CHILDREN enrolling in Rosebud West primary schools in the next few years will benefit from a program making language development the priority. Melbourne University professor Joseph Sparling launched his program at Seawinds Community Hub, Allambi Av, Rosebud West last week. “The program responds to strong evidence that children who start kindergarten and school with developmental delays are at significant risk of underachievement in school,” Seawinds Community Hub CEO Heather Barton said. “It offers a comprehensive, preventive approach to help children become not just school ready, but raring to go.” The pilot phase is being jointly run by Eastbourne Primary School,…
Day: May 25, 2015
POLICE have released images of two men who forced their way into the Tobacco Station store in Ninth Av, Rosebud, 2.37am, Tuesday 12 May. The men jemmied open the roller shutters and smashed glass panels on the door. One man stayed outside and passed a wheelie bin in to the other who filled it with cigarettes valued at $20,000. The men drove off in a light green 1998-2001 Toyota sedan. The store owner suspects two men who appeared to be casing the store the previous day. One of the men is of Asian appearance with a distinctive hairstyle. Anyone with…
THE mother of a child at Rye Primary School is “shocked” that over several years her children had been told to pick up rubbish in the grounds “with their bare hands”. “To discover that my children completed litter duty tasks without being provided any safety equipment, like gloves or tongs, has angered me greatly,” Lisa Stone, of Rye, said. “It would only take a sharp piece of hard plastic or glass, a discarded apple core from a child who has the flu – or worse still – a discarded needle to injure or seriously affect the health of my child.”…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council’s pending decision on the controversial RACV Cape Schanck resort expansion has been thrown into disarray over potential conflict of interest. The shire’s governance department cancelled last Wednesday’s meeting about the resort application just hours before it was due to start. Advice from the shire’s legal adviser had previously given councillors who are RACV members the all-clear to discuss and decide on the proposed $135 million resort but advice seen by The News disagreed. Governance took the conservative approach and stopped the meeting in Mornington. The issue hangs on members of RACV roadside assistance being entitled to…
ARGUMENTS for and against the rezoning of South East Water’s decommissioned reservoir land in Mt Eliza for housing were put to a state government planning panel meeting in Rosebud last week. The panel has 30 business days to prepare its report and the planning authority will have a maximum of 28 days to release the report to the public, says Mornington MP David Morris who has taken a keen interest in the matter. Late last year he asked Mornington Peninsula Shire to extend its public consultation period. The shire refused. In early 2014 the government water authority asked the shire…
ONE of Mornington’s iconic properties of the 19th century is on the market for $1.6 million. Mossgiel at 28 Bath St near the base of Beleura Hill and within a short stroll of Mills Beach will be auctioned on Saturday 13 June. The 2790-square metre property with its Italianate house is on the corner of Bath and Whitby streets, and has been owned by Philip and Moira Robinson of Robinson’s Bookshop fame since 1961. The couple opened their shop in Frankston in 1965 and sold it in 1993. It continues to trade. “We bought the property twice,” Mr Robinson told…
THE proposed signalised pedestrian crossing at Mt Eliza where Tower Rd and Volitans Ave join the Nepean Hwy will cost $500,000 and take about three months to construct. The News reported last week (“Lights for black spot”) the budget was $400,000 but Mornington Peninsula Shire will contribute $100,000 and a grant from the federal government will be $400,000. It had previously allocated $300,000 but the price went up when VicRoads agreed the lights needed vehicle-activated under-road pads at Tower Rd that will trigger the lights when cars seeking to enter the highway have been waiting a while. This should stop…
BANK customers are being warned to watch out for skimming devices being fitted to some Mornington Peninsula branch ATMs. A Bendigo Bank customer at Dromana got a shock to find her savings account “cleaned out” on Monday last week and immediately posted a warning on her Facebook page. Katrina Cooper, of Dromana, told friends to make sure the light was flashing over the card insert slot “otherwise it may have a skimming device” and also to cover the keypad with their hands when keying in PIN numbers. “People need to know for their own security,” she said. “My card had…
