As a Moree resident I object to your article on the front page of The Northern Daily Leader on  Monday October 20.

The article is very negative and while mentioning other centres does place great emphasis on trashing Moree’s reputation as a safe and secure place to live . 

Moree has run a very successful Relay for Life over the weekend and it would have been far more appreciated by our community if you had run a article on this event rather than singling out the town with such a negative headline.

My wife and I participated in the Relay for Life and it was attended by a good cross section of the community.

We enjoyed mixing with people from various backgrounds and I did not see any evidence of drug use or syringes on the ground at all. 

We were entertained by local bands who donated their services, and served by a hard working committee who had put in hours of their time to see the event run like clockwork. 

The support of the community was apparent in the participating groups from the police, Pius 10 Aboriginal Corporation, Moree council staff, plus many ordinary citizens basking in a great atmosphere, supporting the Cancer Council doing positive things to raise funds for research and support services.

I have been a resident of Moree most of my 63 years, and I am proud that my great-grandparents settled in the district. 

I have never found a syringe anywhere and they are not a common site. 

My business works extensively throughout NSW and Queensland and I can speak from experience.

We occasionally meet the same type of low life in every town we work in and they are thankfully a small minority in all cases, and these few unfortunately cause the rest of the community grief.

This minority is costing society far more than they should and it is all to do with people not wishing to accept responsibility for their actions.

Why should we supply clean needles to addicts only to see them thrown away?

Surely, if we can make them available free of charge and no questions asked, the user should return the spent ones to where they picked them up from. 

The supply of the drugs is also of great concern.

Too many people seem to be able to stay under the radar and not be named, while being actively involved in this insidious distribution. 

People know who they are but are either unwilling, unable or don’t care to report this to police or Crime Stoppers. 

This maybe because some of the minority manage to infiltrate those organisations that are supposed to protect us. 

This problem is a world wide one not only a small community in northwest NSW.

Paul Wilde

Moree