Determined dads paying a high price

Clearly, there are two sides to every story but you cannot ignore the determination of a number of dads trying to get access to their children.

It would be wrong of me to name names in this publication, but sometimes the actions of a vindictive woman can harm more than just her former spouse.

I know of someone who was embroiled in a custody/access dispute which got extremely nasty and culminated in his former partner making a scandalous accusation which, unfortunately, ended up in a court of law.

Thankfully, he was unanimously acquitted by a jury but not before his character had all been assassinated in sections of the media.

To this day, despite being found not guilty by the world-renowned British legal system, he is still denied access to his son, but equally as shocking is the fact that his parents, good, honest hard-working people, are having to spend a small fortune in an effort to have some kind of contact with their grandson despite being on very much the outside of the initial dispute.

There is no denying that in every case the children concerned are innocent victims, but also spare a thought for the grandparents, who can suffer terribly.

Difficult issue

I HAVE always had a lot of time for Cyril Selby, especially during his tenure as a county councillor in the 1990s.

However, I hope his latest victory doesn't have far reaching consequences.

The proposed drug rehabilitation centre at the Guildbourne Centre was always going to be a controversial move and almost as quickly as the plans were revealed, Cyril and his team embarked on the fight to get the plans rejected.

It certainly is a difficult issue.

As a person who, like everyone else, wants to see the town centre rejuvenated, such a move wasn't really a step in the right direction.

However, on the flip side, these people are suffering from a illness '“ that's what any kind of addiction is '“ but do we all not have a moral and Christian obligation to help these unfortunate individuals?

It's been decided that the Guildbourne is not the right place for the centre, which is probably a classic example of commonsense.

But let's not follow that with another classic case of burying our heads in the sand by pushing the whole issue of potential drug problems in Worthing to one side.

Homage to the Half Brick

AND finally... it's certainly a sad sight seeing one of the town's legendary public houses, The Half Brick, all boarded up, perhaps destined for demolition, to be replaced by a block of flats.

But is the currently derelict pub actually a homage to an original landmark?

Am I having my leg pulled, or was there a rock that looked like a half brick out to sea off East Worthing?

Obviously, it's more than a few years ago, and clearly the elements have dictated changes but I'm sure, as always, there will be a reader with the definitive answer.

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