Yea Thursday 11th March 1.45pm

Bowen Therapy For Yea joins "Business Directory"

Wendy Collins(dip BT) from Lilydale Bowen and Natural Therapies will now be working in Yea Tuesdays and Saturdays and Seymour on Fridays by appointment only.

Wendy has been practising Bowen Therapy for 5 years and holds her diploma of Bowen Therapy as well as completing her Masters 1&2 in Bowen Therapy.

Bowen Therapy offers fast results,often only a few sessions are needed to correct the presenting problem.The technique addresses not only the musculoskeletal framework,but also the fascia,nerves and internal organs.The bodys integrated response improves circulation and lymphatic drainage.

The Bowen Technique is an extremely gentle form of body work suitable for any-one from pregnant women to newborn babies and the frail and elderly.

Find out more here.

Yea Wednesday 10th March 2.45pm

Mayor’s Comment

Councillor Flowers and I were very pleased to accept an invitation to meet with the Minister of Health, Daniel Andrews, at an inspection of the site works of the new Alexandra District Hospital. After many years of dedicated work by the Hospital Board, you can now see the fruits of their work in this $20 million project. This is one of the largest projects commenced in the shire and will be a great asset to the community.

With Councillor Walsh I attended the announcement by the Minister of Sport, Recreation and Youth Affairs, James Merlino, of extra funding to the Flowerdale Tennis Club to finish their project of four new courts. This club has increased in membership four fold since the fire and epitomizes the spirit of the Flowerdale community.

Councillor Walsh and I also attended the inspection with Minister Merlino of the commencement of the installation of the lights for the Kinglake Memorial Reserve oval, which will enable night football to be played on the ground. All these projects will greatly enhance the capacity of our shire to attract residents and generate employment.

The Council has received many applications for the position of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The process for selecting the CEO is well in place and we hope to complete the interviews of appropriate candidates in the near future.

I hope every one enjoyed the long weekend and for the successful candidate for the King Parrot by-election it was your last weekend of true freedom and after being sworn in today your life will be forever changed. The community and all the Councillors wish the successful candidate all the best and look forward to welcoming him to the team.

Yea Tuesday 9th March 1.00pm

Poker Machines in Yea not Inevitable

|Peter Murray| Members of the Yea community concerned with the proposed introduction of poker machines to the Township - Yea.com.au 28th January -  could take heart from a recent decision of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling against the introduction of poker machines in the Romsey Township; Macedon Ranges Shire.

In an AGE article November 12, 2009 “Victorian town bans pokies after marathon battle” Jason Dowling notes “Macedon Ranges Shire mayor John Letchford tells 3AW radio that Romsey's pokies victory could set a precedent”. He also reported “Macedon Ranges shire mayor John Letchford was ecstatic after the decision and said the shire would help other communities fighting against the introduction of poker machines” and "We will be encouraging like-minded councils that have similar position as ours to take up that challenge and certainly we will be offering them any assistance that we have in our knowledge of this particular topic," he  (Cr Letchford) said.

The AGE article may be seen at  http://www.theage.com.au/national/victorian-town-bans-pokies-after-marathon-battle-20091112-iawr.html

The Bendigo Advertiser March 6th, advises “-----the City of Greater Bendigo rejected an application by the Foundry Hotel for support of its bid to operate 30 electronic gaming machines at its Golden Square premises.  ----

-----To its credit, and in an effort to garner the views of people living in the vicinity of the hotel, the council sought out the views of nearby residents via a survey.

Significantly, more than 74 per cent of respondents said they did not want poker machines at the Foundry Hotel. -------

Accordingly the onset of pokies in Yea is not inevitable, but any opposition from Council (based on a concern that the social and economic impacts would be negative) would require the backing of widespread and demonstrable community opposition.

Yea Monday 8th March 11.00pm

Three New Items in "For Sale"

You can view them here.

Yea Sunday 7th March 6.10pm

Second Wettest Summer in 37 Years

Yea.com.au's Weather Station recorded 193mm for the summer months. This is the second highest summer rainfall since 1972 when a massive 345mm was recorded. The highest suimmer rainfall since 1972 was in 2004 when 204mm of rainfall was recorded.

Yea Friday 5th March 1.10pm

Intelligence Test

This fun intelligence test will get you thinking.

Play here.

Yea Thursday 4th March 8.20am

Yea Wednesday 3rd March 1.10pm

Yea Junior Football and Netball Club Registration

Yea Junior Football and Netball Club registration night will be held at the Yea recreation reserve on Friday the 12/03/10 between 4pm and 5.30pm.

Netsetgo, Auskick, Under 12's, Under 14's and Under 16's football and netball. For insurance purposes all players will be required to be a member of the Y.F.N.C, fees to be paid on the night.

We would be grateful to hear from any persons interested in taking supportive roles at the club, interested parties please notify officials on the day.

