Generous citizen
In the early afternoon on New Years Day my wife and I had lunch at a restaurant on Circular Quay in Sydney. We chatted ever-so-briefly with a couple from Wagga at the next table, as you do!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Imagine our complete surprise when shortly after they left the waiter told us that your Wagga resident had paid our account. We had not not even exchanged names, only where we lived.
The generosity may have been in response to me offering our serviettes when seeing their need! I only had the briefest of opportunity to say “thanks” and then they were gone!
Thanks again to your generous Wagga resident.
Russ and Ruth Shellie
Shepparton
Complaining about the heat
How many of you readers complain about the summer heat and high cooling bills?
It staggers me to see how owners and renters of many homes and units allow the hot westerly sun to beat unhindered onto walls and into windows, making life uncomfortable and unnecessarily increase the cost of cooling.
All it takes to avoid this is choosing a suitable tree or trees and plant them at a reasonable distance from your dwelling.
You can choose from a wide range of species, deciduous or evergreen, even fast growing climbers if you prefer. Ask advice from your nursery.
Make a definite plan to do it, this next autumn or winter and enjoy the benefit.
Paul Bosman
Estella
Bye bye Baird
Premier Mike Baird was shell shocked by greyhound ban blunder and the Orange by-election blast, leaving him with a shattered ego. Retirement for Baird was the easy way out.
Colin Field
Gundagai
Baird’s lost legacy
Premier Baird tried to do the right thing, banning greyhound racing in July because, as he said at the time, a special Commission of Inquiry had found “damning” evidence of the “unnecessary slaughtering of tens of thousands of healthy dogs”. He subsequently did his now infamous backflip, betraying the hopes of thousands of compassionate supporters.
Greyhounds are gentle dogs who want nothing more than to snuggle and spend time with their people and be included in their families. Instead, they are treated like machines. Many are “discarded” as puppies in the name of “selective breeding”. Others are shot, bludgeoned to death or simply abandoned to fend for themselves when they’re deemed too old, injured, slow or exhausted to continue racing profitably.
All over the world, people no longer want to support an industry that subjects these gentle, sociable animals to a life of servitude and misery. The greyhound racing industry – like many of the dogs used in this cruel “sport” – is dying.
If Mike Baird had stuck to his principles on banning greyhound racing, he would have left a lasting legacy of compassion and been remembered as one of the great Premiers of this state. What a waste.
Ashley Fruno
PETA Australia
Bourke Street tragedy
The horrific tragedy in the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne on Friday is made all the more tragic by the fact that yet again the recommendation of the police to refuse bail to this violent man was ignored.
I can only imagine the utter frustration they must be feeling now.
My heart goes out to the police involved, the victims and their families.