Shirking responsibility
Either Ms Burke is on the payroll of the fluoridation lobby or she needs to explain how she comes to the conclusion that "public water fluoridation" is safe or even useful.
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For medical-grade fluoride to have any effect on dental hygiene it must be applied topically not by ingestion. The toxic waste based fluoride currently used has no proven beneficial effect.
Most of the countries which tried mass fluoridation by water ingestion have either discontinued it or are in the process of doing so.
The most beneficial action to take against caries is to reduce or halt the consumption of artificial sugars, especially for children.
While most developed countries have total or partial cover of dental costs for young children, Australia is lagging behind. By promoting "mass fluoridation" our state and local authorities are shirking their public responsibilities.
Bernard Lagarenne, Merimbula
Flying disappointment
I am in Merimbula at the airport where Rex has just cancelled two flights; one to Melbourne and the other to Sydney. To describe the passengers as irate is an understatement.
We waited an hour and a half for any kind of announcement. No apology, not even an offer of a coffee or water while waiting. Rex really needs to lift its game, both in the air and on the ground in terms of customer care.
Catherine Boomer, Narooma
Green-stacking at Tura
More in sorrow than anger, we have to report our local greenie contingent is as devoid of ethics as a frog is of feathers.
This failing was starkly demonstrated by green "stacking" of council’s abortive “listening post/workshop” meeting at the Tura Library last Thursday (29/6).
With only a handful populating the local green team in The Point-Dolphin Cove section of north Tura Beach, they resorted to shipping in dyed-in-the-wool greenies from all over the map to stack the numbers. Imports there included some from Mallacoota (116.3km), Nungurner (286km – it’s in Victoria), Eden (32.8km), Nethercote (27.6km), Lochiel (23.0km), and Tathra (17.5km) – a sample of the long list of long distances, a long way from north Tura.
It’s drawing a very long bow to pretend these activists have a legitimate personal interest in this local issue, specific to a small (two hectare) section of north Tura.
On the other side of the coin, all of the 60 or more members of the North Tura Beach Residents Association supporting this clean-up and improvement plan live within walking distance of the patch of weedy scrub in question, officially zoned RE1, which means for use as "public recreation open space".
Despite its 3200 people - including 350 families with children - Tura has a lot fewer parks, playgrounds, ovals and recreation open space than most of Bega Valley Shire and this clean-up and improvement would make a much-desired difference.
The evening quickly degenerated further when council’s planning supremo, Andrew Woodley, and his team decreed unannounced that the evening was to be about the 180-plus acres of the total Tura Coastal Reserve, extending from Short Point to Tura Headland and beyond – not just the small patch of weedy regrowth scrub that much more than half the people attending had come out on a cold evening to talk about.
Many of the clear majority of locals attending walked out in disgust from this last-minute workshop confusion.
The remaining hard core, sitting out the whole 4.5-hour ordeal, then had to endure an external ‘facilitator’ at ratepayer expense from Cobargo (72.1km), who had done no homework and had no idea of the specific issues in contention, rabbitting on about “values”.
And that’s how we spend your rates, folks!