Yes we have a problem with smoke build up in the Tamar region, but it’s not only heaters that cause it.

There are no complaints about the burn-offs on farms, backyards, forestry and bark heaps, like we are experiencing today and every week.

We have a wonderful view from our kitchen window of the Tamar, we can see from the Legana area to the town clock.

There are several burn-offs happening at the moment on the eastern bank of the Tamar River, billowing smoke towards town which will be locked in the basin for days. Are they going to be blamed for causing the smog in the morning? I think not.

THIRTY Tasmanian towns with drinking water problems sounds scary until the total number of affected properties is considered, under 2000 out of 200,000 statewide, most in areas that have never had acceptable water by today’s standards.

Also omitted by critics of TasWater are that these issues will all be fixed by late next year with almost $20 million being spent supplying quality water to five North-East Tasmanian towns by the end of 2017.

That cost of more than $20,000 a property served is equivalent to roughly 60 years of their future water service charges.

The Tasmanian government’s confected crisis to compulsorily acquire TasWater with the promise of slightly cheaper water charges and a dubious claim of fixing problems faster will end up with TasWater owing $3000 more debt a property and ultimately council rates increasing because their dividends from TasWater will be frozen and eventually cut.

It’s particularly galling that Dorset Council, among few others, supports this takeover of TasWater while forgetting the massive cross-subsidy from water users statewide to their towns, which they’ve never supplied with adequate drinking water.

TasWater is on the right track to resolve water and sewerage problems across the state while keeping charges as low as possible. Good work takes time after decades of neglect, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

PLEASE, would traffic police make it clear that there is only one lane going south from Kings Meadows.

I came out of Blaydon Street, turned right onto Hobart Road and waited for green light before going along Hobart Road. Four cars in succession came up on my left to turn into Opossum Road assuming there is still two lanes.

One day there will be an accident if a car in the correct lane turns into Opossum, while a car on his left (a blind spot) also turns into Opossum Road at the same time. They will collide.

I RECENTLY visited a large store in which there were three self serve checkouts and only one attended by a real person.

I refuse to use self service checkouts as they are doing people out of jobs, and as I stood in the long line of people waiting to be served I noticed an employee standing, watching people at the checkouts to see if they were doing the right thing.

At one stage there were three people watching three checkouts. I have to ask, if these people are available just to stand and watch, why can’t they be manning checkouts? Self serve checkouts have been shown to encourage dishonesty and theft, and the sooner they are removed and the manned ones brought back the better.