Sadly, some things never change

Letter to the Editor,
The Daily Examiner,
Grafton

This is a letter that asks a stark, grim question and is addressed, in part, to whoever left two little kittens on the street on New Year's Eve. Why did you dump two little kittens, just putting them in a box and leaving them in the street, not caring if they had shelter or food? There's a skinny dog that prowls by the garbage bins and around the park seats and if he finds a bone or a crust he is having a lucky day. If you are worthy to own a dog, it is your decent duty to feed him and give him the best you can.

Mrs D Rowlands,
RSPCA

Source: The Daily Examiner, 6/2/1963

(reprinted in " Backward Glances: From The Daily Examiner, Fifty Years Ago",

compiled by Chris Nield, 6/2/2013)

Which Ian Causley would that be?

As always, we at NCV are willing to take advice about matters we don't get right.

Whilst travelling away from the local area one of the lads from the table of knowledge has informed me that yesterday a letter to the editor of the local paper (The Daily Examiner) appeared above the name of an 'Ian Causley', but no address appeared. Now, how could that have happened?

Is the letter writer a local, a legend in his own lunch time, or a visitor from who-knows-where?

Unhappy at coverage

I am very disappointed with the reporting by The Daily Examiner in regard to ,,,

Ian Causley

Reminder: Indian Myna workshop in Yamba on Friday

One of the delights in living on the Northern Rivers is our wonderful bird life.
Unfortunately this is threatened by an introduced pest.
 The Indian myna is an aggressive territorial bird.
 They breed several times a year and nest in hollows, driving out our birds and even possums and sugar gliders, killing chicks and ejecting parents.
In urban areas they nest under roofs, sheds and gutters and often bring bird mite which can cause serious skin rashes.
There are ways of limiting this parasite and to this end the Clarence Conservation in Action group are holding a workshop on Friday at 10am at the Old Kirk, Yamba Museum, River St.
All are welcome and refreshments are included.

Paul Stephen, Yamba

Credit: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 28/11/12

Bundaberg Regional Council

Let's run an online poll for our readers.....

 

Poll: What's your favourite part of Thursday's DEX?

 

Occasionally The Daily Examiner runs a poll on its website and if a reader has signed in his or her vote will be recorded against their name/pseudonym.

 

Here is the voting history of one such reader:

Voted in a poll 3:10pm Oct 31st
Do you use your mobile phone when driving?

Voted in a poll 5:03pm Oct 30th

Choose your top 10 rules that should be applied to Jaca Thursday and we’ll print them in Thursday’s DEX.

Voted in a poll 12:30pm Jul 27th

What's your favourite day of the week?

 

Voted in a poll 5:25pm Jul 25th

What's your favourite part of Thursday's DEX?

 

Voted in a poll 11:32am Jun 26th

What should we put on the cover of our On Track magazine?

Voted in a poll 9:09am May 25th

How do you spell it:

 

Ooops! Did I say reader? I meant the voting history of the editor of the newspaper conducting these polls.

The editor is not alone. A senior journalist at The Daily Examiner has voted in a number of the same polls, another has a penchant for the political when it comes to the polls he adds his mite to, yet one more has voted only twice and one other three times. However, the journalist who wins hands down has voted 33 times.

Just how many polls in this newspaper are being padded out by staff?

Who on earth decided that sending online newspaper readers blind was a good idea?

 

Busy, busy, busy, is the nicest way to describe the updated website now online for The Daily Examiner.

Often violently coloured, with visually distracting animated ads and barely a space for the reader to rest their eyes.

All this serving a local demographic which indicates that the newspaper’s most faithful followers are not young IT experts.

 

 

NSW government called upon to put the cash to good use

A Lower Clarence resident's view on the NSW Government's billion $ bungle

GET ON WITH JOB

George Orwell, that great English novelist who died in 1950, once said, "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity of pure wind".

Six decades on and politicians of any brand continue to behave as though stupidity was a virtue.

Having cried poor since gaining power to a cash-strapped NSW state government, the Coalition had a respectable argument that it was unable to afford a 50/50 contribution with the Federal Government to upgrade the Pacific Highway.

However, since finding their ledger is now showing a $680mil surplus, their argument is considerably weakened.

