Slow down for Students
Safety blitz as Students head back to School

local motorists are reminded to slow down in school zones and be mindful of children in and around school areas with start of the school year.

“The start of the school term means school zones will be back in action with 40km/hr speed limits in place around most school areas,” Acting Transport Minister Craig Wallace said.

“It’s essential that drivers look out for signage, make sure they are travelling at the right speed and watch out for children crossing the road.

“Children can easily run out on the roads or find themselves in dangerous road situations due to their inexperience.

“There are no excuses for putting young lives at risk, so motorists cannot simply say they didn’t know the speed limit or didn’t see the signs.

“Being cautious and slowing down in school zones won’t make much difference to the trip time, but it could save a child’s life.

“Drivers should pay particular attention and watch out for children not only riding bikes, but crossing roads, getting off buses, or out of cars.

“Young children do not have the skills to judge speed and distance, are easily distracted, and are not always paying attention to what is going on around them.

“It is vital parents take action to protect their children by teaching road safety techniques at a young age.”

Some tips for parents and carers to prepare their children for safe travel to and from school:

• teach your child to look for vehicles coming in and out of driveways and discourage them from playing with toys or balls when walking to school
• teach your child to cross at traffic lights when the green ‘walk’ sign is showing, at pedestrian crossings when vehicles have stopped, and at supervised school crossings when the supervisor has signalled it is safe to do so
• ensure your child knows the safest route to and from school. This is usually the way with the least traffic and the fewest roads to cross and teach your child to always walk on footpaths
• accompany children when walking or riding to school until they are old enough to understand road safety (usually around

Local Safety Blitz
Locally the Police, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads,
and Moreton Bay Regional Council, have launched a new back-to-school road safety blitz.

Mayor Allan Sutherland said the Safer School Travel road safety program would target traffic breaches around six key school precincts in the region to improve student safety and address traffic congestion during drop-off and pick-up times.

“Council will be reminding students, parents and other motorists of the road safety basics around schools, including the rules for school crossings, speed limits, stopping distances and parking,” Mayor Sutherland said.

“Police will be backing up our road safety campaign with a higher profile in nominated school zones and enforcement where necessary.

“We’re working together to get the school year off to a safest start possible.

“I’m pleading with motorists, including parents, to be vigilant and think carefully about the potential consequences of carelessness around school zones. Your actions behind the wheel could be a life saver this term.”

The schools involved in the Safe School Travel road safety program for term one are: Wamuran State Primary School, Burpengary State Primary School, Caboolture State High School, Scarborough State Primary School, Genesis Christian College and Albany Creek State Primary School.

The Safer School Travel road safety program has been developed by Moreton Bay Regional Council in conjunction with the Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) and the Queensland Police Service (QPS) to provide schools with a coordinated traffic management approach and driver behavioural education.

For further information phone 3205 0555 or visit website www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au

Rants and Raves
A note about suitable content for publishing

Throughout the entire year of 2009 there were only a few Rants and Raves I didn’t publish. Most understand we are a general interest, community minded magazine with broad spectrum of readers. When un-publishable rants (it’s usually the rants) are submitted, my policy is to contact the submitter personally and ask them if they would like to re-submit in an acceptable format.

Given that so far this year, there have been as many rants unfit for print as there were during the entire course of last year; I figure it may be timely to publish this note about what we can and can’t print.

Rants and Raves is a great forum for the community to vent frustrations as much as sing the praises for local events, people and places. As many submitters already know, due to the nature of submissions being personal opinion, most remain un-edited in entirety. We don’t edit for flow, grammar, punctuation or spelling so that the original intent of the author is kept.

I remind you that as Australians we all have a considerably high standard of living compared to many parts of the world and that as residents of the South-East Queensland we live in a place of extraordinary beauty and opportunity offering much to “rave” about.

I know it’s easy to become complacent as we go about our everyday lives but I’d like to remind readers of our publishable policy as much as encourage readers to rave as well as rant.

I can’t run personal attacks, defaming remarks, threats or expletive-laden letters. I will continue to baulk at inappropriate attacks on public services such as the Police Force. While it’s important to let these issues air and to be discussed, outright defamatory submissions that serve only to inspire ill-feeling rather than helpful, community minded insight cannot for obvious reasons, be published.

You don’t have to look too far in this fantastic place to live to find something “rave-worthy”. If you know of something great that your fellow readers may benefit from reading, why not send that in as well?

Best regards, Editor, Dan Fidler

Moreton Bay celebrates Australia Day

From awards ceremonies to seaside celebrations, crab races and free family fun, there’ll be plenty to do in the Moreton Bay region to celebrate Australia Day 2010.

Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland said free activities would be held at Bribie Island, Strathpine and Redcliffe.

