Posts filed under 'General News'
Earlier this week I noted that, despite petrol prices apparently falling across the nation, they are still quite high in Deniliquin.
Well it looks like this is some sort of price insulation because in Deniliquin and Mathoura it’s 126.9 cents per litre. In Echuca and Moama (41 KM from Mathoura and 76 KM from Deniliquin) it’s 124.7 cents per litre, and in Shepparton (137 KM from Deniliquin, 102 KM from Mathoura, and 71 KM from Echuca and Moama) it’s 120.9 cents per litre.
Sense it of makes not the much.
Samuel
March 13th, 2009 at 03:25am
A short distance out of Jerilderie along Conargo Road is one of the more interesting phone towers in existence. It’s a much more elaborate setup than most phone towers and I took some photos of it on the 13th of December.
The entire complex:
The upper half section of the tower:
The lower section of the complex:
The tower has obviously been there for quite some time as it is from the pre-Telstra era. Here’s a sign along the side of the dirt track leading up to the tower which bears a Telecom Australia logo:
It’s probably a good thing that they didn’t print the “underground cable locations” phone number on the sign as they would have needed to replace the sign when they changed the number last decade.
Samuel
March 12th, 2009 at 11:21am
Deniliquin council will spend over $200,000 on safety improvements at the water filtration and raw water pumping station, and has granted the Deni rural fire service approval to build a new fire station at the airport.
Campaspe shire council has secured a $300,000 grant from the Victorian government to build a bike and pedestrian bridge over the Campaspe river, linking Echuca’s east and west.
The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment has refused to reduce fuel loads in the Barmah Forest, prompting concerns about the bushfire risk in the region.
The New South Wales department of the environment has returned water flows to the Wakool River system, three weeks after halting them.
Discount supermarket chain Aldi has received approval from Campaspe shire council to build a supermarket on the eastern boundary of the old St. Mary’s school site on Anstruther Street.
And the Deniliquin clay target club are holding their pre-national shoot on Sunday at 9:30am.
Samuel
March 12th, 2009 at 09:49am
The US Senate have passed the USD$410 billion omnibus spending bill, so it’s now up to President Obama to either follow-through on his election promise of “no earmarks and pet projects” by blocking the bill, or bow to the pressure of Nacy Pelosi et al and sign the bill.
Sadly I’m tipping the latter…but as I mentioned yesterday, I would thoroughly support Mr. Obama if he decides to veto the bill.
Watch this space I suppose.
Samuel
March 11th, 2009 at 10:50am
A few pictures of Deniliquin. Firstly the 2QN/Classic Rock building on George Street. Unfortunately the satellite dish is not visible in this picture, however the microwave dish can be seen on the far left of the image.
And a closer look at the 2QN and Classic Rock sign at the front of the building.
Looking down Hardinge Street at the Centrepoint Motel from the George Street/Hardinge Street intersection. The room that I’m staying in on this occasion is directly behind the Centrepoint Motel sign from the perspective of this photo.
More photos tomorrow.
Samuel
March 11th, 2009 at 10:30am
The region received some much needed rain overnight with areas receiving up to 20mm, and there’s more on the way.
Murray Irrigation Limited will consolidate all of its operation in Finley to a new building on their Murray Hut Drive site by the end of the year. Berrigan Council will purchase MIL’s Murray Street building and use it to expand the Finley library and other community services.
Vic Roads held a meeting with residents directly affected by the proposed construction of a second Echuca-Moama Bridge last night. The designs will be made available for public display and feedback by the 18th of March.
The Deniliquin Council is meeting this evening at the council chambers on End Street.
A Mathoura man was alledgedly caught nearly four times over the legal blood alcohol limit in Echuca.
Moama took out all three grand finals in the Campaspe Ladies Bowls.
The winners in Deniliquin mixed Netball were the Easy Beats and the Central Hot Shots.
And the Deniliquin Sporting Car Club had a number of winners in round one of the VCAS autocross series.
Samuel
March 11th, 2009 at 09:19am
Apparently the price of petrol is falling:
Petrol prices have fallen for the first time in seven weeks as oil cartel OPEC begins to consider yet another cut in crude output.
The national average price of unleaded fell 2.3 cents last week and sits at $1.20 a litre.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian believes the price will fall further in the coming fortnight.
“Motorists can look forward to pump prices falling by another five cents a litre in a fortnight’s time,” Mr Sebastian wrote in a market update.
It’s still nearly $1.30 per litre here in Deniliquin. Perhaps we’re insulated from falling prices this far inland?
To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if a petrol company media spokesperson were to use a line like that if asked about it, and I might just have to ask if the price stays up for the rest of the week.
