Miscellaneous

Letter to Cagerattler

Dear Cagerattler

I do enjoy your column “The Say”, even though I don’t always agree with your opinion.   But that is what’s good about the Valley Voice; there is such a varied  content.

I do however agree whole-heartedly with your last article regarding the Schapelle spectacle. The media frenzy which was stirred up about her case was ludicrous in the extreme, as was the amount of air time foisted on the  public; her appearances in court and the scramble through the waiting press, all leading up to the PAROLE.

Whether or not this lady was guilty is beside the point.   What was noticeable was the amount of attention paid to a very attractive young woman who should have known better than to travel to a country which banned the importation of drugs. I sometimes wondered if the guards enjoyed the opportunity to have such close contact with her to get her to and fro with each appearance!

The  melee to get the first pictures, the first ‘story’, the filming rights, the book (no doubt there will be one), not  to mention the money involved, made a farce out of the whole sorry drama. It became a charade and made my blood boil.

Sometimes I feel our media are pathetic in the way they approach a ‘story’.  Current affair-type programmes on TV go in for sensationalism, and often seem to prefer to show people screaming at each other over some believed insult rather than concentrating on the good that so many others quietly do.  And some of our politicians are no  better, for personal insults and derogative comments are often made in and out of Parliament, and unfortunately our media seem intent on making sure we hear/read all about it.  This encourages the ‘pollies’ who wallow in this type of interview to get more ‘air time’. Thankfully they are not all the same.

I could go on, but have said enough.  So thank you, Rod, for your column which I hope you will continue to write.

Many regards,  Toni Brewster, Chain of Lagoons.

The Say

by Cagerattler

Isn’t it great to see the Recreation Ground Camping area getting used how we hoped it would.  It has to be good for the local businesses too.

The other night I was over there walking my dogs and got talking to one of the campers. He reckoned that he’d been travelling for many years and we were one of the most accommodating, friendly and best places he’d come across. The best part for me though was that most of our secret is word of mouth because campers talk to other campers. Isn’t that fantastic?

That’s the good news.  Now, Council… What about looking at establishing areas designated for backpacking campers too? Some do this anyway but the original idea was to have a sheltered area set aside to let the ‘tenters’ have a nice spot to pitch the ol’ tepee or wigwam… That’d be awesome and continue the good work already done, first by the original steering group and later by Council.  Establishing something that we can be really proud of.  This leads me to an associated issue…

The Streetscape – has it been thrown into the too-hard basket, deferred, cancelled or something in between? What’s the problem? If it’s good enough to find the money for a proposed new hospital site for St Helens (which I do think is needed but could be several years away) why not start work in St Marys, Fingal and other places? Funds were supposed to be set aside when the Council  initially agreed to improve infrastructure, quite a few years ago now. Quite frankly, Mayor and Council, it’s about time that at the very least a bit of good forward  action or plan could be made known to us all.

I wonder if the sticking point is the parking issue? MAKE A DECISION EITHER WAY ON THAT…and the rest of us will get used to the end result and accept it. It’s that simple.

It’s about time for someone to say or do something, otherwise five years down the track we’ll still be talking about it…It can be done. Look at the Recreation Ground utilisation as a great example…IT DOES WORK.

What do you think? Rod McGiveron

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I have lived in St Marys for the past 14 years and have always walked up Richardsons Road past the recently drained dam.  I understand the dam was drained because of one complaint to TasWater that the water was gushing down the creek.  I have never seen the creek gushing! I rang TasWater, then the Council, and was told that a platypus put a hole in the structure. It’s concrete! Maybe I am wrong but I find this ridiculous. The Council told me they won’t reconsider refilling the dam till they know the structure is sound.

So are we indefinitely left with this dangerous smelly eyesore? And of course no one considered the poor animals and birdlife that drink and live at the dam.

Kate Almond, St Marys