NEWS DESK Police patrol
Charred mess: The SES vehicle a wreck after the fire. The boat and trailer adjacent was untouched.
Battery to blame for SES fire A FAULTY battery is believed to have caused the fire which destroyed a Chelsea SES transport vehicle last Wednesday (29 March). A Kingston Council worker saw smoke coming from a garage at Bonbeach Reserve, Scotch Parade, just after lunch and called the CFA. Units from Patterson River and Edithvale arrived to find the four-wheel-drive well alight. “Their quick response and great work isolated the fire to a single garage saving our maintenance shed and boat shed from any major damage,” Phil
Wall, of Chelsea SES, said. “The vehicle is a right off and damage is being assessed to a boat that was also in the building.” Council officers, including the municipal emergency response officer, along with SES staff, attended. Power was lost, putting Chelsea SES on bypass for 24 hours, however, they were back in action at 6pm next day. SES senior managers inspected the damage later. Victorian SES chief Stephen Griffin and chief operations officer Trevor White, as well as Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson, attended to
ensure the unit and its volunteer members had everything they needed. Mr Richardson’s office and staff are taking donations from those who want to contribute following the fire. The address is 374 Nepean Hwy, Chelsea. Call 9722 4544. Chelsea SES crews praised Patterson River and Edithvale CFA crews for their assistance. “The entire unit would like to thank the thousands of people who reacted to the fire on social media with so many kind words of support, it really did mean a lot,” Mr Wall said.
Dog bites man
Better later than never
AN Aspendale man being chase near Peninsula Link allegedly punched and kicked a police dog before it bit him on the right shoulder and face. The man, 26, appeared at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Monday (3 April) on 30 charges: four of aggravated burglary, three of theft of a motor car, theft, handling stolen property, evading police and resisting arrest after a series of weekend incidents. Another charge relates to aggravated cruelty to an animal – the police dog. The man was remanded to reappear at the same court on Tuesday 9 May. Police allege the man entered a Marvin Av, Rye, house through an unlocked back door, 2.30am, Saturday 1 April, but ran off over the back fence empty handed when the owner awoke to a noise and the glow of a torch. Sergeant Michael Lamb, of Frankston police, said patrols of the area came across a car stolen from Hampton the previous day and later used in a petrol drive-off. They believe this was the car the man used to drive to Rye. A black Jeep then sped past them and a check of the registration found that it, too, had been stolen but from the immediate area. The car was followed by the Air Wing onto Peninsula Link where the man was seen leaping out and running away. He was spotted from above hiding among trees with the Canine Unit and uniform police giving chase. After the police dog brought the man down he was taken to Frankston Hospital for treatment.
ONE of a group of intoxicated men who allegedly caused trouble inside a Chelsea Heights McDonald’s and then loitered outside, vandalising trees and smashing windows at a Wells Rd unit block and a nearby gymnasium, has been arrested. The incidents occurred on Thursday 14 July last year but are only now coming to court. Witnesses said the offender threw frozen Coke over a customer and then followed him out to the restaurant car park, damaging his car and trying to fight him. He was one of four men who allegedly snapped four mature trees at their trunks and used star pickets to cause $4000 damage to windows at the units and a gymnasium. Police used IDs and CCTV footage to identify the offenders taken at Mordialloc Sporting Club, where they had allegedly caused trouble earlier that night. A man, 28, of McDonald St, Mordialloc, will be summonsed to appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court in June.
Card stolen A PATTERSON Lakes woman noticed her letterbox had been opened and mail removed, Friday 24 March. She then checked her online banking account and found that $275 in various transactions had occurred in Mordialloc and Highett without her consent. The woman, 27, cancelled her credit card and reported the incidents to Mordialloc police. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
‘Narrow’ vote on Bay Trail Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au A MAJORITY of Kingston councillors want a section of Beach Rd to be narrowed to build the Mentone to Mordialloc part of the Bay Trail. The Kingston leg of the shared pathway for cyclists and walkers stretching from Altona to Frankston has been dogged by controversy over the removal of foreshore vegetation to build the Bay Trail. The Kingston Residents Association, the Mordialloc-Beaumaris Conservation League and the Kingston Conser-
vation & Environment Coalition lost a joint VCAT case in April 2015 against council that argued the removal of foreshore vegetation was “excessive”. Council then built the 3-metre wide pathway between Charman Rd and the Mentone Lifesaving Club. At the latest full public council meeting on 27 March, a 5-4 majority of councillors voted to push ahead with a plan to narrow Beach Rd between the lifesaving club and Peter Scullin Reserve in Mordialloc from 14 metres on average to about 13 metres to build the final Kingston leg of the trail. A ‘Do Not Narrow Beach Road’ Fa-
cebook group, founded by Beach Rd residents Robyn and Gavin Nolan, is rallying support online and by flyer drops to letterboxes to oppose council plans to ask VicRoads to narrow Beach Rd. About 40 car parking spaces would be removed if the section of Beach Rd is narrowed. Debate at the council meeting was heated amid angry exchanges between councillors. Cr West said the narrowing of the road between Mentone and Mordialloc would bring the width into line with Beach Rd’s width elsewhere. “We are proposing to narrow the
traffic lanes to VicRoads standard,” she said. “There will still be two traffic lanes each way … it will pose no safety concerns for cyclists, pedestrians or motorists.” Cr West said the narrowing of Beach Rd would protect “a stretch of remnant sand heathland that dates back to before white settlement”. Cr Geoff Gledhill said safety, especially for cyclists, is a concern on Beach Rd. “Organisations like the Amy Gillett Foundation are flat out trying to get ‘a metre matters’ adopted nationwide to increase the degree of separation be-
tween cars and bikes,” he said. Cr Gledhill said Cr West “doesn’t understand” how decreasing car parking spaces will negatively impact the area. “She doesn’t live in the ward. This is a very dangerous plan.” Crs Tamara Barth, David Eden, Georgina Oxley, Steve Staikos and West voted to proceed with the proposal to narrow Beach Rd. Crs Tamsin Bearsley, Ron Brownlees, Gledhill and George Hua opposed the plan. An attempt by Crs Bearsley, Brownlees and Gledhill to rescind the proposal was voted down at a special meeting on Monday 3 April.
Cnr Springvale Rd & Wells Rd, Chelsea Heights PH: 9773 4453 www.chelseaheightshotel.com.au Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News 5 April 2017
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