Now who has been loose with the facts in the Clarence Valley rate debate??

Was poor Truth murdered by the Colonel in the conservatory, the Rector in the library or the Cook in the kitchen?
I leave those who know the local personalities involved to make up their own minds.

Excerpt from The Great Divide, Graham Orams, The Daily Examiner, 18 November 2010, Page 1:

Councillor Craig Howe strongly disagreed, stating the Valley already had parity in water, sewerage and waste collection rates.

He went on to say it was unfair that a Grafton business valued at $150,000 paid $2776 in rates, whereas a business in Maclean paid just $1138, and only $848 in the tourist mecca of Yamba.

"This issue is causing divide in the Clarence Valley community and needs to be addressed in a real way that achieves a fair outcome for all businesses," he said.

Excerpt from former Maclean Shire councillor Bill Day's letter to the editor, The Daily Examiner, 26 November 2010, Page 12:

In your November 18 front page story, "The Great Divide", you quote councillor Craig Howe as saying it was unfair that a Grafton business valued at $150,000 paid $2776 in rates, whereas a business in Maclean paid just $1138, and only $848 in the tourist mecca of Yamba.
This is a deliberate distortion of the real issues......

Excerpt from Clarence Valley Shire councillor Craig Howe's letter to the editor, The Daily Examiner, 29 November 2010, Page 10:

At no point did I ever refer to Yamba as "the tourist Mecca". I would not be so flippant or inflammatory with such a serious matter, don't take my word for it, ask the journalist for a copy of what I said.....

Cartoon figure from CrystalXP

B#gger, b*gger, b^gger! Our Tony just won't shut up

I honestly thought, with the 2010 Australian Federal Parliament in its last dying days playing legislative catchup before the Chrissie break, that I wouldn’t find Opposition Leader Tony Abbott saying something quite so stupid as this comment on the pending marriage of a young British couple:"something as natural and as fitting as the marriage of an appealing man and an attractive woman".
Although most of the print media tried to save Tony from himself by omitting the “fitting” from published quotes on Sunday, ABC News gave the game away with its televised sound bites from his speech at the national conference of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy in Sydney on Saturday, 27th November.
Fitting? Wot? It’s unnatural and improper for socially inept, cauliflower-eared blokes like myself to pull a sheila who’s attractive? Strewth, Tones, you live in a weird and dispiriting world!
#Snapshot of Abbott with foot-in-mouth on 27.11.10

Ashes Test at Gabba - day 4 - Poms turn it on

Boy, oh boy, what a difference a day makes! The Poms really gave the Oz XI something serious to think about on Day 4.
Pommy openers Strauss and Cook put on 188 before skipper Strauss departed for a very solid 110. Cook had another Big Day Out and at day's end was 132 not out - his 67 in the first innings was obviously an entree.
The Poms go to Day 5 with an overall lead of 88, so they can be expected to grind away at the expense of an Oz bowling attack that looks like it's been to the blood laboratory and had it confirmed that it currently lacks venom.
Heading the lengthy list of visitors from Old Blighty at the Gabba is the Royal Family.

 And for those who think/hope/wish the Barmy Army will fade away in the not too distant future, they're in for a big disappointment. Young BA offspring were at the Gabba in big numbers!

NCVs had a yarn with a couple of Pommy brothers who were beside themselves about their prospects for the the rest of the series.

Remember, the only Oz who took a wicket on Day 4 was Marcus North and his hold on a position in future Test sides is indeed most tenuous.Reckon that says it all.

Congratulations to all 2010 Heywire winners

HEYWIRE is a space and a competition where young people create and share their stories, ideas and opinions…..
Anyone can upload stories to this website, but you have to be aged between 16 and 22, and live outside Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide or Perth, to be eligible to win the Heywire Competition. Each year in September/October the best stories that have been uploaded throughout the year are chosen to be broadcast across the ABC. The roughly 40 winning entrants get the chance to go to Heywire Youth Issues Forum in Canberra in February.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and a special mention to Alexandra and Elizabeth from the NSW North Coast!
Their winning entries were The Ag plot and But it is Normal.

Complete list of winners:

New South Wales

Alexandra Neill: Grafton

Bubli Rawat: Shell Harbour

Elizabeth Kennedy: Murwillumbah

Benjamin Vella: Tamworth

Janet Brown: Wagga Wagga

Brendon Reynolds: Pambula

Jack Stanley: Broken Hill

Northern Territory

Skye MacFarlane: Mataranka

Kylie Sambo: Tennant Creek

Queensland

Jack Piggott: Rolleston

Nicolette Worth: Cairns

Clair Ryder: Townsville

Lucy Hanson: Crow's Nest

Emily Lohse: Brooweena

Luke Chaplain: Boomarra Station

Ria Garside: Clermont

South Australia

Annie Rudiger: Karoonda

Talisha Queama: Fregon

Tameika Schultz: Streaky Bay

Tasmania

Sophie Chandler: Crabtree, Tasmania

Jeremy Stingel: Burnie, Tasmania

Victoria

Taylor Smith: Geelong

Jakob Quilligan: Bendigo

Robert Colgrave: Moe

Razia Gharibi: Shepparton

Alanna Pasut: Red Cliffs

Amber Brimley: Edenhope, Victoria

Bethany Evans: Timboon

Western Australia

Joel Weston Jackson: Karratha

Sean Painter: Pithara

Jarrod Offer: Cunderdin

Dana Harrold: Eaton

Samantha Fielder: Kalgoorlie Boulder

Australian airport security. It sounds a lot more civilized, but....