Samuel
March 10th, 2009 at 05:18pm
This press release gave me a good laugh when it came across my desk a few minutes ago:
Free cycling training for local councils, community groups and employers in NSW
AustCycle is a new, national cycling training scheme that has been established by the Amy Gillett Foundation, the Bicycle Federation of Australia and Cycling Australia. AustCycle’s aim is to deliver high quality cycling training, by accredited trainers, to Australians of all ages so that they can ride further, more often, more confidently and more safely. This will result in healthier, happier Australians and a safer, cleaner environment.
Thanks to the Department of Environment and Climate Change, NSW (DECC), a limited number of DECC Cycling Vouchers, each worth $360 (plus GST), are now available FREE to local councils, community groups and employers in NSW. Vouchers can be used for adult AustCycle training courses, for everyone from beginners to experienced riders.
For further information about the vouchers, contact DECC via email at OnYourBike@environment.nsw.gov.au. To apply for a voucher, simply fill in the DECC Faxback Form available o n the AustCycle website.
Find out more about AustCycle at www.austcycle.com.au. For more information on this media release, please contact (name and mobile number removed – samuel).
About AustCycle
AustCycle is a new, national cycling training scheme that has been established by the Amy Gillett Foundation, the Bicycle Federation of Australia and Cycling Australia.
Full press release and any supporting media files are available here
One wonders if these cycling lessosn can be abused to the extent that I could have one of their “trainers” ferry me around on a bike with them doing all of the peddling while I “observe them for educational purposes”?
Samuel
March 10th, 2009 at 02:49pm
A Finley family had a lucky escape when their house was destroyed by fire.
Police seized a large quantity of what is believed to be liquid ecstasy in Yambuna, destined for the Maitreya music and arts festival.
People exceeding their water allocations and faulty water meters continue to be a problem in the region according to the latest groundwater usage compliance check by the New South Wales department of Water and Energy.
The new Hay Shire Library and Community Centre has been opened.
Deniliquin police have arrested three more people in relation to the brutal assault of 27-year-old plumber Nick Palmer two weeks ago, taking the total number of arrests so far to five.
Samuel
March 10th, 2009 at 09:21am
It’s amusing to see how much is copied within the media at times. The title of today’s Rush Limbaugh Show Notes email is “Who Leads the Democrat Party?” which amused me because this is a question which Sean Hannity was posing to liberal (note for Australian readers: “small L liberal”, as in not conservative) callers in the latter half of last week.
It isn’t as silly a question as it may seem, after all Barack Obama did promise to not have any “earmarks” or “pet projects” in his spending bills, and the omnibus spending bill currently before the US Senate is chock full of them…8,750 of them totalling USD$7.7 Billion. Some Democrats are calling on Obama to veto the stimulus plan (and honour his election promise) if the earmarks are not removed by the Senate, which would send a strong message that Obama is in control and won’t be pressured in to doing things which he doesn’t believe are right. He could probably give the Republican party a whack at the same time considering that Republicans are responsible for 40% of the earmarks.
That said, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are quite keen on keeping the earmarks, with house speaker Pelosi referring to the current state of the omnibus bill as a “take-it-or-leave-it” affair…so if Obama receives an earmark filled omnibus bill from the senate, and signs it, one does have to wonder if Pelosi and Reid really are Princess Pelosi and Prince Harry, and the people really in charge.
I suppose it’s a matter of wait and see right now…but I’ll give you this much information for free: if Obama vetos an earmark filled omnibus bill, he will have my full support.
Samuel
March 10th, 2009 at 08:41am
The last two times that I’ve been in Deniliquin I’ve had people from back home in Canberra saying things like “it must be hard to fill a bulletin in an area like that”, and others asking what sort of things make the news.
The first group under-estimate the size of the broadcast area, and the second group are a tad overwhelming at times but have a good point. I think the news stories in this area may be of some interest, so this week I intend on posting the 2QN/Classic Rock regional news headlines on this website around 9am when all of the morning bulletins are out of the way.
Campaspe shire council will buy a property opposite the Echuca saleyards in an effort to stamp out ongoing noise issues, however the move may limit the council’s ability to spend money on other projects this financial year.
All of Shepparton’s police units were needed on Saturday night to shut down a gatecrashed birthday party.
The federal member for Murray, Dr. Sharman Stone, has responded angrily to calls by the South Australian government for a larger share of the water from the Murray river.
The Nationals Member for Murray-Darling John Williams has joined the F division of New South Wales councils in opposing an accelerated buyback of water proposed by Senator Nick Xenophon.
Murray Shire Council general manager Greg Murdoch says they are chasing Rees government funding that’s available for communities which don’t have high speed wireless broadband services.
Moama police are appealing for witnesses to a number of incidents over the weekend.
Tantat Secret won the Echuca Cup by a nose.
Echuca defeated Moama with just three balls to spare in Campaspe Cricket’s match of the round in Moama.
Samuel
March 9th, 2009 at 09:24am
I’m a few days late on this one, but I couldn’t let it go without mentioning it.
