Health
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 23 #13 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008 22,700 copies every week
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Gypsy crew help out the ‘hood
Gypsy MoonDance organisers and Mullumbimby Soup Kitchen crew celebrate the $4400 raised for the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre through a Kohinur Hall fundraiser. Photo Eve Jeffery.
The Black Madonna was invoked at the Gypsy MoonDance fundraiser at Kohinur Hall recently with ceremony and ritual by the priestesses of Mullumbimby. Flute and tabla set the mood for the evening and the temperature was raised by Spanish guitars and flamenco dancers. The music was eclectic with Irish and gypsy contemporary melodies, and tempo from circus to world beats.
Close to 500 guests attended to the event, helping to raise $4400 for the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre’s emergency relief program and soup kitchen. Sumptuous fare was provided by the Soup Kitchen crew with their small army of volunteers. The MoonDance was a huge success thanks to all involved in what organisers believe is a good example of what can happen
when a community gathers together to celebrate, as happened during the moondances of the 1970s. This community cultural celebration was supported by the Byron Neighbourhood Resource Centre. The organisers would like to thank all those who helped with this benefit, including the Kohinur community, who were the hosts for the night.
Call for ‘sanity’ in festival sites Spokesperson for the newly formed group Coalition For Festival Sanity, Mac Nicolson, has strongly contradicted press reports that the idea of a community run festival site was dead and buried. ‘The land to the north of the Arts and Industry Estate is available, zoned for cultural as well as sporting events and has been offered to festival organisers,’ he said. ‘The fact that the festival promoters prefer to have their own sites is not a reflection on the inappropriateness of that site but an
indication that they want to be able to run their own show on their own land. ‘A Council or community run festival site is the only way that the community can effectively control the size and numbers of festivals within the Shire. ‘The current proposals for sites at North Ocean Shores/Yelgun and Tyagarah would see up to ten mega festivals a year if the promoters were able to get their way with either Council or the Sartor/Iemma government. This is more than a
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never ending party, it is mayhem and insanity and will spell the end of the gentle aspect of our family living and holiday environment. ‘We do not seek the end of festivals by any means. We only ask for sanity to prevail and the first step is to dispense with the idea of privately run mega festival sites such as at North Ocean Shores/ Yelgun.’ ■ To comment on this subject go to the forums section of our website – www.echo.net.au
Bangalow bypass on RTA’s radar Michael McDonald NSW roads minister Eric Roozendaal has agreed to a preliminary investigation on the proposal for a southern bypass of Bangalow. Following on from that advice Byron Shire Council voted 7-3 last Thursday on a motion by Cr Ross Tucker to allocate $10,000 for Council staff to prepare a submission to the RTA’s Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Tintenbar-Ewingsdale highway route while Council is between elected representatives. The RTA’s feasibility study on a southern bypass is expected to take place while the EA is on public exhibition until September 29. An earlier motion by Cr Jan Mangleson which in part sought to have the exhibition time extended was lost 6-4. A number of motions and amendments were put up during a long debate of the issue. Cr John Lazarus began by calling for a Council consultation with potentially affected landowners. Other councillors felt that as the RTA was undertaking the investigation, it was their job to consult. Cr Richard Staples suggested the proposed bypass ‘will never be built. We are creating false hopes and fears and pandering to the trucking industry. ‘This would open another corridor through prime agricultural land. It’s a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem.’ Cr Tucker countered Cr Staples’s amendment to just note a staff report on the matter by saying it would be ‘the height of irresponsibility not to make a submission to the RTA just because we [the councillors] won’t be here to do it. Are we saying to the people “It’s twilight, we’re off”?’ In a press release last Thursday Mayor Jan Barham said, ‘The investigation of a southern bypass of Bangalow is welcomed and I thank the Minister for Roads for responding to the issues that were
raised with him in a meeting in Sydney earlier this month. This resulted from concerns raised by community members about the impact of the upgrade, and Council resolved to support an investigation of the bypass option. Only by investigating the matter will we know if the option for a southern bypass is a more economic and efficient outcome. ‘Council will meet with the RTA next week and will request details on the scope of these investigations, how their findings will be considered and what the timeline will be. There are also concerns that the submission deadline of September 29 [for the A] is barely a week more than the minimum exhibition period of 30 days required, so a request will be made for an extension. ‘Council is mindful of the short timeframes available to work through the EA submission and the parallel preliminary investigations, and will look to raise these matters at a briefing with the RTA scheduled for September 1.’ In favour of the bypass, Bangalow resident Jenny Coman said, ‘The issues involved in the bypass proposal go well beyond providing relief from traffic noise in any particular locality. They include addressing the need to keep heavy vehicle traffic out of Bangalow village and getting traffic to and from the west – about 45% of the total – onto the new road and through the St Helena tunnel, instead of its continuing on the current Highway and the dangerous St Helena hill as would be the case without the bypass. ‘Bangalow and Ewingsdale residents who have been working towards a southern bypass for Bangalow for years welcome the Minister’s decision, particularly as traffic movements are expected to increase hugely once the new Motorway is built.’ The EA is now on exhibition at continued on page 2