Front page news: June 27-July 3, 2007-2015
A snapshot of news from across the years
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June 27, 2007: A Wimmera man on his way to drive children to school has been caught by police with a blood alcohol reading of .166.
The bus driver was one of three drivers caught with blood-alcohol readings more than three times the legal limit in recent weeks.
‘‘It is extremely disappointing. These are all middle age people who should know better,’’ Horsham Traffic Management Unit Sergeant Wayne Caddy said.
‘‘People are too quick to point the finger at young people for being reckless in their behaviour.
‘‘It is a recipe for disaster, especially when one of them was about to drive a school bus to pick up kids.’’
Sergeant Caddy said the bus driver was on his way to work when police stopped him in a Wimmera town at 6.50am on Monday. The driver returned a reading of .166.
Sgt Caddy declined to name the Wimmera town.
Police have suspended the bus driver’s licence for 12 months and he will be charged on summons.
June 29, 2007: Horsham business Wimmera Aquatrail has bought the second jar of 100 per cent pure Wimmera Drought for $366.05 on internet auction site ebay.
Wimmera Aquatrail owner Royce Crawford, who has sold his business this month, bought the jar in conjunction with new owners Hopper Electrical.
Mr Crawford said he was keen to buy the jar of drought-ravaged Lower Norton soil as a thank-you to Wimmera farmers.
‘‘We have been selling tanks to cockies who have been pretty good to us. So we thought we would have a go at the jar of drought to give a little bit back,’’ he said.
‘‘It has been a pretty big week, we are about to hand over the business, I have become a grandfather and now this.’’
Mr Crawford said the jar would be proudly displayed on the counter at Wimmera Aquatrail.
There was a spirited bidding war for the drought in the hours before the auction, with the price jumping more than $300 yesterday morning.
‘‘I have had a bit of experience with auctions before. I told the staff to go up in lots of $10 close to the end. I wanted to show them that I meant business,’’ he said.
Among the losing bidders were Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty, Coller Rathgeber Property Group, Murtoa auctioneer Leigh Hammerton and an anonymous Horsham business owner known as ‘George’.
July 2, 2008: Ben Knott has described the community support for him and his three brothers following the death of their father as overwhelming.
Allen Knott died on June 2, leaving behind sons Ben, 22, Pat, 16, and twins Shaun and Sam, 14.
Their mother Jenny died of cancer seven years ago.
Allen, a teacher’s aide at Ss Michael and John’s Primary School, had a long-time association with the Horsham Saints Football Club.
Ben said the support from the Wimmera community was unbelievable.
‘‘All the support, from the footy club and the general community, it’s really been overwhelming,’’ he said.
‘‘You don’t really know how to take it sometimes.’’
Ben said the family had appreciated the donations and offers of help from the community.
‘‘The footy club and the schools have been terrific,’’ he said.
‘‘And people we don’t even know, you wouldn’t expect anything from them but they have made donations.
‘‘There have been about five or six footy clubs who have had fundraisers and heaps of businesses.’’
Ben said the community support had helped the four grieving brothers.
‘‘It makes it easier with all the help,’’ he said.
‘‘We had lots of support when mum died too.’’
Ben said his father would have been overwhelmed by the community’s generosity.
July 3, 2009: A patient flown from Wimmera Base Hospital to Melbourne’s Austin Hospital on Sunday has tested positive for swine flu.
An Austin Hospital spokesman said late yesterday the patient was in a critical condition.
Wimmera Health Care Group chief executive officer Chris Scott said the patient was not a permanent Horsham resident.
He said the patient attended Wimmera Base Hospital on Saturday for another medical condition but showed swine flu symptoms.
‘‘The patient was flown out to Austin Hospital by fixed wing aircraft because of other medical conditions and on arrival was swabbed for the H1N1 virus because of their symptoms,’’ Mr Scott said.
‘‘The swab returned positive and the patient was confirmed as having H1N1 as a secondary illness to what they presented with.’’
June 27, 2011: Wimmera residents fear power supply companies are using Smart Meters as an excuse to lift electricity rates.
