A recent report in Link and discussions at the Parish Council meeting have highlighted cases of anti-social behaviour and criminal damage in parts of the village.
The article below about the Pinfold area was sent through to bish dot net a couple of days ago, by a villager concerned about these activities. Although it's written in a light hearted way it does raise some serious points.
But what do we think about life in Bishopthorpe? Do we really have an escalating problem, or has there always been a certain amount of bad behaviour that tends to play itself out over time? Are we seeing more damage, more rowdiness, more assaults than we used to, or in comparison with other areas in and around York? And what should we be doing about it?
What do you think...?
THE PINFOLD
According to Wikipedia, the Pinfold was used to keep stray animals which had been rounded up because their owners had failed to supervise their use of common grazing land. A fine had to be paid for their release.
Passing by the Pinfold at the corner of Acaster lane and Copmanthorpe Lane the other evening I thought that the Parish Council had reintroduced a by-law bringing the Pinfold back into use as all I could see was some hapless, brain impaired waifs and strays waiting for their owners / parents to reclaim them.
But what had these owners / parents done that their offspring are confined to the Pinfold?
- Failed to supervise their waifs and strays while using common grazing and drinking places (The bars at our wonderful local hostelries)
- Allowed them to stray on the public highway therefore being a danger to themselves and the law abiding citizens of our lovely village and a danger to visitors who are maybe not aware of the straying animals that frequent our Main Street
I would like now to congratulate the officer appointed by the Parish Council who is responsible for rounding up these waifs and strays but who is that person? It cannot be our esteemed Community Police Officers because they go home at lunch time. It must be a super hero that is on call 24 hours a day to ensure the supervision of these waifs and strays.
But rumour has it that the waifs and strays are not as stupid as one imagines, as they appear to make their own way to the Pinfold to await collection and when the owners / parents fail to show up because there is something on TV they want to watch instead of supervising their animals, they try to dig themselves out of the Pinfold causing damage that has to be repaired at the cost of all of us.
So they are as stupid as one imagines as they could just walk out of the Pinfold the way they walked in without causing any damage at all and go home.
I will lay bets on that the Pinfold does not suffer damage from these waifs and strays in December, January and February when the weather is inclement to say the least.
We live in one of the most beautiful villages in the York area if not the whole of Yorkshire. Can't these idiots and their owners / parents understand that the law abiding residents will not tolerate our environment being constantly damaged and destroyed and that people have the right to enjoy our village and its history.
It is up to everyone who knows who causes this damage to report it to the authorities so action can be taken against them.
Why not a photographic stocks on the Bishopthorpe web site with names and pictures of the culprits so the rest of us can throw virtual rotten fruit at them. What a good game that would be.
Until we all say enough is enough these idiots will continue to damage and destroy our environment so let's put a stop to it now.
