National Water Week
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 Available early Tuesday at: http://www.echo.net.au VOLUME 22 #20 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2007 22,300 copies every week
October 21-27
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See pages 18-20
W O R M S
In the pink for breast cancer awareness
Page unhappy with government stonewalling on St Helena speed camera Information provided by the NSW Treasury obtained by Ballina MP Don Page under the Freedom of Information Act shows the number of motorists booked on a daily basis at the Ewingsdale speed camera rose from 13 per day in October 2006 to a maximum of 129 per day in April 2007. ‘The figures provided by Treasury clearly show the camera booking eight times more people than normal during the relevant period (ie March 28 to July 24), which prima facie indicates the camera was faulty during that time,’ Mr Page said. ‘The October 2006 and late July 2007 daily figures supplied by Treasury show an infringement rate of 13 per day compared to an average of 97 per day for the March 28 to July 24 period.’ ‘On these figures I do not believe the RTA’s assurances that the camera was accurate during this period. Add to this the number of drivers who have witnesses in their cars
Byron Shire Council staff – and Mayor Jan Barham – frocked up in pink last Friday to draw attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Week. Unfortunately we nearly all know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, in fact many locals will know the always smiling Julie Barr (holding the balloons) who has for ten years worked behind council’s front counter. Julie’s cat was doing that little cat massage thing cats do when it hit on a tender lump in Julie’s breast. Julie joked it was her cat scan. Friday was Julie’s last day before extended leave for her to deal with the rigorous treatment regime. People and businesses wishing to sponsor a ‘ pink lady’ for $20 toward cancer research can do so from the front counter at Council. And last Monday Railway Park went pink for Breast Cancer
Month as the Byron Bay Breast Cancer Support Group and Breast Cancer Network Australia hosted a Celebration of Life with a Minifield of Women. The Byron Bay Art Diary Project and Bangalow CWA supported the event by creating an art piece out of hundreds of preloved bras in all shapes and sizes to represent how breast cancer affects all kinds of people. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the Byron Bay Art Diaries will go towards supporting the Byron Bay Breast Cancer Support Group. The BBBCSG is also supported by Mayor Jan Barham and Byron Shire Council, The Cancer Council, the Breast Cancer Network Australia and the Petrea King Quest For Life Centre in Bundanoon. Each year 13,000 women and 100 men in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer. While
survival rates are high especially when detected, diagnosed and treated early, 2,500 women still die from the disease each year in Australia. When the Byron Bay Breast Cancer Support Group first held the Minifield of Women in Byron Bay in 2004, the rate for developing breast cancer in a woman’s lifetime was one in ten. Now it is one in eight. The Byron Bay Breast Cancer Support Group is run by volunteers who have had breast cancer. It meets on the third Wednesday of each month 12.30pm till 2.30pm at the Senior Citizens Hall, Marvel Street, Byron Bay. The group is offering a free seven week meditation course for those diagnosed, sponsored by the NSW Cancer Council, from Wednesday October 24. New people are very welcome. For inquiries please call Barb on 6685 4748. Photo Jeff Dawson
who swear the driver wasn’t speeding and we have a good prima facie case for an inaccurate camera during this late March to July period.’ ‘There is also the fact that these speed cameras are extremely well signposted to alert motorists to their existence. I will be raising this new information in Parliament at the first opportunity because the implications for people falsely booked is not just the fines to be paid, but the points they lose, the loss of licence by some drivers and the loss of jobs (because they need their licence) by some people as well. ‘In light of this information showing an abnormally high infringement rate during the time when the camera is believed to have been inaccurate, I call on the NSW government to impose a moratorium on the imposition of speeding fines incurred during that period for three months while the whole matter is reconsidered.’
The speed camera on the downhill run at St Helena which local motorists regard as giving faulty readings. Photo Jeff Dawson
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