“Bribie Island’s Aussie Beach Party will kick-off from 7.30am at Brennan Park, Bongaree with a free breakfast and continues with live entertainment, sky divers, a sand castle competition, kid’s activities, kite flying, rides and a fireworks display from 7.15pm,” Mayor Sutherland said.

“Celebrations on the Redcliffe peninsula will begin early from 7.30am with a cadet march and flag raising ceremony at Irene Street, Redcliffe.

“And the family fun continues at Redcliffe’s Suttons Beach between 10am and 4pm with local bands, surf lifesaving demonstrations and mud crab races.

“Aussie Arvo action will start at Pine Rivers Park, Gympie Road, Strathpine from 3pm with motocross shows, whip cracking, an animal farm, reptile shows, workshops, entertainment and fireworks.”

Other activities at selected Australia Day events in the Moreton Bay region will include reptile shows, beach games, face painting workshops, lamington and watermelon eating competitions, a kite flying display, dance performances, a sand castle competition and sand sculpting.

Mayor Sutherland said the 2010 Australia Day Awards would be held on January 23 at the Redcliffe Cultural Centre.

“These awards recognise residents who have made a significant achievement or outstanding contribution to our community,” the Mayor said.

“Congratulations to everybody who has been nominated for the 2010 awards and thank you for your hard work in making our community a better place.”

Caboolture Shire Herald, Redcliffe & Bayside Herald, Pine Rivers Press, Bribie Island Lions Club, Cornetts IGA, Sails Restaurant & Function Centre, Australia Day Ambassador Program supported by Woolworths and 99.7FM are sponsors of the 2010 Moreton Bay region Australia Day events.

For more information on 2010 Australia Day activities in the Moreton Bay region visit www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/australiaday or call 3205 0555.

The Messenger Turns Six in 2010
Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope you all enjoyed your break, I sure did, though I bet I’m not alone in thinking it wasn’t nearly long enough. Some of you may still be on break. Oh well as the cover this week indicates, it’s still summer and with the weather so perfect, there’s still the weekends to enjoy.

Anyway, a new year brings changes and that includes your free weekly, The Messenger. Sadly, we’ll no longer have installments of Jason Columbus’ popular Crime Times regular feature. Unfortunately for all who enjoyed the Crime Times, Jason has new responsibilities at his day job which leave little time to produce the feature. We wish Jason all the best, and should he the find time to return...

Perhaps you’ll enjoy our new feature that debuted late last year instead; Different Voices with local accredited Author Neville A. Kirkwood. An interesting read, the latest installment of Neville’s voices from life compilation can be found on page 27 this week.

A new health column roles out this week. Local Doctor Anita of GPpartners will be keeping us up to date on one issue that affects us all regardless of age background or gender; health. One of my New years resolutions is to take better care of my own health, so I’ll look forward to this weekly feature on page 15.

You may recall last year we made some logistic changes to improve the quality of The Messenger, so you can also look forward to many new regulars, features, special topical editions and of course some fantastic new competitions. I hope you enjoy the changes and the contents of this edition. Have a great week! Dan.

Navy Minehunter To Help Locate Missing Containers
In Moreton Bay

The Queensland Government has secured the help of the Navy to find – and if possible retrieve – the 31 containers lost overboard from the Pacific Adventurer off Moreton Island last week.

Deputy Premier Paul Lucas said the Navy Minehunter HMAS Yarra would be despatched immediately and will start the search within the next few days.

The Federal Attorney-General’s office advised Emergency Management Queensland this morning of approval of the Navy’s involvement.

Mr Lucas said the Navy would provide the best chance of locating the containers, and then if at all possible, of retrieving them.

The containers, each weighing approximately 21 tonnes, were filled with ammonium nitrate.

“Our priority is to take every step to minimise the environmental risk and danger to shipping that these containers pose,” Mr Lucas said.

“This Navy Minehunter is equipped with sonar technology for deep sea survey. It provides us with the kind of specialist and technological capability required to locate the missing containers.”

The request for Commonwealth assistance was made to Emergency Management Australia under the Federal Government’s Disaster Response Plan.

Emergency Management Australia consulted with the Joint Operations Command of Australia’s defence forces.

It was agreed that a Navy vessel would be dispatched forthwith, tasked with locating the containers, while concurrently planning for their retrieval should this be possible.

There have been no sightings of the containers since they were lost overboard seven nautical miles east of Cape Moreton at approximately 3.20am last Wednesday.

Maritime Safety Queensland believes the containers have sunk in approximately 150 metres of water to the sea floor in the general vicinity of where they went overboard.

