Front page news: July 11-17, 2007-2015
A snapshot of news from across the years
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July 11, 2007: Police have described the placement of sleepers on the railway track in Horsham as a ‘stupid and reckless act’ with the potential to cause disastrous results.
Two separate incidents occurred near the Wawunna Road crossing overnight on Sunday, forcing two freight trains to stop, check for damage and alert police.
The first incident occurred between 8pm and 8.30pm when two railway sleepers were placed on the Melbourne to Adelaide rail line. Another four sleepers were placed in the same location at 1.30am Monday.
The second train received minimal damage and there were no injuries.
Acting Senior Sergeant Mick Salter said placing sleepers on the railway track could have caused trains to derail and result in death or injury to not only train travellers but nearby residents.
‘‘It could have been catastrophic really,’’ he said.
‘‘Apart from hitting sleepers and then derailing, the train could have hit the houses near the track.’’
Acting Sen Sgt Salter it was very lucky that a major accident did not occur.
July 16, 2007: Horsham police have confiscated one car a month since controversial anti-hoon laws were introduced 12 months ago.
Police have seized 10 cars in Horsham, one at Dimboola and one at Nhill since the new laws were brought in on July 1, 2006.
Three hoon drivers have faced Wimmera courts, while nine are still to face a magistrate.
A driver faced Nhill Magistrate’s Court after police caught him driving at 150 kilometres an hour along the Western Highway. As well as having to pay for the cost of having his car impounded, the driver was also fined $350 and had his licence suspended for one month.
A driver with two previous driving convictions was fined $150 but did not have his licence suspended after police caught him doing ‘burnouts’ in a Horsham street.
A court suspended a Dimboola man’s licence for 15 months and fined him $750 after he was caught driving at 178 kilometres an hour on Christmas Eve.
A Haven man, 18, could become the first Wimmera person to have their car impounded for three months after he was caught driving dangerously for a second time.
He will face Horsham Magistrate’s Court next Monday.
July 14, 2008: GWMWater faces a fine of between $300,000 and $1 million if found guilty of breaching the Aboriginal Heritage Act.
Aboriginal Affairs Victoria has launched an investigation into how a GWMWater contractor working on the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline disturbed a known Aboriginal cultural heritage site at Minyip.
The investigation will look at why the contractor dislodged quartz chips from top-soil in a paddock Aboriginal monitors had identified as culturally sensitive.
Aboriginal Affairs Victoria deputy director Ian Hamm told the Mail-Times it was unlawful to destroy or damage Aboriginal heritage.
‘‘It appears to have happened. We’re in preliminary investigation stages,’’ he said.
The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 states it is unlawful to harm or perform an act likely to harm Aboriginal cultural heritage.
July 16, 2008: Teenage Natimuk footballer Bryce Hateley was progressing well after a three-hour operation to repair fractured vertebrae in his neck at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne yesterday.
Hateley, 17, fractured his fifth and sixth vertebrae in a ruck contest during a Horsham District Football League match at Natimuk on Saturday.
Natimuk president Willie Hanson said the club would officially ask the HDFL to investigate the incident this week.
Relieved father Euan Hateley said doctors were happy with his son’s operation.
‘‘The doctors told me they were very happy with how it went. They said Bryce is progressing well,’’ Mr Hateley said.
‘‘I don’t know much about the details of the surgery, but I believe they used screws to help fix the fractures.’’
Mr Hateley said his son had not suffered any paralysis from the injury.
‘‘He continues to have full movement and feeling in his fingers and toes. We are thankful for that,’’ he said.
Mr Hateley said his son had been in good spirits since the injury.
‘‘His spirits have been as well as could be expected. He has been flat on his back since the injury and it becomes very uncomfortable after a while. There is not a lot to do when you are laying flat on your back,’’ he said.
July 15, 2009: Northern Grampians Mayor Kevin Erwin has vowed to ‘fight tooth and nail’ to keep the Stawell Gift at Central Park in Stawell.
Ballarat City Council has offered the Stawell Athletic Club $1.25 million in the next five years to run the three-day Easter carnival in Ballarat and $20,000 for the Stawell Gift Hall of Fame.
The Ballarat City Council’s offer includes non-cash support, retention of the Stawell Gift name, venue hire and preparation of Ballarat City Oval, use of a multi-use scoreboard and bus transport and a marketing campaign to lift the event’s profile.
Cr Erwin said the Stawell Gift contributed $5 million a year to Stawell’s economy.
‘‘To lose the gift would have significant impact on this community. I certainly wouldn’t like to see it leave Stawell. People will be very, very disappointed,’’ he said.
Cr Erwin said the council would fight to retain the Stawell Gift — Australia’s most famous footrace.
He said he had spoken to Ballarat Mayor Judy Verlin after the council was notified of the rival bid yesterday morning.
‘‘She said they were not trying to intrude on our turf but they had been approached about the gift’s financial sustainability and the gift needs a cash injection so they have put a proposal to Stawell Athletic Club,’’ he said.
Cr Erwin said he was ‘taken aback’ by Ballarat City Council’s bid.
July 17, 2009: The Wimmera River is flowing towards Horsham for the first time in a decade.
Run-off from heavy rain in the catchment pushed over Huddleston Weir near Dadswells Bridge on Monday and was flowing under Horsham-Lubeck Road Bridge by mid-week for the first time since August 1999.
Wimmera Catchment Management Authority chief executive Marc Thompson said the significant amount of water flowing between Dadswells Bridge and Horsham was exciting news for the river environment.