Yea Tuesday 2nd March 12.30pm

Mayors Comment

It has been a very busy week for the council with a formal council meeting being held in Elidon for only the second time.  At the meeting council formally resolved to declare the Eildon Recreational Reserve a "Place of Last Resort - Neighbourhood Safer Place" in the case of a bushfire emergency. It should be noted that Neighbourhood Safer Places are not community fire refuges or emergency relief centres and should not be considered as places to relocate to when leaving early. Neighbourhood Safer Places are places of last resort, to provide shelter during the passage of a fire, when all other plans have failed. This is the first in the shire and will be welcomed by the Eildon community.

Council also resolved to survey the Yea community over the issue of poker machines. This will enable council to have a firm basis to deal with a future application for poker machines in Yea.

Further, council decided not to submit an application to the federal government for a "Global Learning Village", a recent project that has been discussed at length in previous council meetings and briefings.

I will let others describe the AFL match at Yea on Saturday, but to say I have never seen the town so crowded is an understatement and an event that highlighted all the attributes of Yea and Murrindindi. Congratulations to all involved in the organisation, a great success.

Councillors have continued to attend numerous meetings and events. Other events included the opening of the Kinglake West multipurpose building, Murrindindi Bushfire Recovery Committee, Murrindindi Regional Tourism Association, Kinglake Ranges Equestrian Centre community briefing, Yea Wetlands Committee, Environment Advisory Committee, Municipal Association of Victoria Training courses, opening of the Hi Arts Highlands Art Exhibition and Family Festival opening.

Yea Tuesday 2nd March 12.30pm

Price Reduction in For Sale

You can view it here.

Yea Monday 1st March 1.30pm

All Roads Lead To Yea

With the AFL NAB Challenge Footy Match and the St Pat's Race Club Meeting both held over the weekend - Yea was the place to be.

If you missed any of the action, Russell Wealands has sent in some of his pictures from both events.

Thanks Russell.

Yea Friday 26th February 1.10pm

Community House Program (Term 1) Now Available

Many courses still to start.  Download here or from the Community House web page which is available on the left menu.

Yea Thursday 25th February 1.10pm

Rural Australian Computer Terminology 

LOG ON: Adding wood to make the barbie hotter. 
LOG OFF: Not adding any more wood to the barbie. 
MONITOR:  Keeping an eye on the barbie. 
DOWNLOAD:  Getting the firewood off the Ute. 
HARD DRIVE:  Making the trip back home without any cold tinnies. 
KEYBOARD:  Where you hang the Ute keys. 
WINDOW:  What you shut when the weather's cold. 
SCREEN:  What you shut in the mozzie season. 
BYTE:  What mozzies do. 
MEGABYTE: What Townsville mozzies do. 
CHIP:  A bar snack. 
MICROCHIP: What's left in the bag after you've eaten the chips. 
MODEM:  What you did to the lawns. 
LAPTOP:  Where the cat sleeps. 
SOFTWARE:  Plastic knives & forks you get at Red Rooster. 
HARDWARE:  Stainless steel knives & forks - from K-Mart. 
MOUSE:  The small rodent that eats the grain in the shed. 
MAINFRAME:  What holds the shed up. 
WEB:  What spiders make. 
WEBSITE:  Usually in the shed or under the verandah. 
SEARCH ENGINE:  What you do when the Ute won't go. 
CURSOR:  What you say when the Ute won't go. 
YAHOO:  What you say when the Ute does go. 
UPGRADE:  A steep hill. 
SERVER:  The person at the pub who brings out the counter lunch. 
MAIL SERVER:  The bloke at the pub who brings out the counterlunch. 
USER:  The neighbour who keeps borrowing things. 
NETWORK:  What you do when you need to repair the fishing net. 
INTERNET:  Where you want the fish to go. 
NETSCAPE:  What the fish do when they discover the hole in the net. 
ONLINE:  Where you hang the washing. 
OFFLINE:  Where the washing ends up when the pegs aren't strong enough. 

Yea Wednesday 24th February 4.30pm

GOVT ACTS TO REDUCE TRUCK BRAKE NOISE IN
YEA & ALEXANDRA

A NEW noise camera system will be used to monitor heavy vehicles as part of a Brumby Government commitment to reduce excessive truck noise.

The Member for Seymour, Ben Hardman, said the Maroondah Hwy at Alexandra and the Melba Highway at Yea would be among the areas targeted by the technology which will be used for road surveillance and enforcement starting next month.

“Not all heavy vehicles emit excessive noise but loud engine brakes are inappropriate in built-up areas and can affect the community’s quality of life,” Mr Hardman said.

“The noise camera technology will allow VicRoads to enforce the heavy vehicle national noise emission standards across Victoria and to reduce noise from engine brakes – with non-compliance ultimately resulting in suspension of a truck’s registration.”

