Stories for 19 July 2002

News

A £5.5m failure

A MULTI-MILLION pound community sports and arts centre in Sedgley has been slammed for failing to do more to combat the growing problems with unruly youths in the area.   more...

JUST PLAIN YAMPY!

A `YAMPY' website devoted to all things great and good about Gornal hits the Internet on Monday.   more...

Visit treat for pupils

CHILDREN from Belarus have joined in lessons at Netherton CofE Primary while visiting the country.   more...

£750k rent debt shock

ALMOST £750,000 in rent arrears has been written off by Dudley Council as irrecoverable - of which more than half comes from the Dudley area.   more...

Call for help

ST THOMAS'S Community Network is appealing for volunteers to help out with its furniture store project.   more...

Robbers reign of terror ends

FIVE men who embarked on a reign of terror as they plundered supermarkets and stores across the borough have been jailed for a total of 16 years.   more...

Police vow to get the rest

POLICE chiefs are vowing to bring to justice the remaining members of a dangerous and violent gang who carried out a string of raids on stores across the area.   more...

Truck driver jailed

A 45-YEAR-OLD Dudley lorry driver has been jailed for a year after a wheel flew off his vehicle on the M6 and killed a driver.   more...

BANNED FOR THREE YEARS

A 34-YEAR-OLD Priory man has been banned from the road for three years after admitting drink driving and driving without insurance.   more...

Light work lands man with £500 fine

A DUDLEY man who attached advertisements for a Lye curry house to lampposts across the borough has been left with a £500 legal bill after being taken to court.   more...

School trip to the jungle

Children from Dudley schools enjoyed the sights and sounds of South America during an activity week to celebrate Rain Forest action week.   more...

Call to flatten rat-ridden flats

A GORNAL councillor is fighting to have a derelict and rat infested block of shops and flats demolished .   more...

`Sea of litter' left in park after festival

HIMLEY Park was a `sea of white paper' claims a Lower Gornal woman who visited the venue the day after it hosted the Asian Mela.   more...

Lottery backs family scheme

A PROJECT which supports young Netherton families in crisis has won £102,000 lottery funding.   more...

Chinese dig into Black Country

A DELEGATION of environmental experts from China visited Dudley this week to see first hand how communities manage their environment.   more...

Scouts get into kitchen

THE First Sedgley Scouts are to get a £10,000 kitchen refurbishment.   more...

PARK FIGHT LOST

OPPONENTS to plans to hike up car parking charges in Dudley appear to have lost their battle after councillors reluctantly agreed to a timetable of rises.   more...

Currying favour

A NETHERTON balti restaurant has been included in this year's international Good Curry Guide.   more...

£70k aid boost

DUDLEY Council's early years development and childcare partnership has secured money from the New Opportunities fund to create more out of school childcare places.   more...

MP's pledge for war on vandals

DUDLEY North MP Ross Cranston has given his support to attempts to stamp out vandalism at a Sedgley health centre.   more...

An XS of fun!

AROUND 10,000 pop fans enjoyed glorious sunshine on Sunday as the Beacon Summer XS brought the curtain down on the Dudley Borough Festival, at Himley Hall.   more...

Refugee supporters to lobby MP

Supporters of a family of Afghan refugees resisting deportation in Lye are staging a demonstration at Stourbridge MP Debra Shipley's surgery at 3pm this-afternoon (Friday).   more...

Caring Jackie's our Pop star!

JACKIE Jinks, of Netherton, has been announced as the second winner in the News Group-backed hunt for borough PoP Stars.   more...

In tune for a clean-up

DUDLEY College showed it is in tune with Dudley Council's campaign to make the borough cleaner by agreeing to be a major sponsor of the successful Pop Star campaign.   more...

Nature watch to stop yobs

DUDLEY Council has launched a new scheme to protect the borough's nature reserves which are coming under sustained attack from vandals and arsonists.   more...

Couple who starved dog hit by 10 year ban

A HURST Hill couple who starved their dog almost to death have been hit with fines and banned from keeping dogs for ten years.   more...

Charity boost

A DUDLEY charity, providing practical and emotional support to families under stress, has been given a £12,000 boost by the Lloyds-TSB Foundation.   more...

Estate gets special nursery

A £500,000 state-of-the-art nursery has opened on the Milking Bank estate.   more...

Specialist school joy

A DUDLEY school has been handpicked to receive maths and computing specialist status.   more...

Kids turn out for Ann's farewell

A long-serving nursery nurse is to retire from a Sedgley school after more than 30 years service.   more...

Firm tunes into success

A PENSNETT radio communications company has hit the right note working with some of the biggest stars in pop from Ronan Keating to Oasis.   more...

MP backs policy change for refugees

DUDLEY North MP Ross Cranston has welcomed a change in government policy towards unsuccessful asylum seekers from Afghanistan.   more...

Cash boost for hospitals

DUDLEY hospitals have been given a £320,000 cash boost from the government which is to be used to improve orthopaedic services.   more...

Ticket fury of patient

A BROCKMOOR man has been left grounded after being told he must fork out £630 for a holiday he cancelled - even though his travel agent failed to charge him for it!   more...

`Help find my grandfather'

A WOMAN is appealing for help from News readers to find where her grandfather is buried.   more...

Strike forces office shutdown

SCHOOLS were forced to close and rubbish went uncollected on Wednesday as council workers went on strike in the highest profile flexing of trade union muscles in more than 20 years.   more...

Man, 45, on murder charge

A 45-YEAR-OLD Pensnett man has been sent to Wolverhampton Crown Court for trial after being charged with murder.   more...

Police seek missing Jodie

POLICE are appealing for information about a 15-year-old Dudley girl who has been missing from her Himley Road home for more than a week.   more...

Care homes under pressure

West Midlands Co-op, which runs care homes in Dudley, claims under funding is leading to bed losses.   more...

MP's call for action over UK drinkers

Dudley North MP Ross Cranston will be presenting his alcohol services bill to parliament today (Friday).   more...

Taxi drivers called to help in murder hunt

Police believe taxi drivers in the Quinton area could help in the hunt for the killers of a father-of-four.   more...

Knifepoint robbery in park

Police are warning people using Howley Grange Park in Halesowen to be on alert after a man was robbed at knifepoint yesterday (Thursday).   more...

Arson suspected after flats blaze

Firefighters tackled a blaze at flats above a Blackheath shopping precinct in the early hours of this morning (Friday).   more...