Shaggy Dog Comments...

Good luck to any council candidates holding out for postal votes from the weekend's election - Australia Post seems to be delivering mail at the moment with the speed of a snail on valium. Ballina candidate Alan Brown received The Echo's letter asking him to submit a profile six days after we posted it to him. Last Monday, March 22 (as the postmark confirms) he posted us a photo for the Ballina election wrap up. Each day we checked the mail, to no avail. It arrived after deadline, on Thursday, March 25, three days later. Perhaps the fact that voters missed the former mayor's nuggetty visage helped. On Saturday, he was elected a councillor once again after a four year hiatus.

Last Wednesday, someone posted us a letter from Sydney. It arrived six days later. We also get a weekly magazine sent to us from Melbourne. It's posted every Friday and arrives some time between Monday and Wednesday.

We dips our lid to new Lismore councillor Jenny Dowell, who spent much of last week at the pre-poll booth at the council chambers. When a frail woman turned up last week and was having trouble getting to the polling booth, Ms Dowell raced out and halted her difficult progress and instead got polling officials to come out to her. You could call it good politics, but we think it's simply a reflection of her concern for looking out for the welfare of others. If Bob Carr had any sense, he'd be ringing her right now for some tips.

Speaking of the man who's managed to go from hero to zero since Christmas, Bob's spent a fortune in advertising in recent weeks as part of a propaganda campaign against the federal Government over grants funding. He's squealing that the Feds have short-changed NSW to the tune of around $370 million. The Commonwealth has countered with its own ad campaign returning serve. How all that benefits taxpayers, we're not sure. Now Bob's announced a 'mini-budget' for next week to slash expenditure. Funny how it's all a crisis now when last year, treasurer Michael Egan scored almost double the amount he's now whinging about in unexpected income from Stamp Duty. If BS were gold, the NSW Government would be squillionaires.

For a chance to shine, become a Star Day volunteer for the Starlight Children's Foundation. People are urged to volunteer for Starlight's national fundraising event, Star Day, on Friday and Saturday May 7-8 (hey, it's a charity, so they're generous with the definition of 'day' too).

Starlight currently touches the lives of 200,000 seriously ill children and their families. Register your interest and phone 1300 727 827. For more information log onto www.starday.org.au

Echo staff member Sharryn Marsters returned to her car this week only to discover a note on the windscreen from a fellow driver who apologised for backing into her car and left their details, along with number plate, the date and time it happened. Sharryn said she's pleased there are still honest and considerate people around.

When you get paid this week, you might like to ponder how average you are. Those number crunchers at the Australian Bureau of Statistics recently decreed that the average weekly earnings in August 2003 was $734, an increase of 4 per cent on the previous 12 months. Full time blokes earn an average of $904 a week, up 5 per cent (given the paltry bones Shaggy takes home, we suspect the real average is around $500, and the remainder is the pay of bank CEOs divided amongst the rest of us). The mean weekly earnings for male part-time workers is $294, down 5 per cent, and for once the women made more - $333, up 3 per cent.

Corrections

Last week's front page editorial on the voting below the line contained a major error. As part of a raft of changes implemented by the NSW Government under the Local Government Elections Amendment Act 2002, an optional preferential system was introduced. It meant that while candidates and groups must register the preferences featured on 'how to vote' material with the State Electoral Office, any preference allocation is at the discretion of voters. If they do not preference, a vote is now exhausted.

The Echo deeply regrets the error and sincerely apologises to voters and candidates.

In a story last week about two local students going to the Step to the Future national youth forum we incorrectly printed that Scott Braithwaite was from St John's College Woodlawn. He's actually a student from Lismore High School, and a credit to the teachers and staff there.

Apologies to all concerned.

Tatts on show

Angie Davidson, Nola Davidson and Bob Wilson from Creative Tattoo Art & Body Piercing in South Lismore will be showing off their tattoos at the 8th Charity Tattoo Show this Saturday in Lismore.

They may look tough, but the crew from Creative Tattoo Art & Body Piercing in South Lismore are really a bunch of softies and love helping out local charities.

Showing just how much they care about the local community and the people who live in it owners Nola and Peter Davidson will host the 8th annual Lismore Charity Tattoo Show this weekend as a major fundraiser for the Lismore Soup Kitchen.

"The Lismore Soup Kitchen doesn't get government support and they have helped a lot of people," Nola said. "Every dollar that we make represents a meal for someone."

The Lismore Charity Tattoo Show is on this Saturday, April 3, at the Italo Club in North Lismore. The show features tattoo and body piercing competitions as well as live music by Coffs Harbour band Armed and Dangerous, raffles, auctions and much more. Last year around $7,000 was raised and of course they always hope to top that amount.

The show starts at 1pm, with registration for tattoo and body piercing competitions between 1pm and 3pm. Judging starts at 3.15pm. The venue is licensed so there is no BYO but it is a family affair and children are very welcome. Tickets are $10 at the door.

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