New Regular Feature
Different Voices
By Neville A. Kirkwood

Neville A. Kirkwood is an established author of academic texts and a resident of the North Lakes Retirement Resort.

Recently, he’s turned his hand to a decidedly different genre and we now present his collection, in instalments, entitled “That’s Life, Different Voices.” I’m sure Neville’s academic texts were great, but these are fantastic!

An unusual yet familiar narrative, born of different voices from life, as the title suggests. Don’t expect the obvious here because you won’t find it. You will find clever narrative.

Sometimes innocent yet worldly, and as simple or layered and complex as the reader wants it to be.

I won’t spoil it here, I’ll simply implore you to read and enjoy these clever stories, Here's installment number three, check the mag each week for the latest and if you missed the first two, you can alway use the links above to download previous issues. Editor Dan Fidler.

Most people, particularly children and young people, love me. Some dispose of me as soon as possible. For some it is like burning acid on their hands. They get rid of me in very quick time. Some children will hide me in a draw or in a plastic container where I mostly pass my time alone, unless, they put in others of my kin. When there are a few of us together we are able to swap tales of where we have been and what has happened.

There was a time when I was dropped and ran along the floor to hide near the leg of a lounge chair. I could hear them searching for me. I was well hidden so they eventually gave up looking. About a week later, I heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner. I knew what was coming. Suddenly I was sucked up and fell into a pile of dust, pieces of plastic, paper and goodness knows what else. As I went up the narrow metal tunnel, I clanged against its sides making quite a noise. It was my way of drawing attention to myself.

It worked. The machine soon stopped; they undid it taking out the dirt filled bag and emptied it out onto a large piece of paper. They raked through it till they found me. They picked me up with a few other things. My face was washed and I finished on top of a small cupboard. It was a terrifying experience.

A little later a young boy picked me up and put me in his pocket running off out of the house. It was very smelly. It seemed as if he had been out fishing and put some of the bait in his pocket. It was also slimy. That night before he got into his bath he flung his pants on the floor with me still in his pocket. When his mother went through his pockets, she hauled out his dirty handkerchief, soiled paper and of course me. I was back onto another higher shelf where stretching, itching fingers could not reach me.

On another occasion, I was in a person’s purse and they went into the butcher’s shop. The lady purchased some meat and then emptied her purse out on the counter. Out I tumbled with a few others. I was put into a drawer with others like me. Just as well it was early in the day before a lot of customers came into the shop because I got to yarn with a number of my kin.

One of them told how he was dropped and rolled down the street into the gutter and down into the drain. It lay there for a few weeks until there was a big storm and was swept down and out of a big pipe onto some rocks which led to a small lake. Tumbling out he got stuck in those rocks. He lay there until the sun started to shine the next day. The afternoon sun caught his face and he shone brightly for passers by to see. A schoolgirl saw him, eagerly retrieved him and put him in her purse.

Something unusual happened; one day another young lad had me in his pocket. He was dressed in a colourful shirt like some others and carried a pair of heavy boots strung around his neck; each boot had a number of spikes on the sole. There were a similar number of boys in different coloured shirts. A man wearing a black shirt and a whistle hanging around his neck had called them together. The boy took me out of his pocket and gave me to this man who put me on the knuckles of his thumb and flicked me high in the air turning me end over end. As I was flying he said, “Heads or tails”. One of the boys in the other coloured shirts called “tails”. I landed in the palm of the man’s hand he put me on the back of his hand and said, “Its tails”. The boy who made the call said, “We will run with the wind.” Apparently it was football match and that was the only time that sort of thing happened to me. Soon after, I found myself in another place. I was changing places every other day. Some would say, “Never a dull moment.”

I remember the time a lady took me with about twenty of my friends. She sat in front of a funny looking machine with lots of coloured lights flashing. She fed us one by one into this contraption. For quite a while we lay in the dark space in the machines stomach with others constantly dropping among us. Then there was a sudden whirring and ringing of bells and several of us tumbled out onto the tray. She fed us one back again into the same place. More and more kept joining us filling the entire space. It felt as if we were food for this strange creature. I was get scared that we might finally disappear altogether. It was very eerie.

Later a person with a key came, opened the back and we were poured into a bag. In a room we were countered, wrapped into paper rolls and lined up in rows. The rolls were then pushed into a metal box. I learned that we had been fed into a poker machine. I thought it was a silly thing to do. I was glad when I got out into the real world again.

There was the time I was taken to what they call a “side-show alley”. Often I was exchanged for tickets to shows or rides after the person on the booth had been handed some paper. One young fellow to whom I was given put me into his pocket. He with four persons were strapped and locked into a car like thing so that no one could fall out. It then went high, very high up into the air with this car thing spinning over and over. I fell out of his pocket and went dropping down to the ground. The young fellow was screaming with the other three. He didn’t notice that we had parted company. At the end of the night when everything had closed down the owner of the ride searched the ground and picked up a number of coins that had fallen just as I had done.

