By Melissa Meehan
YOUTH worker Les Twentyman has warned that Pakenham, Berwick and surrounding towns could face similar problems to the western suburbs if the community doesn’t step up and take responsibility.
Mr Twentyman said in his 30 years as a youth worker, Victoria was at a critical point where something had to be done to curb the violence.
Two incidents in as many weeks in Berwick sparked the call from Mr Twentyman and community leader Brian Paynter.
“I’ve been speaking to the Premier, the Chief Magistrate and even been out to Pakenham to discuss the violence problems we have throughout the state,” Mr Twentyman said.
“I met with a heap of people in Pakenham recently to discuss the introduction of outreach workers in schools to try and deal with the problem before it goes too far.”
He said violent youth often became that way because of a lack of structure in family life, as well as a disconnect from the community.
“The best way to deal with this is to get the youth connected in the community, get them involved in sport and other things – direct their energy on that rather than going around starting fights,” he said.
“The community often asks how do we stop it – but they can’t wait for others to fix their problems, they have to be pro-active.”
He used the example of Cameron Lowe’s tragic death – saying that while it received much publicity, there were still incidents happening in the area.
“More and more kids feel they are not part of anything,” he said.
“This is particularly a problem in Pakenham and surrounding areas because kids are bored and rowdy.”
His concern is echoed by Mr Paynter, who was angered by an unprovoked attack last week that left a young man in a coma after a 15-year-old’s birthday party held at the Berwick Leisure Centre.
Mr Paynter, a father of three girls, hit out at the “bloody horrible pattern of violence” in the area.
“It’s the same patterns, young kids getting together, open facebook invites, alcohol and drugs – it all makes for a bloody disaster,” Mr Paynter said.
“The kid who is in a coma, from what I hear; it’s nothing too dissimilar to the Cameron Lowe situation – he was outside minding his own business and then he gets king hit and is left in a coma.
“It’s a frightening pattern and I don’t know where or how it’s going to stop.”
Mr Paynter said parents needed to take responsibility and know where their children were, but also kids needed to exercise caution when at parties.
“Les Twentyman said we were in a hot spot last time he was out here,” he said.
“Our demographic has a huge subculture of violence, binge drinking and drug taking – mixed together its no surprise that things like this keep happening.
“It’s a big big problem and it looks to keep spiralling down.”
NINE men were arrested after a drunken brawl at Berwick Inn on the weekend.
Police said that about 1.45pm on 12 November, 14 police officers and a police dog attended a street near the Berwick Inn where about eight intoxicated men were fighting.
When police attempted to make an arrest, one of the men approached the police officer from behind and assaulted him.
Police were forced to use OC (capsicum) foam on one of the men involved.
They also located another man who was passed out near a loading dock behind the pub.
Police charged all nine men, aged between 19 and 22, with being drunk in public. Two of the men were charged with assaulting a police officer. They will appear in court at a later date.