‘‘The positive news out of this is that the natural flow will ‘wet up’ the river and fill pools which have been empty for a long time,’’ Mr Thompson said.
‘‘This will allow any further flows to push down the river further.’’
July 14, 2010: Wimmera footballer Ben Devlin suffered horrific burns in a freak backyard accident in Horsham on Sunday.
Mr Devlin, 23, and his house mate and Horsham United team-mate Nigel Sibson were enjoying their regular Sunday ritual of listening to football commentator Rex Hunt in the backyard by a fi re barrel when the accident happened.
Mr Sibson, who was inside the house at the time, said his mate was re-igniting the fire with petrol.
“He spilt some petrol on his jacket and the fire got onto it,’’ he said.
“His jacket was made of pretty flammable material and just went up.
“He called out for help and I came running out to find him on fire. I tried to roll him on the ground but our backyard is pretty rocky so it didn’t help much.
“I then took him over into the trees and got him mostly out before taking him inside to the shower and calling an ambulance.
“It was a very scary situation.’’
Mr Devlin, a fourth year apprentice with Powercor, was then taken to Wimmera Base Hospital before being flown to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne.
He was diagnosed with second degree burns on his chest and third degree burns on his legs.
July 11, 2011: Eleven weeks after an electrical fire ripped through Horsham College’s Claude Brand Library the State Government has made no commitment to build a replacement.
A temporary library will also take another month to complete.
Fire razed the library on Good Friday and demolition of the building started on June 7.
School board president Peter French said despite the fire occurring more than two months ago, the temporary building was yet to be completed.
He said it would be finished on August 8 and would be 300 square metres – half the size of the original.
“We’re not terribly happy about it,’’ he said.
“That’s been a bit longer than we anticipated and it seems to be a bit longer than we should have to wait.’’
Mr French said the school board understood the Department of Education and Child Services had ‘self-insured’ the building.
He said because it was self-insured it should be rebuilt as soon as possible but the department had brushed off the plea for a new building.
July 15, 2011: More than 100 Wimmera people turned out in force yesterday to try to find missing Rainbow man Aaron Oakley, as police scaled back their search for the kayaker.
Nhill Acting Sergeant Dave Flannery said police scaled down the search, which entered its fifth day yesterday, with just three motorbike riders and several State Emergency Service members in boats left searching.
But Sgt Flannery said the number of search volunteers overwhelmed him.
Mr Oakley, 38, launched his kayak near Outlet Creek at Lake Hindmarsh on Sunday at 10.30am.
His family reported him missing when he failed to return home at 7pm.
On Monday, his kayak, paddle and spray vest were located when the police air wing, water police and SES members started their search.
There have been no more signs of Mr Oakley since Monday morning.
July 13, 2012: Nhill business Luv-A-Duck has quashed claims it does not meet animal welfare standards.
Animal Liberation has called on the RSPCA to investigate conditions at Luv-A-Duck, the largest fully integrated duck operation in the southern hemisphere and one of the Wimmera’s biggest employers.
Animal Liberation told The Age it was concerned ducks were not able to adequately clean themselves and supplied pictures of distressed ducks it claimed were taken at Luv-A-Duck.
The calls came after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accused NSW duck producer Pepe’s Ducks of false advertising.
Luv-A-Duck manager John Millington said he was shocked to hear the claims.
“Animal Liberation had a shot at Pepe’s about their advertising being false in that it uses a picture of a duck in a pond with hills in the background and everything looks sweet. But that’s not the reality of how we treat our birds,” he said.
“Then out of the blue they make claims about Luv-A-Duck. They say there are ducks in distress and that is nonsense.
“The reason we have 50 sheds across the Wimmera and southern Mallee is to have individual people looking after our birds. If we don’t look after them you don’t get any return back.
“We don’t know where this has come from.”
July 12, 2013: Yarriambiack Shire Council could be forced to pay more than $40,000 to clean up or demolish a clandestine drug lab at Yaapeet if it cannot find the allegedly fictitious owner.
Drug Tasking Unit officers discovered a large amount of chemicals and paraphernalia, believed to have been used for manufacturing amphetamines, in the old post office in March.
Victoria Police Clandestine Laboratory Squad officers wore protective clothing and used breathing apparatus when searching the property as part of a lengthy police investigation.
Council community services manager Gavin Blinman said police told council about the chemicals after they had raided the property. He said the chemicals then became an environmental health matter for council, which was responsible for taking all necessary precautions to protect people.
Council had since assessed the property and was looking at what it could do.
“We’re seeking legal advice on what action we can take, particularly in establishing if there is a legal owner,’’ he said.
“The information we’ve been given so far is that the name on the rates notice is fictitious.’’
July 15, 2013: Federal Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship Tony Burke had bittersweet news for the Wimmera on Friday.
Horsham doctor Mihaela Guguila, 53, will be eligible for permanent residency because of a new legal instrument which will abolish residency age restrictions for medical practitioners.
But paramedical professionals, such as Warracknabeal podiatrist Wendy Cobbold, will not.
A spokeswoman for Mr Burke said Brendan O’Connor signed off a new legal instrument while he was Minister for Immigration which included an age exemption for medical practitioners aged 50 or older.
She said it came into effect on June 25, 2013 and still stood even though Mr O’Connor was no longer the portfolio’s minister.
“The government acknowledges that as a successful and valued medical practitioner in regional Australia, Dr Mihaela Guguila provides much-needed health services to her community,” the spokeswoman said.
But she said the same exemption did not extend to paramedical professionals, including podiatrists.