Parks’ contribution
We wish to respond to the recent article “Bega’s tourist void - lack of public facilities turning lucrative RV market away from Bega Valley”(BDN, 28/12/12).
In the article it was stated Frank and Helen Hayes were concerned at the non-existence of public facilities in Bega such as dump points and access to town water.
While it is true there are no free public facilities, there are in fact five Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW (CCIA) member holiday parks within 20km of Bega, including Bega’s very own caravan park, where dump point and water provision facilities are available.
Caravan parks in NSW are required under law to have a dump point if they are in a location that is connected to a sewer.
Therefore, RV visitors to the Bega area already have options for the responsible disposal of their waste and refilling of their water supplies.
Use of these facilities comes at a cost in the same way that Bega Valley residents incur user pay charges for water and sewerage services at their home.
If free facilities are made available to travellers, ultimately it’s the ratepayers of Bega that will cover the cost.
As Mr and Mrs Haynes stated, Bega Caravan Park is lovely and has good facilities.
John Carlon who is the owner of the park, has informed us he has just built a $200,000 amenities block so visitors to Bega have exceptional facilities available to them.
Research conducted recently by BDO for the Caravan, RV and Accommodation Industry of Australia (CRVA) demonstrates the importance of holiday parks to the local economy.
For every $1 of park income, $1.38 of local economic activity is generated by the individual park.
The commercial holiday parks studied in the report contributed in excess of $1.26million on average to their local economy per year.
This is in addition to the amount that tourists spend in the area.
It is important the residents of Bega and the surrounding communities are aware that user pay dump point facilities are available in their holiday parks, all of which are significant contributors to Bega’s local economy.
We hope that the success of these small businesses is a priority to Bega’s Chamber of Commerce, council and residents.
Theo Whitmont
President, Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW
Shooting disgrace
Last Saturday night or Sunday morning shooters 6km along Hawkes Head Rd, Brogo, shot dead a healthy adult male wombat and 100 metres further along the road a beautiful and healthy female wombat was also shot.
Tragically, she was not dead.
She lingered with a bullet in her brain, twitching in a ditch until she was found by a resident who flagged down help to get her into a vehicle.
She was taken to Quaama to the Wombat Protection Society where a joey, unfurred and weighing 250 grams was taken from her pouch, so she could be taken to the vet and euthanised.
The joey was transferred to a specialist carer with an incubator at Nimmitabel to give him the best chance of survival.
This matter has been reported to NPWS who will take action and I’d ask anyone with knowledge of shooting in the Hawkes Head area to speak with Narooma NPWS ranger Kathryn Brown on 4476 0800 and/or report directly to your local police station.
Penalties apply to this shooting under a range of acts in NSW including illegal use of firearms - it is illegal to shoot on or over or along public roads, illegal shooting of protected species - and animal cruelty laws.
It is also totally irresponsible of anyone to waste the time and resources of the range of people who had to clean up the mess made by the shooter.
In a time where our volunteer community is so stretched, to create trauma for road residents and additional work for native wildlife carers is a disgrace.
Amanda Cox
Quaama
Time for change
Now it is 2013 perhaps a few restrictions could be made for letters to the editor pages in the Bega District News.
Perhaps climate change, woodchipping, save our koalas, the town hall and the refuse centre have been discussed for so long that sometimes I read the paper and think I am reading a previous one.
Don’t get me wrong, I know these things are very important, but how many times do we have to read about them.
There are so many things of interest that could be written without having to print the same thing over and over again.
Time for a change.
J Howard
Quaama
Thanks for support
I am writing to you to say a huge thank you to a local woman for her generous financial support of our Christmas hampers as well as other women for their donations of toys and food.
Woolworths also donated reusable shopping bags so we could fill them full of yummy goodies including half a ham and toys and books for the children.
The Women’s Resource Centre provided 12 Christmas hampers for disadvantaged women, children and families.
This means a lot to the centre, users of the centre and local services in the Bega Valley, as it is a wonderful Christmas gesture to provide hampers to the neediest families at Christmas.
During 2012, women, children and families were struggling.
We have supported Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families, single mums, a single dad and a grandmother as primary carer.
They have had a range of issues including mental health, domestic and family violence, dislocation, financial disaster, sexual assault, prison and homelessness.
There were 44 children aged from 2-14 years and five families that are living in Eden.
The local services distributed the Christmas hampers as they have worked closely with these families. The gift of a hamper is a positive and wonderful gesture and the families receiving them are so grateful and happy.
It is wonderful for them to know that someone cares about them when often they feel so alone.
The hamper certainly gave the families a boost both financially as well as emotionally.
We were able to give the hampers to clients from Family Support, South East Women’s and Children’s Service - Eden, Brighter Futures, Staying Home Leaving Violence, The Far South Coast Women’s Domestic Violence Advocacy Service and Healthy for Life and Medicare Local.
The workers from these services were also very excited to be able to have something positive to share with their clients.
Gabrielle Powell
Coordinator, Women’s Resource Centre
Manifestly wrong
In the Narooma News (19/12/12), Professor Matt England, Deputy Director of the University of NSW’s School of Climate Change, claimed “The world is warming at a rate that is consistent with forecasts made by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 22 years ago”.
He went further, saying “Anybody out there lying that the IPCC projects are overstatements or that the observations haven’t kept pace with the projections is completely off line...the analysis is very clear the IPCC projections are coming true”.
Professor England is manifestly wrong.
This is revealed in Figure 1.4 from the second order draft of the IPCC’s draft Fifth Report.
The IPCC predicted 1990 to 2012 global warming is excessively high by a factor of two to five, placing it in an alarmism category.
Should not ordinary people, and students in particular, expect to be able to place trust in the public statements of people presenting themselves as experts?
Should not a nascent climate science rely on the application of reason and the open-minded study of empirical evidence before making deceitful claims?
Neville Hughes
Surf Beach