Hello Malaysia, South Korea, France and the USofA...welcome to the blog, and, not counting a few 'no posts', etc, this here is the 300th post...cue heralding trumpets and start the parade...(yeahhh, about that...due to budgetary constraints there isn't going to be a parade-Ed)...oh, and trumpeters?...(sorry, no...would you believe one boy scout with a kazoo?-Ed)...that's just sad...(quite-Ed)...but do thank him for coming along anyway...(sure-Ed)...
Today's question, topic, subject, whatevs...If a picture paints a thousand words, then what picture does no words paint?...What story is being told when nothing is said?...and of course I'm talking about the apparent silence from The Border Watch newspaper on the topic of multiple abuse issues at a local high school, as exposed recently and covered throughout the media across Australia...but first some other stuff...
No I Don't Know: exactly what the heck is going on at Wattle Range Council, where teams of angry lawyers have been charging about whilly-nilly...but I'll have an educated guess...as best I can ascertain, there are at least two groups of lawyers involved, one representing the Wattle Range Council and the other from the Local Government Association...(possibly the South East LGA, or SELGA-Ed)...
I heard about this some time ago, and I don't think that these two crews are in conflict with each other, rather are in collaboration 'against' a third party...and the word 'compensation' is definitely in the mix...and I believe that SELGA provides 'insurance cover' for Councils so that might be the connection that has them involved...a 'compensation' claim would probably be an 'insurance issue'...
It appears that Wattle Range Council, with SELGA support, is defending a 'compensation' claim, and it may possibly be in Court so I can't go any further in divulging what I think I know...('think I know'?-Ed)...yeah, I 'know' stuff but I could be wrong, and it is possibly 'in Court', so best to stick to what I do know and that which can be discussed...(convoluted, but fair enough-Ed)...
The fact remains that any and all legal action conducted by Councils, SELGA, LGA, etc, is payed for by ratepayers and/or taxpayers...so if there is s genuine case to answer here, and I believe that there is, then Council is using ratepayers money to defend their (Council's) actions...and if ordered to pay any 'compensation', they'll do that with ratepayers money...by any definition, the ratepayers of Wattle Range have every right to know exactly what their Council is wasting their money on...I'll go as far as to say that if half of what I've heard is true, then, in this particular case, Council deserves to pay...
And Damn: since starting this post earlier this morning I have become aware that the above case has been resolved and that it was covered by InDaily, the Adelaide Independent news...view the story under A bad day at the office at indaily.com.au/news for the 10th October 2013...damnity damn damn...what I can say is that Mayor Gandolfi's tepid statements drastically downplay the reality of the treatment of this worker as compared to my understanding that the worker was effectively 'under fire' from all involved, the Council and LGA included...
And yes, the 'Judge Lieschke' is the same Stephen Lieschke (that I was spelling with a 't' included, sorry) whom is Premier Jay Weatherill's business partner and Glyn Dorling's lawyer at the Teachers Registration Board hearing into Dorling's registration, etc...damn all round...
Why Play Chicken: when crossing the road?...because you have to...I have been asked to look at and address the lack of safe crossing points on both Jubileee Highway and Penola Rd...and fair enough...one takes ones life in ones own hands when attempting to traverse these often busy roadways, particularly due to the layout and/or geography...
There is only one set of lights at the far Eastern end of Jubilee Hwy, at the Pick Ave intersection, and no safe crossing anywhere else...including at the ludicrous Lady Nelson Bus 'Shelter' where passengers are required to get across the highway with their luggage, etc, just to get to Mt Gambier...and in many sections, visibility of traffic approaching at 60kph is greatly compromised by bends and/or rises/dips in the road...and the same issues on Penola Rd, with only one crossing at the Market Place Shopping Centre lights.
Only last year, a man in a motorised scooter was struck by a truck and killed whilst trying to cross at the Andami Shopping Centre on Jubilee Hwy, but nothing has been done to improve safety there...or anywhere else...the entire Penola Rd/Wireless Rd intersection is a desperately dangerous prospect for cars and pedestrians...and whilst I recognise that both these roads are a state government responsibility, what has Mt Gambier City Council done to address these safety issues?
This lack of safe crossing points is particularly critical for anyone with any sort of mobility issue...people are literally taking their lives in their hands, constantly playing chicken with oncoming traffic, in a perpetual turkey shoot...and I call on Council to immediately review and recommend suitable pedestrian crossings be installed...and thankyou to that person for raising this with me...but I digress...
The Deafening Silence: of The Border Watch on two separate cases of Child Abuse at a South East high school...I don't understand...unless I've somehow completely missed it, TBW has not covered these two stories stemming from the one school...but why?
Is there something even more sinister happening behind the public exposures, disclosures, etc, that has contributed or directed to this 'non-coverage'?...or has TBW been working on some seethingly insightful 'magazine style' story to be run over several weeks, and they didn't want to 'go off half-cocked'...or do they, for some reason, simply not consider this nationally acknowledged story as being of any importance...I am at a complete loss to explain this.
I readily acknowledge that I'm predisposed to draw a direct line between this apparent failure (or refusal) to cover these stories and the local media's behaviour/attitude to the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up...but if that were the case, it doesn't explain why the ABC gave these latest issues/cases extensive coverage but TBW haven't...
So all in all a rather inglorious 300th post...my one big bit of news was resolved weeks ago and already covered in other media, or at least one source...the pedestrian safety thing is more of a request than exposure and subject to the whim of a Labor state government who clearly don't give a damn about Mt Gambier or the South East in general...and the TBW failure to cover these abuse issues is just a mystery made noticeable by their absence...
What I have noticed is several things in TBW that I would like to cover, eg, the meeting about Gas Exploration at Penola; a letter from a certain Di McEwen about the Gaol Expansion opening...and I will cover these things...
Tomorrow: Stuff and Nonsense
Just as it describes...a bunch of stuff that is by and large nonsense...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...laters...
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