I contacted Jason Mitchell, Facilities Maintenance Overseer, of the Coolamon Shire who advised that council had agreed with Corrective Services NSW Wagga Office to supervise people undertaking Community Service Orders as part of their penalty from the Local Court to assist with the cleaning, tidying up and painting the entrances of the Coolamon and Ganmain cemeteries.

To date the community workers have carried out the following work within the Coolamon Shire area: The painting of the trotting track rails, horse yards, toilets and outside the main building used by the local trotting association; They have undertaken mowing, whipper snipping and general tidying up tasks around the showgrounds as well; They have also carried out tree planting projects at several council managed quarries and landfill sites; They have also undertaken work at the Coolamon Sport and Rec Club.

Jason confirms the team is supervised by a Corrective Services Officer who does a fantastic job motivating the community workers to complete tasks.

Coolamon Shire Council provide equipment such as mowers, whipper snippers, paint and hand tools. The community workers work in conjunction with the local Coolamon Shire employees, organising equipment for them and providing support.

Jason Mitchell has recently attended a workshop with participants involved in the programme and there is a definite need for other groups to take on a role of supervising the community workers. Jason advises the programme co-ordinates about  680 hours per week in the Wagga district. There are about a half dozen work teams who are involved in the programme, offenders are placed with other independent agencies, and there is a strong need for positive media exposure to ensure the programme continues.

The Community Service Orders are practical and cost effective punishment.

If you are near the Coolamon, Ganmain Cemetery or the showgrounds why not have a look at the excellent work that has been carried out.

Congratulations to Jason Mitchell and the Coolamon Shire gardeners Craig Whitmore, Koichi Sase and Macgregor Hannigan on their excellent work throughout the Shire including the cemeteries, parks and gardens.

The letters from Jenny Moxham, Dianne Cornelius and Geoff Field about consumption of dairy calves and eggs provide “food for thought”.

Dianne states that eggs are unborn chicks. Not quite so.

The millions of eggs from the egg-producing farms are not fertilised by roosters and will therefore not produce chicks. These eggs are definitely not unborn chicks.

You may then say to me that there are untold thousands of eggs that are fertilised by roosters and the unborn chicks never have a chance because the eggs are eaten. Yes, true. But infinitely worse is the injustice done by people to unborn babies by abortion. This amounts to some 100,000 babies killed each year in Australia.

To put it bluntly this is nothing less than premeditated murder. There are exceptions, such as saving the mother’s life, etc.

The majority of these babies are believed to suffer extreme pain because their nervous system is already developed. The pro-abortion lobby also sweep it under the carpet, just as is the long-term trauma by many of the mothers. And we call ourselves ‘the civilised west?’ When we protest against injustice let’s have our priorities right.