The few days later I moved on into the possession of an elderly gentleman He received me from the bus driver as change for his fare. Apparently, he always put his ticket and the change for his fare in his left hand breast pocket, so that if a ticket inspector got on the bus he could easily get it.
This friendly man used a walking stick to get around. He shuffled to the nearest seat. When he arrived at his bus stop he moved to the door. He took one step down with his left foot aided by his cane. As he started to move his right foot it clipped the top of the step causing him to lose his balance. He fell head first down out of the bus, landing on the knitting bag of a woman who was waiting to board the bus. One of the knitting needles which were of heavy steel went straight to the left side of his chest. It went through the material of his pocket and hit me right in the middle. The needle broke and the old gentleman lay still, winded and sore. All thought the needle had pierced his heart and he was probable dying, although no blood was seen. One of those trying to help him opened the shirt and saw that the flesh was not broken only a round red mark near his heart. Someone picked me up and noticed that in middle of the facial image on me was a big dent. The only conclusion they could come to me was that the needle by hitting me in the centre had broken and saved his life.

When he came to I was handed to him. He took me in his hand, rubbed his finger gently where the needle hit me. I saw a tear or two come to his eye. They sat him on the seat at the bus stop until his family arrived. Soon we were in a car and inside the gentleman’s home. I was shown to all the visitors who came to see him.

A few days later I was taken to a shop that made a special cardboard frame to hold me with a sheet of glass in front of me. I have lived in this home for some time now hanging on one of the walls for every one to see. No more smells, sticky fingers, falling from heights, or being sucked up a vacuum cleaner. A shiny gold dollar coin now has a place of honour.

Splendor Comes to Queensland!

Splendour In The Grass has been working toward establishing a permanent sustainable event venue to stage the festival. The chosen 660 acre North Byron Parklands site at Yelgun in the Byron Shire is undergoing the comprehensive approval process with the NSW Department of Planning for a permanent cultural event venue and will not be ready for next year’s event.

While this approval process goes ahead, Splendour In The Grass organisers were delighted to announce the festival will temporarily relocate to Woodford in Queensland, home of the Woodford Folk Festival, for the event’s 10th anniversary in 2010.

Confirming Australia’s number one mid-winter music celebration will be held across three glorious days next year! Bringing the public more incredible music, arts and culture from around the globe from Friday July 30th to Sunday August 1st 2010!

“Woodford Folk Festival and their beautiful site Woodfordia have been a great source of inspiration to us and we feel honoured to borrow their home,” said Jessica Ducrou, organiser of Splendour in the Grass.

“We have a great opportunity to grow our event and give people better access to the festival but at the same time keep Splendour In The Grass a unique and personal experience,” said Jessica Ducrou. “Given the size of the venue we will be able to accommodate almost all festival patrons in camping grounds onsite, giving more people the full festival experience.”

“The purpose built venue also means that we can incorporate a broader range of arts and cultural experiences, which we have been wanting to do for many years.”

“Having one of Australia’s premier contemporary music events at Woodfordia will be a privilege,” said Bill Hauritz, Director of Woodford Folk Festival. “Splendour is one of the best managed events I have observed, they are responsible, caring and disciplined organisers. We can expect the best.”

About Splendour
Splendour In the Grass is an annual alternative music and youth culture event which has taken place at Belongil Fields campground on the outskirts of Byron Bay each July since 2001. As well as the latest and best in music from Australia and overseas, the festival also features local arts and crafts and cuisine.

In 2009, the ninth Splendour In the Grass, the two-day event accommodated 17,500 people per day and has sold out in advance in each year of its existence, all tickets to last year’s festival were snapped up in just 5 hours, the year before in 4 hours and the 2006 festival sold out in just under 30 hours.

Many who attend choose to immerse themselves in the full ‘Splendour experience’ by taking advantage of the on-site camping adjacent to the festival site. Some 2,500 campers set up their tents right outside the festival gates and quickly establish their own Splendour village for the weekend.

The 2009 line up included Bloc Party, Janes Addiction, MGMT, Hilltop Hoods, Grinspoon, Midnight Juggernauts, The Specials, Augie March, Sarah Blasko, Friendly Fires, White Lies, Little Birdy, Josh Pyke, The Gutter Twins, Birds of Tokyo, Manchester Orchestra, Decoder Ring, Lost Valentinos, Bob Evans, Yuksek, Kram, Yves Klein Blue, Leader Cheetah, Jack Ladder, The Middle East, Polaroid Fame and Glass Towers.