Published at Leongatha for South Gippsland
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FROM PAGE 23
The Great Southern
Star
INSIDE
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2009
Bridge gone
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PUBLISHED TUESDAY
64 PAGES
Fatal crash Page 7
Page 3
All the right moves BIG kids are relishing the opportunity to help their younger counterparts at St Laurence’s Primary School in Leongatha. Rachael, Kirsty, Shawn and Nash were enjoying a game of giant chess last week, while learning about each other. Every Grade 6 student has been assigned a “buddy” in Prep to care for in a bid to ease the youngsters’ transition to primary school. “They help with maths, sport and other activities, and make sure they’ve got someone to play with,” said principal, Robyn Halliwell. “We’ve had this program for a while but we’ve stepped it up this year, with Grade 6 students taking more responsibility. “The Grade 6 children even wrote to their buddies before they started school, saying they were looking forward to meeting them.”
Arson guts club Fire spree ends with ’Burra gun club blaze By Matt Dunn A DRUNKEN Korumburra man will face court after a fire-lighting rampage on Saturday night, which ended with the razing of the Korumburra Gun Club. The club is located behind Fisher’s Timber, just outside Korumburra. The 19-year-old offender was on foot not far away from the site of the fire, weaving his way down South Gippsland Highway. “Just up the road a bit on the South Gippsland Highway there’s a couple of old cars in a shed. He tried to light a fire there and another fire just up the road from us,” Fisher’s Timber owner John Ollerenshaw said. “He smashed a couple of windows here and the alarm went off. That frightened him, thank goodness. The way he was on that little lighting spree this place could have gone.” The business’s security people told Mr Ollerenshaw something had happened, and he called employee Ted
Ward, who went to the business to see what the matter was. Mr Ward called Leongatha Police at 8.15pm when he saw the broken windows. When the police arrived to inspect the damage they discovered the gun club was alight. The fire quickly took hold and despite the best efforts of CFA crews from Ruby, Leongatha and Poowong, it could not be saved. “Police arrested a male a short time later who was hitchhiking along the highway. He was very intoxicated,” Leongatha police’s Leading Senior Constable Andy Boldistone told The Star. “The man was found only a short distance away and was quite affected by alcohol.” Too drunk to be interviewed, he was conveyed to Wonthaggi, where he was later interviewed by detectives. He will be remanded in custody, pending a court appearance. Leongatha captain Andy Kay, who was part of the fire-fighting contingent, said the flames “were knocked down pretty quickly,” but there were some
extra concerns. “At first the police had to be careful because they thought there may be exploding ammunition going off, but we’re assuming they were probably cans of soft drink,” he said. Long time gun club member Merv McKnight, who had travelled from Moe to sift through the ashes, said Saturday afternoon at the club had been like any other. After a day’s shooting and a few quiet drinks, members went home. No one had an inkling of what would happen that night. “I left about five o’clock and the debacle happened a little bit later in the evening. It’s just an absolute shame that it’s happened,” a solemn Mr McKnight said. “Whoever’s done it should be held accountable and should be held up to the due process of the law.” More than the destruction at the club, it was the precious lost memories that were being mourned. Continued on page 13.
We will rebuild: gun club president Arthur Bird and vice president John Buchanan stand side by side in their determination to rebuild.