GOODS
• WATER restrictions have been relaxed with dam levels reaching more than 80 per cent following recent rainfall. Minister for Water, Melinda Pavey, said easing back to Level 1 water restrictions would provide some relief to residents and businesses. Level 1 water restrictions include using a hose with a trigger nozzle only before 10am and after 4pm. Residents and businesses cannot leave hoses running unattended, or use standard sprinklers and watering systems at any time.
• FORGET fine dining, a Campsie man headed to McDonalds for a feast with his wife to celebrate winning more than $100,000 in a Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot draw. The player won the guaranteed 1st Prize of $100,000 in Lucky Lotteries Super Jackpot draw 10352, drawn Thursday, February 20. The man explained the prize would help him to buy his first home. The winning entry was purchased at B2K Newsagency, Campsie.
• STILL in shock, Valda was shopping at Woolworths Revesby on Friday morning and only had a few items when the customer ahead of her in the queue told her to go first as she had a full trolley of items: “I thought that was so nice and then when I went to pay, she said, ‘no that’s ok, I am going to pay for you’. I said no, I had the cash which came to about $17 but she insisted anyway. I just wasn’t expecting it, I still can’t believe it and I want to thank her so much for her kindness.”
• CELEBRATING the life and works of writer, poet and cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel, Monday was officially Dr Seuss Day. And, (taking a little poetic licence) whether it is Cat in the Hat, Fox in Sox, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish or Green Eggs and Ham: ‘We would read them in a boat, we would read them with a goat’. Put the worries of the world aside and find your favourite.
• A PRE-SCHOOLER sitting on the waterfront over the weekend was heard telling off her father for not wearing sunscreen and a hat. Offering her own hat up, she said, as her brain was younger, it probably hadn’t been “cooked as much”.
• CANTERBURY Bankstown City Council is donating $300 to fund 10 food hampers as part of the Good Samaritan Aid Society’s (GSAS) ‘Food Angel’ program. Run in partnership with Foodbank NSW, the weekly program provides hampers containing about $100 worth of groceries for a cost of just $30 on Saturdays from 10am-12pm.
• THE Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has welcomed Federal Government legislation that encourages employers to catch-up on paying superannuation entitlements to staff. To qualify for the amnesty, employers have to come forward voluntarily, without direct prompting from the ATO, and pay all employee entitlements plus interest.
• COMMUNITY groups who provided humanitarian assistance and relief over the Black Summer bushfires, will be presented with certificates of appreciation from the Canterbury Bankstown City Council. Councillor Bilal El-Hayek said despite not being directly affected, “virtually every community group within our city have, in their own way, contributed to the humanitarian effort”. He encouraged people to visit the Facebook site ‘Side by Side – Our Community Standing With Yours’ to see the impact first hand.
• IT’S the photo that could cost you five demerit points and a hefty $344 fine. Getting caught illegally using a mobile phone while driving is more likely with the rollout of fixed and transportable cameras across the NSW road network. And, unlike other detection cameras, there won’t be any signs reminding drivers to get their hands off their phones. The penalty also increases to 10 demerit points during double demerit periods.
• MORE than 20,000 social housing tenants are now accessing services and support at the touch of a button, thanks to the NSW Government’s MyHousing app. The app allows tenants to manage and view accounts including rent and water, as well as to make payments, lodge maintenance requests and connect to a range of supports, including temporary accommodation and homelessness services. The app is free to download.
BADS
• WHILE many people headed out into parks and local streets to pick up litter for Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday, a resident said it was disappointing to see a driver dropping litter straight out of their car window. “What makes people think that is okay?” she asked. We don’t know either.
• GOING for a Sunday drive into the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park, a regular Torch reader said he was shocked by the behaviour of four separate motorcyclists. “The road was fairly narrow but these idiots just roared around corners on the wrong side,” he said. “It wasn’t just once either. They seemed really surprised to see cars on the road.” He said they also watched an impatient sports car pass a group of cyclists, going over double white lines around a blind bend.
• A MAN was taken to hospital in a critical condition following a motorcycle crash in Condell Park on Saturday afternoon. Police have been told a motorcycle and car travelling south along Edgar Street, collided before the motorcycle crashed into a pole. The 23-year-old rider was treated by paramedics at the scene before being taken to hospital in a critical condition. The driver of the vehicle was uninjured.
• CALLING it a bad decision, Greenacre’s Irvine Johnson says the Service NSW outlet in Bankstown Central is a challenge to get to if you are elderly. “The traffic is always gridlocked in and around the area – and it’s getting worse every year – and after you park, you’ve got to walk about 300 metres,” he said. “It used to be on the highway at Greenacre and it was ideal, you could drive straight in and park and then just walk about 10 metres and you were there.”
• THREE inconsiderate takeaway food motor cyclists were parked in the Condell Park shopping village carpark on Tuesday during the busy lunchtime peak. “One driver was actually sitting on his bike having a chat the whole time I was there, about an hour,” one driver said. “He was actually beeped at a couple of times by other drivers wondering why he had the right to take up the whole parking space that was meant for a car, but he didn’t budge and obviously didn’t care. Just too lazy to find a smaller, more appropriate place to park while he had his lengthy conversation.”
• SOME supermarkets have been doing such a roaring trade this week on certain household items, due to coronavirus fears, that they are now scrambling to re-fill their shelves. Most sought after items include toilet paper, toothpaste, baby milk formula and powdered milk as well as other essential childcare items such as nappies, wipes and hand sanitisers plus Glen 20, dettol, rice, pasta, coca cola, sauces and cans of food like spaghetti, soups and baked beans. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised there is no need for ‘panic buying’ amid the virus scare.
