Interestingly not one has said that he was ‘not guilty’ although we hear stories of crimes while under the influence of substances. I have no sympathy for this – you get drunk, take drugs, you are totally responsible for what you do.

I was very distressed  by your article in the Magnet  “Artist’s crimes fallout”, January 19, 2017. 

There is an art gallery attached to Cooma Jail Museum and I have purchased several painting etc from there. I do not investigate the history of the artist or craft maker – I buy for the enjoyment of the art and the talent displayed in it. Art is a very healing activity for inmates and hopefully helps them gain some sense of themselves and thus other people.

I very much disagree with the sentiments expressed in your article – the name of the artist is not important – it is the art work itself. 

Have you read “Alice in Wonderland”? Do you know the author’s hobby? Better not read any of his books or the works of many others – gangsters, sports drug stories, politicians maybe? Hitler’s works and so on.

Lee Cruse appeared in court under his legal birth name as is required by law. I am sorry that you have spoilt some people’s enjoyment of this art work.

The rescission of the Safe Schools support motion marks a low point in council business and a grotesque politicisation of what was simply a motion supporting  a program that reduces bullying and youth suicide across Australia. 

Despite no evidence that Safe Schools was anything less than a great program, ultra conservative councillors drove hard on an extreme right-wing agenda to get the original motion thrown out. And the threats to repeatedly call rescission motion after rescission motion if this one failed is simply a (sadly) successful attempt to bully other councillors into supporting their dogmatic motion - a very poor precedent and a sad day for local politics and worse, a sad day for local at risk gay, lesbian and trans kids.

Good on those councillors who stood their ground against bullying in schools and in council chambers and shame on those hard right-wing councillors who are simply adopting the hate agenda from an extremist ilk.

I must commend councillors for rescinding the motion to support the program of Safe Schools Coalition. While I don’t think programs offered in NSW schools are the responsibility of council, and most ratepayers would prefer council to focus on their own core responsibilities, the bullying issue is one that should concern the community.

Most people don’t realise that statistically children who are bullied at school are A) more likely to become criminals, B) More prone to domestic violence and C) much more likely to commit suicide or be involved in substance abuse, so the facts show that reducing bullying in schools has a positive impact on our community.

Statistically one in three children experience bullying at school. LGBIT related bullying affects about one in 120+ students. If as a community we want to stop bullying we should focus on all bullying, including LGBIT, but not limit a program to a smaller demographic. 

The program provided by the Safe Schools Coalition originally supported by council focuses on LGBIT bullying and has come under intense fire for social engineering children’s sexuality with age inappropriate material, but broadly speaking it is a program that supports a narrow demographic and ignores the greater bullying problem.

David Porter, Tathra