Yet the front-page headline of the Merimbula News Weekly denigrated a deeply loved and respected member of our community.

Those who contributed in any way to this situation and article should be hanging their heads in shame.

Ann Schwarze, Merimbula

On first appearances, the Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association (BVSRRA) was reassured to hear Cr Russell Fitzpatrick questioning the nature and level of council’s expenditure on contractors and consultants at last Wednesday’s council meeting (‘Bega Valley spending the same on consultancy as re-sealing roads’, News Weekly, June 6).

Of course, while the BVSRRA welcomes any effort by councillors to scrutinise council’s financial activities and performance, including the $1.7m proposed expenditure for 2016/2017, many residents and ratepayers might wonder where Cr Fitzpatrick has been for the past three years, when council managed spend a whopping $3.5m in 2012/2013, $3.3m in 2013/2014 and $3.3m in 2014/2015 on contractors and consultants?

The BVSRRA also thinks that instead of criticising the proposed expenditure on consultants, by comparing it to the proposed expenditure for the re-sealing of the shire’s roads, residents and ratepayers might be better served if councillors were to ask why so little money was earmarked for the maintenance of our roads.

And while Cr Fitzpatrick’s interest in council’s proposed expenditure on things sports-related cannot be criticised of itself, surely a more relevant question would be to ask how it is that council’s proposed employment costs for 2016/2017 will increase by $1.8m (6 per cent) over last year’s budget of $29.1m, when council’s general manager has confirmed that there is no plan to increase council’s workforce?

And finally, instead of questioning the inclusion of $100,000 in next year’s budget for research in connection with the Merimbula effluent disposal project, council should be asking why it can’t find the funds to undertake that project, in particular as it experienced no difficulty in finding $7m plus to build a monument to itself in Bega, $1.5m to fund the purchase of the Auswide building, $2m to try and fill the Tura Beach Tavern sinkhole, $1m to buy the old Hotel Australasia building in Eden and $1.2m to fund its bizarre plan to expand Merimbula Airport.

September can’t come soon enough.

John Richardson, Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association

Startling new research has revealed the shocking role that “stigma” plays in preventing young Australians seeking help for mental health issues.

Each year, a quarter of all young people in this country will experience mental health issues, however many of them will not seek the help that they need.

New research, by the University of Melbourne, Orygen and headspace has revealed that 26 per cent of young Australians aged 12 – 25 would not tell anyone about a personal mental health issue.

It also shows that 52 per cent of young people are too embarrassed to discuss a mental health problem with anyone and nearly half were afraid of what others would think. The results also found that 22 per cent would be unlikely or very unlikely to discuss it with their family doctor.

Stigma plays a profound and significant role in stopping Australian youth from seeking help for mental health issues.It can make it harder to ask for help and get support out of fear of being judged.   

Spending time and getting to know people impacted by mental health issues, hearing their stories and understanding their experiences helps to change negative attitudes, reduce fear and social distance.The other is education – providing information and knowledge about mental health issues and the benefits of seeking help and seeking help early.

To combat stigma, headspace has launched a vital new National Awareness Campaign aimed at informing Australians that the more we talk openly about mental health issues, the easier it becomes for young people to seek help for them.

headspace constructed a Big Stigma in Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station that for the past week has been visited by thousands of members of the public who have taken away a piece of the stigma – a panel from its outer shell containing information about mental health issues and how to seek help for them. By doing so, everyone has helped top tear down the stigma, piece by piece, and keep the conversation about youth mental health alive.

We are inviting everyone across the country to join us on our new digital hub, launching on Tuesday 14 June, complete with a virtual stigma to tear down, and links to resources and tools for friends and family seeking to support youth with mental health issues: www.thebigstigma.com.au

Please join us and help to break down the big stigma. The more we share, the more we talk, the more we tear it down.

Chris Tanti, CEO, headspace

I am writing to the community at large and local council to inform them of a few recent misfortunes in our street; as of late there have been several people we either know personally, or have seen, falling over outside our home on the upper half of Monaro Street (just up from Reid Street). Being an avid walker in the days of having babies and prams, I have walked many of the streets of Merimbula. By and large, there are just not enough foot paths!

