40cm wide x 38cm deep x 66cm high, good cond., $50 pair.
Miscellaneous
Hay
Round bales, garden mulch or bedding
Mini Pigs
Moo Poo
Mort Douglas opens St Helens development.
River & Willow Art Space arrives in St Marys!
Another new art space has opened its doors in St Marys, adding to the town’s increasing reputation as a centre of the arts. The River & Willow Art Space has been set up by the couple of the same names who, after travelling over much of Australia and then focusing on Tasmania, have decided St Marys is the place they want to stay. The couple are skilled in a wide variety of media including painting, photography, fabrics, woodwork, jewellery, weaving…
The Say
By Cagerattler.
Last week I was walking around town and was disturbed to see how overgrown the parks and general public areas were, and wondered what any visitors would have thought as they passed through or stopped for a spell. At one time I was a greenkeeper and know that this is the peak growth period of the year, but it’s also leading into the busy season and our Council has to be ready for this.
In contrast it seemed that the coastal areas were not to any great extent as overgrown in the public areas, as evident earlier in the week.
On a slightly similar theme we talked at work about who is responsible for nature strips. Two or three different opinions came forth, all with valid points, but after issues recently dealing with workplace safety and occupational health and safety matters a whole can of worms appears i.e. legally, if whilst in the process of mowing your (Council owned) nature strip you injure person/s, property of even yourself. As one of my workmates said, he found it difficult to understand why you wouldn’t want your strip to look its best and this was one of the few places that council maintains these areas…fair point indeed and as a couple of others said that if an indemnity existed to protect the householder, ratepayer or renter they’d have no issues mowing sometimes largish areas adjacent to their house. Is this the case though?…Is there an indemnity for such work and if not can our council seek to address that? For the record I generally run the mower over the small bit outside my property but given recent pedantic rules and regulations (bordering on insanely ridiculousl over the top rules on less serious risks) it made me wonder more about mowing and the real risks involved with that in a public area.
On the main point though, regarding the parks, Town Hall area and roadside verges not associated with properties, I hope the BODC will try to be a lot more vigilant than of late with this very basic and fundamental service that our rates must surely partially finance. Thankfully in the past few days some of this work is being addressed prior to Christmas…that’s good.
Finally, as this is the last Valley Voice for the year, I’d like to thank Wendy Dawson, our hard working editor, in her first year in the job for being so amazing to deal with. She’s been great.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas/New Year break, not least Wendy and her fabulous crew, and all things being equal, see you in 2014…
What do you think? Rod McGiveron.
The Say
By Cagerattler…
As we approach Christmas, the warmer weather and holiday makers I never cease to be amazed by the inconsiderate acts of some people out there. I do a lot of walking in the bush and all too often I come across evidence of those who choose to dump their trash in the bush, even farm animal carcasses. Why can’t these idiots be caught and prosecuted? What about the native wildlife that can injure themselves, get caught up or eat remains that’ll make them sick? Then there’s others who visit our area and see the trash scattered in the bush or rest areas; that must make them think twice about us. A couple of years ago there were only a few places, mainly on Mt Nicholas that I found such rubbish, but now I’ve come across all sorts of stuff in at least four other places…If you are one of these people too lazy or cheap to use a skip bin or visit the tip, please stop – it’s no good for anyone.
Now the good news. I was fortunate to spend a few minutes last weekend with Heather at the Mad=Mudd, a new business in town in the old clothing store premises. What an interesting and enthusiastic lady she is and the variety of high quality crafts was incredible, all hand made and sometimes using materials that would otherwise not be considered of great value, such as crushed glass. The other exciting thing is that Heather and Steve will be running classes later on to share some of these skills and will feature a kids’ corner for our talented local kids. Let’s hope the new business flourishes. Heather also mentioned that it was important to cater for local clientèle as much as tourists so go and have a look – you won’t be disappointed.
Finally to the respondent to my comments two issues back. I hope your questions were answered in the most recent Valley Voice on the Streetscape issue. Whilst I don’t agree with all your response I can see some good points you make and appreciate your time to write in and express your views..That’s great, and thanks.
What do you think? Rod McGiveron.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor
I was very pleased to see nearly 40 people come to St Marys Town hall on 10th November for the screening of “Mary Meets Mohammad”. It was a great opportunity for people to become more educated on the asylum seeker issue occurring in Australia at the moment. Did you know Australia is the only western nation that has mandatory indefinite detention for asylum seekers arriving by boat? Did you know Australia receives only 0.3% of the world’s refugees? Did you know that it costs $450,000 a year to detain someone on Nauru or Manus Island, but only about $30,000 a year if they were allowed to live in the community while being processed?
Many thanks to Melanie Norton and her wonderful team from the Salvation Army (Don and Stuart) for providing the electronic equipment for the screening, and thanks to the lovely ladies (I believe it was Michelle, Brittany and Wendy) who helped set up the chairs. Also, thanks to the Break O’Day Council for providing a fee waiver for the hire of the hall. Several people have suggested a local group should be formed that could find ways to encourage asylum seekers to come to our area – anyone interested?
Remember, it is not illegal to seek asylum, even if arriving by boat.
Hannah Rubenach, St Marys.