12 December 2016
5
A Star News Group Publication
Mum threat to kill herself and children
SPORT
Covering Endeavour Hills, Doveton & Hallam
Warn just misses out in Sydney
‘Killer’ dust storm By Cam Lucadou-Wells
It’s a fantasy tree of dreams By Cam Lucadou-Wells For years, the towering cypress tree had been a centrepiece of Fountain Gate Primary School’s playground. Students had frolicked under its mighty canopy immortalised in the school logo. Now in its afterlife, it has been fittingly reimagined as a quirky treehouse of wonder. Perhaps reminiscent of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree. Designed by Tom Coupe, director of Berwick-based Blue Leaf Creations, the structure is finished beautifully with timbers, windows and odd angles. There are many ways to climb into the house - take your pick of a ladder, spiral staircase, rope bridge, fireman’s pole or climbing rope. Principal Jenny Duggan said there was a strong desire to retain the dead pine in some form. She was delighted with the rustic, oldworldly look - the wood intentionally blackened in parts, and standing askew in others. “It looks like a fantasy place,” she said. Students have little hope of ever climbing into the seemingly-occupied crow’s nest platform hovering high in the tree’s fork. They will just have to look up and imagine what lives above.
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Grade 1 students Jasmine and Ibrahim enjoy playing in the fantastic new treehouse 162996_07 12325111-40-16
Fountain Gate Primary's former principal Ian George, his wife Bronwyn, Tom Coupe, Jasmine, Ibrahim , Jenny Duggan and Holt MP Anthony Byrne launch the treehouse. 162996 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS
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Few dare to hang their washing outside at Glenora Way and Rowland Close, Hampton Park. For several years, residents have fruitlessly complained to authorities about the dark, dirty film that has stained each of their homes’ cement paths, timber decks, window and door sills. Most worryingly are their eye irritations, coughing, sneezing, hay-fever, severe skin hives and asthma attacks that have reportedly intensified in that time. Residents believe the silt comes from the visibly swirling dust from industrial yards on O’Grady Road, Hallam, just 400 metres north from their homes. The yards, with ever-growing pyramids of soil and mulch, seem to kick up with dust during the frequent movements of trucks and heavy machinery. On days of hot, dry northerly winds, residents say they have to batten themselves inside from the “dust storm”. Despite frequent complaints, residents felt they had been not been heard by Casey council nor the Environmental Protection Authority Victoria. They say each authority has handballed responsibility to the other. “So many people are saying the same thing,” a resident said. “They started ringing in with complaints years ago and just gave up.” According to Casey council, the businesses don’t require a planning permit because they are in an industrial zone. “Therefore they are not in breach of a planning permit,” Casey statutory planning manager Duncan Turner said. According to the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA), none of the businesses have required a licence from the pollution watchdog for their emissions. Victoria has more stringent standards on coarse particle pollution, known as PM10, than national guidelines - but according to residents, the EPA has not conducted air monitoring in Glenora Way and Rowland Close. The EPA recorded its first complaint about odour in the area in July last year and its first dust complaint three months later. Continued in page 6