Day: December 2, 2019

MORNINGTON Peninsula Table Tennis Association will this week play host to the best players from Australia and the Oceania region. Stars of Oceania include Heming Hu, Nathan Xu, Melissa Tapper, Grace Yee. They will be competing for a ticket to the teams’ events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as well as the 2019 ITTF Oceania Tour of Australia, Friday to Sunday 6-8 December. Residents are invited to get in on the action at Civic Reserve Recreation Centre, Dunns Road. Association president Max Coulthard said: “We welcome all spectators to come and cheer and a give a warm welcome all…

FORMER Mornington Peninsula Shire Citizen of the Year Karen Fankhauser last week opened the season of Mornington Yacht Club’s Sailability program. As chair of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s disability advisory committee, Ms Fankhauser would have felt right at home in the sailing program which allows people of all ages and abilities to enjoy sailing in a fun and inexpensive way. The program has been running since 1999 and participants can enjoy the freedom and fun of recreational sailing, while the more competitive strive to develop their racing skills. Participants come from the general community, disability service organisations, and special developmental schools.…

A TYRE slasher is costing Mt Martha motorists thousands of dollars in repairs and replacements. Using a box cutter or sharp knife the man has slashed the tyres of 23 cars parked outside their owners’ homes – often slashing more than one tyre on each car. Black and white images captured on a resident’s CCTV camera show a hooded man striding purposely along the street. One victim, who did not want his name used, said he had spent $1800 replacing nine tyres. “My daughter’s had seven tyres slashed and I’ve had two,” he said. “If there’s a next time I’m…

A CLASS project by Year 11 Design Technology Fabrics students at Mornington Secondary College will improve life for poverty-stricken children in Africa. Their Little Dresses for Africa project began with donations of pillow cases by parents and other students that the girls crafted into colourful dresses. They will be sent to Africa through the charity and the students will be sent pictures of the girls receiving them. The school’s head of art Lea Gilbert said she came across the idea while looking for recycled fashion ideas. “I thought it would be a great thing to do for charity as well…

FRESH from rescuing a swimmer in danger under Frankston pier, Senior Constable Julie Morris is planning a pier-to-pier swim from the Frankston to Mornington. The endurance swim in January will raise money for the Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation. To be called #piertopierforourpeers the swim also has the nickname “10k for 10k”. Senior Constable Morris, a member of Frankston police and a Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor, led a distressed Corey Wood to safety from under Frankston pier on a hot and windy Thursday 22 November (“Police to the rescue in pier drama” The News 26/11/19). An accomplished long-distance swimmer, Senior…

A ROSEBUD man caught driving at an alleged 111kph, pictured, in a 60 zone near the base of Arthurs Seat had his car impounded and will be summonsed to appear in court for driving at a dangerous speed. The 23-year-old, apprehended at 7.30pm, Sunday 24 November, faces a 12-month driving ban. Somerville Highway Patrol officers also detected a P2 probationary licence holder doing an alleged 141kph on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at McCrae on the same day. The 21-year-old man, of Yarraville, told police he was “on a car cruise and was trying to catch up with mates” about 7pm.…

A SPEECHWRITER has been hired to “provide help” to Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 11 councillors and its CEO John Baker. Christina (Tina) McGuffie was appointed in August “to support our councillors by providing help with the high demand for speeches which has always been a function of the shire’s communications team”, communications and events executive manage Randal Mathieson said. “The peninsula has a very active population and our councillors are highly engaged with their local communities,” Mr Mathieson said. “Each month we receive dozens of requests from community groups for councillors to speak at events, launches and activities throughout the shire.…

WITH more than 25,000 properties on the Mornington Peninsula relying on septic tanks to process their waste water it’s no wonder there are concerns about pollutants entering ground water and waterways. Many of these systems were approved decades ago and are long past their use-by dates. The mayor Cr Sam Hearn said it was important to ensure the health of septic tanks systems year round. “A poorly kept septic system is a health risk to our family, friends, waterways and the wider community,” he said. “This also applies to wastewater systems at commercial premises which also contribute to contaminating local…

A MORNINGTON tree-lopping business has been fined almost $7000 for illegally dumping truckloads of mulch and garden waste. This comes after Mornington Peninsula and Frankston councils joined forces to prosecute the company at both the Dromana and Frankston magistrates’ courts. Tree pruning and removal business Trim Up Tree Service, described as a “serial rubbish dumper”, was found guilty of dumping the waste at Mount Martha and Langwarrin. A Mornington Peninsula Shire news release said the shire had a strong zero-tolerance approach to illegally dumped rubbish, successfully prosecuting 12 offenders this year resulting in fines of $12,000. “Illegal dumping is a…

EVERY walk has a start and a finish. On Friday 22 November Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Sam Hearn joined the CEO of Kids Under Cover Jo Swift in taking the first steps of a four-day walk to raise money to prevent young people being homeless. Kids Under Cover has been running for 30 years, although it was the first time its fundraising walk has started in Rosebud. “We hope it’s the first of many,” Cr Hearn said, of the walk which ended in Richmond on Monday. “The work Kids Under Cover has done in this region and the state broadly…

ARMADAS of the stinging bluebottle jellyfish (Physalia utriculus) have been washed up on the Mornington Peninsula’s ocean beaches and may soon be entering Port Phillip. The bluebottle, or Pacific man-of-war, is an occasional visitor to Victorian beaches but more common in Sydney and further north. The wind and currents determine its journey before being brought ashore by incoming tides. Wikipedia says bluebottles differ from other jellyfish in several ways. The gas-filled float supports a number of specialised tentacles, which are actually members of a complicated colony. The individual members, or zooids, cooperate to form what looks like one jellyfish. Some…

THE Environment Protection Authority Victoria says beachgoers should check its forecasting service or sign up for its SMS service before going to the beach on the Mornington Peninsula this summer. EPA chief environmental scientist Dr Andrea Hinwood said the Beach Report, which came on stream last Sunday (1 December), provided information about water quality in Port Phillip. The service ends on the Labour Day weekend next March. The water quality report comes two weeks after South East Water warned that sewage spills into Tanto Creek may have polluted beaches south of Mills Beach, Mornington (“Beach warning” The News 26/11/19). “Our…

IN a two-year trial the speed limits on 38 shire-managed, high risk sealed rural roads will be reduced to 80kph from mid-December. The state government last week approved appeals from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to cut the speed limits to reduce the soaring road toll. So far this year there have been 14 deaths and more than 100 serious injuries – seven on high risk sealed rural roads – compared to two deaths in 2018. Many of the roads chosen for the trial have a history of crashes and have high-crash-risk factors, including narrow lanes, large trees close to the…