Nevertheless, it did not stop National Party hopeful Kevin Hogan resurrecting that old chestnut of the 80/20 agreement the former state government had with the Feds. (Hogan attacks Saffin DE 2/11/12).

That may have been the case, but public revenues are raised from rates, taxes, duties, customs etc appropriated for the payment of public expenses in the public interest. Government revenues do not belong to political parties and should not be used by politicians to advance their political careers or their longevity to power.

This may perhaps sound altruistically naive, but if politicians had to face the relatives of those whose lives have been lost on this treacherous goat track they might stop playing this myopic, self-serving small-time politics, with the unambitious goal of clinging to power, and for once act in the public interest.

Ray Hunt
Yamba

Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 5/11/12

West Yamba subdivision questioned

Clarence valley residents and the environmental group Valley Watch continue to ring alarm bells in relation to a proposed subdivision in West Yamba.

Today's Daily Examiner reports: Valley Watch member Ros Woodward said she was disappointed to see the development go through without proper consideration for the sensitive natural environment around it.

"West Yamba could be an example to the world of how to develop sustainably with a small footprint in a very sensitive area, but I am afraid all they can envisage is slab houses on great big mounds," Ms Woodward said.

A submission [to Clarence Valley Council] from Valley Watch raised concerns about how sewage would be dealt with in the development and how practical the filling solution was in the area.

Also in the Examiner is a letter to the editor addressing the issue:

DA concern

It is with a sense of foreboding that I notice that once again council will consider on Tuesday a subdivision on Carrs Drive, West Yamba. This time the proposal is for 15 lots instead of 22, but fundamental problems of sewerage, fill and truck movements remain.

Since Maclean Shire Council endorsed in November 2003 the recommendations of the Yamba Wastewater Management Strategy, the community has been told regularly that development of West Yamba will not go ahead until the sewage treatment works are upgraded. One reason for this was that dual reticulation - a key element of the strategy - was only feasible on a greenfield site. Now we learn that on-site wastewater systems (that is, septic tanks) are proposed for the subdivision in spite of the Zone 1(y) objective that the land be connected to reticulated sewerage. Onsite sewage treatment in a flood-prone area is a major concern, but of even greater concern is the likelihood that this subdivision will make dual reticulation difficult or impossible for the future.

Dual reticulation (that is, use of high quality recycled water for toilet flushing, garden watering and car washing) will substantially reduce the amount of drinking-quality water being used - an important consideration given Yamba's growing population and an increasing risk of below average rainfall, higher temperatures and evaporation, and below average runoff, according to the CSIRO. Its implementation cannot be put at risk by a 15-lot subdivision.

Then there is the matter of the fill necessary for the site. There are 15 lots in this proposal, but the Flood Plain Risk Management Plan recommends that key services remain operable during times of flood up to at least the 100 year +0.5m level - that is 3.24 metres AHD. The height of land in West Yamba at present is between 1.0 metres and 1.5 metres. To fill it to 3.24 m AHD to allow key services to remain operable will take over 12,000 twenty-tonne truckloads a year for about nine years. (Yamba Floodplain Risk Management Study, Webb, McKeown and Associates Pty Ltd, July 2008)

One has to ask what the impact of this traffic will be on our roads and bridges. A twenty-tonne truck crossing Shallow Channel every six minutes is a scary thought!

If Yamba wants to remain a desirable tourist destination it cannot afford to have its one road in and out of town clogged with trucks.

Gary Whale, Yamba

Cansdellgate - the matter of 'bankruptcy'

Shortly after the latest news about former and disgraced MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell went into the public domain on Wednesday mention was made by a number of reputable sources about the bloke's bankruptcy. Now, it seems, any mention of bankruptcy was a big mistake.

ABC local radio aired an interview with Cansdell where he said,  "I've had probably the worst 12 months of my life, plus the bankruptcy, although things are getting better." [emphasis added]

Listen to the interview here.

However, the ABC website now reports Cansdell said, "I've had probably the worst 12 months of my life, close to bankruptcy, although things are getting better." [emphasis added]

Today's Daily Examiner carries a piece titled "Clarification". It states:

Former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell was quoted in yesterday's Daily Examiner as saying "I've had probably the worst 12 months of my life plus the bankruptcy although things are getting better." Mr Cansdell was referring to narrowly avoiding bankruptcy - he was never actually bankrupt during those 12 months. The Daily Examiner apologises for any confusion.

