DEAR News Of The Area, ON 30 July I attended an informal 'Meet the Mayoral Candidates' at the Laurieton United Services Club. At this meeting there were only two candidates, Adam Roberts and Mark Hornshaw. I later discovered that the three other candidates running for mayor had not been invited! Rachel

DEAR News Of The Area, MY wife Becky and I recently attended a "meet the candidates" meeting at Port Bowling Club. The format of the meeting allowed us to get a good idea of the policies and personalities involved from all groupings and candidates except the Adam Roberts ticket. Given that this group

DEAR News Of The Area, EVERYONE knows and loves the koala but here in our Mid North Coast forests we have an animal that rivals even the koala for cuteness. The greater glider is about the size of a cat with round fluffy ears and an incredibly long tail. They are mostly

DEAR News Of The Area, THE Northern Territory election result, a decisive win for the Country Liberal Party, was fought largely on the issue of crime, particularly youth crime. More than most, being the NT, this means crime by Indigenous children. One of the first statements of the incoming Chief Minister, Lia

DEAR News Of The Area, THE local government election this Saturday has raised a couple of issues for me more generally. Some candidates continue to hide their political affiliations and claim to be “independent”. This is not transparent. Some of these candidates then falsely claim that we should keep politics out of our

DEAR News Of The Area, FOR the third time in a fortnight, the Hunter Valley has experienced a damaging earthquake near Muswellbrook, cutting power to more than 2,750 homes. The 4.5 magnitude quake, at 5:58 am on Saturday 7 September, struck Edderton and was felt across the Hunter Valley and

PART of the case against anything nuclear is the question of what to do with the waste. Australia’s only nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney is involved in medical research and the production of substances used in medicine. It can retain its own waste under safe conditions. The Federal

DEAR Jasminda, ON a recent flight with turbulence, the lady next to me grabbed my arm for reassurance. I tried to make her feel better by saying it was just the cloud cover. I’m also a nervous flyer so what I was really thinking was ‘we’re all going to die’. Was

DEAR News Of The Area, AS one of the larger LGAs in NSW, Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest and our other nearby villages desperately need a representative on MidCoast Council to give us a voice. It is possible to make this happen by voting 1 in the box above the line on Group

DEAR News Of The Area, I write in regards to the dog problem on Jimmys Beach along The Boulevarde. This beach section has ‘dogs prohibited’ signage along the road but unfortunately people do not take any notice. Lately Jimmys Beach along The Boulevarde has become a dog's paradise - with