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I asked defence expert Dr Andrew Davies yesterday if we Townsvilleans should be sleeping with one eye open just in case the Nerd from the North decides to take a potshot at us with a nuclear warhead.
LOWLIFES stole more than $ 1000 of leftover alcohol from the Port of Townsville Rotary Club just after the Townsville Show. This is money straight out of the club’s pocket. The thieves most likely gained entry via a locked roller door to the building inside the showgrounds where the grog used for the Wine Tree fundraising raffle was stored. The thieves were discerning in that they only took spirits and left behind beer and wine. Jim Stone, who organises the Wine Tree for the club, said it was disappointing. The money was earmarked for some good causes which will now be left high and dry. Then there is the time and effort club members spent manning the Wine Tree stand over the four days of the show. Rotary has held the Wine Tree Raffle for 30 years. This is the first time something like this has happened. The theft has been reported to police. If you have any information call Crimestoppers on 1800333000. It’s been a bad week for Rotary. Read Bruce Macdonald’s story ( below) about vandalised safety signs on Castle Hill.
IDLE MINDED IDIOTS
PUBLIC spirited citizen Bruce Macdonald sent me this message yesterday after vandals damaged some of the new safety, marker posts he and his mate Paul Ryan erected on Castle Hill: “What in the hell would prompt somebody to peel information decals from emergency markers located at 100m intervals on six of the most popular tracks up Castle Hill, including the road? Your guess is as good as mine. And it’s not just one marker, it’s five of the six located on the Iron Bark track. The markers have only been in place for a couple of weeks, but that’s plenty of time for an idiot with an idle mind but not so idle hands to have some fun. The Rotary Club of Townsville Sunrise invested $ 10,000 in the project and the manpower to complete it. The club’s immediate past president, Paul Ryan and myself spent three days on the hill installing the marker ... To add insult to injury for Paul, an overzealous Townsville City Council employee booked him for parking illegally in the parking area halfway up the hill even though he had a large sign on his vehicle saying the owner was undertaking voluntary work on behalf of Rotary. Paul and I walked the Kokoda Track some years back and have continued to walk Castle Hill for many years since. “Both of us were happy to spend the time putting the markers knowing that it may help somebody who has slipped on one of the tracks,” Paul said. “It’s hard to understand why anybody would do such a thing.” But there was an upside of sorts ... the $ 73 fine was waived by the TCC. You would think council employees would show some discretion in such situations, but clearly not. Who would go to the trouble to make a special sign to dodge a fine? Rules are rules I suppose.”
WAGGA SHAKES IT UP
THE Arcadian Surf Lifesaving Club’s Sunday “Sesh” is back. The club overlooking the Rock Pool on The Strand will open this Sunday arvo from 4pm to 8pm. This is one of the best beachside venues in town and with live music laid on as well, it doesn’t get any better. The icing on the cake will be if that beefcake barman extraordinaire known as “Wagga” is working behind the bar. Remember that movie Cocktail, starring Tom Cruise? There has always been the rumour that a Hollywood screenwriter was in the Arcadia clubhouse one day and saw Wagga shaking it up behind the bar. Inspired, he went home, wrote the movie and the rest is history. Believe it or not.
GROWERS CLEAN UP
IT’S almost got to the stage where businesses will have to start putting up signs saying “No tomatoes left on these premises at night”.
Such is the price of the ripe, red fruit. They’ve been around the $ 10kg mark here for weeks and out in the west they up around $ 14kg.
Carl Walker from the Bowen-
Gumlu Grower’s Association told me yesterday that the price of tomatoes should be around $ 6kg as growers were now being paid $ 3kg. One cafe out west last week had a sign up saying that if you wanted tomato on your burger there would be a surcharge. The big money this year was made down Bundaberg way by growers who escaped the postCyclone Debbie floods and got fruit to market early. They made a fortune. Bowen is a month late and has just started picking.
SIGNATURE OF NORTH
HAVEN’T we come a long way. There is no tree that reminds us more that we are in the tropics than the pandanus.
It is the signature tree of tropical Australia. It is refreshing that Cox Architecture along with its local stadium partner 9Point9 Architects had the pandanus tree in mind when they designed our city’s new North Queensland Stadium. Please, God, not another bloody palm tree. Some will remember when the new airport was built and the forward thinking architects from Townsville’s Ralph Power Associates Pty Ltd placed pandanus trees at the front of the building to remind incoming passengers they were in Northern Australia. After a few months of heavy lobbying by the pro- palm brigade they were removed and replaced by … palm trees.