Thursday, 2 September, 2021
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Truck fatalities a worry on region’s roads
Thousands turn up to get vaccine
Dressing the region for almost a century
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Border arrest
Exhibition inspires the next big things
A NSW woman appeared before the Warwick Magistrates Court on Friday 27 August over breaches of Covid-19 border rules. Police located the 49-year-old woman at a Warwick home on Friday morning after spotting a vehicle registered to the woman parked outside. In a statement released on Friday, police stated the woman was found barricaded in one of the bedrooms at the Warwick home. She was arrested and transported back to Warwick Watchhouse and charged for failing to comply with a Covid-19 public health direction. Full story – Page 5
Young people aspiring to study a fine arts degree recently met with one of Australia’s best artists, Dr Julie Fragar, Program Director at the Queensland College of Art. Dr Fragar was in Warwick on Saturday 28 August to launch Proximities, a solo exhibition of fifty oil paintings by her former student Amelia Willmer of Emu Vale. Read more on page 10
Puppy worry Southern Downs Regional Council passed a motion on August 25 to increase capacity from five dogs to 20 dogs at a controversial Eukey breeding facility. The site already has an existing approval however a submission to increase its capacity received worldwide attention and over 4000 signatures from people against it. Councillor Cynthia McDonald started the discussion by pointing out that “obviously a lot of the submitters weren’t even from this region”. Full story – Page 11
Secret concern Southern Downs councillors have erupted in fierce debate over a newly formed council mentoring group, with some claiming aspects of it are “not transparent” nor reflective of a democratic government. In May this year, Southern Downs Regional Council voted to adopt the terms of reference for the Southern Downs Innovation and Development Committee. Councillor Cynthia McDonald voiced a
number of concerns with the group at the time, including that its members would be selected by Mayor Vic Pennisi and that they would remain nameless. Discussion of the group at the council’s ordinary meeting of 25 August was a very different affair, with each and every councillor contributing to debate over changing the group’s title from ‘committee’ to ‘mentoring program charter’.
Councillors Jo McNally, Sheryl Windle, and Cynthia McDonald said they believed the mayor could have a conflict of interest participating in discussion of the group, considering he had chosen its members and he himself was a member. They also raised concerns with the fact the group had met the week prior to the council meeting, yet no minutes had been provided to the council, and the identities of members remained unknown.
“The difference between this committee and others has been that it is not transparent,” Cr McNally said to Cr Pennisi. Southern Downs CEO Dave Burges agreed to seek legal advice about the group, including on whether minutes from its first meeting were required to be tabled at an ordinary meeting of the council. Full story -– page 4
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