Letters
Sign of the times It is said that the words used can define the mindset of an author. So I was not surprised to see the big flashing safety sign as you exit Ewingsdale Rd to the highway emblazoned with the words ‘Mobile Drug testing there’s no escaping it’. On a sign where they could have used evading or eluding or avoiding they have chosen rather to use a word that indicates we are all, drivers at least, somehow guilty of a crime that we have not yet been convicted of. Once again our history of being founded as a penal colony raises its head and there is no ‘escaping’ it. Jim Barnes Brunswick Heads
Ceremonial Cacao If you are thinking of attending a ‘Sacred Cacao Ceremony’ then listen to my story. These ceremonies allude to connection with Mayan lineage but in reality the ceremonies and the people holding them mostly have no connection to the traditional
Mayan people or culture. In Guatemala, Santiago Atitlan, a small village near Lake Atitlan once inhabited by the traditional Tz’utujil (one of the numerous Maya subcultures) prior to the Guatemalan civil war (1960–1996) is now overrun by foreigners and foreign enterprise. The war annihilated the traditional elders, holy people and medicine people, leaving the communities in disarray and disrupted their way of life. The traditional Tz’utujil are now mostly employed by foreigners for cheap labour. This cultural genocide is not dissimilar to that witnessed in North America since 1492. As we continue to endure the final stages of colonisation and genocide of the North American tribes through the theft, trivialisation and commercialisation of their spiritual ceremonial ways, so too we now witness that of the Mayans. The recent interest in Ceremonial Cacao outside of the Mayan communities is the result of the exploitation of the Mayan Culture by invasive foreigners.
It is time those who wish to participate in non–traditional Mayan cacao ceremony understand that it is not connected to any real Mayan ceremony but just a fabrication by culture-appropriating foreigners intent on misleading the public and selling fictitious ceremony. The intention of this letter is to help educate the public that the traditional Mayan communities of Guatemala and beyond are in no way connected to these cacao ceremonies and in fact these ceremonies are offensive and divisive to the traditional Mayan people who have learnt to keep their ceremonies private. Gerad Williams Ewingsdale
Gentrifying Byron The plans for Railway Park are quite good and certainly a step forward in the gentrification of Byron Bay. They are clearly not from the same design studio as the repulsive new toilet blocks. Whilst I concede repulsive is subjective, inefficient and dysfunctional are completely objective.
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well but insisted he had to level the charge – he didn’t. I suppose I am blighted by knowing too much about Council operation and its shortcomings. While Ken boasts about doing little more than his well-paid job I wonder why such matters as the parlous state and management of the Shire’s sewerage system remains unaddressed, rubbish is still being run to Queensland, communities are in open revolt over paid parking impositions, development compliance is patchy at best, the councillors have not been formally advised of staff dealings on the Butler Street transport interchange, dithering over holiday letting continues and staff morale is (on information received) at rock bottom. This is only what comes immediately to mind. As a member of the council that survived the new chambers drama (cost $6m) and the GFC CDOs (lost $7m) and managed to ‘hold the line’ on environmental and planning attacks from developers and their state government backers, it is interesting to read Ken’s take on our record – different values I suppose. With Ken gone there is a chance to clean the stables.
There are, of course, still issues to be resolved with the town centre upgrade but one of the main lessons learned is the lip service paid to community consultation. It appears to be largely an exercise in bureaucratic box ticking as residents of Brunswick Heads and Bangalow have found with the paid parking issue. Our entire system: councils, council general managers, state governments, is predicated on development and we have precisely zero sustainable development models. Without sustainable development models we have no future. Sustainable development models are needed worldwide and this region has the knowledge to create them. It’s a perfect opportunity for our nominally green councils to lay the foundation for a global industry. Robin Harrison Binna Burra
Ta ta And so we say goodbye to Ken and his sparkling personality, which enlivened so many Council meetings. As one of the ‘small group of self-interested, ill-informed tellers of half-truths’ that apparently so blighted his time at the top, I wish him well – admittedly with some sense of relief. Ken first came to my notice when he decided to launch a Code of Conduct against a longstanding Council volunteer. Apparently she had been too assiduous in her duties and, thwarted by bureaucratic inaction, had made ‘too many inquiries’ into a contract delay and the contractor. Ken did not come out of this too
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This must start with an independent and thorough review of Council operation, governance and organisation and then the engagement of a GM who has the strength and knowledge to follow through. Tom Tabart Drysdale Vic
Legalised cruelty Anyone with an ounce of compassion would have been horrified to see the footage of the bull that suffered catastrophic injuries in the rodeo at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre last week as he bucked and then twisted and fell as his hind leg snapped. But what happened isn’t unusual in an industry where abusive treatment is standard practice in order to guarantee that the paying public see some ‘action’. Bulls are shocked with electric prods, viciously kicked and violently slammed into the ground and the spurs and bucking straps cinched around their abdomens cause these frightened and often docile animals to buck in a desperate attempt to escape. Extensive bruising and internal injuries are common, and necks, backs and leg bones are often shattered. We do not live in the Wild continued on next page
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RAILS
THE RAILWAY FRIENDLY BAR, BYRON BAY 6685 7662 • therailsbyronbay.com
AND THE FAMOUS
RAILS kitchen
Thursday 21 December
SIMON WRIGHT & FAMILY Friday 22 December
DAVE ORR BAND Saturday 23 December
MARSHALL SU
Sunday 24 December
LEIGH JAMES DUO Monday 25 December
SAN TACLAUSE
Tuesday 26 December
CHRIS & JAMIE WE
Wednesday 27 December
BEN JANSZ
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The Byron Shire Echo December 20, 2017 13