Fire Action Week - pages 24-26
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2012 - $1.20
Star tops Victoria THE Star won a Victorian award for local reporting at Geelong on Friday night. The TAC Award for Local Reporting at the 2012 Victorian Country Press Association annual awards presentation recognised the newspaper’s coverage of the centenary celebrations of state secondary education in Leongatha, held in April this year. The award is the community’s to share, with the event a true South Gippsland celebration touching people from around the world. Star editor Brad Lester (centre) shared the trophyy with celebration orrganisers, from left, ft, Lyn Skillern, Peter er McCaughan and nd Heather Calder, and Leongatha Secondary ary College principal Brett rett Windsor. Full story on pagee 3.
Danger road fix By Matt Dunn SIGNS on the treacherous Bass Highway near Inverloch proclaiming ‘Road Work Ahead’ could soon be true, after an announcement the busy stretch of road would be fixed.
Just last week a woman complained to The Star the ‘Road Work Ahead’ signs had been there for weeks, without anyone working to fix the dangerous stretch of bitumen. “While there are hazards there, with lots of deep potholes, I haven’t once seen anyone repairing it,” she said. The State Government last week announced $672,000 to undertake pavement reconstruction on the highway, one of the most popular roads in the region, linking Wonthaggi and the
Latrobe Valley. Speed along a section of the highway has been reduced to 40km/h for more than three weeks, due to a dangerous pothole just north of Inverloch. The highway continues to crumble, with potholes damaging vehicles and causing drivers to swerve into the path of oncoming traffic. On the South Gippsland Highway at Koonwarra, a bumpy section of the road frightened Leongatha motorist Mark Drury on Saturday night.
He was returning to Leongatha when an oncoming truck drove into his traffic lane to avoid the bumps. “I was initially a little freaked out, but I saw it in plenty of time and he went on his side of the road as soon as he saw me, but the potential is there for a disaster,” he said. Bass MLA Ken Smith said the Bass Highway works would bring “great relief to the many motorists who use these roads”. “After a number of major flood events and two years of wetter than normal weather, this section of the Bass Highway has deteriorated more rapidly than expected,” he said. “It is a very popular route for tourists heading to Phillip Island for holidays and the recent moto GP, so ensuring the safety of residents using these roads is vital.” Continued on page 4.
No workers: while the sign says ‘Road Work Ahead’, no work has actually occurred. However, the sign has proved eerily prescient.
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Invy fun
Rock ’n’ Roll Truckin’ safe