Our streets are becoming more congested and the millennials may like their iPads and iPhones - but they are also environmentally conscious and many would prefer walking to driving.

Recently, a very close friend of ours was looking after our youngest son and slipped over on the nature strip one house down from ours. She slipped on a man-hole and broke her ankle. If there had been a proper footpath all the way up to the top of Monaro Street, would she be ok? 

Just two days prior to her falling over and having the break, there was an elderly gentleman walking up Monaro Street and crossed our driveway and tripped over a mound of grass landing straight onto his face! My husband saw it from inside our home and got up to see if he was OK but he was able to get up and started back the other way. We were unable to find out how injured he really was. 

Monaro Street is becoming more widely used than ever before. From morning walkers to school children who use the path daily to and from school. I work from home beginning in the wee hours of the morning, sometimes as early as 3am and I always see countless men and women walking past our home. At least a dozen or more every day. 

When it is the holiday season there are many more families using the path, kids on bikes, with surf boards, family outings for dinner or just heading to the beach. Add on the number of retirees who live up this way using the road to walk on, which is clearly not safe. In fact, there is one elderly couple I take to the grocery store every Wednesday (they used to walk) because I know one of them has a bad back and uses a cane. I would feel terrible to see him fall over and make things worse for himself and his wife.

Another reason to consider a footpath and I very much doubt this young gentleman would complain in the local paper, but he is blind and uses the aid of his dog to meander around the area and I cannot imagine that the grass is an easy area to navigate - he may have young legs but it's very slow going with the rubble and uneven walk between his home and the start of the footpath on the corner of Monaro and Reid Street. What will council do if he has a fall?

What do locals think on not only the lack footpaths in their area but also the lack of night-time lighting. It is a very dark road; we often hear of cars getting vandalised on our street although more commonly on Reid Street.

There are a few ex-council folk who live up this way and they too agree something should be done but realise the cost on local residents is rather large. Many of the homes in this area are rental properties so owners are likely not going to make the additional investment to the area because it does not affect their daily lives. In my opinion, if the properties are rentals or investments the owners should not have the ability to stand in the way of increasing the value and safety of the communal area outside these properties.  We pay fairly significant rates and we would love to see the funds go to the very area we live in. 

If you agree, please let the Bega Valley Shire Council know.

Jennifer Hughes, Merimbula 

It's disappointing that the Merimbula News is able to identify the man accused of sexual harassment but the person who wrote and sent the article to the paper can remain anonymous.

Maggie Benjamin, Merimbula

The Merimbula Jazz Festival deserves a Queen's Birthday Honour.

Perhaps an OBE - for Outstanding, Bloody Excellent!

What a fabulous festival.  Great music (not all jazz!), great organisation, great venues, and generally great, great vibes.

It's wonderful to see it has so much support, from overflowing audiences to more-than-can-be-accommodated musicians wishing to perform, plus, the Merimbula business community, whose support we all know is absolutely essential to the future of the festival.

This year the festival received the ultimate accolade: a group (the excellent East Gippsland Brass Big Band) adapting and dedicating a tune to the festival.

Their version of the hit tune ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight” substituting ‘Merimbula, Merimbula, Merimbula, Merimbula’ for the ‘Wimoweh, a-wimoweh, a-Wimoweh, a-wimoweh’ chorus line brought the house down – in fits of laughter!

I, for one, will have my toes tapping for weeks to come.

Thanks guys!

Peter Lacey, Quaama

The Guardian has a report in which scientists claim that 25 per cent of the reef has been destroyed just this year. This on top of the massive bleaching already reported. And yet governments, State and Federal, still support new coal mines, continue with massive fuel subsidies and support coal seam gas fracking.

Extreme weather events at home and abroad are increasing and yet every political decision is made with the overriding objective of "growing the economy" and no credible consideration of the catastrophic costs of this approach is ever acknowledged.

We are in a headlong rush to destroy our environment, the world in which we all live.

When will our politicians face up to this and stop being controlled by Big Coal and Big Oil?

Barry Stevens, Tura Beach