Hills Echo

May 2012 Edition

roger — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:40:30 +0000

The May 2012 edition of The Hills Echo is now available online.

April Issue

roger — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:36:45 +0000

The April 2012 is now available online

http://www.hillsecho.com

Flood Commission releases final report

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:47:19 +0000

The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry has today released its final report into the 2010/11 flooding events.

Moreton Bay Regional Council will work with key agencies including emergency services and Seqwater to consider the findings and recommendations of the final report.

Council has completed more than 70 percent of the recommendations outlined in the Commission’s interim report released in August 2011.

Some recommendations involve an ongoing and longer-term response from council and other stakeholders.

The most significant achievements to date include:

Rollout of the new MoretonAlert system
Use of Facebook and Twitter as a communication tool in disaster management
More disaster management information on council’s website
Region-wide flood maps
New SES facilities at Bribie Island and Caboolture
Woodford SES trial
Additional rainfall and river height gauges

In that time MoretonAlert has been progressively rolled out to provide local residents timely advice about potential flash-flooding events.

More than 3,300 local residents have already registered with the system to receive SMS, phone and email warning messages.

Council has been utilising social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide the latest road closure information, weather warnings and advice to local residents.

Additional community education and disaster management information had also been added to council’s website.

Council’s website now features handy storm ready tips and a new user-friendly format of information on the home-page during disaster events.

Preliminary flood mapping for rivers, creek systems and areas affected by storm tides is available on council’s website.

Council has continued to improve flood mapping data, and detailed high-quality flood maps for rivers and creek systems, including overland flow paths, are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

Moreton Bay Regional Council will be installing six new river-height and rainfall monitoring gauges in coming months at Sheep Station Creek, Elimbah Creek, the Caboolture River, King John Creek, Todds Gully and Lagoon Creek.

Once operational, these gauges will take the total number of river-height and rainfall monitoring stations to more than twenty in the Moreton Bay Region.

The State Government’s funding for this project will assist council to continue to provide high-quality flood warnings and information, and disaster management advice to the community.

Our state of disaster readiness was also enhanced in September with the commencement of a trial SES group at Woodford.

More than twenty locals signed on to become members of the Woodford SES and were even deployed during January and February storm events to assist with sandbagging and other SES tasks.

Council has continued its support for the SES with the official opening of the new Bribie Island SES depot in August 2011 and the relocation of the Caboolture SES in November to a council facility with more training and storage space for the group.

A protocol for emergency access to Vores Road has been established between Seqwater, council, police, fire and ambulance.

Council continues to investigate the feasibility of options for Youngs Crossing Road and how the impact of Seqwater dam releases may be lessened where possible.

Moreton Bay Regional Council is also progressing consideration of a flood buy-back policy.

The policy will seek to establish a set of criteria to evaluate and prioritise properties in high-risk areas of the region for potential purchase, and is subject to future budget considerations.

Patricks Road School Fundraiser

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:45:06 +0000

Interested in on-trend designer brands? Do you love a bargain? We KNOW you do!!

Come and ‘Rock the Runway’ and scoop up beautiful women’s clothing and accessories. The Patricks Road State School (PRSS) Chaplaincy Committee are hosting a fabulous, fun evening of recycled fashion on the catwalk and are inviting YOU and friends to our Adults only event!

Your entry to this exciting evening includes guest speakers Stylist Rachel Oliveri from ibeautify and Hair and Make Up Artist Leah Svanberg from Grace and Style.

Access to great women’s clothing at bargain prices. Try them on, get some tips on the types of clothes and colours to suit your age and shape.

Register for informal workshops from experienced stylists, hairdressers, beauticians and makeup artists. Want to know the best makeup colours for you? How to straighten your hair for a professional salon look?

Quality information at your fingertips from friendly, local specialists ready to help you to look your best.

