Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
Football fares decision 'inexplicable'
From the Groat of April 1, 1921
Football fans in Caithness were lamenting the fact that special reduced fares to the international football match in Glasgow did not apply to travellers from Wick and Thurso.
Large numbers from the county had been preparing for a visit to the city for the "great sporting event" and had been looking forward to the opportunity presented by the cheaper fares which had been the rule in pre-war days.
However, the discounts appeared not to apply so the John O'Groat Journal approached the Highland Railway Company to find out more, and discovered that the cheap fares to Glasgow for the football were not available north of Tain.
The decision was branded inexplicable and the Groat asked if Tain was to be considered more important than the terminus of the railway.
"The people of Wick have long suffered as a result of these invidious exemptions. Such an arrangement has neither common sense nor a regard for the public's wishes to recommend it and certainly ought to be reconsidered.
"If it were the workshops in Inverness that were threatened there would be a loud outcry; but any sort of treatment appears to be considered good enough for the public in this northern area."
Sheriff hits out at bullying
From the Groat of April 2, 1971
Caithness Education Committee was to set up an inquiry into discipline in local schools following comments from the bench during a court case in which three 14-year-old boys were charged with assaulting a 15-year-old boy in school.
Sheriff Ewen Stewart heard that no disciplinary action had been taken against the boys by the school so the victim's parents had reported the matter to the police, resulting in the court case.
The procurator fiscal noted that: "The parents got the impression that there was quite a lot of bullying going on in the school."
The court heard that the victim had been grabbed, humiliated and kicked, and then when he bent down to pick up a pen he had been kicked in the face.
Sheriff Stewart said: "In my nine years in Caithness it has been my experience regarding higher grade schools that the headmasters hear no evil, see no evil and do nothing."
Turning to the three accused, he said: "I hate bullying. I think it is terrible the amount of physical and mental misery you caused that boy."
Subsequently, at a meeting of the education committee in Wick, it was agreed to appoint a subcommittee to investigate discipline in schools.
Anger at driving test plan
From the Groat of April 5, 1996
Learner drivers in Caithness faced having to travel to Helmsdale to complete part of the new-look driving test which was being introduced later in the year.
The move would mean extra expense and inconvenience for prospective motorbike, car and heavy goods licence holders, and had enraged local driving schools.
Thurso and Wick Trades Council had joined the protest over the choice of Helmsdale as the Caithness and Sutherland centre for the new written test.
The Driving Standards Agency had contracted a private company to conduct the 40-minute test and, according to one local driving instructor, it appeared it had tried to pick a central location without thinking about where the bulk of the population actually lived.
Local instructors favoured a test centre in either Wick or Thurso plus another one in Golspie.
Trades councillors condemned the proposal.
Union representative Eddie Slevin said it was senseless to pick a test centre for the area outwith the main population bases of Wick and Thurso.
He asked: "Are they going to organise tests around the bus times leaving Thurso and Wick? The logistics of this have to be looked at again."
Trades councillors agreed to press for the two-venue option.
