Trees pose danger
In late 2017 I wrote to Shoalhaven City Council about some trees on council land a number of residents thought were dangerous. I was assured by council the trees were not dangerous and their hollows were important for wildlife. This is despite the fact large branches from one of these trees had already fallen into my yard on three occasions, once smashing my rear fence.
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In the recent strong winds one of these 25-metre trees came down. Luckily for us the tree fell on a neighbour's garage and not into our yard. The neighbours weren't so lucky. Their new garage was badly damaged but they were also lucky in that the tree hit their solidly built garage and was deflected into another large tree which stopped it from falling on their recently renovated house. Best of all, no one was injured or killed.
I am in favour of protecting wildlife but feel dangerous trees like these do not belong in urban areas and council has a legal and moral obligation to remove dangerous trees. It was only a few years ago a resident of the Shoalhaven was killed by a falling tree council had refused to let him remove.
J. Wright, Culburra Beach
School numbers face cut
I am disappointed to read your headline 'School saved' on the article regarding Terara Public School.
As a parent at the school, I can inform you the school community was not concerned about the imminent closure of the school, but about the implementation of a cap on the number of students. Your article correctly states there are over 90 students currently enrolled at the school, and this new policy means that number will be cut to 27.
This is based on the number of permanent classrooms on the site which stands at one. The remaining classrooms are demountables, and this is where the new policy will have a massive effect on the Terara community. The parents and P and C Committee have worked very hard over the last 10 days to raise awareness of this situation, seeking support and making their fears known. Sadly, your headline gives the impression that we have achieved all that we set out to achieve, when in actual fact, we have not. We are no closer to our objective! Terara Public School needs this policy to change, so please help us get the real point out to your readers.
V. Terrassin, Worrigee
Parents still worried
I want to address your story on Monday about the fears of parents been eased and your story on the front page of your paper saying "School saved'.
This is not the case. Politicians and the Education Department are saying Terara Public School won't close but we are not concerned about closure of the school; we are concerned siblings won't be able to come to school with siblings already at the school or future out of zone families will not be able to experience the fantastic education and community spirit of Terara. If the demountables are not classed as permanent buildings and our enrolment cap does not increase and stays at 27 this will affect future enrolment of the school. Please don't say we are safe as the enrolment cap and the decision to make our demountables permanent has not been decided.
V. Cladingbowl, Worrigee
Misandrist comments
It is offensive that Shelley Hancock is trying to keep men out of the abortion debate with misandrist comments to male parliamentary members whose opinion she doesn't like. She criticised them with the sharp words: "stop dabbling in the lives of women. Stay out of the lives of women" (SCR August 7)
Funny that she did not say that to parliamentarians Mr Greenwich, Mr Ward, Mr Khan, Mr Hazzard or Mr Constance.
What a base thing to say. It is like someone saying to Ms Hancock "Stay out of the lives of the unborn - let them live."
