The pending removal of the poles (trees) from Baylis Street footpath opposite Westpac Bank was probably going to be inevitable.
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When they were put there, the mayor spoke glowingly about how these poles would one day be a feature of this wonderful city. This was all unanimously supported by the dignitaries and crowd in attendance.
But it was doomed to failure from the beginning. These poles were neither watered nor tended.
They did not root or flower, grow for a leaf or a branch.
However, Wagga City Council can yet capitalise on the situation. Gough Whitlam paid $1.3m for a Jackson Pollock painting called 'Blue Poles'.
Therefore, could not Wagga City Council commission a local painter, in the absence of Jackso Pollock (who died aged 44 in 1956), to paint Wagga's poles.
This painting could be called Brown Poles or Dead Poles or indeed Loo Poles.
It may be worth a lot of money for Wagga.
Norman Alexander, Wagga
PENALTY SEEMS TOO HARSH
The suspension of Sydney Roosters player Spencer Leniu is just too harsh in my opinion all because he made a racist slur to an opponent who recently played in Las Vegas in the USA.
An apology should've been enough and no further action would be required but no, eight weeks is the penalty, and even one football TV commentator recommended 12 weeks should be the penalty.
Racism in all sports and disciplines will never be eliminated whatsoever and I don't think penalties for racist behaviour and slurs should be that harsh.
Maybe three or four weeks is enough on the sidelines, not eight or 12 weeks.
Everyone makes mistakes and we should always try to forgive and forget any past indiscretions that were made and simply move on.
It would be great if the two players involved in this recent indiscretion just make up.
Holding a grudge for months and years ahead will cause nothing but anger and bitterness and it also turn the fans away from the game.
Peter Smith, Wagga
PUZZLING QUESTIONS MAKE FOR MUCH PONDERING
Friday, it seems, was a day for puzzling questions in The Daily Advertiser (DA Letters, March 8).
Mary Kidson ("Liberals have not enough talk on policies, let alone funding") was dismayed by an alleged "refusal to indicate policies" regarding nuclear energy by the Liberals. The writer queried whether "the Liberal Party have any real and well researched policies?"
A fair enough question but what a ballyhoo it caused when people asked, "How will it work?" about the proposed new parliamentary chamber nominally called The Voice.
Asking for detail in that regard (let alone "well researched policies") meant that one was, at best, scare-mongering and/or, at worst, racist.
Fellow epistler, Ray Peck ("Problem of waste one to watch") wanted to know "where will the [nuclear] waste be stored?"
I'd like to know where, after 20 years, millions of expired solar panels will be lumped, or the ageing gigantic wind-power blades which are not recyclable, or the towers - each a third of a kilometer long - or the multi-tonnes of concrete in each and every base.
I have read that disposal and costs will be the onus of the landowners (farmers). Not just the sole question posed by Mr. Peck, then.
On a different topic (Sam Kerr's technicolor cab-yawn) columnist Jenna Price asks "how on earth is calling a white [police] officer white, racial harassment?" ("The folly of Sam Ker racial abuse charge", dailyadvertiser.com.au, March 7).
Well, the phrase Ms. Price alleges that Kerr used - "stupid white bastard" - could be jiggled around by substituting another colour for "white"; brown, black, or yellow for instance - would the phrase then sound faintly racist?
It's a mystery why being a "stupid bastard" is clarified in any way, except racially, by referring to skin colour.
The word "white" is not, per se, racist but the context given it by "stupid" and "bastard" is another matter. One that your columnist clumsily skirts.
Robert T Walker, Wagga
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