AS a resident of Westhoughton, I feel compelled to voice concern over the disgraceful yob element that I and millions of other decent people have to put up with.

Everywhere you go it's the same old story - bus shelters, telephone boxes, shop windows etc etc., vandalised just for the fun of it, and if this isn't enough we find the crib and nativity figures in Westhoughton wrecked. Just what these morons are thinking of, God only knows.

Is it just me, or is society in general deteriorating to such an extent that we no longer seem surprised at these acts of vandalism? Just maybe one day all the do-gooders - who make excuses for these people, like coming from poor homes etc etc - will wake up to the fact that only severe sentences dished out to these people will work.

Losing faith in the human race.

David Marshall

Lower Landedmans, Westhoughton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.