MAIN St, Mornington, will be abuzz this Queen’s Birthday long weekend with the sights and sounds of the third Mornington Winter Jazz Festival. The four-day celebration of music, art and heritage – and lots of entertainment festival – runs from 5-8 June. It will feature live laneway painting with The Snakehole Gallery artists, live music on stages, roving jazz bands and pop-up KidsZones from 10am Saturday and Sunday. The cornerstone of the festival is the jazz program with performances by Emma Pask and Adrian Cunningham, and George Golla and Jacki Cooper performing Tea For Two. There will also be Jude…
THE making of six wooden paipos, or wooden Hawaiian bodyboards, is a centrepiece of a project that is sees generations swapping skills. In return for being shown how to handle timber working tools by members of Mornington Men’s Shed students from Mt Eliza Secondary College are giving lessons on handling such digital touch screen devices as smart phones and hand held computers. But the outcomes for both old and young go much deeper than the creation of a surfboard or ability to operate a smart phone or computer. A surprising connection between the generations comes in the form of statistics:…
THE struggling Moorooduc Coolstores commercial centre is being thrown another lifeline in its long battle to remain viable. Its trading future has not been helped by the advent of Peninsula Link, which now diverts most peninsula tourist traffic away from the extensively renovated heritage buildings just south of Frankston. Although the centre now houses several businesses, including an Endota Spa and a cake shop, it needs more tenants. At the 22 April Mornington Peninsula Shire planning meeting councillors resolved to simplify the procedure for approving changes to use of the site, at the corner of the Moorooduc Highway and Eramosa…
HUNDREDS of Mt Eliza homes have been without landline phones since 10 May, Mother’s Day, after Telstra main cables were damaged. Telstra told customers the service was due to be repaired by Thursday 14 May but has since revised the date three more times – 19, 22 and 27 May. Some residents are furious with the way Telstra has handled the outage and a Facebook page used by Mt Eliza residents to complain or comment about current events is steaming with complaints as well as tips on how to work around the outage. After days of to-ing and fro-ing with…
A NEW land, a new language and no friends or job. It is a situation that is hard to imagine and even harder to experience. However, that was the predicament confronting Luz Restrepo when she arrived in Australia five years ago after fleeing her native Colombia. “I was a political asylum seeker with no contacts, very little English language and no employment,” Ms Restrepo said last week. “I had left my successful communications business to protect my family under threat.” It was a fear that she was unable to shake. “When I arrived in Australia I was full of fear,…
A MORNINGTON Peninsula car buyer was one of 91 victims of a trickster who allegedly wound back the speedos on cars he was selling online. Police at Mornington last week charged the man, 29, of Reservoir, with obtaining financial advantage by deception and acting as an unlicensed motor car trader. He was bailed to appear at Frankston Magistrates’ Court for a filing hearing and is expected to be tried at the Country Court at a later date. Detective Senior Sergeant Nick Vallas, of Mornington police, will allege the man on-sold vehicles to the value of $1 million after buying them…
NEPEAN INTERLEAGUE NEPEAN Football League dropped its Victoria Country Football League ranking from 13 to 12 on Saturday despite going down in a thriller to Riddell Football League at Mecedon. Wasted opportunities were the difference between the sides, Nepean FL having 31 scoring shots to just 24 but going down by three points, 15.9 (99) to 13.18 (96). The visitors dominated possession time in their forward half in the final quarter, however, could only manage 4.6 to Riddell Football League’s 3.3. Trailing by 12 points at three quarter time, the visitors quickly went three goals down in the opening minutes…
PENINSULA INTERLEAGUE PENINSULA Football League will get another crack at Geelong Football League for the top dog title after hanging on to beat Ovens & Murray Football League in Albury on Saturday. The visitors beat their more fancied opponents for the third time in as many meetings after knocking them over at Frankston Park and Optus Oval in previous meetings. Other than trailing by two points at quarter time, Peninsula FL controlled the game for most of the match. There were some tense moments in the final quarter when Ovens & Murray made a charge in front of their home…
THE Emu Plains and Bittern Race Club will hold their postponed race meeting on Tuesday next (weather permitting). *** S. S. PRICE, dentist, of Melbourne, will be at Garrood’s Prince of Wales Hotel this weekend, for the convenience of those who may wish to consult him. *** MR Allan W. Taylor, of the Frankston Motor Garage, has been appointed agent at Frankston for the Dunlop Tyre Co., and has in hand a good stock of all their motor accessories. *** THE secretary of the Frankston Football Club acknowledges with thanks the following donations to wards the club’s funds: Messrs C.…