News / In brief for 8 June 2011
Lerwick man admits assault
A LERWICK man is to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to assaulting a 15 year old boy in the town last December.
Martin Macdonald, of 4 Ladies Drive, appeared from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
The 37 year old admitted striking the boy on the head on 13 December at Irvine Place.
Sentence was deferred until 6 July while reports are compiled.
Fair deal for ports
SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott and his Orkney counterpart Liam McArthur are demanding ports in the northern isles get “a fair crack at government investment”.
The Liberal Democrat pair met Highlands and Islands Enterprise chief executive Alex Patterson in Edinburgh on Wednesday, in the wake of the government granting £2.2 million towards a £20 million expansion programme at Scrabster in March.
Mr Scott said Shetland’s harbours needed to keep developing to attract new work and protect jobs, with ships getting bigger and decommissioning work on the horizon.
“I want to ensure that HIE’s approach is to award funds that support economic development and jobs. HIE’s chief executive today accepted that approach and I now will pursue the government to ensure they take a similar approach,” he said.
Green backs marine parks
GREEN MSP Alison Johnstone has urged the Scottish Parliament to back calls for “a strong network of marine protected areas”, under powers laid out in the new Marine Act.
The MSP said that recent reports suggested that the health and biodiversity of Scotland’s seas was in decline and called for “an ecologically coherent network of well managed marine protected areas by 2012” to provide protection.
She said: “All too often, especially on the environment, the impression given by Ministers is that passing a law is the job done. In the case of last year’s Marine Act, nothing could be further from the truth.
“Our seas are an extraordinary and neglected asset, and a strong network of properly protected areas will boost their regeneration and diversity, as well as bringing genuinely sustainable economic and social benefits.
“The legislation allows Ministers to support our seas. The question now is simply whether they will take that opportunity.”
Refugee film
SHETLAND library in Lerwick will be screening a unique new short film made by refugees living in Scotland, as part of Scotland’s Refugee Week.
The library will show the powerful film Courage: 60 Years of the UN Refugee Convention on the day of its general release, on 20 June.
The film features the stories of two refugees, 86 year old Rosa Sacharin, a Jew who fled the Nazis, and 22 year old Christian Kasubandi, who escaped war and destruction in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The two minute documentary was made by six film makers living in Scotland, but originally from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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