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F O R G E T
T H E
S C I S S O R S
A N D
Community digs deep for O’Mearas
Ashley, Kristie, and Hayleigh O’Meara at the fun day at the Billinudgel Hotel.
Story & photo Eve Jeffery Three very brave girls graced the grounds of the Billinudgel Hotel on Sunday afternoon for a fundraiser held in their honour. As testament to their gratitude to both the community and the committee who organised the day, Kristie, Ashley and Hayleigh O’Meara, who are usually very private people, attended the event and enjoyed the festivities, subdued only by the reason all were gathered. A swift and tragic death claimed the girls’ mother Kathleen in July this year after she fell ill and died within hours of being struck down by meningococcal disease. Kathleen O’Meara, a dedicated mother, was the sole carer for her first born Kristie, who was diagnosed at eight months with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy and who has relied on her mother around the clock since birth. Kristie’s sisters Ashley, 22, and Hayleigh 18, who attended The Pocket primary school and Mullum High, have now taken over Kristie’s full time care, with Ashley
health & beauty
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 #22 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2007 22,300 copies every week
having to leave her full time job and Hayleigh only working parttime. Two of Kathleen’s lifelong friends, Tracey O’Donnell and Cindy Holland, have headed a group of local women whose aim is to get the girls back on their feet and set up for the path ahead. ‘From day one Kathleen lifted Kristie. As Kristie grew, Kathleen grew stronger,’ said Tracey who met Kathleen on their first day of kindergarten, ‘The day after Kathleen died we realised that no-one could lift Kristie. I don’t know how Kathleen did it, she was so strong. We knew straight away we would need a hoist.’ A hoist is not all the sisters would need, and at the funeral, Kathleen’s friends decided they would form a committee to raise funds to buy equipment needed for day to day living, with the purchase of a wheelchair accessible vehicle, valued at over $60,000, on top of the list. The assistance from the community has been overwhelmingly generous. A dinner and auction
night held on October 13 raised $28,000 and a raffle the friends have been running over the past two months has a first prize of $10,000 in travel vouchers, kindly donated by Craig Watson’s Pharmacy in Mullumbimby. The last event planned was the Family Fun Day on Sunday at Billinudgel. ‘The support from the community has been fantastic,’ said Tracey, ‘and it has not been just from our immediate area. Donations have come from as far north as Burleigh Heads and south to Lennox. The response has been over and beyond generous.’ To date, all goods and costs associated with the fundraisers have been donated in full, so every cent raised has been able to go directly to the girls’ fund. Cindy sums up the feelings of the committee: ‘People have been so kind, even to little things like Kathleen’s brothers helping out with the rides here at the Fun Day. Kathleen was a lovely person with a great spirit, she would have been happy to see us all here helping her girls.’ continued on page 2
R O C K
GM to leave Council Michael McDonald Byron Shire Councillors voted on October 25 in confidential session not to renew the contract of current general manager Pam Westing, whose five year contract ends on March 10, 2008. Ms Westing had offered to stay on for a further two years but this option was not supported by councillors. Mayor Cr Jan Barham said in a press release, ‘Council extends its thanks and appreciation to Pam Westing for her contribution to the Shire. During her term as general manager the financial position of the Council has strengthened to the point where Byron Shire is one of the few financially sustainable councils in NSW.’ Asked if she had been surprised by Council’s decision Ms Westing told The Echo, ‘I made a commitment when I started at Byron Shire Council to stay five years. There had been a succession of general managers over the previous decade, and my goal was to give the organisation the stability it had lacked for so long. I have achieved that. ‘I did not presume that I would be offered a further contract, and I respect the right of the elected Council to change its management direction.’ Ms Westing said a two year con-
tract ‘would have carried Council through the elections in September 2008 and allowed a new Council to settle in before facing the task of selecting a general manager.’ Of her time in Byron Shire Ms Westing said, ‘There have been many challenges and successes. The biggest challenge initially was the lack of long term senior staff and resulting limited corporate knowledge in the senior ranks of Council staff. ‘None of the Executive Team had been in their position for even five years. Those executives then left the organisation in quick succession, so that after 14 months, I was the longest-serving member of the Executive Team. ‘Despite this, all the major challenges that the Council wanted the general manager to address in 2003 have been resolved. The Council is in a much stronger financial position than it has been for many, many years. ‘In 2003, the Council had a working funds balance in its General Fund of $373,000. Council was sending its garbage to Queensland at great cost, there was a sewerage moratorium in Byron Bay and elsewhere, the development application processing times were an annual embarassment, and legal costs were nearly $900,000, taking
Departing general manager Pam Westing. Photo Jeff Dawson
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