INTERESTED? Info you need to know:

Who: Patricks Road State School Chaplaincy Committee

Where: Patricks Road State School Hall, Patricks Road, Ferny Hills

What: A fabulous evening showcasing recycled on-trend fashion on the catwalk, shop yourshape, makeup styling workshops and more!

When: Saturday, March 24th 2012, 6.30pm – 9 pm

Why: To raise awareness and vital funds for our School Chaplains to help families and children in need, run specialised support programmes within the school environment to help build resiliency and self esteem in our children.

Entry: $15pp – includes: drink of bubbly or soft drink on arrival

Light refreshments and coffee available for purchase

Tickets: on sale from Monday 27th February at Patricks Road State School P & C office. Also available at the door.

Donations of women’s clothing and accessories in all sizes will be gratefully accepted up to the 15th March. Call Jodeen on 0420945101.

Patricks Road School Fundraiser

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:44:26 +0000

Interested in on-trend designer brands? Do you love a bargain? We KNOW you do!!

Your entry to this exciting evening includes guest speakers Stylist Rachel Oliveri from ibeautify and Hair and Make Up Artist Leah Svanberg from Grace and Style.

Access to great women’s clothing at bargain prices. Try them on, get some tips on the types of clothes and colours to suit your age and shape.

Quality information at your fingertips from friendly, local specialists ready to help you to look your best.

INTERESTED? Info you need to know:

Who: Patricks Road State School Chaplaincy Committee

Where: Patricks Road State School Hall, Patricks Road, Ferny Hills

What: A fabulous evening showcasing recycled on-trend fashion on the catwalk, shop yourshape, makeup styling workshops and more!

When: Saturday, March 24th 2012, 6.30pm – 9 pm

Entry: $15pp – includes: drink of bubbly or soft drink on arrival

Light refreshments and coffee available for purchase

Tickets: on sale from Monday 27th February at Patricks Road State School P & C office. Also available at the door.

Donations of women’s clothing and accessories in all sizes will be gratefully accepted up to the 15th March. Call Jodeen on 0420945101.

The photo is supplied by Joanna Kate Photography.

ROTARY NEWS

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:43:44 +0000

An Interview with Brian Hansford
Professor Brian Hansford is a long-standing and highly respected member of our club. He was President in 2004-2005.
“I was initially attracted to Rotary as I had previously been involved in another service club called Apex in both Victoria and New South Wales.
“After over a decade in Rotary I think the two aspects I like most are the fellowship and the capacity of Rotary to get things done around the world. I feel particularly connected to the Rotary program to rid the world of polio and for a few years was the District Chair for Polio Eradication. The battle to finish polio off in the four remaining countries is intense and I just hope I am alive when this occurs.
“The occurrence that has impacted on me most in Rotary was when the Gates Foundation commenced donations to help the polio battle. I know Bill Gates is a rich man but when he donated some hundreds of millions of dollars to polio eradication, I knew our chances of winning the battle were greatly increased.
“Rotary is a service organisation but it does have fun. I have a vivid recall of organising a canoeing outing on North Pine River and it was great pleasure and delight to see some of the distinguished citizens of Samford wading in waist deep water.
“A second incident occurred as I left the Samford Gym one morning.
“I saw a van parked that belonged to a Rotarian well known to me and I thought, as it was 10.00 am, he should be at work. I carefully sneaked up beside the van thumped on the door and shouted as loud as possible. The man was reading his paper with a cattle dog sitting beside him and I had never seen him in my life. His dog went mad and tore the newspaper to pieces. My natural instinct was to run away and I can assure you it is difficult to explain what I had done.”
If you would like to know more about Rotary or our club, or receive our weekly club bulletin, please simply contact Warren Hampton at whampton@bigpond.net.au or visit our website at www.samfordrotary.org.au

Tid Bits

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:43:14 +0000

from Arana Hills Senior Citizens Club

Hi there!

