Looking Back – news from the John O'Groat Journal of yesteryear
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Shopkeeper's second Sabbath offence
From the Groat of January 18, 1924
A Wick shopkeeper was fined £5 with the alternative of 30 days' imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to allowing refreshments to be consumed in his premises on a Sunday.
Primo Pieraccini, confectioner, High Street, had previously admitted committing a similar offence in August and had been fined £3 with the alternative of 20 days' imprisonment.
The burgh prosecutor told the Burgh Court that "it was extraordinary that the accused and such people should set out to over-ride the law".
He explained that he had been informed that those traders who sought to break the Sabbath regulations were "fully cognisant of the law, because they take very good care to have people watching to warn them of the approach of the police."
He added that if the police had not approached Mr Pieraccini's property in a way he had not expected, "he would probably not have been caught".
Elsewhere, congratulations had been extended to two Caithnessians on their "achievements in the world of journalism".
George A Waters, son of the late Thurso merchant Matthew Waters, had been appointed editor-in-chief of The Scotsman, having been on the staff there for 18 years.
Also from Thurso, Mr CS Millikin had taken up the job of advertisement manager of Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Company pulls out of Dunnet Bay plan
From the Groat of January 18, 1974
Local councillors had expressed bitter disappointment after it was revealed that Chicago Bridge Ltd had decided to "forego their oil platform site at Dunnet Bay".
County convener Alexander Rugg told a meeting of Caithness County Council that the decision had been made at top level without external discussion and was final.
The main factor seemed to be that Chicago Bridge could save "nearly a year in time" by choosing an Irish site where they could go ahead with their operations immediately.
Mr Rugg said that "we are sorry this has happened. It is a blow – totally unexpected. Had it gone on we would have had a bright future for development."
Some councillors felt that the blame lay with the Secretary of State for Scotland who they considered had "deliberately dragged his feet instead of taking an earlier decision either way" following a public inquiry.
However, the convener said that the inquiry had been relatively short and the decision by Chicago Bridge had been taken for practical reasons.
Reacting to the news, James Cameron, chairman of the Dunnet Bay Action Group, called for a public meeting "to find out what went wrong".
He said the group had spent more than £200, all contributed by local people, to press for the development "and we must now find out why we failed".
Partial victory in school lets row
From the Groat of January 22, 1999
Junior sport clubs in Caithness had won a partial victory in their battle against charges for the use of secondary school games halls.
Education officials said charges for lets during the week should never have been introduced and blamed an internal "misunderstanding".
But there was to be no reprieve for clubs facing huge bills for using schools at the weekend.
They faced bills starting at £24.45 for the first hour of use at games halls on a Saturday or Sunday.
For many years, the education department's policy had been that youth groups could use the halls free of charge during the week. There were charges for the weekends, but youth groups got round them by booking through the offices of the Community Education Department.
However, the previous year, amid severe cuts to the council's budget, education officials had tried to recover the full costs of keeping school open outwith classroom hours by introducing thumping across-the-board charges.
The new fees were shelved after a public outcry but a consequence of the rethink was an instruction to Community Education to withdraw its facility for free weekend bookings.
Elsewhere, local MP Robert Maclennan said he would not be putting himself forward for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats following the announcement that Paddy Ashdown was to step down in the summer.
He said it was time for the party to "move to a new leader from the younger generation".
