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Volume 26 #19 Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au www.echo.net.au 23,200 copies every week
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A call to end Council rural crackdowns Goonengerry resident Howard Furner says he’s had enough. Speaking up over what he says is a long-term experience of excessive and unnecessary council compliance investigations, he hopes others will also come forward. ‘I am hoping we as a community can prompt a change of culture within Council, particularly its staff, and get them to start working with us more,’ Mr Furner told The Echo. While for the most part he says his dealings with compliance officers have been amicable, he says ‘throughout the process I felt intimidated and that I did nothing wrong.’ ‘I was told at one point, “Ultimately you will be squeezed out of the Shire.” ‘In a subsequent phone call I asked what was meant by that remark, and I was told, “Wealthy people moving into the Shire who want properties like yours.” I am aware also of others who have encountered similar experiences, yet this behaviour goes unchallenged.’
Fine dropped The issues came to a head when a $750 fine for polluting was issued in January last year, he says. Mr Furner claims the fine was is-
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SHARPENING THE EDGE OF CHAOS SINCE 1986
CAB
Photo & story Hans Lovejoy
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sued after he requested to postpone an inspection on his property. ‘Not wanting my son present at what I knew might be a stressful encounter, I phoned to re-arrange an inspection at a more convenient time, which would be after my son returned to his mother. The compliance officer was not sympathetic to my request, so I said my gate would be locked on the date in question. They said they would come anyway – with a search warrant – and was told they would contact me soon.’ Mr Furner says he was then issued a fine of $750 with the fine which claimed there was dumped untreated human waste on his land. ‘Initially, a compliance officer left a telephone message advising of the fine. He said, “I’m postponing the inspection, but will be issuing you with a $750 for polluting.” ‘The fine was imposed with no offence committed, and no proper evidence to suggest one. I refused to pay and asked for the fine to be dropped, but was refused and soon heard from the State Debt Recovery Office (SDRO). When school resumed, I allowed two officers from Council’s Health and Environment department to inspect my property. Their report found no threat to human health or
Rucking Sevens score a perfect Sunday
Players from Island Breeze and West Subiaco were just a few of the many who added colour and atmosphere to the weekend’s Rugby Sevens held in Byron Bay. Story & photo Eve Jeffery
As ever the Byron Bay Rugby Sevens was a fun and festive occasion as four grades of men in 32 teams and two grades of women in 16 teams played three games each on Saturday for a place in the Sunday knockout. An annual event since 1990, the Sevens is an end-of-year tournament which sees teams travel from across continued on page 2 Australia and from as far afield as Samoa, New Zealand and Fiji. It is a fun
weekend which bears witness to teams who dress up, dress down, cross dress or as in the case of the Byron Bay team, simply dress the same, even down to their guernseys all numbered 11. There was of course this year, as every other, one or two players who did not dress at all. Winners in the finals held on Sunday afternoon were a mixture of local and international teams. Byron Bay took out the Group D final against the South Brisbane in a smashing 34–14
victory. In the Group C finale Brisbane Nadro beat Taki Mai 38–0 and in Group B West Subiaco trounced Island Breeze 21–7. The girls also put their stamp on the event; perennial women’s winners Eastside kept Samoa scoreless though not without a yellow card and a few fists swung in frustration from both teams in the second half.The winners of the Group A contest was Newstar 19 from Sunnybank’s 12 and that was a wrap on another fantastic Sevens.
Community markets face free market forces Hans Lovejoy
Long-time Goonengerry resident Howard Furner says he wants to see a change in Council’s policy in their investigations into rural landowners
A new draft market policy by Council staff has put the squeeze on local stallholders and Byron’s current market management. The Byron and Artisan markets, along with the Beachside Artisan markets, are currently managed by the Byron Community Centre; however, the draft policy recommends opening its management to tender. With stallholder fees contributing to Byron Community Centre wages, concerns have already been expressed
that it could adversely affect the centre financially. ‘It is no stretch of the imagination to state that the community services that the Byron Community Centre provides would be put at risk if it loses the management of the markets,’ says Byron Community Centre and market manager Paul Spooner. ‘Is Council going to support the Centre directly if this was to happen?’ Additionally measures in the draft policy to ensure and foster local operators, along with encouraging local food production, appear to be scrapped.
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‘Local production for local consumption’ and ‘non-profit community groups’ objectives have been deleted, which were designed to ‘encourage, and regulate, promote and stimulate’ markets. Stall spaces were also crossed off the list, which gave priority to locally grown, home produced, crafted or recycled goods from the Byron Shire and surrounding regions. According to the plan, the market’s profit would be administrated by Council/and or the winning tender. continued on page 2
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