The mainsteam media and blogosphere is full of stories about intrusive, embarrassing and sometimes downright abusive body searches of airline passengers at international airports overseas.
Underwear and breast prosthetic ordered to be removed during separate searches, urostomy bag dislodged during rough 'patdown', small child 'groped', working mother ordered to submit pumped breast milk to irradiation by x-ray as supposed security measure - the list goes on and on.
However the question remains, are security measures that much better in Australia when your granny with a metal pin in her hip has to be subjected to a "frisk" body search or worse?
On balance Australians probably fare better going though national airports, but I wonder how long that advantage may last.
See Australian Government airport security screening video.

Security Screening Video - Transcript [DOC: 25 KB]

With all these over-the-top rights to intrude into the personal sphere (across the world and it seems this nation) government employees and officious agents of government policy are fast becoming little bullies with big mouths who don't like to be crossed.
As an example - recently I was told of one North Coast Area Health Service employee who gratuitously and without permission divulged medical information about a constituent to a staff member of a local MP.

Day 3 - Ashes Test at the Gabba

Day 3 started early and finished late, making for a very long day, especially for the Poms in the field and your correspondent who left at sparrow's to get to the ground on time and then had to take a different bus home  after hours which meant he had to trek up hill and down dale across tortuous tiger territory to get to his destination.

Resuming at 5/220 and still 40 runs in arrears Oz batsman Hussey 81 and Haddin 22 found the going rather hard for the first hour or so.

Then the pair started stacking on the runs and produced a partnership of 307 - a record high for an Oz partnership at the Gabba.

Eventually Haddin, who reached his three figures with a six, went for 136 and then Hussey departed a bit later when just 5 short of a double-ton.

Gee, you'd have to feel for Mitch Johnson who sat, padded up, in the sheds for over 24 hours while his team mates Hussey and Haddin enjoyed themselves. Truly, it was little wonder Johnson departed the scene without troubling the scorers. But, honestly, captain Ponting must take the blame for Johnson's demise- rumour has it that Johnson had a very severe case of rashes on his legs due to the length of time his leg movements were restricted due to him being continuously padded up (sources at the ground say he slept in his pads).
 
Question: Who scored 114 runs at the Gabba today?
 Ok, you've looked at the Gabba Test scoreboard and you reckon I'm crackers.
Well, have another look.
At the start of play Hussey was on 81 and Haddin was on 22. Hussey added 114 to finish with 195 while Haddin added 114 to end up with 136.
That's one for the trivia buffs, especially the lot that put the quiz questions on the inside of tops of beer bottles. Ok, beer barons, forward the royalty cheques this way when you use that one!

Urban etiquette in regional Australia. Animalia......(7)

Although we don't always notice, there are rules of etiquette which apply whenever we leave the house and enter public spaces in urban areas or when denizens of those same public places enter our homes.
On the New South Wales North Coast (as elsewhere in regionl Australia) these rules take on a distinctive flavour.

Basic Rules

• Never argue with a snake. It almost always wins any territorial dispute and the losers sometimes find themselves in A&E at the local district hospital.
• Estuary waters and the ocean are the natural home of sharks not humans, so be polite and don't disturb them at dawn and dusk by swimming in their living rooms.
• A Maned Wood Duck usually crosses the road on foot to get its small brood to the other side, so drivers should slow down and keep eyes open for fledglings if an adult bird is sighted on the bitumen.
• Spur-Winged Plovers always have undisputed right of way on a footpath when they are taking their young out on that first excursion into the big wide world, and they will tell you so - loudly!
• Magpies won't like you during breeding season if you haven't politely introduced yourself to the family when they first moved into the neighbourhood. A friendly word in passing pays dividends later on.
• Spiders are not your friends, but neither are they your enemies - recognise that most are merely passing the time of day and don't whack them with that rolled up newspaper or deploy the fissionable material you keep under the sink.
• Small birds often fall from nests during storms. If a parent bird isn't near or the fledgling is just too young to make it into a bush or tree - call WIRES for help.
• Possums in the roof space may be a nuisance, but they are not committing a capital offence.Trap and release these furred offenders elsewhere, don't poison them.
• Don't steal flowers and native plants from the wild - be honest and pay for specimens at the local plant nursery. Most plants ripped from natural habitat die when replanted in the average garden anyway.
• Never be polite to a mosquito - it is always looking for new ways to bite and annoy you.
• Bush flies must be endured with stoicism if you want to be seen as a true blue Aussie.
• Cane toads are the spawn of Satan so give no quarter.
• Keep your pet cat in the house between dusk and dawn and don't let your dog roam free.
• PICK UP THE POOP WHEN YOU WALK THE DOG!