowledge about, and feeling for John. The other, from R J Brown BSc, FBII, is full of misinformation and implied knowledge, when he can't possibly know these confidential details about another individual.

As for his final paragraph that I should find it in my heart to "give Townlink some support", it may be of interest to R J Brown that Key House has clearly demonstrated its long term commitment to Keighley -- by choosing to locate its headquarters in the town rather than in Bradford and by its commitment to helping and supporting people like John, less fortunate than R J Brown (BSc FBII), and the members of Townlink.

We will continue to raise issues about equality and exclusion, whenever they arise, even though it may offend his committee from time to time.

I really hope that no-one in R J Brown BSc FBII 's family is ever unfortunate enough to be dealt a similar hand of cards to John.

WENDY SHACKLETON

Key House

SIR - While I agree with Mr Mujeeb Rahman and Tom Smith in relation to the Bible being withdrawn from some hospitals, I feel this issue takes away attention from the real political incorrectness that we are faced with today.

I myself do not hold to any Holy Book or religion, but I do hold to the rights of every individual and their access to freedom of expression and justice.

We read of how the Qur'an has been flushed down the toilet at Guantanamo Bay prison, and this has caused a rise of protest from the followers of Islam.

We have only to cast our minds back to the Salman Rushdie incident and the Satanic Verses to see just how much emotion something like this can evoke. Holy Books aside, what is more important is the inhuman treatment of any individual, no matter what their beliefs or origins. The individuals being held at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison are receiving far worse treatment than the Qur'an.

It is this injustice that should be raised. If one million Qur'ans along with one million Bibles were flushed down the toilet, it would not be as sacrilegious as the inhuman treatment of just one single individual. All of this is now taking place because the impeachable figures of Bush and Blair deliberately misled their countries into supporting a war that is illegal in the eyes of truth and the international community. Bush and Blair claim to be of the Christian persuasion (though grossly fail to act in this manner) and no doubt attend their respective churches holding the Holy Bible in their blood stained hands.

This duplicitous act of starting an illegal war on the falsely created pretext of WMD and terrorism has created an unwarranted fear within many countries which is tangible within their respected communities. What would be more important in helping to remove this fear, and may I add in this case would be politically correct, is the removal of Bush and Blair, not Bibles. There is now a movement in American to impeach Bush and others for their involvement in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre.

GRAHAM FORSYTH

Compeigne Avenue

Riddlesden

SIR - Can I, through your paper, ask the person who stole our tub of plants, all in flower, in the early morning of June 12 to return it or put a £10 note through my door for the cost of tub, plants and my time.

J H CALVERT

Leesworth Court,

Haworth Road, Cross Roads

SIR - We would like to thank everyone who bought, sold or sponsored the Haworth Primary School Gardening Club Calendar and helped to make it such a success.

Altogether we have raised £2,110, which is £1,055 for each of our two chosen charities -- The Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Candlelighters (fighting children's cancer).

As well as encouraging the children to do good things for others, you have also helped to save people's lives in many different ways and circumstances.

STEVE THORPE

(and all the members of the

Gardening Club)

SIR - How pleasing to see from your Opinion item that at last a magistrate has passed a sentence befitting the crime -- in this case, the offence of fly-posting.

Litter and related debris seriously deface the town that so many of us feel is a pleasant place in which to live. Last year I had a couple of occasions to complain to the Environmental Health office in the Town Hall about the filth on a street corner.

After some time old furniture was removed, but the accumulated litter of cans, packaging and general mess (now joined by bathroom items) remained.

When I went again to the office a few months afterwards, I was told that the environmental health officer had now been transferred to Bradford, but that the complaint would be passed on.

Nothing has ever been done, and nowadays we seem to have even more front gardens sporting the erstwhile contents of the house!

Is this yet another example of "Big Brother" Bradford ignoring the needs of a satellite town? How can the Town Council exercise any authority without the means to do so? Might not more litter pickers (and parking attendants) be a worthwhile addition to the arm of authority?

Brian Ward

Broadlands, Keighley

SIR - I'd like to thank the lady who handed my purse in to Keighley Post Office after I lost it in Towngate on Tuesday, June 7. It saved me the hassle of replacing my cards.

A R SHAW

Braithwaite

SIR - Re Mrs M Farrar's letter in last week's KN about the young people who gave up their time to help at Lourdes.

She neglected to tell you that she, along with a group of friends led and coached by Mollie Richmond, spent many hours rehearsing a show made up of songs, dancing, monologues and amusing sketches to bring some smiles and cheer to those less fortunate at Lourdes. I wasn't part of the show but watched all their hard work.

E HODGSON

Exley Road, Keighley