Shaggy Dog Comments...
The major parties were foaming at the mouth over the Greens drug policy, which proposes state-controlled handouts to addicts (when the Greens win government, we'll start worrying about it...). Of course they love to beat their chests about being tough on drugs, but that's only if they're not addicted to the tax revenue from them. Now Shaggy doesn't condone illegal drugs, but the biggest drug problem facing NSW is tobacco, which kills an estimated 6000 people a year in NSW and leads to a further 54,000 people being hospitalised, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. So how much does the NSW government spend on tobacco prevention programs? $3.3 million. There must be a lot of cars with bumper stickers saying "I'm a smoker and I vote" out there.
Premier Bob is doing his bit for preceding generations with the Premier's Gala Concert in Sydney on March 18. If you happen to be in the Big Smoke that Tuesday, then Lismore MP Thomas George has some freebie tickets for the gig, which features Tommy Tycho, Barry Crocker, Jackie Love and Jimmy Little. If you're keen, phone 6621 3624. But he needs to know by this Friday.
As if Osama Bin Liner isn't enough of a worry, the Feds are freaked that Aussies are filling the PM's terrorism advice kits with anthrax before marking them 'return to sender' (Australia Post has promised to keep a count). Rather than using a pile of them to raise the height of computer screens in the Lodge, the kits will be destroyed, with Justice minister Chris Ellison blaming a protest campaign that urged people to put white powder in the pack before sending it back. Now Shaggy received dozens of RTS emails, but we didn't any with a suggestion that stupid - perhaps some children thrown overboard did it.
If you're sick of the election, then Wollongbar Community Pre-school is holding a trivia night on March 22 at the Alstonville Leisure Centre. Teams of up to eight can reserve a table with Julie on 6629 1418. Entry is $10 each, or $5 for under 16s.
More than 800 people turned up to farewell Aunty Fay Smith on Monday - a testament to the extraordinary impact she had on so many people from all walks of life. That twinkle in her eye and cheeky grin will be sorely missed. Aunty Fay was to have presided over, and the unveiling of commemorative plaque for the Elders tree planted in Peace Park on the first anniversary of September 11. It's doubly sad that she was to have done it with along with David Alexander, but he also passed away suddenly before Christmas. But life goes on and people with gather this Sunday, March 9, at Lismore City Hall, from 2pm, as part of a multi-denominational 'prayers for peace' service organised by the Lismore Bahá'í community. All are welcome. Light refreshments will follow the ceremonies.
On a serious note, a man was found lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road between Coleman's bridge and the South Lismore viaduct around 1.30am on Sunday, February 9. At first police believed he'd fallen from his pushbike, but his injuries suggest he may have been severely beaten. If anyone remembers seeing or hearing anything that night, call police on 6623 1599.
Happy birthday to us! Well, sort of - on March 5, 1803, the weekly Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser (price 6d) became the first paper published in Australia. Showing nothing much has changed in two centuries, its four pages featured stories on two sailors being robbed in the Rocks, 15 Irish convicts escaping from a settlement, and wives for sale in Manchester. The paper survived until 1842. Incidentally, the first country paper was published in Tasmania, by the Gazette's editor's grandson on Jan 5, 1825.
 Three cheers to the 130-odd people, including these young volunteers, who turned out on Sunday morning to take part in Clean Up Australia Day in Lismore, Bexhill and Clunes (Nimbin, where were you?!), rounding up more than 1.3 tonnes of rubbish.
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