So, there you have it! Simple, isn't it?!

Was the former and disgraced MP loose with the truth when he spoke with ABC radio or was he simply bankrupt of good ideas? Perhaps, being a former pollie, he was simply appealing for more sympathy votes.

Image from forbes.com

Cansdellgate - what a joke!

 

Like many, many others in the NSW electorate of Clarence and elsewhere, this writer is currently stuck for words. Former, and disgraced, MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell won the "lottery" today when it was announced that he's off scot-free after previously admitting he provided something significantly less than the truth in a statutory declaration about his driving behaviour.

Read The Daily Examiner's report here.

Quite rightly, Mr. Hunt is not amused

 

Letter to the Editor in The Daily Examiner 4 October 2012:

 

Due process important

I WAS not at the CVC Extraordinary Meeting September 25, but having read the business papers I wonder whether Mr Deefholts was there.
His claim that "Cr Karen Toms a caravan park operator in the Lower Clarence, opposed a council staff initiative to have Grafton declared an RV Friendly Town" (Time to be RV Friendly) appears to be incorrect.
One thing that came across loud and clear during the council elections was the failure of the past council to implement "due process", particularly the failure of public notification or community consultation.
At the very first meeting of council, "due process" (or the failure thereof) raised its ugly head.
From reading the business papers it appeared to me that it was another example of senior council staff endeavouring to dictate council policy, taking shortcuts in a laidback style of local governance, where ratepayers suddenly find their lives affected by a council decision of which they were never consulted or made aware.
It is my understanding that it is part of the role of the mayor to set council agenda.
If Mr Deefholts is concerned at the time it has taken to have Grafton declared an RV Friendly Town, he had the opportunity to search for the truth and write a very informative news article.
Instead he chose a news headline and commented without any factual foundation or legal substance.
I, like many of your readers, would like to know the whole facts of this story and it is not too late to publish it before the next "thumbs down" edition is published.

Ray Hunt

Yamba

 

Punters spewing over Daily Examiner's poor performance

As if Wednesday's debacle at the Examiner wasn't enough to put punters off their weetbix, today's edition will have punters who buy the local rag shaking their heads and asking themselves why they bother to buy it. Today's paper has reprinted the TAB dividends it published on Thursday - how thoughtful, they are the results for the races the paper forgot to print on Wednesday. Perhaps DEX thinks that's an act of compensation.

DEX blooper - reprints old race fields

The only things correct in the four-page racing lift-out in today's Daily Examiner are the paper's name and the date. Today's Examiner reprinted the race fields for Saturday 8 September.
The events at Warwick Farm, Doomben and Flemington have been well and truly run and won, so the very least readers could have been provided with was a new lot of tips from the paper. But, oh no, the paper had the temerity to print its original, and in most cases losing, tips.
Who went to sleep at the wheel steering the good ship DEX last night? Was it the night helmsman or the captain? C'mon, who's going to put their hand up and claim bragging rights for this little ripper at the annual Xmas party? Perhaps a stewards inquiry is needed.

Cansdellgate: Daily Examiner says "justice has to be done and seen to be done"

The Examiner which has been on the Cansdell case since the outset marked the first anniversary of the scandalous matter with an opinion piece that merits further airing. Unfortunately, the Examiner hasn't put it online, so here it is ...

It might now be seen as small beer given what has happened in the Clarence Valley in the past few months, but just over a year ago the former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell handed in his resignation from Parliament.

On September 16 last year, Mr Cansdell admitted falsifying a statutory declaration to avoid a speeding fine and turned himself in to police.

Despite this, he has yet to be charged, let alone face court, for doing something serious enough to warrant his resignation from office.

In February, six months after the resignation, NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith dropped a bombshell in parliament when he said Mr Cansdell could not be charged under state law because he had signed a Commonwealth declaration.

There were screams of "cover-up" from the opposition, but so far no-one has been able to discover a way of pursuing the case. The actions of the authorities on this issue do not give the community confidence proper procedures have been followed.

