Letters To The Editor

Heading for closure

As soon as I saw the heading on the recent handout from North Coast Area Health Service - 'Better health services for the Richmond Valley' - I knew they were about to close the Campbell Hospital.

Once before I saw a similar notice, given to ANZ customers at a branch in Sydney. It informed them that the bank was about to "improve" its services, to "increase" the "products" available, and to "enhance" the convenience of customers.

This improvement involved the local branch closing, so that customers would have to travel to the next suburb to take advantage of the new, improved, enhanced services.

The only thing that astonished me was the resigned equanimity of the customers in the face of this cavalier behaviour. Rather than march in the streets with banners and Tannoys, they simply sighed and climbed onto the bus.

And now will the good citizens of Coraki heave a sigh, accept the decisions of their "betters", and resign themselves to a trip to Lismore Base when they fall ill? Unlike the case with a bank, they don't even have the choice of changing "providers". But I hope they make a bit more fuss.

Don't you love the statistical analysis on page two that proves that Campbell is currently running for 1.3 patients?

Rosie Gibbons
Lismore Heights

PS: By the way, how is an ambulatory service different from an ambulance service?

Listen here

Margo Kingston's article on democracy was timely (Echo, March 24). Residents in the districts surrounding Coraki, including Evans Head, Woodburn, Broadwater, Bungawalbin (and forgive me for omitting others... it is a huge area to cover) are suspicious of the "consultative process" that Chris Crawford and his North Coast Area Health Service are promising for the discussion of his proposals for Campbell Hospital in Coraki.

In the propaganda leaflet that was finally distributed by NCAHS, the closing date for nominations for the Advisory Committee had been extended to Tuesday, March 29. Great! It gave little time to digest the information and to even consider nominating, especially with Easter upon us, losing two potential posting days.

Great tactics guys... even more so since some of our locals had still not received it a few days before Easter. (No fault of Australia Post).

The delay by NCAHS has not allowed sufficient time for all nominees to develop their application. (Although at the bottom of the leaflet a Community Liaison Officer was offered to assist... that's it, phone Bin Laden and ask for directions).

"A broadly representative Mid Richmond Health Services Advisory Committee will be established to consider the options..."

"Consultative process"? Democracy? Money making or health service? We'll soon see who's listening.

Narelle Jarvis
Coraki

What a buzz

Lismore was certainly a bustling place on Easter Saturday with crowds everywhere. It was obvious that many of the shoppers were out-of-town visitors who were spending time and money in our city.

A glance at numberplates at both Lismore Square and in the CBD showed that many of the visitors were from north of the border. Of the 22 cars parked in the Molesworth Street centre strip from Magellan Street to the Fire Station at 10.45am, seven were Queenslanders. Our Visitor Information Centre also reported a busy Saturday and I can only hope that the retailers who were open had a successful day too.

I realise that the Good Friday and Easter Monday public holidays give businesses and their staff a chance for a good break, but the crowds in Lismore were here spending and those shops that remained closed missed out on the added trade.

From a Council standpoint, it is also disappointing that the Regional Gallery was closed. The acting director is doing a great job with limited staff but I hope that in the future the gallery will be staffed and funded sufficiently so that it can open over Easter to allow locals and visitors alike to visit and enjoy a full range of Lismore's treasures.

Perhaps Saturday's visitors were passing through, perhaps staying in Lismore as their destination or perhaps taking a break from Byron's Blues Festival. Whatever their reason for visiting, they certainly made our city buzz and I hope they visit again soon.

Cr Jenny Dowell
Goonellabah

Who's playing who?

Thinking on the issue of Terri Shiavo in the US awaiting her fate depending on what direction the powers that be decide to take. Only she may know the feelings of frustration, inadequacy, and hopelessness. Her husband being the next of kin would surely have some idea of her wishes. He, and not George Bush, should be allowed to decide the outcome. I suspect the president and her parents will be very influenced by their religious beliefs. Do any of us really believe she is enjoying quality of life? With the current debate on voluntary euthanasia raging at present, this should be a timely warning to all. Whilst in sound mind, each of us should make our wishes known to loved ones. A written statement needs to be made, signed, and in the possession of all concerned before such a dilemma arises. To those claiming no one should play God in this and similar scenarios. If a creator exists, would not he, she, or it have brought to an end this woman's life 15 years ago, had not the medicos interfered back then by playing God?

Gloria Lee
Alstonville

Camphor concerns

Many parts of the area are heavily infested with the fast-spreading plague of camphor laurel trees. Just how toxic these are becoming can be seen from the website www. camphorlaurel.com. A possible solution appeared on the horizon - they could be used up as cheap fuel in the cogeneration of electricity at the local sugar mills - end of problem. Or is it? When does it start? How does it work? Who pays what? Perhaps the local state and federal parliamentary representatives can find out and tell us through the good pages of The Echo just what is going on about this promising relief from the camphor disaster hanging over our heads. Maybe they can even stir the possum until it works. Isn't that the sort of thing local representatives are for?

