Garbage problems
How disappointing that Narooma should be considered for an award for addressing the problems of garbage. The council staff should be severely embarrassed when they drive from Bodalla to Narooma and pretend they can't see the old blue folding bed that has been dumped many years ago … not to mention all the other rubbish bins that have fallen by the highway. An award for neglect! What a joke!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Peter Jones, Narooma
Wiggy and ticks
We lost our best mate Wiggy to a tick this week and wish to point out to all fellow dog lovers that the threat from ticks is real. We used Frontline fortnightly but that wasn’t sufficient to protect Wiggy. So the threat from ticks is real, the warnings about their effect is not marketing hype. We thanks all Wiggy’s friends and admirers for greetings over the many years. Special appreciation to Chris the vet for his care and compassion.
Susie, Graeme and Fiona McDonald, Narooma
The fighting family
Three of seven sons of Claude George Bernard and Elizabeth Bernard embarked to the Western front in 1915. I have a photograph taken with their mother, crippled during birth of her seventh son. Unfortunately she never saw her three sons again as she died several days before they disembarked in 1919. Two other cousins, Harry and Vivian Bernard also fought for King and Country. The younger three brothers, Reginald Peter, Clarence Evelyn and Adrian Charles and at least three cousins served in the Middle East and or New Guinea and Borneo during the World War II. Here is a group photograph with some of the family and friends upon their return to Australia in 1919. The three sons Lionel De Coubert, Gilbert Paul and Rupert Lyon Bowes Bernard can be seen with their father. Lionel died a premature death from affects of gas. Their only surviving sister, Muriel Eugenie Bernard was holding a baby. This baby, John David Rupert Bernard, a Flight Lieutenant was lost in action over Italy in World War II after flying over 40 sole bomber missions. Another cousin was lost, missing in action, over Blenheim Europe in 1940.
Peter Bernard (Corporal Curly), Dalmeny
Mayor’s Say: Amalgamation
I am seeing councils across NSW vote to stand alone and oppose the NSW Government’s push to amalgamate. Some are proposing rate rises and reduced services in an attempt to meet the NSW Government’s new financial benchmarks with the support of their communities who say they will pay higher rates to ensure they keep local representation. Only time will tell if this strategy is successful.
As the local government reform debate continues, there is some criticism of how the NSW Government is implementing its agenda. Councils like Eurobodalla who are financially fit and able to continue to stand alone, have also been reviewing their options and while the NSW Government has offered one-off financial incentives to encourage amalgamations, the impact of merging with councils that are not financially sustainable needs to be investigated. The longer term impact of merging with a council that may have a backlog of infrastructure needs, not currently funded by their ratepayer base, could be a significant burden.
We will continue to talk about the reform process with our neighbours. Bega and Shoalhaven have also been declared as financially fit and able to stand alone and we are working on a new Memorandum of Understanding with Bega, and looking forward to the new proposed Joint Organisation of Councils.
Our neighbours to the west, Palerang and Queanbeyan, who were found to be unfit and asked to seek merger options, have voted to stand alone, with Palerang saying they will apply for a 54 per cent rate increase. None want to merge.
