Teens Stalked, Scared And Driven To Despair

Newcastle Herald

Saturday January 20, 2007

Greg Ray

I'M not claiming the credit, but since I wrote last week in this column about the acts of terror being committed on our streets by all the crims, hoods and hoodlum gangs, Police Minister John Watkins has promised to boost police numbers in the Lower Hunter.

Not before time, with yet another murder and the usual string of muggings, robberies and assorted crimes just in the past week.

Mind you, I won't celebrate until I see the uniforms. It was significant that Mr Watkins wouldn't commit himself to any numbers.

In the meantime, here's another report from the battleground of our suburbs.

A week ago last Wednesday a Hunter Valley teenager with four of his school friends went for a drive, well out of his home territory, along Kalaroo Rd, Redhead.

According to the lad it was a bit after 8pm, not quite dark, and the group was heading to the beach to enjoy the coastal scenery.

But they hadn't gone too far when, out of the blue, a "flat-tray ute" something like a Holden Rodeo hooned up behind and started tailgating the car.

The car driver turned into a side street to let the ute go, but instead it followed, still hugging the car's rear bumper with its bullbar just centimetres away.

Suddenly the ute sped past and did a handbrake turn.

The car driver, now starting to feel a bit scared, did a u-turn and left the street, heading back onto Kalaroo Rd. But to add to the drama, a second, similar ute appeared on the wrong side of the road behind the car, so both utes were belting along side by side.

According to the car driver, one of the utes then hurtled up the dirt shoulder of the road on the passenger side of the car and swerved in front, reefing on its brakes at the same time. The second ute, heading the same way, bashed into the passenger side of the car, causing extensive damage to most panels and windows.

The car passengers were now panicking, but the utes had had their fun and shot through.

Apparently one of them allegedly stolen was later found burnt-out nearby.

"The police told us there'd been a lot of ram-raids in the area," the still rattled driver told me. "Maybe it all had something to do with that."

Apocalypse soon

IT'S officially five minutes to midnight, according to the Doomsday Clock.

This week, following agreement by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the minute hand of the famous clock was nudged forward two minutes, from 11.53pm to 11.55.

The clock was devised to symbolise how closely humanity is approaching self-induced catastrophe. Since 1947 when it was set at 11.53, the farthest it has been from midnight was 17 minutes after the fall of the Soviet Union.

It reached 11.58 in 1953, following the successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States.

According to the panel of scientists (which includes 18 Nobel prizewinners), apocalypse has edged nearer because of climate change and nuclear proliferation.

"We foresee great peril if governments and societies do not take action now," said Bulletin representative Professor Stephen Hawking.

"As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth.

"We have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change."

Lord Rees, president of the Royal Society, said 21st century technology, "if optimally applied", could offer immense opportunities for the developing and the developed world. "But it will present new threats more diverse and more intractable than nuclear weapons did," he warned.

Swimmers draw the line

ONE of the issues that prompted debate in my household this week was a suggestion by Belmont reader Frank Lee that Newcastle City Council ought to paint lane markings on the floor of Merewether Baths so lap swimmers don't belt their heads together.

I confess I scoffed at the idea, but I'm not a swimmer. My wife, who is a serious lap-swimmer, thinks Frank is right. Apparently, accidental head-banging and eye-gouging are near-daily events when swerving swimmers meet mid-lap, thrown off course by the deplorable absence of lines on the pool bottom.

Frank has sent a petition with 350 signatures supporting his request to the council.

Personally, I'm half-inclined to agree with Merewether correspondent Peter McNair, who reckons that if speeding swimmers can't stay in a straight line by following the mollusc trails, sand patches and potholes on the pool bottom then they ought to slow down or go to a chlorinated pool.

My wife isn't copping that, though. And I suppose I'll be laughing on the other side of my face if there really is a head-on smash or multi-swimmer pile-up in the pool and the council gets sued for damages.

H2

Editor: Mark Rothfield Assistant Editor: Jim Kellar Writers: Neil Jameson, Joanne McCarthy, Greg Ray

Sub-editor: Ben Quinn Cover design: Tracy Peters

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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