Barack Obama’s appointee as director of Urban Policy, Adolfo Carrión Jr., is facing some rather interesting scrutiny from his recent stint as Bronx Borough President. The New York Daily News broke the story early this week with an investigative feature which Sean Hannity summed up quite nicely:
Adolfo Carrion Jr. [..] had a mysterious pattern of receiving contributions from various groups and individuals, either right before or right after approving their building projects.
The New York Daily News story goes on for three pages and includes many examples of the suspicious payments…far too numerous for me to quote them all here, although I will be saving the document for future reference.
I’m losing count of these ethical problems in this administration…I pity the 47.1% of American voters who voted against this mess.
March 6th, 2009 at 08:31am
Another one…
Cabinet-pick Kirk owes $10,000 in back taxes
WASHINGTON – Ron Kirk’s excess deductions for basketball tickets and failure to report speaking fees as income have cost him $10,000 in back taxes, a Senate committee disclosed Monday, in the latest IRS-related embarrassment for an Obama Cabinet pick.
The problems are the first indication of potential trouble for Kirk’s nomination to be U.S. trade representative, though White House officials and key senators called the errors minor and predicted the former Dallas mayor will be confirmed by the Senate.
And who was the senator who declared the issue to be a minor issue? Why it was the illustrious “I got my high speed train from L.A. to Vegas in the stimulus bill” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of course!
“When you put anybody’s tax filings under a microscope, people don’t have to be dishonest,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “It’s just hard to do all the right things. It certainly shouldn’t disqualify him.”
In Senator Reid’s defence, I suppose it is small compared to the other tax problems in the cabinet, but really, how many more of these tax problems are we going to find?
Samuel
March 6th, 2009 at 03:25am
If this is accurate, it’s scary:
Critics Question Obama’s ‘Fuzzy Math’ on War Funding Estimates
President Obama has presented Congress with some questionable accounting for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, analysts and Republican lawmakers say, as they begin to pore over his $3.6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year.
Critics say the administration at once has both grossly over-estimated the amount of money it will save by winding down the war in Iraq and under-estimated the actual price of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the years ahead.
“This budget is a lesson in fuzzy math,” House Republican Leader John Boehner said in a statement to FOXNews.com Monday.
The budget includes a “placeholder” estimate of just $50 billion per year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan starting in 2011. By comparison, the total war cost for fiscal 2009 is expected to hit $142 billion.
At the same time, Obama’s budget team projects saving $1.5 trillion over 10 years by scaling back the wars. But this estimate assumes the price tag for the wars would exceed $100 billion almost every year through 2019, despite pre-existing commitments to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Boehner said the move creates “phantom savings for money they never intended to spend in the first place.”
The estimate basically assumes the Department of Defense would shell out military spending at current rates. War costs hit a high in fiscal 2008, at $188 billion. But Obama’s budget assumes the government would still be dishing out $183.5 billion in 2019 if his administration didn’t step in to rein in spending.
“It’s like a family trying to claim savings of $10,000 by assuming a family vacation and not taking it,” said Brian Riedl, a senior federal budget analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Riedl said the estimate is unrealistic and allows Obama to claim massive cuts to spending that was never going to take place anyway.
[..]
Using these and others estimates, the White House claimed last week it was acting to head off a whopping $9 trillion deficit 10 years from now.
I wonder if it could work in reverse for me? I haven’t spent the lottery winnings that I haven’t received yet, therefore my bank balance should be a few million dollars.
Dang, didn’t work…I suppose I’d be jailed for fraud if it did.
Samuel
March 3rd, 2009 at 07:41pm
Even I, a person who doesn’t believe that Fox News is anywhere near as biased as people claim, was shocked to see them citing Crikey in a story this morning:
Surprise Asteroid Makes Near-Miss of Earth
A small asteroid buzzed by Earth Monday, though only real astronomy geeks in the Pacific would have noticed.
The rock, estimated to be no more than 200 feet wide, zoomed past our planet at an altitude of 40,000 miles at 1:44 p.m. universal time — or 8:44 EST.
Dubbed 2009 DD45, it was discovered only on Friday by Australian astronomers.
Forty thousand miles may sound like a lot, but it’s only about one-seventh of the way to the moon, and less than twice as far out as many telecommunications satellites.
Had 2009 DD45 hit the Earth, it would have exploded on or near the surface with the force of a large nuclear blast — not very reassuring when you consider humanity had only about three days’ notice.
According to the Australian news Web site Crikey, the asteroid is likely to be drawn in by Earth’s gravity, meaning it may return for many more near misses in the future.
(emphasis added to final sentence by Samuel)
At that altitude one can only hope that space junk doesn’t collide with the asteroid and send it plummeting to Earth. Needless to say, that would be bad.
Samuel
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:38am
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