20 March 2017
10
A Star News Group Publication
Holi dust up makes for colourful fun
SPORT
Covering Endeavour Hills, Doveton & Hallam
New era at the Redlegs as footy season approaches!
Jaylen gets very special care
Jaylen has a serious medical condition that requires 24-hour care. 165607
A birth defect means Endeavour Hills six-yearold Jaylen Cornish requires 24-hour care. And thanks to Very Special Kids, Jaylen’s mother Katie can take a break. The single mum first turned to the charity for emotional support and respite care when Jaylen was four years old after he had been born with his intestines protruding from his body, a condition known as gastroschesis. “The hospice is like a vacation for Jaylen, he loves all the attention he gets from the nurses and going for walks in the garden,” Ms Cornish said. “It also means I can get some time off which is really important. “Having a sick child means you have to give up a lot of things. “I love sport but I can’t play it as much however, when Jaylen’s staying at the hospice I can, which is an amazing help.” Very Special Kids CEO Michael Wasley said the hospice was more than 20 years old and needed an upgrade. A group of 40 senior business executives hope that getting on their bikes will help to fund the renovation. Chain Reaction signed up to ride more than 1000 kilometres, from Sydney to Brisbane, from 11 to 17 March. Visit chain-reaction.org.au to sponsor a rider or to make a donation.
■ Businesses ordered to control airborne pollution...
Dust storm victory “Dust levels at the residential properties would likely fluctuate at times of differing weather conditions,” she said. Testing showed the council-maintained gravel road was “not likely to be a significant contributor” to the sampled sites’ dust impacts, Ms Mathias said. A long-suffering Hampton Park resident said the results confirmed the “grit” was coming from the compost, mulch and soil works businesses and not the gravel road. He and his family are among several complainants about 400 metres south who had blamed asthma, wheezing, severe skin hives, and eye irritations on the dust swirling from the soil yards. He is planning to build a $30,000 enclosed per-
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FACTORY DIRECT BLINDS FOR LESS
gola to block out the dust that is blown onto his property with hot northerlies. “They confirmed it’s grit and not just ordinary dust, which is what we all argued several years ago. “I really hope there’s a solution.” Meanwhile, dust-plagued business-owner Paul McBeth said in “the most incredible co-incidence” the council gave the road “the most intensive conditioning I’ve known” on 10 March just days ahead of an anticipated EPA site visit. He had told Star News recently that staff at his business, Marvel Packers, had been choking on dust clouds kicked up by a heavy stream of trucks on O’Grady Road. Continued page 3
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Two industrial businesses on O’Grady Road, Hallam, have been pin-pointed as the source for dust and grit plaguing nearby residents and workers. The probe comes after the Journal first highlighted the problem in December. Two of three soil and mulch yards on the road are set to be issued with pollution abatement notices by the state’s environmental watchdog, the Environment Protection Authority Victoria. EPA southern metro manager Marleen Mathias said dust had been observed leaving the two premises during a 10 March inspection, despite the sites “actively using dust suppression vehicles”.
The pollution abatement notices will require further dust controls to ensure no impact on the “local environment” or the businesses face potential fines up to $777,300, Ms Mathias said. A third business in the area with “dust-generating” activity passed inspection. Several neighbouring Hallam businesses and Hampton Park residents had pointed the finger at the road’s soil and mulch yards, blaming the businesses for health afflictions and thick coatings of silt on their decks, paths, windowsills and vehicles. Ms Mathias said recent EPA monitoring detected elevated dust levels in the surrounding industrial area but not at neighbouring residences.
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By Cam Lucadou-Wells
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