As often as I write to the letters column, it is very rare that my ire is raised to the altitude at which it currently sits, after the headline article in the Journal, Memorial ownership mystery !

As often as I write to the letters column, it is very rare that my ire is raised to the altitude at which it currently sits, after the headline article in the Journal, "Memorial ownership mystery"!

It was with a level of incredulous belief that I read the story and the quoted comments over the council's inability to clean the memorial until ownership is proven.

Have the town council ever wondered at the significance of the memorial, or wondered at the sacrifice made by those whose names adorn it?

Allegedly, the memorial was paid for by public subscription, in tribute to those who fell, to give us the freedoms we still hold dear. Can you possibly imagine a scenario where their memory is given second place to a quest to find someone to pay for cleaning the memorial, or some way to deny ownership.

I am not only saddened, but sickened by the petty-minded, small town beaurocracy behind this decision, that would deny those who gave their tomorrows, so that we may enjoy our todays, a fittingly maintained memorial.

These members of the armed forces, whose memory is enshrined on the memorial, deserve better than this. It is located in a public place, on a section of footpath which is maintained by the council, so what is the problem?

Can the ramifications of cleaning this monument be so dire that the council needs to expend time and money in seeking some reason not to.

This monument needs to be spick-and-span in time for Remembrance Day and it is about time our public servants actually served the public and got the job done.

Ian R Woolger,

16 Otter Court,

Budleigh Salterton.