I will no doubt receive brickbats and bouquets for the following, but so what? My moan this week is about the apparent lack of respect that youths show to anybody over the age of 21.

I'm talking about an incident at the weekend when a couple of young teenagers deliberately set out to annoy yours truly, but found that a good ticking off was the end result for their mischief.

I was fishing a local water, enjoying a few hours peace and quiet. The water in question is free, and is frequented by many pensioners grateful to have such a facility on their doorstep.

It was eight o'clock on a Saturday night, I was the only bloke on the lodge and just thinking about packing up when all of a sudden two kids started heaving huge lumps of concrete into the water not 30 yards from me.

My initial thought was why? Why do they have to spoil someone's enjoyment? I know the answer. To annoy, to aggravate, to get up somebody's nose.

I shouted to them, trying to apply a little bit of psychology to make them stop.

"I suppose you think that's really grown up?", were the words I used. In most cases you'd expect a couple of 14-year-old boys to stop and think. Not these two. Next thing there was a hail of pebbles showering the water, and then, to my utter horror and disbelief, one of the lads purposely skimmed a flat stone directly at me.

It was at that point the red mist descended and I ran to collar them. They had disappeared into the distance by the time I got to where they had been standing.

But I saw them in the gathering gloom, one was wearing a distinctive baseball cap. They gestured with their arms and shouted abuse, thinking they'd seen the last of me... WRONG.

I drove away from the lodge and decided to skirt the area in the direction they had fled. Nobody about. Ah well, at least I'd had a look for them. As I turned onto the main road, bingo, the boy with the baseball cap was walking along the pavement. I parked and approached him. I confronted him about what had happened and the look on his face was worth it. I told him in no uncertain terms that if I ever saw him on the lodge again being a nuisance, I would have him down the police station quicker than he could blink. All he could stammer was "Yes, I understand". The shock and surprise of being caught was almost too much for his pea-sized brain.

I made to return to my car but a shout of "Oi" got my attention, and as I turned round there was his dad, standing on his doorstep, looking at me as If Iwas in the wrong.

I related what "junior" had been up to and before you could spit the boy was ordered inside, grounded and sent straight to bed.

There are laws to protect people from being attacked and I know if I had cuffed the boy I would have no doubt ended up being charged with some form of assault. I can't condone unsociable, aggressive behaviour, never would do, but the question I ask is where do you draw the line?

I know that when I was young an odd clip around the earhole never did me any harm. It's what's missing for far too many kids these days. The law's stacked in their favour. Bring back National Service, along with the birch, and how about hanging? What do you think? Write to Citizen Smith at The Citizen, Newspaper House, High Street, Blackburn, BB10 1HT, or E-Mail us at abarnes@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.