Letters to the editor

As a Cobargoite, I read with interest the story on Cobargo’s Big Heart (BDN 12/7).

I applaud and support Andrew Haydon and Angela Elliot’s sentiments regarding Cobargo’s future.

However, we should not compare Cobargo to Mogo or Central Tilba and it would be futile to try and compete with those towns.

Cobargo has to find its own unique identity to promote.

As Andrew states, Cobargo has a lot going for it with a rich heritage identity.

The town has a long farming and timber history and is the gateway to the magnificent Wadbilliga National Park.

Cobargo is definitely going through a stagnant phase, but we should not despair.

It won’t happen overnight but with a little effort Cobargo can be reborn.

Otto Halupka

Wandella

Bermagui is

devastated

As you drive towards Bermagui, just before entering the spotted gum Cathedral, you see trees brutally chopped down.

Forestry has been permitted to violate our land and steal our future. When I asked a logger what the wood was going to be used for, he answered, to make pellets for the sawmill in Eden.

Are you serious?

The carbon emissions from burning these pellets are estimated to be five times more than from conventional coal-fired power stations.

How can this be allowed, vampires who suck the life-blood from our earth, and put nothing back in its place?

Every tree left undisturbed is more valuable than gold, securing the future for our children, ensuring that we all can breathe.

If you are disturbed by my words, please take a walk along the main road into Bermagui, then you will be as devastated as I am.

The logging must stop now.

Nadine Hills

Akolele

Clarification needed on tip issues

There is a misconception within what I am hoping is only a small portion of our community which needs clarifying.

This misconception relates to the Bega Valley Shire Council’s insatiable appetite for rate increases and the astronomical fees paid to its consultants retained for the proposed Central Waste Facility development.

I have been told that some believe that these rate increases over the last few years have been partially the fault of the Wolumla Residents Action Group (WRAG) and that had we not intervened against the CWF issue, rate increases could have been minimised.

This is most definitely not the case.

But, had we not intervened, the resultant substandard design favoured by council would already be in place - a fact now acknowledged by the EPA.

WRAG is attempting to protect all shire residents from the threat of drinking water contamination and a host of other environmental disasters.

We will continue to oppose council’s inept and poorly conceived Wanatta Lane CWF development both now and into the future.

The question everyone should be asking is, if council’s waste facility design is as robust as we have been led to believe, why then has it taken nearly 11 years and many millions of ratepayer dollars to get only this far?

Unmistakably, the Wanatta Lane site is not the right solution to our shire’s waste problem, and council’s gambler type inability to stop throwing good money after bad is entirely to blame for this costly and lengthy process.

Jeff Smith

Wolumla

Great care in the Bega Hospital

Last week I found myself in urgent need of medical care in the middle of the night.

My husband and I were on a short five-day break on the South Coast when I developed severe abdominal pain around 2am.

We presented at Bega Hospital Casualty Department around 3am.

There I received the best care anyone could ask for from Dr Patankar and the night nurses.

Over the next couple of days (as a result of the above) I attended the hospital pathology department and then South East Radiology.

At all these venues I received similar highly efficient and professional care.

The ultrasound I had performed was read and reported on by Dr Purss within an hour.

I was supplied with an accurate diagnosis, typed report and DVD of the scan to take home to my doctor.

To say I was blown away by all of this would be a massive understatement.

I am just so grateful for the efforts of all the health professionals involved.

I’m well aware of the controversy surrounding an ex-Bega surgeon which is currently topical, however, this is completely unrelated to the care provided by the Bega Health Services.

If you’re going to get crook, Bega would be a good place to do it.

My heartfelt thanks to all.

Christine Graeber

Albury

Project assistance

We are writing to you to ask for your assistance with a project that we are developing.

We are in the development stages of creating a coffee table book to commemorate the roadside memorials erected by the families and friends of those who have lost their lives on our roads.

We came up with the idea for this book after driving around the region and noticing the ever increasing amount of such memorials and noticed the variety there is.

We have noted that many of these memorials are aged and realise that we have not had the inclination or time to stop and look closely at them, to take an opportunity to find out more about the individuals they have been erected to remember.

In order to do this effectively and remain sensitive to the wishes of the victim’s loved ones, we would like to have the families of those who have been lost contact us.

We have set up an email address specifically for this purpose, rememberance.road@gmail.com

This is one of the names we are considering for the title of the book and we hope that participants will feel free to supply any suggestions they may have.

Should they chose to participate with this project, we would ask them for their permission to include the details of their loved ones in the book and exact location of their memorials.

Once we have this information we can go to the location, take tasteful photos of the memorial for selection by the next of kin and provide a small outline of who the person was, what their ambitions were and whatever else the next of kin feels the world should know about that individual.

As this project has the potential to be “bigger than Ben Hur” we have decided to begin by concentrating on our own region.

With this aim in mind we are hoping that with your help we can locate local residents that are willing to participate in this project.

We would both like to thank you very much for your help with this matter.

Bill Doran and Heidi Schmidt

Conder, ACT

• Letters to the editor are most welcome. They should be no more than 300-400 words and should be typewritten or in clearly legible handwriting. Excessively long letters will be shortened and edited for length and legal concerns. Letters must contain the writer’s name, street address and daytime phone number for verification. Letters can be emailed or posted to the addresses on page four and will be published at the editor’s discretion.