ORANGE CITY
NEWSWATCH
LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED WITH — INTEGRITY — WISDOM — BALANCE www.orangecitylife.com.au
Saturday 6 March, 2021
VACCINATE OR NOT? To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
ISSUE No. 39
FREE
Talking POINTS
with DAVID DIXON
• Councillors attending general meetings via Zoom is no novelty in this day and age, but Tony Mileto logged-in to the last Council meet; from his hospital bed! “I had a knee replacement on my right knee, and I did the meeting via Zoom,” Cr Mileto explained. I was down at the Mater Hospital in Sydney for five days, and then I transferred back to the Dudley where I am now.”
With rather patchy roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine in Australia, eventually we will all have to decide.
“Zoom is great in assisting people who can’t attend meetings; but there was a funny incident when I had a medical issue to attend to during the meeting and they didn’t know I was on air,” he added.
Straw-poll in Orange’s CBD found locals evenly-split between those who feel that the vaccine is the best way to protect against COVID-19, and those who have their doubts about an inoculation only developed in a few months. There is also a range of views between those who says that “bio-passports” should be issued so that those not vaccinating can be excluded from international travel and even social events. Exactly 12-months from the first lockdown, supposedly designed to “flatten the curve”, we are still talking COVID!
The sporting local is now back doing rehab to get the knee back to some normality. “I can tell you, it hurts though,” Cr Mileto concluded. • Newswatch’s unique Council Game is proving popular with many readers and we now have 11 players in total for our Mock Council.
• Turn to page 4-5 for our full story
HOME-SCHOOLING; IS IT THE WAY OF THE FUTURE…
SHE’S BACK!
For one recently-returned family, the coronavirus lockdowns were the last straw with their concerns about the modern education system. They took the increasingly-common step to home-school their children.
Orange’s most contentious columnist, Jeanine Bird is back with her latest Bird's-Eye View column.
• Turn to page 6 for our full story.
•Turn to page 15 and make-up your own mind!
There’s still one spot remaining, so anyone considering standing for Council in September (who’s not already on Council or standing or an existing Councillor's ticket), is eligible to play. Contact Amanda Spalding at our office if you’re interested on 6361 3575. • Second of the men’s health charity “Mr Perfect” barbecues is being held this Sunday (see story page 2.) During a recent mental health media event at Bloomfield recently, Local member, Phil Donato opened-up about the men who had approached him during the first of these events in early February. Blokes who had probably never discussed such personal issues as their mental state had approached, some with tears in their eyes, as they talked about their probably-secret battles against depression over the years. The next event is on Sunday at Cook Park from 11.30am “It’s completely free of charge and all blokes are welcome along,” Mr Donato said.
WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR IN SEPTEMBER? Between now and then, we’ll keep you up to date with who’s who and what’s what... ORANGE CITY
NEWSWATCH