HERE’S a selection of stories as they appeared in the Chronicle back in May 1994.
BOMB disposal experts were called to a Barnsley home on Tuesday morning after the discovery of an unexploded grenade in a back garden.
The grenade’s pin and release mechanism had been pulled out, prompting police to believe that it was still armed and dangerous.
It had been uncovered in a pile of rubbish in a garage at the house on Huddersfield Road.
Army disposal officers were called and took the grenade away.
“Whenever a bomb or grenade such as this is uncovered, we have to assume that it is live and capable of causing damage,” said police spokesman, Inspector Barry
Stones.
“We cannot afford to take chances and that is why the bomb disposal experts were called in. We will probably never find out if the grenade was live.”
PENSIONER Doug Skelly stepped in to save a young cat’s life as its teenage tormenter was about to hang it from a washing line.
The pet had been sprayed with oil and a noose tied around its neck when 67-year-old Doug, a former boxing champion, made a citizen’s arrest.
Doug heard the sound of a cat in agony as he was walking at the back of his Honeywell Street home. He went to investigate and discovered a 13 -year -old boy torturing the animal.
“The cat was making a terrible noise and it was obvious that it was in agony,”
Doug told the Chronicle.
“It had been sprayed with inflammable oil and I am sure that had I disturbed him a few minutes later, the cat would have been dead.”
CRIMINALS have been warned not to waste their time breaking into churches — because none of them contain anything worth stealing anymore.
The warning came from a Dodworth minister after two churches were ransacked on the same night by thieves who escaped with nothing more than a few coppers from collection boxes.
“The days are gone when cash, antiques and other valuables are left in churches said Rev Cyril Blount of Dodworth Methodist Church.
“We had our place of worship ransacked and left in a real mess by the thieves who
left completely empty-handed. It was not worth their trouble and it certainly wasn’t
worth all the mess they left behind.”
THE BARNSLEY East MP Terry Patchett has announced he will not stand at the next general election.
Mr Patchett announced his decision at the Barnsley East Parliamentary Constituency general management committee meeting on Friday.
The Labour MP said his decision not to seek re-selection at the next election was due to health reasons.
Coun John Thomson, chairman of the constituency committee, said Mr Patchett’s wishes had been accepted with regret.
“We wish to thank him for his devotion to the electorate and hope medical treatment will enable him to successfully complete his term of office and enjoy a long retirement,” he said.
Mr Patchett, 53, of Darfield, has been the MP since the constituency was formed in 1983.
A CASE in which a Grimethorpe company is accused of exposing two employees to the risk of gassing by chemical fumes is to be tried at Sheffield Crown Court.
Coalite Smokeless Fuels of Engine Lane, Grimethorpe, is being prosecuted by the
Health and Safety Executive.
Barnsley stipendiary magistrate Michael Rosenberg, sitting at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court, refused to accept summary jurisdiction and ruled that the case must go to the Crown Court. It was then adjourned until June 14 for the preparation of papers.
