THE TWEED SHIRE Volume 1 #30 Thursday, April 2, 2009 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 Fax: (02) 6672 4933 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
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LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Govt won’t restore rail services
Mum determined to beat cancer
Ken Sapwell
Carolyn Sforcina (pictured left, with scarf) plans to run in the local Relay for Life organised by Di Endicott (right). Photo: Jeff Dawson Roxanne Millar
Carolyn Sforcina may be undergoing daily radiation treatments for breast cancer, but she isn’t going to let that stop her from taking part in an 18-hour walk around the Murwillumbah Showgrounds on the weekend. The Murwillumbah mother-of-three is determined to get a lap or two of the showground ring in as part of the Cancer Council’s annual fundraiser Relay for Life. ‘I’m not sure how far I’ll get but, I’ll give it a go,’ she said. ‘I walked in it last year and I’m determined to walk again next year. I have three children and four grandchildren and that is why I am going to get better – I’ve got grandkids to help rear.’ The determined 54-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer around three years ago and
has battled misdiagnosis, had a mastectomy, undergone chemotherapy, battled infections and is now receiving radiotherapy. ‘It has been hard but I feel positive,’ she said. ‘Some days are better than others but I feel like something has been lifted from me since I finished my chemo. I’ve found my family really supportive and some really good friends have come out of the woodwork.’ Breast cancer survivor Di Endicott, the organiser of the local Relay for Life, said having that social support was essential for dealing with cancer. ‘A lot of women find their friends may be frightened to contact them – frightened they might cause offence. They would rather hide than confront the subject of cancer,’ said Di. ‘That is how I got involved with Relay for Life. I figured if I can be out there helping someone else, I should.
‘If people understand there is support out there, it may make it easier because bottling it up is no good.’ Di was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. She managed to avoid a mastectomy and chemo or radiation, preferring to use natural therapies to heal her body. It is her fourth Relay for Life fundraiser, in which participants walk around the showgrounds this weekend from 3pm Saturday to 9am Sunday. People can walk for as long or as little as they like – provided one person from each team is walking at all times. The event is very social, with bands, food and entertainment. To get involved get down to the showgrounds between 3pm Saturday and 9am Sunday. People without a team can still walk. For more information call Di Endicott on 6672 4044.
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An internal document analysing submissions to the Cross Border Transport Taskforce reveals the NSW government has no intention of restoring rail services to the Tweed, says Greens MP Lee Rhiannon. Ms Rhiannon, who is the party’s transport spokesman, said a copy of the taskforce’s final report was leaked to her after the government again refused to release it publicly. ‘The analysis in this leaked document suggests the government has been sitting on the report because it knows that its findings would be extremely unpopular with voters who want rail services restored,’ Ms Rhiannon said. ‘It shows the taskforce’s complete disregard for the community’s desire for the revitalisation of rail services in the region by clearly favouring bus services as the silver bullet for the region’s transport problems. ‘Its analysis of submissions concludes that rail is too costly, inefficient, time consuming and cannot be justified on demographic grounds.’ One of the suggested ‘next steps’ in the report is for the Transport Ministry ‘to determine the region to be a priority for bus reform’. The document concludes that ‘in the absence of significant population growth, the most flexible, responsive and sustainable mode for the delivery of the low to medium population density public transport services is by bus’. Ms Rhiannon says she is calling on Transport Minister David Campbell to reveal whether another ‘next step’ proposed in the leaked document – that the ‘taskforce engage an appropriately qualified consultant to undertake an engineering study of corridor options for a future rail link to south-east Queensland’ – has ever been actioned. ‘This leaked document makes clear how dismissive the government is of the views of
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