Discipline needed
The boy who lit the fire with the blowtorch must be punished in some way. What he did was extremely serious - send him to juvenile detention, let him feel what it is like to break the law otherwise he will go on to commit further fires or do other things because he got away with it. He needs to be disciplined.
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S. Cornell, Bayswater
Parents must act
Okay, I understand the law can't allow a child to go to the lock-up, however, I do hope the parents deal with him appropriately,
Whether he has a mum and dad or single parent, at nine he knows what not to do.
Any bleeding hearts out there that might say, "It's a cry for help" need to talk to these helpless souls that have lost everything.
That's my rant over.
C. Broadhurst, Nowra
Slap on the wrist
Where were his parents? I suppose he'll just receive a smack over the wrist.
J. Speeding, Goonellabah
Make an example
If you are nine years old, carry a blowtorch, start fires where you put people's lives, houses and livelihoods at risk, you should be made an example of. You need be publicly named so everyone in the local area knows who you are, and let you be reminded every day of how much damage you could have caused.
B. Harriman, Darlington Point
See the results
People who deliberately light fires should spend time in a burns unit, cleaning up destroyed houses and working with burnt animals as community service.
K. Boys, Bangalee
Right and wrong
Why is it that kids under the age of 18 get a slap on the wrist for lighting when so many people are losing their homes and lives with the fires? This really makes me mad , we are on watch and act and these kids get away with this. What has Australia come to when we can not chastise our kids and teach them right from wrong? Get real people, make these kids pay for what they have done.
D. Sharkey, Macksville
Even a week's jail
These children still need to be punished for lighting fires that burns houses and kills both people and animals. Juvenile jail even if it's just a week and bring them out in front of there own school and shame them.
J. Norman, Raymond Terrace
People Above politics
I refer to your article 'Shoalhaven District Hospital patient woes continue' November 5, regarding the lack of beds in the emergency department of Shoalhaven hospital.
The current lack of beds is just the tip of the iceberg.
Ask yourself what it is going to be like trying to be admitted over the Christmas period when our population explodes to three times its normal level.
I don't blame the staff as they can only work with what beds they have and with the equipment with which they are supplied.
The fault falls solely and squarely on the shoulders of both management and the government.
Lack of funding is the base cause of the situation that Shoalhaven Hospital finds itself in.
I suspect the current government, federal, is slapping the residents of this area on the wrist simply because they (the residents) voted for another party.
Playing politics with peoples lives is just not on and shows the lack of respect, and the outright contempt, that we the residents of this area are being shown.
Shame on the ministers and their government. You won't be getting my vote come the next election.