Mr Hardman said excessively noisy trucks would trigger the camera to take a photo and record the noise level of the offending vehicle, the location and time of the event.

“If over the permitted on-road noise level standards, the vehicle owner will receive a notice of non-compliance,” he said.

“The truck would then need to be presented to an approved EPA Victoria noise testing station to ensure compliance. Failure to do so will result in suspension of the vehicle’s registration.

“Truck owners need to ensure that their vehicle is well maintained and that the exhaust system is not defective.”

To ensure that trucks are not excessively noisy, truck owners should:

• Have a vehicle maintenance program in place to ensure that the exhaust system is not defective and that the muffler is free of holes and rust.

• Not modify the standard exhaust on the vehicle.

• Ensure the exhaust system has not been replaced with a cheap, ineffective muffler or non-standard components.

• Have policies and procedures in place that require drivers to use engine brakes responsibly and avoid their use in built up or residential areas.

• Require drivers to report any defects with the exhaust system.

On road surveillance and enforcement will begin in March and continue throughout the year.

Yea Tuesday 23rd February 1.00pm

Yea Monday 22nd February 12.30pm

Mayors Comment

I have in the past commented on the state government funding package that council accepted in December to assist the financial sustainability of the council.

As part of the funding package it was a requirement of the state government that the managerial position that has been provided to the council for a number of months from Local Government Victoria and the Municipal Association be formalised. This position is currently being advertised for a three year contract with a salary of $175K. A further commitment required from the council was to upgrade the salary package for the chief executive officer for a three year period for an additional $100K. Both of these commitments are out of the state government financial package and not from the rate base. Six million dollars of the government’s package was to upgrade our capacity to respond to the bushfire recovery program and the rest was to partly subsidise our rate loss.

As many people will be aware Councillor Bellingham is on sick leave until the middle of March. We ask that any enquiries that would normally be directed to Kevin should now be re-directed to any other councillor who will be happy to assist.

It is with great sadness that I acknowledge the sudden tragic loss of Lyle Jeffrey who has been working with council since the fires as a member of the engineering department in recovery work. His loss as a result of an accident is a great shock, and his loss is felt not only amongst his work mates, but also the people he dealt with in the community. Our thoughts are with Lyle’s family at this time.

During the past week councillors have attended the following events: meetings with fire appeal donors, community radio briefings, council meetings, opening of the Bendigo Bank in Marysvile, Independent Audit Committee meeting, Eildon Bus launch, opening of Alexandra Skate Park Shelter, full council meeting with Minister Helper (Agriculture and Small Business), meeting with Chief Executive Officer of the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority.

Yea Friday 19th February 11.55am

FULLY OPERATIONAL N/S PIPELINE ?????

Since the ceremonial opening of the North-South Pipeline last week the Brumby Government (and their agencies) has continued to peddle misinformation and untruths about the pipeline being "fully operational".

Plug The Pipe maintains that the shameful celebratory exercise of turning on the tap was nothing more than a desperate attempt to gain some positive media.

It is clear to even the most casual observer that Melbourne Water’s own daily storage figures for Sugarloaf show that the storage volume there has been steadily decreasing for weeks now and since the ceremonial turning on of the N-S pipe on Wed 10th Feb the storage has continued to steadily decline; see graph below.

There is no evidence of the supposed 325 megalitres  of inflows from Wednesday 10th to Friday 12th February that Melbourne Water claim show as a surge on their Sugarloaf inflow charts. 

This is happening despite apparent efforts to put up a smokescreen around inflows to Sugarloaf by surreptiousously releasing about 800 million litres of high quality water from Maroondah Res since last Saturday down the Watts River through Healesville to mix with all the septic effluent and contaminants before mixing further with the foul Yarra water between Coldstream and Yarra Glen an then being pumped back into Sugarloaf “via the back door” at Yering Gorge.

In short, there is nothing to indicate that anything like 325 megalitres of Goulburn water was delivered by the N-S pipeline from Wednesday to Friday last week which begs the question what is really happening with the pumps at the Goulburn River end.

Jan Beer, Plug The Pipe spokesperson, was at the Killingworth Pump site on the Goulburn on Wednesday 10th February, and states that NO pumps were functioning and NO water was flowing into the off-take grate. This was substantiated by footage from a local TV station, and information from several other sources.

An on-site Sugarloaf Alliance workman also confirmed that the pumps would not be turned on that day.

Workers who were inside the pumping station on that day, joked that "if the pumps were working, they were the quietest pumps we have ever heard"

And a Melbourne Water employee has confirmed that it was all a set-up.

We believe the water that gushed beneath the Premier's feet was water in the pipe from testing and commissioning, which obviously when flowing from the top of the Great Divide 370 metres above sea level, has considerable pressure.

