Shaggy Dog Comments...

If you're reading this on Thursday night, you might like to tune in to the TV show Getaway, where Jim's Alternative Tours is being featured. The segment promises to include prominent media tart and forthright fruit tree grower Paul Recher and his Dorroughby home as one of the region's more colourful tourist attractions.

When Lismore voters turn up for the Council election on March 27, they'll be confronted with a ballot paper that bears an eerie resemblance to the infamous tablecloth ballot paper from the state election a few years back. Some 60 candidates are contesting the 12 councillor positions - almost double four years ago - and 10 vying for the top job as mayor (up from six). The irony is that the 'reforms' implemented by the NSW government in the wake of the tablecloth ballot were supposed to stop it happening again. The truth is that the changes were really just a rort by the ALP to try and gain control of a number of Sydney councils - whether they sacked them first or not. The changes meant that anyone who wants to stand in a group has two have a minimum of six candidates, five of whom are democratic cannon fodder will little hope of being elected. The reason you want to be in a group is because most people regard voting on a Saturday as the democratic equivalent of root canal work at the dentist, so they try to make it quick and painless by simply putting a '1' in just one box above the line. It disadvantages ungrouped candidates and only two brave souls, Nora Vidler-Blanksby and Cr Reg Baxter, are flying solo against the nine groups. Lismore voters should be grateful that at least they don't live on the Tweed, where more than 100 candidates are contesting the election.

Council fans may remember the amusing doco Rats in the Ranks about a Sydney council. A more literal version occurred in Lismore on Sunday afternoon at the Memorial Baths when a rat, no doubt also sick of the heat, decided it was time for a quick dip in the kiddies pool. Bathers looked on in astonishment and a lifeguard produced a dustpan and bravely attempted to coax the invading rat off the stairs and into a bucket to no avail. Recognising a vote winner when he sees one, Greens mayoral candidate Gray Wilson wandered in to the fray, grabbed the rodent firmly by the back of the neck and plonked it into a blue bucket held by the lifeguard. The rat was "relocated" for an off-site retirement.

Shaggy asked deputy mayor John Chant how he found the five people to join him on his council team. Did they buy cars from the former Holden dealer? He surveyed them all and was a little surprised to realise none of them had. Golf was the key link.

Looking at the fine print on the election handouts for the Chant and King teams, Shaggy spotted a familiar name authorising them. Hang on?! The M Lees is none other than Murray Lees, a 'veteran' of numerous Liberal and National Party state and federal election campaigns, who now runs a political consultancy business known as Vote Right. Up until the last federal election, Murray spent five years as media advisor to Richmond MP Larry Anthony and played a critical role in ensuring his boss kept his job when all the pundits thought he was going to be the first one to go. Good to see the mayor and deputy have gone straight to the best in the business.

Australia is an ancient continent, but it seems our farmers are heading in the same direction according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Since 1976, the number of farmers aged in their 20s has declined by over 60%. The median age of farmers has increased to 50 by 2001. Beef industry farmers are older than their dairy and cropping counterparts. Around 3,300 people aged under 25 became farmers in the five years up to 2001.

Council calls last dunks

This week's heavy rain didn't deter Colette Cannon and her brother Andrew enjoying their last dip in Lismore's Memorial Baths before it closes this Sunday.

"I love the pool - when it's really hot you can cool down and it doesn't cost a lot of money," Colette said. "I'm going to miss it heaps."

The new pool is expected to open by the end of 2004.

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