Don Laity of Minyip noticed his kilowatt per hour rate jump from 20.25 cents to 26.25 cents on his latest bill and when he asked his provider why, the provider said it was the new rate because he had a Smart Meter installed.
“They told me the rate was immediate from installation of a Smart Meter, but I don’t even have a Smart Meter yet so they said they would investigate that,” Mr Laity said.
“But what angered me most was how they could justify lifting the rate because of a Smart Meter, and they told me the government had approved the rise.
“The new meters are supposed to be beneficial for customers, but a price increase is not beneficial to the customer.
“This is purely opportunistic. The meters were meant to save money because we aren’t paying meter readers – the cost of meter readers should be paid for from cost savings from the efficiencies.”
Mr Laity then contacted another power provider which quoted their rate would increase by 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour with a Smart Meter during peak periods and one cent per kilowatt hour during off peak periods.
June 29, 2011: Fourteen seconds won a Horsham man the chance to see his international pop star idol.
Horsham’s Loucas Vettos sat by his computer for more than three hours on Friday, anxiously listening to Melbourne radio station Fox FM to learn whether he had won two tickets to an exclusive Lady Gaga concert in Sydney.
Fox FM called earlier that day to say he was a finalist in the competition, which attracted 2000 entries.
The radio announcer said he would list three finalists’ names and the person to call the station first would win two tickets.
Mr Vettos waited with the radio station number already dialled into his phone and hit call the moment he heard his name, but so did another finalist.
Mr Vettos and a woman named Maria both waited on hold while competition promoters discussed what could be done. Eventually they said Mr Vettos was on hold for 14 seconds longer than Maria.
“I was holding my Lady Gaga Born This Way poster and I was praying in my head I would get it,’’ Mr Vettos said.
“The guy said ‘you’ve just won tickets to see Lady Gaga, but you’ve also crushed Maria’s dreams’.’
June 29, 2011: Kellalac children will have to find their own way to school from next term after the State Government refused to extend their bus service past Friday.
Member for Swan Hill Peter Walsh confirmed yesterday the Kellalac bus route would be discontinued because passenger numbers were ‘well below’ the threshold.
The announcement came five days after Mr Walsh and Department of Education and Early Childhood Development representatives met with families of the four students who rely on the bus service to travel to Warracknabeal for school.
Mr Walsh said the families would be eligible for conveyance allowance of $640 a year to assist with the cost of transport.
“I understand this is not the most desirable outcome for students or parents,” he said.
“The Department of Transport will continue to look for solutions to make travel to and from school more convenient for these families.
“If there are other students travelling on that route in the future, the situation will be re-examined and all possible solutions will be considered, including the opportunity to re-route a bus run.”
Kellalac parents Tim and Kristy Moloney said they were disappointed with the decision.
June 27, 2012: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected an application from floodaffected farmers at Joel Joel, north of Stawell, for assistance grants worth up to $25,000.
The farmers – including landholders with damage bills of more than $100,000 – were devastated by the news.
A deluge in December 2011 destroyed livestock worth $264,000 and damaged farm fencing to the value of $2.8 million.
The flood was declared eligible for natural disaster relief in January, but just seven farmers received about $1000 each as part of Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.
After fi ve months of community lobbying, the State Government approved an application for the Category C $25,000 grants, subject to approval by the Prime Minister.
Northern Grampians Shire Council representatives, flood-affected farmers and federal Member for Mallee John Forrest believe the decision is unfair.
Northern Grampians Mayor Dorothy Patton said she was disturbed by the Federal Government’s response.
June 29, 2012: GWMWater believes the sale of Wimmera irrigation water to the Federal Government is a once in a lifetime opportunity for irrigators and the region.
The government has offered to buy 28,000 megalitres of irrigation water at $900 a megalitre and will also pay for the decommissioning of all irrigation channels in the Wimmera Irrigation Area.
Wimmera Irrigators Association submitted an irrigator-led group proposal to sell the water to the government’s Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities last year.
GWMWater and the association began distributing letters to all 218 irrigation water customers on Monday last week to seek support for the offer.
The authority’s Andrew Rose said 196 letters had been collected from Australia Post by yesterday afternoon.