Nat B Wheatley
Alstonville

Telstra trauma

Recently several neighbours and I have been experiencing ongoing difficulties with our phone lines and internet connections, but these problems soon seemed trite, compared to the difficulties in getting the problems solved and fixed.

I just can't wait to hear Ian Causley's explaination as to why he toes the party line and votes to sell off the rest of Telstra when services to the bush are at their worst levels ever.

Andy Gough
Larnook

Gingerbread danger

It is nice to see that the Transit Centre is finally being repaired after the storm of December 16, 2004. However if some preventative measure had been taken prior to December 16 the Transit Centre would not have been damaged in the first place.

With the ever-increasing changes in the weather patterns I am surprised that councils and state government departments are not removing trees away from buildings. Our local council is very quick to remove trees when it suits them, as they did with the fig trees close to the swimming pool, but appear very reluctant to remove trees that in a severe storm could threaten the lives of children and staff at the Gingerbread House (the council operated child-minding centre in Uralba Street).

The two dangerous gum trees that threaten Gingerbread House and McDermott Court are located on the fence line between those two buildings. In fact one tree is only 1.5 metres from McDermott Court and 2.5 metres from Gingerbread House. As both trees are well over 20 metres high and over-hang both buildings, I believe they present a clear and present danger to all the personnel in both buildings and therefore need to be removed ASAP.

I realise that the tree lovers will disagree with my concern, but I would remind those gentle people that three humans died last year as a result of falling trees. And therefore suggest that Lismore City Council and the Dept of Housing get their heads together and remove all dangerous trees from their property prior to next severe storm.

P W Harbord
Lismore

A wake-up call

Two events recently reported in the media prompt this letter. The first event was the aggressive stance taken by China towards Taiwan, which, if it escalates, could lead to a major war. This places Australia in a difficult position. Will we choose to support the principles of freedom and peaceful co-existence, or will we choose to overlook those principles in favour of our desire to protect the economic prosperity that our trading partnership with China affords us? The second event was the report on the ABC's Four Corners program on March 21, concerning the phenomena of global dimming and global warming. Evidence suggests both of these place the survival of humanity on our planet in far worse jeopardy than previously thought. The Howard Government is in an unprecedented position with regard to the difficult decisions needed to address these two issues.

So far, Australia has perceived that its national interest has lain in pursuing short-term economic gain through exploiting its various mineral resources and selling them to customers like China. In doing so, it has contributed to those nations' ability to develop their military might, and it has also vastly contributed towards the earth's greenhouse problem. Now is the time to examine our position through a different lens, the lens of the long-term interests of not only our own nation but also that of humanity at large. If we are to stand on the side of peace and justice, and if we are to play our part in making our children's lives sustainable on this planet, we must develop a new paradigm in our economic thinking. It is time to sacrifice short-term profit for long-term sustainable development, to embark upon a path where education, innovation and diversification become more highly valued and replace the old industries that have sustained our prosperity until now. It is time to change our priorities, as individuals and as communities, to be prepared to forego some of the lifestyle conveniences we have taken for granted if we want to retain any lifestyle at all.

Australia has proved, with its last federal election result, that it is a nation that loves and wants to retain its prosperity. Our government therefore is faced with some difficult choices, for any decision in favour of cutting back on its commodities trading has the potential to produce unpopular outcomes. But Australia has also proved, with its response to the tsunami disaster, that it is a nation with a great, compassionate heart. My appeal is to all Australians, and to our government, to heed the call of that heart, and to move quickly to support the long-term welfare of our nation and our world. Our wake-up call has sounded loudly, yet we have continued to sleep, lost in the illusion of our dreams. We can afford to do so no longer! 

Jill Garsden
Goonellabah

A dim view

The ABC program Four Corners on March 21 (Global Dimming) contained a number of inaccuracies and convenient omissions , some of which I hope to address here.

Firstly the conclusion that these contrails are inevitable, and then also our savior as these plumes contribute to, but also assist, inadvertently, to slow global warming.

Jet contrails by definition, ie condensation trails, need certain atmospheric conditions to form, and when they do, they dissipate rapidly ,except under extraordinary conditions.

Jets have been with us since the fifties, so why is it only the last few years that we have noticed by observation that these contrails form clouds in clear skies, often in times of very low humidity? The culprit they forgot to mention is, according to my research, a new improved jet fuel with added particles of sun reflecting material called J.P.8.

What these particles consist of is open to conjecture, but what is evident without doubt, upon consistent observations by hundreds of thousands of people world wide, is the cloud forming qualities these trails have, although these clouds never rain.

Is it then unreasonable to assume that the introduction of J.P.8 jet fuel and it's resultant white plumes has something to do with the world wide drought, or more importantly to us, our persistent drought, given that if the contrails are making clouds out of available atmospheric moisture, real clouds capable of bringing rain never get a chance to form, as humidity levels struggle to get to the 75-80 per cent necessary to do so.

The cloud forming specifications I have quoted is from NASA. I urge people to do their own research into this unprecedented phenomenon.

B G Kaan
Rock Valley