ANYONE wth outstanding fines might like to stay clear of Royal Geelong Show this weekend.
As of 3pm on day one, sheriff’s officers had identified 20 people at the show with 213 outstanding fines collectively worth $48,000.
“It’s disappointing so many people continue to ignore their fines and let the situation spiral out of control,” said Sheriff of Victoria’s Brendan Facey.
“The best option is for people to pay their fines on time to avoid extra fees and the potential for further sanctions.”
As if the rides and show bags don’t cost enough already.
GEELONG Cats fans by and large are none the wiser after up-and-comer Allen ‘Bundy’ Christensen’s surprise flight to Brisbane during the AFL trade period.
“Personal reasons” were often cited and Christensen himself declined to talk about it when introduced to the media after the deal had been done.
But most thinking fans realise that running from your problems usually amounts to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
FIRST prize for best band name out of Geelong, well Anglesea to be more accurate, goes to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, presently scooting around somewhere in Canada in a large black Hummer.
The psychedelic garage rock guitar-slingers set off last week for the US, England, Scotland, Holland, Portugal and Luxembourg armed with new album In Your Mind Fuzz.
Frontman Stu Mackenzie, who hopes to see the northern lights in Iceland, let slip with a not-so-surprising revelation about the effects-mad and “unashamedly sloppy” outfit’s new offering.
“Ironically, this one was done the traditional way: write, rehearse and go to the studio and record as a band,” he told Double Take.
With breakthroughs like this, who knows where they’ll wind up?
A VIGOROUS campaign against plans for a new Yarra Street Pier has bureaucrats and business types alike scratching their heads.
After all, it’s the first time in recent memory a job-creating proposal of such benign environmental or social consequence has faced such blow-back.
It’s not like docking cruise ships threatens the orange-bellied parrot.
And the proponents are trying to milk state and federal governments for the lion’s share of funding.
So what’s the motive behind the loud but single-tent-size opposition?
Readers are invited to speculate.
A GEELONG councillor spilled the beans ahead of this week’s vote on the controversial gas-extraction process of “fracking”.
Said councillor was aware of scientific studies clearing the practice of contaminating groundwater overseas.
Its benefits to the economy of the US, about to become a net fossil fuel exporter, were also noted, as well as the rising cost of gas on households,
But the councillor observed that the overwhelming opposition was populated with members weaing “foil hats”.
So council voted against “onshore gas extraction”.
And the fossil fuel industry was, er, foiled.
