Melbourne Cup
THE BYRON SHIRE ECHO Advertising & news enquiries: Mullumbimby 02 6684 1777 Byron Bay 02 6685 5222 Fax 02 6684 1719 editor@echo.net.au adcopy@echo.net.au http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 20 #23 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2005 22,300 copies every week $1 at newsagents only
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Byron Bay sends 1,000 tents to Pakistan earthquake victims Sympathy for the thousands of Pakistanis facing dreadful conditions in the earthquake zone has prompted many Australians to send money to aid agencies. A group of local people wanted to do more than send off a cheque and after a week of hard work and perseverance have sent off over 1,000 tents to Islamabad. Chai Hicks and Anna Crotty were chatting over a coffee about the earthquake victims, remembering a trekking holiday in northern India in similar terrain. A chance comment from Chai that what she would most want to do in the same situation is to crawl into a tent sparked a wild idea to fill a container with tents and send it to the earthquake affected area. Having a friend like Neville Maloney from Byron Bay Camping and Disposals is pretty handy where tents are concerned. Neville called his wholesaler, Austrail Tents, who said they could get their hands on just over 1,000 tents and would supply them at a major discount to the wholesale price. A team of people swung into action including Neville’s partner Barbara
and Phil Sleeman. Anna Crotty’s task was to email everyone she knew to drum up orders and a few calls to BayFM and ABC radio put the word out to the local community. Chai spent 14 hours on the phone to find an airline that would transport the tents to Islamabad free of charge. Pakistan International Air fairly quickly agreed to fly the tents from Bangkok to Islamabad and after being passed from one person to another Chai finally heard the good news that Qantas would foot the bill to fly the tents from Sydney to Bangkok. Through a network of contacts in Byron Shire the group found someone working in Islamabad who was willing to go to the airport and make sure their 14 tons of tents made the journey along the transport chain into the hills beyond Peshawar. ‘On Wednesday Santos Health Foods put up a large sign in their Byron Bay shop and bought 45 tents, the Steiner School at Ewingsdale bought five tents, Red Rose Realty and Paul McCarthy Real Estate each bought tents as did many industrial estate businesses
such as Prestige Motors and Banksia Motor Works who sent cheques into the shop. While local support was encouraging we were swamped when the story went to air in Brisbane,’ explains Neville. ‘We had people ringing us from overseas and paying with credit cards. By midday Friday we had to send out a whole new batch of emails to tell people to stop calling us because we couldn’t handle the demand,’ he added. Chai Hicks says she can’t relax and reflect on her achievement until the tents have arrived and is currently negotiating with a French medical team to handle the distribution into remote areas beyond Islamabad. Neville Maloney believes the experience has set a template for future relief and fundraising projects. ‘We think if one shop in a country town can get 1,000 plus tents out to Pakistan at the same speed that the Red Cross could act then imagine the response if next time there is a disaster there were a dozen shops in Australia involved. It strikes me that there is a role for free enterprise to do something separate from government and aid agencies.’
F O R ?
A dog’s big day out
Henry (left) and Taj’s (right) mum and dad, Troy Gilligan and Kerrin Harris, were married in a beautiful ceremony by the Brunswick River At Torakina Reserve two weeks ago. ‘Henry (aka Pork) was visibly put out when he saw Taj in his suit so what could we do?’ said the bride. Jeff ’Best in show‘ Dawson
Pacific Highway route options released
JONSON ST BYRON BAY
Neville Maloney from Byron Bay Camping and Disposals with a few of the 1,000 tents he helped despatch to Pakistan last week for victims of the earthquake. Photo Jeff ‘Intense’ Dawson
The Pacific Highway will tunnel under St Helena hill and emerge to cut across farmland according to the RTA’s shortlisted route options for the six lane Tintenbar-Ewingsdale upgrade. NSW Roads Minister Joe Tripodi announced the release on Friday of four short listed route options all of which feature a 200-300 metre tunnel starting above the first bend after the Ewingsdale interchange travelling south and emerging south of St Helena Road. While one of the route options
rejoins the existing highway near the Bangalow bypass, the other three run through farmland and rural properties in the Tinderbox Valley and Coopers Shoot. Option B returns to the highway just after the Bangalow bypass while Options C and D follow easterly routes away from the existing highway, travelling down the escarpment behind Broken Head to run along the flat agricultural land behind Lennox Head. ‘Whichever route is chosen there are going to be very unhappy peo-
ple here. This is a six lane superhighway, it is not an upgrade,’ said Bernard Grinberg who represents the Ewingsdale Progress Association on the RTA’s Community Liaison Group (CLG). ‘I think the tunnel is a good idea because there is not a safe way to get through St Helena without a tunnel. If the lower tunnel is chosen it will be the quieter option for Ewingsdale residents,’ he added. President of the Coastal Escarpment Protection Society (CEPS), continued on page 2
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