After all the rain we’ve had, what a nice feeling to see the sunshine again. I am looking forward to listening to the choir from Grovely School and also on the same day we are having a display of anything starting with the letter ‘P’. From all accounts, us seniors must buy nothing but penquins on their travel!

Our up and coming events are as follows:

16th March:- Bingo – wear something green for St Patrick’s Day – BBQ lunch

23 March:- Hoy.

30th March:- Bingo – Easter egg trays

2nd April:- Bus trip to Esk (names are needed for this trip.)

13 April:- Concert by Rita & Bruno – birthday cake – hairdresser – competition starting with the letter “Q”.

A couple of new members are now playing bowls. It always surprises me how fast some people pick the game up. But, you do your best and hope to enjoy yourself along the way.

A lot of our members still going on boat cruises. it’s odd when you go on a cruise just what sticks in your mind. Some remember the entertainment, some remember the quizzes. Me? My fondest memory was crispy bacon! (?)

Anypone who would like any information regarding our club, please ring me.

Hugs to you all. C.U. next month

A. Craig

3355 9674

Relationship Counselling

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:42:05 +0000

Dear Robin, I am being told by my partner of some years that I am oversensitive. He says that it’s impossible to discuss anything with me because I become so upset and then he feels bad and shuts up. He says because of this there’s never any resolution to any issue between us that is bothering him. He’s saying he’s feeling intense frustration and says I need to toughen up. He has become very withdrawn and I’m afraid I’ll lose him.
I am also confused. In the beginning he said one of the reasons he loved me was because of my softness and sensitivity. He loved the way I cared about others and did not like to hurt anyone’s feelings. When I was young I would easily get upset if anyone hurt people or animals. I was shy and still am. My parents’ usual comments like Brad’s, when I got upset, was to tell me that I was too sensitive or over-sensitive, in a rather irritated way. I find nastiness or criticism towards me very difficult to handle. There is stuff that really irritates me about Brad, but I don’t want to upset him so I just put up with it. I don’t see why he can’t be as tolerant as I am. Of course it upsets me terribly when he has a go at me but I can’t help it. I just feel so bad that I’m making him unhappy and feel useless that I can’t get it right for him. There is one thing he is saying that really worrying me. He says that I use hysterics to get what I want. I think this is very harsh and not true. I don’t know how to change myself to be less sensitive or alternatively to do things perfectly so that he doesn’t get upset with me. Dorothy.

