La Vallette ‘no alcohol’ signs limit our civil liberties
FREEDOM: Do we want it? Do we need it? Will we fight for it? Should we rebel against the loss of it? If the answer is yes, and I believe that not only it is, but also it should be; then why are we allowing, by our inactivity, its erosion?
Have you been to La Vallette recently? If you have you will have seen signs which dictate that there will be no consumption of alcohol from the junction of Le Val des Terres and South Esplanade – other than, of course, on licensed premises – to and including Clarence Battery. This sledgehammer was instituted by our Home Department and is called a Statutory Instrument (SI) – The Control of Intoxicating Liquor (Designated Public Places) (La Vallette, St Peter Port) – it was passed this year on 23 March.
As it happens I, personally, have no objection to limiting consumption in the immediate vicinity of the Bathing Pools as they are frequented by young people, however, feel that greater restriction limits me ‘in the pursuit of my happiness’.
Are we not to be accorded the same rights as those guaranteed by the constitution of our allies, the United States of America?
At age 69, I see no reason why on a summer’s day or evening a group of adults should not have a picnic within a public amenity that has been created by the hard graft of hundreds of volunteers and take a bottle of two of my favourite alcoholic beverage. The whole prohibition has been created by a desire to stop under-age drinking (which is already against the law) or drinking by alcoholics who might gather and offend. That under-age drinkers can be arrested if found drinking means that the SI is superfluous and unnecessary – that it limits the acceptable areas for people afflicted by an illness that is hard to treat and difficult to cure seems ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ or pandering to the small-minded and ignorant. For these unfortunate individuals it is tantamount to asking them to wear bells and shout ‘unclean’ so that a minority (I hope) of judgemental members of our society may sweep under the carpet those less fortunate than themselves.
The proliferation of these signs is limiting not only our freedom to enjoy our island but also our civil liberty. I believe we should resist the dictatorial and unnecessary SIs.
ROSIE HENDERSON,
Ma Carriere, Le Petit Bouet,
St Peter Port,GY1 2AN.