Waiouru boy banned from Camp

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 397, 30 July 1991, Page 1

Waiouru boy banned from Camp

A14 year old boy was banned from the Waiouru Army camp last week.He was previously issued one waming letter, and the next time he was caught offending, the Camp Commandant using his legal authority, banned him from camp.

"These measures are extreme and are unrelated to the curfew",said Army Spokesman Major Terry Mitchell. "The curfew was initiated

because of the increased crime rate amongst teenagers. It was to restrict under 16 year olds from the Defence area after 10 pm without

a legitimate reason, and has nothing to do with the banning of this boy." The mother of the boy concerned, said she feels sad that her son can no longer live with the family as their house is within the camp area. But she feels relieved, as there was enormous pressure on her and her

husband which caused a lot of stress. She feels the curfew was a good positive thing to control the bad element in camp but she feels the blame shouldn't always be on the parents. "It wasn't the lack of supervision, it was the lack of control. I couldn't do anything more than I did". Her

son is staying in Wanganui with family. "He can have a new start now and put the past behind him. We're having a family conference this weekend to work out a plan for our son and our family". She said she felt her son was blamed for more than what he was said to be Turnpage2

Waiouru boy banned from Camp

Frompagel responsible for. She said his behaviour had really deteriorated in the last year. His group went from one house to another when the parents were out and drank alcohol, sniffed glue, and had sex. "This shocked me", she said, "I expected drinking and smoking, but not the rest. A lot of these kids come from respectable homes too". "We should be doing something about this. Let my son be an example of what can happen. The parents and kids should get together and find out what the kids want. We should do more for this age group in Waiouru." The mother said her son had been banned from camp indefinitely,

with no alternatives. She hopes at a later date she may be able to renegotiate and have her son back for the holidays. "An option was to move out of Waiouru, but my husband has a good job,

and the family are happy and settled here." Major Mitchell said any document such as the one relating to the banned boy is a private contract between the

Commander and the family involved. In relation to the curfew he said progress to date had been encouraging, more because of the increased public awareness in the problem than the im-

plementation of the curfew. "We have positive support from the parents and the police. We're fortunate we're in a situation where we can do this"