12:40pm Thursday 19th April 2012
By Paul Rogers
ONE of my first blog entries was how I had enjoyed a really good night out in Hereford and that it was great to see so many people having a good time and not witnessing a hint of trouble.
However, sadly it seems that drink-related disorder in the county is back on the rise.
The Hereford Times has reported today that there is a worrying trend of underage drinking in Herefordshire, with the licensing authorities being told of a teenage girl having cider tipped over her during a vicious assault filmed on mobile phones.
The Golden Fleece pub in Hereford has also had its licence suspended after a special regulatory committee heard of its links to a number of incidents that led to the police being called.
This included a serious assault outside the pub on Good Friday, that involved 53-year-old Stephen Lysicia sustaining serious head injuries.
He currently remains on a life support machine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Herefordshire is a beautiful county and in my opinion it is a safe place to live and work, but it only takes a small minority to ruin things for everyone else.
I know full well that most of the licensed premises in the county have strict rules and regulations in place, but it only takes one or two break them, which blackens the good name of the rest.
The Hereford Times reported a few weeks ago that Herefordshire has one of the worst records for drink-related violence in the West Midlands, which is a very worrying statistic when you consider that it includes big cities like Birmingham.
The community will not stand for it and I am sure that the police and the licensing bodies will do all they can to ensure that anyone seen selling alcohol or tobacco to underage people are held to account, as well as any licensees who cannot control violence in their premises.
Otherwise, some people in the county will be too scared to go out, which will be very sad to see.
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