Rye Observer Comment: Dogs worrying sheep can legally be shot

These were not wild or stray animals but domestic pets that had got loose while their owners were away from home. Many of the images we saw were too horrific and upsetting to use in the paper.

It has to be asked if the dogs were capable of killing 20 sheep and injuring dozens more, would they be safe in the presence of a young child?

Yes there are many responsible dog owners but this was not an isolated incident.

It is not unusual for the Observer to report on dogs worrying sheep or attacking livestock.

A farmer at Rye’s Cadborough Cliff lost sheep to out of control dogs and at Pett, where this latest incident took place, the problem was so prolific a few years back that dog walkers had to be banned from Guestling Woods during lambing season.

Owners should be aware that farmers are legally entitled to shoot dogs that are worrying or attacking livestock.

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IT WOULD be interesting to know how much it cost to bring the High Court case which resulted in a national ban on the tradition of saying prayers before council meetings.

Particularly as all that has happened is that councils, as happened at Rye this week, will take the technical side-step of not including prayers on the agenda but still having them before the meeting officially starts.

Prayers last less than a minute and we have never known any of the few members of the public who attend meetings to take any offence.

Rye Town Hall stands beside the historic town church and prayers, which incidentally are only said at monthly full council meetings, are a way of involving the local rector in the life of the town.

Are there really not more important problems facing us in these times?

Perhaps the Secular Society should be re-named the Small Minded Society.

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Battle Observer Comment: Prayers were not exactly compulsory anyway

IT WOULD be interesting to know how much it cost to bring the recent High Court case which resulted in a national ban on the tradition of saying prayers at the start of council meetings.

Particularly as all that has happened is that councils, as happened at Rye this week, will take the technical side-step of not including prayers on the agenda but still having them before the meeting officially starts.

And they were not exactly compulsory anyway.

Of course the High Court’s decision won’t affect Battle as the town council never says prayers before meetings.

The lack of an act of collective worship is not due to religious grounds, but purely just because that is the way it has always been.

It’s just one of the ways Battle Town Council differs from Rye.

The latter partakes in prayers, robes are worn in meetings and the town clerk dons a wig for the proceedings.

Meanwhile Battle councillors just turn up and get on with it.

I’m sure the councillors at Rye work just as hard as their Battle counterparts to ensure the best for the people they represent.

It’s just Battle councillors feel they can do it without the aid of pomp and ceremony.

And long may they continue to do so.