Here in Mahurangi we are blessed by two local
newspapers, the “Rodney Times”, and “Mahurangi Matters”. Neither speaks with the power and authority
of, for instance, Trollope’s “Jupiter”, hurling terrible thunderbolts against
the pompous and pretentious of the day.
But they are where you might go to be updated on golden weddings, Rotary
awards, fishing stories and school sports.
I recently sent to “Mahurangi Matters” what I thought
was a useful contribution to the vexed question of housing paedophiles on their
release from detention. It seems MM was
underwhelmed. I think their editor saw
legions of indignant geriatrics descending upon him from their moral high ground. For what it is worth, this was what I sent:
Residents of Mangere are objecting
to the official assumption that paedophiles and others on parole can be placed
in their neighbourhoods but not in Remuera or Howick. My wife has just come up with the perfect
solution, and I agree with it. House
these people in the retirement villages – it’s a win/win scenario.
For a start, there are no
children in the vicinity to be at risk.
There are no schools or preschools or parks with kiddies playing. Thus, a major drawback about these places is
turned seamlessly into an asset.
It could only be therapeutic,
moreover, for the parolees to join in the healthy vibrant retirement village
life – the weekly happy hour, the line dancing, bowls and croquet, they could
even join the village choir. As we all
know, wholesome food and gentle exercise are inseparable from building moral
tone.
In return, the regular
village inmates would have a range of options for conversation other than the
weather and rheumatism.
Neighbourhood Watch is a high
art in these villages. Nothing much
happens unnoticed. So surveillance, you
might say, is inbuilt. Stir outside and
curtains flick.
The villages typically feature
fun-filled trips for the inmates into the countryside round about, or to the
shops, in the village bus or wagon. By
this means the parolees could be steadily and gently introduced back into wider
society, under unobtrusive supervision.
Some of them might offer to drive the bus or provide a running
commentary on points of interest.
Finally, such a scheme would bestow
a fresh and exciting raison d’être
for the burgeoning retirement village gulag archipelago around the land. It could infuse new life into the inmates, a
reborn sense of purpose, a light in the eye and at the end of the tunnel, so to
speak.
