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8 JUNE, 2022
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The weight of ambition Werribee’s Melissa Maxey is a strong woman, literally. The mother of two can dead-lift over 200 kilograms, and in July, will fly to the United States to take a shot at first place at the strongman Static Monsters world championships. Maxey is a pediatric nurse and has worked for the Royal Children’s and Werribee Mercy Hospital. “I’m very passionate about nursing because it’s been my whole life, and working shift work has allowed me to have other passions, powerlifting is definitely one of those” she said. Maxey started power-lifting about four years ago, after she discovered she was “actually pretty good at it”. “I currently have eight world records and 23 Australian records … and I’m 44,” she said. “It is so much fun, so empowering too because you feel strong, you feel healthy and you feel just capable, whatever life throws at you set another hurdle and just work at it and get over it and keep going.” Maxey is raising funds to help with travel and associated competition costs. Details: www.gofundme.com. Fatima Halloum Melissa Maxey.
(Joe Mastroianni). 284067
Dangerous U-turn fears By Fatima Halloum The Hoppers Crossing Fire Brigade is pleading with motorists to stop performing illegal U-turns on Derrimut Road outside the station, warning that the action is putting people and property “at risk”. A right-hand turning lane was placed on Derrimut Road to make it easier for emergency services to get in and out as quickly as possible when responding to time sensitive call-outs.
However, Hoppers Crossing Fire Brigade lieutenant Brenton Lawrence said motorists are using the lane to make U-turns, despite signage near the traffic lights warning them that the action is illegal. “A lot more people are now using that as a U-turn instead of just the right turn, and because it’s only meant for emergency vehicles, it’s a very short-time turning arrow,” Mr Lawrence said. “In the case of an emergency, when the members have to turn into the fire station,
you’ve got two people in front of them doing U-turns, they don’t make that light. “We then have to sit there and wait for the next rotation of light, which potentially could be between two to five minutes.” Mr Lawrence said the brigade is wanting to get the message out, as the delay is affecting firefighters’ ability to respond in a timely manner. “We’ve got a response time of four and a half minutes … most of our members live
between that two to five minute mark away from the station, so if we have to sit at the light for a minute and a half to two minutes, that’s already pushing us over our allocated response time,” he said. “When you think about a major going fire, if we’re even delayed by two to three minutes, that’s a lot of time for a fire to be spreading throughout a house. “It does put people at risk and property at risk by having people using that lane.”
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