He said the authority had received responses from 160 irrigators, all in support of the sale.
The Federal Government has asked for 100 per cent support from irrigators.
Mr Rose said the offer was a wonderful opportunity.
“We support the application made by the Wimmera Irrigators Association and we think it is a win-win situation,” he said.
July 1, 2013: Halls Gap Zoo is joining international forces to save rare and endangered animals, including the Tasmanian devil and the southern white rhino.
Deadly disease is decimating the devil and poachers have brought rhinos to the brink of extinction.
The privately-owned zoo is preparing to house about 30 Tasmanian devils.
Director Greg Culell said four free-range enclosures were being built to house the carnivorous marsupials, in partnership with the Tasmanian Government.
“This is a really important cog in the re-establishment of the Tasmanian devils, to help with the facial tumour situation,” he said.
Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service says devil facial tumour disease has killed more than 90 per cent of the species’ adults in high density areas and up to half in medium to low-density areas.
The Halls Gap Zoo enclosures are due to be finished this month, with the Tasmanian devils due to arrive in August.
Mr Culell said the zoo had spent $1 million to care for the animals.
July 3, 2013: Kaniva College students could be left stranded or forced to move schools because of proposed changes to school bus routes.
Public Transport Victoria told the college on Friday that some bus services had few passengers.
The Department of Education said the Lemon Springs bus run had too few students.
Public Transport Victoria said the bus would be terminated no later than September 20 – the last day of term three.
Twelve students and one kindergarten child travel on the bus.
June 29, 2015: Laharum and Wartook Valley residents have demanded to know why they missed out on vital mobile phone tower upgrades.
Telstra announced on Thursday it would install 18 towers in the Wimmera in a bid to eliminate mobile phone blackspots.
However, areas with known blackspots, including Laharum, Wartook Valley and Yaapeet, were not on the upgrade list.
Laharum farmer Glenn Mibus said the Laharum and Wartook communities had been pushing for improved coverage for about 10 years.
‘‘We’ve been fighting since the fires in 2006 – and we’ve had fires many times since then and floods in 2011,’’ he said.
‘‘Nine out of 10 fires that go through the Wimmera are in our area, and every time the Country Fire Brigade struggles with communication.
‘‘Laharum’s football ground is often used a refuge area, but there is no phone coverage.
‘‘If people congregate there and there are no landlines, it’s a safety risk.’’
July 1, 2015: An investigation is underway to determine the cause of a fire that has left a Horsham business with a $400,000 damage bill.
Scrap metal went up in flames at Manhari Metals in Horsham about 5pm on Monday.
Country Fire Authority District 17 operations officer Dale Russell estimated the fire measured about 25 metres by 25 metres by 6.45pm.
He said crews worked to reduce fuel by removing scrap metal and tyres from the fire’s direct path throughout the night.
Most crews went home about midnight. Other firefighters stayed until 6am Tuesday to monitor the site.
Horsham Detective Brad McKenzie said police were investigating the fire’s cause.
District 17 operations officer Alfred Mason said authority investigators had also been at the scene.
He said the fire engulfed a pile of about 500 cars – about a quarter of the cars in the lot.
“The owners are estimating the materials burnt were worth $400,000,” he said.
July 3, 2015: The Wimmera is home to some of the state’s poorest workers.
The Australian Bureau of Statistic has released new data that details the average wages in local government areas from 2009 to 2011.
Yarriambiack Shire topped the list for lowest wages in the state in 2009 and 2010, with averages of $30,853 and $32,399 respectively.
West Wimmera Shire had the lowest wage in 2011 with $34,048.
Overall, Wimmera wages remained on average more than $10,000 below the state's average throughout the three years.
Yarriambiack chief executive Ray Campling said it was a complex issue.
“It is one of the many considerations we have to take in when determining budgets and rates,” he said.
A Warracknabeal resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was not surprised by the statistics.
“There is a lot of agriculture-based areas in the shire, where the average wage would be pretty poor,” he said.
“Farmers who have to pay to drive their trucks to the silos can’t afford a better wage.
“If we had better wages, it would stop the population drift to bigger cities – if people are happy with their wage, why would they leave?”