Sir.-Isn't it about time that we, as a country and a community, got tough with the mindless criminal elements within our society?

Through the "community service" arrangement that exists, I feel these individuals should be made to clean up the trash we see littering our streets and the senseless graffiti defacing properties in our community. Do they not realise it is their parents who pay for this to be dealt with through their taxes?

It is a fact that many parents do not know how to discipline their offspring, but we shouldn't keep excusing these mindless acts because of this.

If "community service" doesn't work, I suggest a term of service under army discipline. In my time of National Service, the unruly ones were taught to "toe the line", and it worked in most cases.

-Name and address withheld.