The Brumby Government promised to be open, transparent and accountable - three qualities which in their 10 years of governance have been thrown out the window to be replaced by secrecy, dishonesty and lies.

We challenge Melbourne Water to openly and publicly report on their website the inflows daily into Sugarloaf Reservoir from the Goulburn River via the North-South Pipeline.

And to be completely transparent, install streamflow gauges in the Goulburn River immediately upstream and downstream of the extraction pumps at Killingworth.

|JAN BEER - PLUG THE PIPE SPOKESPERSON YEA GROUP|

Yea Thursday 18th February 11.45am

Yea Wednesday 17th February 12.00pm

ID Ten T Error

I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over. Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.
As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong?
 
He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'
 
I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, 'An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned.... 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?

'No,' I replied.
 
'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'
 
So I wrote down: I D 1 0 T

And to think I used to like Eric....

Yea Tuesday 16th February 3.30pm

Yea Monday 15th February 2.15pm

Only The English Language!

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes, But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men, Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship. We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop,  how come Mother's not Mop?

Yea Friday 12th February 1.30pm

Pollies to Cycle Through Yea and The Ranges

Politicians will come peddling through the Kinglake Ranges in April.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott will lead the group of federal MPs riding from Melbourne to Sydney to raise money for the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Sydney

McEwen MP Fran Bailey will be at the top of the hill welcoming Mr Abbott’s cycling colleagues when they reach Kinglake on April 8 after having spent the fi rst night of their journey in Whittlesea.

“We’ll be going through some of the really seriously affected country from Black Saturday,” Mr Abbott said at this week’s launch of Pollie Pedals 2010.

“We’ll be going through Whittlesea, we’ll be going through Yea and in particular we’ll be going through Kinglake and I’m looking forward to being in Fran’s company talking to the survivors, looking at the way the rebuilding exercise has been going.”

Fran said: “It’s a very steep hill going up into the Kinglake Ranges and I’ll be there leading the cheer squad.”

“It will be a great event for our local communities and the ride is for a great cause, highlighting the need for health for indigenous communities.

Pollie Pedal was started in 1998 by Tony Abbott and other politicians as a way to raise money for various charities. It also provides opportunities for politicians to meet and exchange views and ideas with communities and local organisations.

Since it started, Pollie Pedallers have ridden 12,000km to raise more than $1 million dollars for organisations such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Ronald McDonald House, Youth Insearch, and the Paralympic Games as well as medical research into childhood leukaemia, diabetes, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Yea Thursday 11th February 9.20am

North South Pipeline Operational?

A Billion Dollar Project - Pretend to be Switched on and in Secret, such is the Premiers Shame

Today the Premier at  a select media event told everyone that the North South Pipeline was operational. Indeed at the Sugarloaf Reservoir water did flow from on end of the pipe, however what the Premier did not say is that the water came from a water transfer tank not far from the reservoir and the pumps from the Goulburn River were silent.

Jan Beer said "A pubic opening of the pipeline would  only attract a enough people to fill a telephone box."
 
"This latest trick use by the Premier is indicative of the sort of deception the Government has used all through the project. It is a sad day for Victoria when the country is so short of water and the water minister announced the expected lifting of Melbourne's water restrictions. Even without the North South Pipe Melbourne has near two years of supply and that assumes that it will not rain at all in that time. The fact is, most of the water which will flow down the North South Pipe  this  year will be environmental water, not  the dubious water saved through modernising the irrigation districts. "

MEDIA NOTE - The Premiers Dept is putting out the story that the pumps were not turn on until 12.00pm - This is untrue our people have monitored the Goulburn Pump Station for most of the day. A simple inspection at the site would verify this. Media, make a visit to the Goulburn Pump Station, the Premier has been caught out - again.

Yea Wednesday 10th February 12.45pm

Yea Tueday 9th February 9.50am

Mayor’s Comment

Since the February 2009 fires this community has been under intense scrutiny from government and the media, ranging from reasons as to why the fires occurred and how we responded, to the sense of loss we have all suffered. The media coverage has been constant with the standard of coverage ranging from intrusive to compassionate. During the last week this coverage has been so intense that every waking moment, the memories of that day have been brought to the surface and projected into the public arena.

The community events of remembrance held in our community ranged from private to public community gatherings. For me the surprise was not the respect the media paid to the events, but the number of people who had been previous residents of the shire who had returned  for the day. This desire to reconnect with their former acquaintances and friends was so strong, but they had previously felt unease at coming back. The number of faces of new residents was also noticeable.  We will never forget the loss of family and friends and we will all move forward at the pace we choose, but in one sense a line has been drawn by the community.

As individuals and a community we can see the physical re-growth in our areas. The next year will see the completion of rebuilding our upgraded infrastructure. Like all of us I look forward to a bright future for our Shire and all its residents.

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