Dear Dorothy,
Being over-sensitive and what that means for a person who has that characteristic is not commonly or well-understood. From how you describe your feelings and reactions you could well have this trait. There is a lot of useful information on the web about this, and it could well help you and your partner better understand your situation. You will also find some useful strategies there.
Rational self-talk could help you self-soothe by moderating the intensity of your feelings to these situations. Cognitive behavioural techniques and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are also good avenues for exploration in this regard. Professional help of course is going to be very useful.
Because the intensity of your reaction feels so strong you can perceive a worse possible outcome to a situation than in actuality could happen. For example, you may, because of this intensity, go to the worst possible scenario, that because you’ve got it wrong, he doesn’t love you and he will leave you. These thoughts will only further feed the intensity of your feeling. Understanding that, while it is difficult for you to handle criticism of your behaviour, it is important, even through floods of tears, to be able to take what is being said on board, and look at it rationally. That is, is what is being said, true; is there something I can do about it; and/or do I want to do something about it.
Being able to face the challenge of difference and discuss it reasonably is essential in every healthy relationship. “Silence kills more relationships than violence.”
No matter how hard it is for you to confront to talk about whatever irritates you about Brad’s behaviour, it is important for you to put aside your fears of his reactions, and also do what he is trying to do: discuss it without feeling that it’s going to be the end of everything, and reacting in that way. As you are experiencing the feeling of not being able to express these situations, or hear another’s point of view, only builds frustration and resentment in the relationship. The alternative of this, remember, is likely to bring about what you most fear. It takes courage for anyone to do this, your extra-sensitivity means that this will be a harder step for you to overcome than for others. The up-side of being able to do it is that although you may feel like you’re dying with anxiety when you try to give expression to what’s troubling you, or hold yourself in there to listen to Brad’s concerns, you will, when you push through to the other side of resolution and more understanding, feel so much better in yourself. Sometimes we can’t reach agreement and we just have to agree to disagree. This is okay. However, each time we do this, because of the benefits we feel in ourselves for having the courage to go through with it, it enables us to do it more easily next time. That’s the pay-off we have to keep reminding ourselves of. This is a long-term benefit to the relationship and to ourselves. We just have to get over the hump of that initial anxiety and face the situation honestly.
I can understand how Brad can feel he is being controlled. But this feeling of control is about his reaction to your reaction. He feels he has to shut-up, withdraw, not be heard to not upset you. This to him may feel that he is powerless to have a voice and that you don’t care enough to hear his concerns. This I am sure from what you are saying is not the truth. Both of you need to express what you are feeling about this. The same fear seems to be operating / loss or lack of love and care. Now is that really true?
Discussing possible strategies of how you can best support each other in these situations before they come up is essential. He may have to work on giving you time out to compose yourself if you’re getting too upset. Learning to use the old “I” statements, e.g. “I think/feel when I feel/think you are doing such-and-such a thing that it means that you don’t care/appreciate whatever-it-is etc.” For Brad talking through his anger and frustration rather than acting it out is more beneficial and less inflammatory. Tone and volume can trigger reactivity so calming these factors down will also help. For you, soothing yourself by calming and slowing your breath is another strategy, whilst reminding yourself how important this is for the relationship. Think of your willingness to engage in this as your gift to the relationship. Robin

Lyn Says

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:41:27 +0000

I heard a very good suggestion from a local businessman today. I won’t embarrass the guy by naming him, but his idea is so simple yet diabolically clever, that I thought I would share it.

Our governments (state, local and federal) are presently elected every three or four years. Let’s standardise all terms to four year terms.

The 29th February only occurs every four years in a leap year.

Why not hold government elections every leap year on the Saturday closest to the 29th February? How easy would that be!

Everyone in Australia would know the date of the next election, so no excuse for not voting or organising an absentee vote. Governments would serve their full term and could not pick or choose a favourable time to call an election. The same election booths could be used at the same time for voters to choose local councillors, state representatives and federal representatives too.

Political parties could hand out party endorsed how-to-vote cards for all three levels of government, thus saving resources normally spread over three separate elections. (I know that in Moreton Bay Region all candidates are ‘Independent’ but with the cost of campaigning over such a vast area out of the reach of the pockets of most residents, it won’t be long before political party membership will be almost obligatory.)

What do you think? Is it too simple to be practical?

I obviously haven’t factored Senate elections into this clever scheme as I’m not sure how a ballot paper with more than 50 names could be accommodated in elections already requiring three other separate ballot papers. So, there are wrinkles to be ironed out but basically, I think the notion reeks of commonsense. Perhaps intruding commonsense into the Australian political arena, would lead to instant rejection!?

LNP to light up Pine Hills Football Club

roger — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:40:39 +0000

LNP candidates for Ferny Grove and Everton, Dale Shuttleworth and Tim Mander recently announced that an LNP government will provide Pine Hills Football Club with funding of $160,000 to install lighting at the James Drysdale Reserve.
“The ground hosts various local sporting clubs including soccer, hockey and baseball. The addition of lights will be a fantastic addition to the grounds, giving locals more opportunity to train and play,” said Mr Shuttleworth.
Tim Mander said the LNP has great programs to get more people into sport and assist clubs with infrastructure.
Club president John Easley said, “This lighting upgrade will enable the club to undertake higher league together with night fixtures on two fields which will benefit the club through greater participation and less drain on supporting volunteers.”