Some incidents do not make it to the media but are no less important for all that. I’ll pick two I know of at random.

Who sold pepper spray to the youth who attacked my grandson just for the heck of it?- Lino Spiteri

Incident number one:

A well brought up young man, the son of a friend of mine, decided to pay a visit to Paceville, to get a feel of what it was all about. Barely arrived there he was walking down a street when he came across a girl huddled on the ground, crying her heart out.

Moved by the sight, the young man bent over the girl to try to see if he could help her.

As he did so he felt the heavy weight of a vicious punch on the back of his head. Startled and hurt the young stood up to see what on earth was happening.

He found an older man in a fighting stance, uttering not a word. No slouch himself, the young man took him on.

Within a few seconds a bouncer from a nearby establishment crossed the street. He covered the young man’s eyes and face with pepper spray. Shrieking in pain the young man ran wildly seeking relief. It did not come from water splashed on his face, which made the spray spread and the pain worse.

Incident number two:

A 15-year-old boy, my grandson, is at the going out stage. Along with friends he went to see an afternoon film at the cinema on the edge of Paceville. The small group came out of the cinema discussing the film they’d watched.

Out of the blue another youth, of the same age group, sauntered up to the boys. When close he took out a can of pepper and sprayed my grandson in the face.

The boy was blinded, on top of the sharp pain he felt. He asked one of the group to phone his mother to collect him. At home they found that his eyes and upper part of the torso reflected the pepper spray on them.

The boy was in terrible pain but kept alert. Together with two of his pals, one of whom felt he had recognised the boy who used the pepper spray, they used Facebook to conduct a search. They identified the boy.

My son went to the police to report the incident. He gave the name and address of the boy. A police officer got in touch with the boy’s parents requesting to bring him to the police station immediately.

In front of his shocked parents the boy admitted his deed. The police officer asked my son if he wanted to press charges, pointing out that the boy’s conduct certificate would be marked for life. My son declined to do so, leaving it to the parents, themselves evidently not of the type to rear a budding hooligan, to take action.

What, in the name of everything that makes sense, is happening?

Why should an adult punch a young man out of nowhere? To give him the benefit of the doubt he might have thought the young man had hurt the girl. Even so, does one resort to fisticuffs on an assumption? Has reason taken a holiday?

What of the bouncer? What right had he to intervene in the manner he did? He did not try to separate the struggling individuals. He simply used pepper spray on the younger of them. Why?

And who gave him the right to keep pepper spray on his person? As far as I know only the police are entitled to use pepper spray and they shout out a warning that they will have to do so if a suspect does not desist in whatever he may be doing wrong.

Who sold the pepper spray to the bouncer? Did his employer know what the man was carrying? Do other bouncers also arm themselves with pepper spray? Is that the way to control an unruly situation?

Who sold pepper spray to the youth who attacked my grandson just for the heck of it? Not his parents, certainly – they were appalled at their son’s action. That was not the way they had brought him up.

So who did? Is the stocking and sale of pepper spray controlled? If so, how is such control enforced? Very evidently there was not much enforcement in the two incidents I am referring to.

In the larger scheme of things these are minor incidents. Paceville has been the scene of much worse. Of racism, fighting, beating up, even killings. What is going wrong at that Mecca for the young and the not so young?

Parents have a stronger role to play. It is incredible that young people should go out late at night at a time when most people need to sleep, and stay out until the early morning, drinking, indulging in drugs, blind commodity sex, the occasional rape and whatever not in the meanwhile?

Are the police strong enough to patrol the area properly? Are drinks and closing hours’ regulations properly enforced? How alarmed are the authorities at this alarming situation, which grows worse with every day that passes?

It is a bad situation for residents, certainly, making a mockery of the implied peace in the area’s name.

It is growing worse for all those who go there. Except that it is growing better for those who knowingly go there to get drunk, to use drugs so readily available, to have sex in whatever manner.

It is as if nothing can be done to control the situation. To allow Paceville to be a place of entertainment, certainly, but entertainment of the decent kind, even if decent requires a liberal interpretation.

Who is in charge, out there…?