I HAD just entered the doors of a supermarket and was about to do my shopping.

A hideous life-size, life-like figure with a green face and black cape stood in the first aisle with a hand-shake pose.

A little girl was parked in her buggy directly below this ghastly looking dummy representing Hallowe'en.

The baby girl shouted to her mother: "Mam look there's a man!"
Then she put her hand out towards the green figure and said: "Daddy, hello Daddy."

It's really heartbreaking to see so many single-parent, young women, when every child deserves a caring responsible father.

Surely there's a lot more our Government can do to encourage young couples to join together in matrimony.

For a brighter future for our country, GB, the other GB (Gordon Brown) and his cabinet should focus urgent attention on introducing new incentives for marriage, because as far as parenting goes, "it takes two baby, it takes two".

As I know, marriage reduces crime and unites families.
Jim Chambers,
Washington

Grass cutting mess
I VISIT Southwick Cemetery every week to tend to my daughter's grave and this week I was disgusted to find the grave and all the other surrounding graves covered in grass cuttings.
I appreciate that there is a need to cut the grass on a regular basis but I'm sure the council receive enough taxes to upgrade the lawn mowers with a box collecting these cuttings.
It breaks my heart to see all these graves that are beautifully tended only to be covered with a layer of grass cuttings.
I am writing to the Director of Parks and Cemeteries regarding this matter and would advise the families of loved ones who are buried in this cemetery to do the same, though I am not holding my breath for a reasonable reply.
F Gooch,
Monkwearmouth

Let rubbish burn
ONCE again the powers that be are to consider the burning of rubbish, with a view (Thursday, September 18) to producing electrical power.
It will be essential to incorporate flue gas scrubbing and CO2 emission reduction in order for such a plant to be accepted in this day and age, but lets go for it.
As a city we haven't got much development to boast about.
Over the years an awful lot of opportunities in respect of the use of what should be referred to as prime manufacturing land has been missed, and looking at some of the proposals for the development of the city, it is likely to continue for some time yet.
Let us not waste that land to the east of the Hudson Docks; that area once occupied by Bartrams Shipbuilding. We should set an example to the rest of the country, if not the rest of Europe, by investing in the most up-to-date and far-seeing waste disposal site.
This would eradicate the need for the objectionable landfill currently in vogue, and giving rise to civil unrest among our citizens.
The system would be centred on a incinerator coupled to an electrical power plant, hopefully making the site self-sufficient in power. If not, then an additional fuel could be North Sea or imported gas.
The site is well removed from the city. The prevailing wind is, in the main, from the west, thus blowing fumes out to sea.
In this day and age the treatment of flue gasses can be such as to eradicate obnoxious omissions, or at least to reduce them to insignificant levels, thus catering for the on shore easterly wind.
Waste separation would be catered for to a limited extent, recovering cans, glass etc. Though it is noted that a number of continental authorities are now discovering that recycling is uneconomic and not a practical solution.
This site is also adjacent to the sewage treatment works and, no doubt, could facilitate a combining of both residues in a saleable fertiliser.
JFC,
Fulwell

Wright is wrong
WHEN will Alan Wright (Echo, Sep 21) realise that all his conjecture and chicanery are rendered ineffective when they come up against my undisputed facts.
Pontificating Alan blabbered on in a unsubstantial rant about my petty, spiteful, nasty rhetoric in my reply to Edmond Burke.
For good measure he accused me of nasty childish behaviour and said I can't resort in a calm mature fashion by arguing fact.
Wrighty must have got the relevant correspondence mixed up, because inconceivably he was describing Edmond Burkes's letter.
The contents of Edmonds letter held no political debate. His words were petty, spiteful and childish where he uttered inconsequential, nonsensical and shallow remarks, in a lamentable attempt to ridicule three Labour supporters.
I commented factually on a previous time when Edmond made an incorrect and rather ludicrous statement that socialism was built on a rock of tolerance etc.
So Wright is wrong again by pointing the finger at me. Because I was the victim and not the aggressor.
W Quinn,
Millfield