Non-fragrant stench
I AM in total agreement with letter from Vicki Jordan (Letters, The Examiner, December 9) about this billionaire group.
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A representative from Chamber of Commerce Launceston stated on ABC radio last week with Leon Compton that Launceston, unlike Hobart, is open for business with the Fragrance Group.
What a great way to greet tourists that travel to our beautiful state to see our preserved architecture and our natural environment and see a huge, ugly, towering, out-of-place, non-fragrant building smack bang in the city.
Have we been discovered by billionaires who enjoy our lifestyle and way of life who then want to change it?
By all means Chamber of Commerce, we must have development in our city but within reason. For instance the brilliant Macquarie Hotel on the waterfront in Hobart.
I trust the City of Launceston council still abides by its motto "Progress with Prudence".
Helene Whitehead, Dilston.
Our youth of today
IN RESPONSE to Felicity O’Neill, (Letters, The Examiner, December 16) you make some good points in your letter about our youth of today.
You acknowledge that a majority of young people want what you do – love, safety, respect and an appreciation of how wonderful the world is.
However, you make some harsh and assuming judgements that young people who end up in Ashley do so because of ‘ill inflicted’ families that didn’t discipline well enough, or hard enough.
I would propose that up to 98 per cent of young people who have ever been to Ashley have long and awful histories of family-based trauma, where they were seriously abused and maltreated by people they loved, or seriously neglected.
Sadly, maybe all of it.
They are then contained by the justice system, not because they are disrespectful, but because they were disrespected.
And most likely by the very people who should have loved them the most
These misunderstood young people then become exposed to systemic disrespect, from agencies and interventions that aim to contain them, rather than understand and repair them.
Children and young people are best disciplined by strategies of love, care and respect, not measures based on fear and ignorance.
Please stay hopeful, Felicity, because positive change for all our children and young people will require a commitment from young parents and old grandparents, and to really make it right, a commitment from all of us.
Jodi Crerar, Riverside.
Tamar estuary
WHEN I read Robyn Frith’s letter about the visionary plan to put a barrage across the Tamar estuary and turn it into a freshwater lake, I thought, what a great idea, but it will only be a mater of time before the naysayers and those of the Green religion come out to oppose it.
I was right, of course, but I think that if it gets built it won’t be the great environmental disaster that they predict.
The only problems that must be overcome first are overflow and pollution from Launceston’s outdated sewerage system, and of course, getting the finance to build the barrage.
Some people seem to think that it is against God’s will to try to improve something left by nature.
It’s not, as long as it is done with due care and consideration of the consequences.
By the way, it happens in nature.
An earthquake may cause a mountain to collapse and block a river, forming a lake, nature doesn’t stop, but adapts as it will if the Tamar estuary is dammed.
Malcolm McCulloch, Pipers River.
Storm Troopers
AN ELITE Victorian Police strike squad armed with sub-machine guns is now necessary to roam Melbourne's CBD in order to instantly respond to terrorist attacks. Good thing Melbourne is the world's most liveable city, isn't it?
Jack Sonnemann, Lucaston.
NBN
AS MY phone (NBN connected) decided to stop working early on Saturday morning, no-one would have been able to get through to me. It meant my classifieds ad was totally wasted. I could not let people, potential buyers, know why they couldn’t reach me, and how they could.
D. Arnold, George Town.
Dogs
GEORGE STREET has been decribed as a “minefield” and Abbott Street nicknamed “pooville” (The Examiner, December 14).
With more than 10,000 registered dogs in Launceston, it seems not everyone is acting responsible when it comes to picking up after their pooch. I’ve read the story by Jessica Willard and it (the content) really stinks. I note that three out of five puppy poo hot spots are along river banks. Perhaps the peacefulness of the place is putting pressure on puppies’ patience?
A.R. Trounson, Needles.
Roundabouts
TOO OFTEN I see cars entering roundabouts with their left indicator flashing; then see them continue on around the roundabout, rather than taking the first exit.
Please don't do this unless you are trying to cause a crash. The vehicle at the first exit may presume you are exiting and then pull out in front of you. It's about time this practice ceased. Please.
Ian Kershaw, Summerhill.
Ashes series
WHAT an absolute shambles this present Ashes series has been. As an expat it is bad enough to endure the humiliation of a total annihilation, but spare a thought for the Barmy Army, who have spent a lot of money to follow this woeful team. With apologies to Robert Browning, “Oh to be in England now that England’s here”.
A Carter, Mowbray.