Swings and Roundabouts…and Heroin

A woman from Dunfermline was horrified when she discovered a junkie’s needle right next to a popular children’s play park last week. She claims that the council took three hours before coming to remove it after she reported the needle.

The local mother asked to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions from drug dealers that may live nearby. She saw the needle on the steps directly outside her building as she walked with her young daughter.

She said, "It was just lying on the path with brown liquid inside it. It wasn't capped or anything - I was absolutely horrified."

After spreading the word among her neighbours and warning people in the area she then immediately phoned the police and was transferred to the environmental health department who assured her that they would collect the needle as soon as possible and within the hour.

Taking matters into her own hands, she put the needle into a plastic bottle to keep it out of harms way, but had to wait another three hours before any officers came to remove it.

She adds, "If any of the kids had ran and fell, they would've landed right on it."

Her home is on Goldfrum Street, an area she has lived for six years, and right beside a busy play park. It is very popular with young children, however it is also a hot spot for the local junkies.

A flat just beside the park has been used as a drug den during the last year, with apparent junkies "often seen coming and going". Both the council and police have received many complaints from neighbours living in the area, but they say they can do nothing about it.

The local mum added, "We're living in fear for our kids safety - it's not right. You can't keep your eyes off the kids because you just don't know.”

Supermarket to open in Autumn after being delayed one year

A new supermarket will open its doors in Kirkcaldy this autumn after plans had been delayed for a year.

Supermarket retailer Morrisons will be built on the former B&Q premises which have been lying dormant for almost four years.

The date of the opening was finally confirmed after Fife Council completed the last stage in the planning process.

Authorisation of the new build had been placed on hold since last year in order for Invertiel Developments to gather all the required permissions needed to complete the project.

Permissions for Kirkcaldy’s latest supermarket include a new food store, petrol filling station and 415-space car park.

Morrisons will create 330 new jobs with this development and will be a big boost to the economy of the Fife town.

Councillor George Kay, also Invertiel Developments chairman, believes the hold up comes at great cost:

“The year-long delay has meant that 330 people are unemployed who could have been employed at the store.”

Susan Leslie, local councillor, assures that it is Morrisons own fault for the delay in the process:

“Morissons chose to walk away from the first permission granted by Fife Council and submit a new application. That was the cause of the delay.”

Morrisons development executive, Richard Bakes, is positive about the outcome:

“We look forward to delivering a new Morrisons food store by autumn 2013.”

The Morrisons supermarket will join other food store retailers ASDA, Tesco, Sainsburys, Aldi, Lidl, M&S and Farmfoods.

The Smith Chronicle is here

The Smith Chronicle today launched its first real physical copy, and yes you can have one.

In a lavish ceremony, attended by the all-star production team that comprises the second year HND Practical Journalism course of Adam Smith College, students were given the opportunity to pick up their very own copy of a publication that is sure to be featuring in award ceremonies for years to come.

Oscar Pistorius charged with murder

Police reveal there had been previous incidents at the address

THE FIRST ever double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games is getting charged with murder.

Oscar Pistorius, 26, is facing a murder charge after his girlfriend was shot and killed at his Pretoria home.

There were rumours in the local media that perhaps this had been a Valentines Day surprise gone wrong. It was suggested that Pistorius thought his girlfriend was an intruder trying to break-in. The police in South Africa were surprised to hear this and say the information did not come from them.

Pistorius' girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was said to be shot four times.

Officials in Pretoria said Pistorius was due to appear at a correctional services police court at 2pm local time but the case was later delayed until Friday.

Police were called to his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa's administrative capital in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The athlete is known as the "blade runner" because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in. He was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.

They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9mm pistol.

Police say neighbours heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.

The police also said that they would oppose any bail application.

Hours later, after being questioned by police, Mr Pistorius left a police station accompanied by officers, his face mostly covered by the hood of a grey jacket.

Steenkamp, a well-known South African model, had been dating Pistorius since November and was due to appear in a reality TV show called Tropika Island of Treasure. The law graduate from Port Elizabeth gave an interview to the Sunday Times in South Africa last week in which she described her boyfriend as "an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart."

Offenders help manage snow and ice hazard

Offenders across Fife were clearing snow and gritting roads yesterday as a string of community payback orders were put into effect.

And after a day of turmoil on the roads and severe weather warnings issued across the kingdom, they couldn’t have come at a better time.

A total of thirty low level offenders went out armed with shovels as part of a judicially issued remuneration program that uses unpaid manual labour as a formal punishment. 5 squads were sent to the areas of Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Lochgelly, Dunfermline, Cupar and Tayport.

Community payback orders (CPOs) were imposed as an alternative to a short prison stretch, which sees three quarters of low level offenders given a sentence of six months or less go on to re-offend within two years of getting out. CPOs have been proven to prevent the number of people re-offending, with three out of five offenders who carry out a CPO not going on to re-offend.

If conditions remain treacherous – as is forecast in some areas – then these squads will most likely continue their clear up until conditions improve. Yellow forecast warnings have been broadcast to several parts of Scotland and temperatures in Fife are expected to be below freezing overnight.