NEWS DESK
Riders gear up for enduro titles RED Hill Mountain Bike Club will host the 2020-21 Gravity Enduro National Championships. Races will be held 24-25 October this year and 23-24 October 2021 in what’s being described as “exciting news” for the club. It’s the first time the Arthurs Seat venue has hosted a national championships event. “We will be crowning champions in each category and also issuing a personalised jersey to the first-placed rider in each category,” Red Hill Riders Mountain Bike Club’s Mark Jessup said. “The top riders across the country will be travelling to our wonderful Mornington Peninsula to battle it out. I’m aware of a team of juniors being sent from Karratha in north-west Western Australia to race – that’s 4547 kilometres away!” Mr Jessup said the location offered a variety of hand-cut trails with plenty of natural tree root and rock gardens scattered throughout the network. “The course has good draining sandy soil along its 310-metre elevation, plenty of technical descents and steep liaison climbs,” he said. More than 300 riders took part in last year’s event at Maydena, Tasmania. Online registrations open 1 July.
Fast track: A daring rider tackles a rocky descent on the Red Hill mountain bike course. Picture: Supplied
Councillor ‘sick of trolls’ and attacks Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au FRAYED tempers in public and barbs on social media have so upset a Mornington Peninsula Shire Councillor that she is calling on her critics to “back off”. Cr Julie Morris said she has endured “12 months of snide comments” from Tyabb Airfield supporters voicing a “whirlwind of abuse” towards her and her family, both online and in public. “I’m almost at the point where I don’t know if I can send my daughter
to the local school anymore,” Cr Morris, a senior constable with Victoria Police, said. “I feel I am at the point where we will have to move. I am sick of it.” Cr Morris, who has led the council push to have relevant and consistent planning permits in place covering all the airfield’s operations, said: “They weren’t this rude until I had to make some tough decisions. Yet every one of my [decisions] was made with full council support. “They should not target my family; they should keep it professional.”
Security issues arose at the council’s boisterous 17 February planning services committee meeting to discuss a planning scheme amendment in and around the airfield. Cr Morris said that before the meeting she was advised to park her car in the street and not the council car park where it could be vandalised. “One of the most upsetting things is that some people will only see the online trolling comments about me and my family and form a view even though they’re not factual,” she said. “Not one person has picked up the
phone and asked me why I have voted this way. “My integrity is at stake here.” Peninsula Aero Club president Jack Vevers said he “absolutely did not support online trolling”. “My advice is to always remain respectful and courteous,” he said. “It doesn’t do any good to our cause to act in that manner and I am opposed to that approach. “I don’t know what that’s about, but it is wrong. We can always disagree, but we should always be respectful.” Cr Morris said she had “always sup-
ported the airfield” and “wishes decisions about its permits can be resolved quickly” to help give the airfield the security of tenure to remain operating. “I’m not here to be popular, but to help make the right decisions.” Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Sam Hearn said it was “not fair for people needing to make complex decisions to have their families talked about online”. “Ninety-nine per cent of the community want us to respect each other and pull together – especially at this particular time,” he said.
‘A high performing provider of education on the Mornington Peninsula’ As the highest performing secondary school on the Mornington Peninsula, Dromana College will continue to work tirelessly to develop and consolidate the many exemplary educational programs on offer. With outstanding facilities, a committed professional staff and a caring school community, students are challenged to explore their interests and talents to achieve their personal best.
Open Night Tuesday 28 April 2020 at 6.00pm
‘Lessons come from the journey… not the destination’ Tours available Tuesday mornings at 9:30am Please phone 03 5987 2805 for bookings 110 Harrisons Road, Dromana, Victoria 3936 Entry via Old White Hill Road
• • • • •
• • • • •
PH: 03 5987 2805 E: dromana.sc@education.vic.gov.au W: www.dsc.vic.edu.au
RESP O N S I B I L I T Y, RESPECT , IN T EGR ITY, PER SONAL B EST Western Port News
25 March 2020
PAGE 3