Months of police investigation went to the DPP and then the case was dropped on what most people would call a technicality.

The Attorney-General's reasoning also strains credulity as the most cursory investigation reveals fines issued by the NSW State Debt Recovery Office have always been printed with NSW statutory declarations on the back.

Mr Cansdell may never have to answer for his transgression - indeed many supporters would say his fall from grace was punishment enough - but justice has to be done and seen to be done.

Cansdellgate: one year down the track and we're still waiting

Yes, one year ago today The Daily Examiner informed its readers their local MP Steve Cansdell was resigning from state parliament.

Ok, so what has happened since? When will someone in a position of authority bite the bullet and have this matter addressed?

Image credit: The Daily Examiner, 17/9/12

My big fat apology

I've been flogged round the field and sent to the dog house by North Coast Voices admin who told me that I had made a blooper that I should apologise for - and I agree. So a sincere apology to The Daily Examiner for attributing a line on one of its contributor pages to a working journo.
I haz shames!

Orams at it again on the front page of The Daily Examiner

If ever a journo is going to gloriously balls up the front page of one
of the local newspapers, it would be Graham teh meeja is me
second choice career Orams.
According to him on the 10th September; “Vote counts were not
updated during the day yesterday after a flying start to the
counting on Saturday night”. WRONG!
In fact when I looked at the NSW Electoral Commission website I
could see there had been a minor correction and one major update
over the course of Sunday the 9th.
And every single candidate placing in the race for a seat on council 
he mentioned after the leading three, plus all their percentages,
were also wrong when the newspaper went to print.
Fair dinkum, the bloke's a menace.
Just for the record this is what the running total looked like
yesterday in the am and pm:

Summary of First Preference Votes
Candidate	Party/IND	FP Votes	Quota Ratio	% Formal Votes
MORRISON Rod	IND	656	0.30	2.99%
SCOTT Margot	IND	410	0.19	1.87%
PARKINSON Paul		483	0.22	2.20%
HOWE Craig	IND	1,154	0.53	5.26%
BAKER Andrew	IND	2,326	1.06	10.59%
TUNKS Ursula	IND	416	0.19	1.89%
DE ROOS Joy		408	0.19	1.86%
SIMMONS Jim	IND	1,336	0.61	6.08%
CLANCY Greg	IND	1,078	0.49	4.91%
BEEBY Jane	IND	419	0.19	1.91%
HUGHES Sue	IND	1,381	0.63	6.29%
TOMS Karen		1,028	0.47	4.68%
McIVOR Micheal	IND	298	0.14	1.36%
CHALLACOMBE Jeremy	IND	1,027	0.47	4.68%
WILLIAMSON Richie		6,975	3.18	31.77%
McKENNA Margaret	IND	877	0.40	3.99%
KINGSLEY Jason	IND	1,685	0.77	7.67%
Total Formal Votes Counted		21,957
Total Informal Votes		1,875
Progressive Total Ordinary Votes		23,832

Summary of First Preference Votes
Candidate	Party/IND	FP Votes	Quota Ratio	% Formal Votes
MORRISON Rod	IND	734	0.29	2.87%
SCOTT Margot	IND	443	0.17	1.73%
PARKINSON Paul		536	0.21	2.10%
HOWE Craig	IND	1,500	0.59	5.87%
BAKER Andrew	IND	2,478	0.97	9.70%
TUNKS Ursula	IND	499	0.20	1.95%
DE ROOS Joy		432	0.17	1.69%
SIMMONS Jim	IND	1,396	0.55	5.47%
CLANCY Greg	IND	1,188	0.47	4.65%
BEEBY Jane	IND	444	0.17	1.74%
HUGHES Sue	IND	1,504	0.59	5.89%
TOMS Karen		1,095	0.43	4.29%
McIVOR Micheal	IND	335	0.13	1.31%
CHALLACOMBE Jeremy	IND	1,295	0.51	5.07%
WILLIAMSON Richie		8,463	3.31	33.14%
McKENNA Margaret	IND	1,163	0.46	4.55%
KINGSLEY Jason	IND	2,033	0.80	7.96%
Total Formal Votes Counted		25,538
Total Informal Votes		2,168
Progressive Total Ordinary Votes		27,706