ORANGE CITY
NEWSWATCH
LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED WITH — INTEGRITY — WISDOM — BALANCE Saturday 22 August, 2020
www.orangecitylife.com.au
ISSUE No. 14
FREE
Talking POINTS
with BOB HOLLAND
The easing of water restrictions will bring some relief for the community and it’s encouraging that the dam level is up. On the downside, it’s likely that solving Orange’s water security needs for the future will go back onto the back burner until the next desperate situation.
Council’s soft-touch on parking
Vietnam Vets commemorate the past
Orange Council has confirmed what many locals have observed over recent times; parking officers are going gently, gently on fines.
Bitterness is gone but the memories remain for local Vietnam Veterans attending the recent commemoration day at Orange Cenotaph.
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See page 3 for full story
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See pages 14—15 for full story
Are we being led astray on COVID-19?
CYMS juniors enjoying rub-of-the-green
Columnist Jeanine Bird examines the politics, power, and money of “Big Pharma” and the coronavirus crisis
Cancellation of Group 10 rugby league senior’s competition has not dented the enthusiasm or competitiveness of Orange CYMS Juniors.
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See pages 12–13 for Birds Eye View.
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See page 19 for full story
Judging by the feedback we get after each issue of Newswatch comes out, and the number of letters we’re receiving, our new free newspaper is starting to gain a following, and a growing one at that. We do want to be respected and valued, an influence for good, and a voice of reason, but we fully appreciate not everyone will agree with us on everything. When that happens, we’ll at least try to give other points of view fair treatment. Regular readers would know I’m generally disappointed with the way our Councillors perform, but that said, you have to feel for them over the Covid situation. At this week’s Council meeting they discussed the dilemma they have over who they could or should allow into the City. The reason for the discussion was a request for funding to help stage Wine Week in October. Clearly there is no black and white answer but to their credit, they did make the only decision they could, that is they have no authority in the matter and their only course of action is to follow State Government directives. Someone told me that our Mayor has said that our parking officers have been going gently, gently during Covid. If that’s true it raises a heap of questions, like during normal times, how can you argue it’s not just revenue raising? Or why the need to go gently, gently when there must surely be more available parking spaces due to less people out and about? Parking issues are a hot topic for many people across Orange, me included but based on my experience good sense rarely prevails at City Hall even when the evidence for change or variation is as plain as the nose on your face.