Month: August 2017

BURGLARS used a brick to smash the front door of the McCrae cafe Merchant and Maker last week. Cash was stolen in the robbery, early morning Monday 31 July. It was the second break-in at the cafe in several months. “Cash was stolen from the register and our crucial morning trade was completely disrupted,” head roaster Ryan Toleman said. “Police are here now dusting for fingerprints.” Another nearby Pt Nepean Rd cafe was also broken into at around the same time. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report…

A BAN on smoking in all commercial outdoor dining areas in Victoria came into effect last Tuesday, 1 August. The ban covers all restaurants, cafes, takeaway shops and licensed premises, including beer gardens, courtyards and footpath dining where food other than snacks is served. The ban applies to food fairs and organised outdoor events such as street and community festivals, school fetes, sporting events and craft markets with food stalls. People caught smoking in an outdoor dining area face a $159 fine, with a maximum court-ordered penalty of $793. Businesses face fines of $793, with a maximum court-ordered penalty of…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has a new Alcohol Management Policy, but it reads the same as the one adopted this time last year. Just three submissions from members of the public were received before the shire made its annual review of the alcohol policy. One submitter was unhappy about not being able to take a bottle of red wine to the beach for a barbecue without breaking a shire local law, one complained about cigarettes at licensed outlets, and one wanted footpaths improved. The wine drinker stated: “I would like us to act as a mature community – I do not…

ARTIST Vicki Sullivan’s entry in this year’s prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Prize is Professor Daniel O’Brien. It’s not a familiar name to most people but his work on the Bairnsdale ulcer is widely known, especially on the southern Mornington Peninsula, a hotspot for the skin disease. Professor O’Brien is an internationally known infectious diseases specialist focusing on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and Mycobacterium ulcerans, the Bairnsdale ulcer. He works at Geelong and Royal Melbourne hospitals, holds a teaching and research position at the University of Melbourne, and advises Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). Professor O’Brien, who lives in Geelong, conducts…

TWO men who robbed a pensioner while he was riding his mobility scooter and walking his dog along Rosebud foreshore last week have been described as “despicable” and “callous”. Barry Morris-Shaoul, 69, of Rosebud, was walking his dog Uke near the back of the bowling club when he was confronted by the pair wearing dark-coloured hoodies and jeans, 6.30am, Wednesday 2 August. “They came up to me and asked for a light,” the Vietnam veteran said. “That’s not unusual around here as some people are struggling, so I went to give him one and that’s when they started abusing me.…

LIMITING short-stay rentals on the Morning Peninsula to a maximum of two people a bedroom would be “overkill” and unlikely to reduce problems, the owner of an established holiday rental said last week. Christine Delamore, who said she had never had problems with tenants at her Dromana holiday house, said a “few bad apples” at other rentals were tarnishing the industry. Many holiday rentals have three beds a bedroom – such as a queen size for the parents and bunk beds for young people, she said. “It’s good to have regulations and high standards … but to limit bedrooms to…

MORNINGTON police were involved in a dramatic incident on Friday when a stolen car was driven up the wrong side of Bungower Rd – and even up onto the footpath on the wrong side of the road – during school pick-up time. Frightened parents and sobbing pupils from St Macartans Primary School scattered as the silver Holden Commodore – nicked earlier from Roxburgh Park – roared up onto the footpath in its efforts to get away. Senior Sergeant Steve Duffee, of Mornington police, said the “manner in which the car was being driven” brought it to their attention near…

ANIMAL lovers demonstrated outside the shire’s Mornington offices, Sunday 23 July, over what they say is secrecy surrounding the number of unwanted animals being put down at the community animal shelter in Watt Rd. Save Mornington Pound Animals organiser Rosy Fischer said the rally was a success. “More than 70 people braved the cold and rain to stand for the animals, along with their dogs – even a cat made an appearance,” she said. Protesters brought their pets and dressed up as their favourite animal for the protest, which comes just weeks before the shire prepares to unveil $900,000 in…

SPEEDSTERS beware, members of Somerville Highway Patrol are out in force for Operation Hisser. Their focus is on the Mornington Peninsula’s rural roads with speed limits of 80kph or higher. They are aiming to ensure that drivers obeying road rules. In the first week of the operation police detected 120 speeding offences, two drug drivers, four unlicensed drivers, one suspended driver and seven unregistered vehicles. Sergeant Peter Martin said Operation Hisser would continue over the next few months. “Drivers need to be aware of the speed zone that they are driving in and always drive to the conditions,” he said.…

FUNDRAISING for the third annual Sleep In Your Car event in Mornington on Saturday is in full flight as the shire’s mayor Bev Colomb throws her support behind the cause. Cr Colomb will join others at Mornington Park on Saturday night who are giving up sleeping at home for one night, and she aims to raise at least $1000. The mayor has a way to go to catch fundraising frontrunners, some of whom are halfway to their targets, but no doubt she can find plenty of sponsors among the shire’s 10 other councillors and 1000 plus staff. This is Fusion…

Mornington Peninsula Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a robbery involving two men who targeted an elderly man in a mobility scooter this morning. Investigators have been told that a 69-year-old man was walking his dog at 6.15am when confronted by the two offenders along the Rosebud foreshore near the rear of the local bowling club and demanded his wallet. When the elderly victim told them he was not carrying a wallet, the two offenders assisted him from his scooter and removed his jacket. They took a mobile phone from the victim’s jacket and demanded he hand over his watch…