AROUND THE TRAPS: Pay it forward Trivia Night

BILL ALLISON COLUMN

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Mossman Mill.

The Mossman State Primary School P&C teamed up with the Mossman Boat and Fishing Club to hold a Trivia Night to raise much needed funds for the students and families of Ingham State School.

The Pay it Forward Trivia Night raised more than $4500 to help people who were badly affected by recent floods in Ingham.  The P&C and Fishing Club members felt compelled to help in some way, saying they were all too familiar with the devastation of such an event.

This was a wonderful gesture by not just these two organisations but those in our community who donated to the event, as well as residents who attended the night itself.  Although there were many businesses who donated in various ways, the big contributors ought to be recognised including Club Mossman which donated $1000 and dinner vouchers, and Aussie Campfire Kitchens, which not only donated their gear, but spent a whole day cooking for this event – absolute massive effort.

Another business, Goodies Cafe also helped cater for the event, as well as a local young lady and her family – Shayla Kaimuko. The Mossman Boat & Fishing Club’s committee members donated all profits made on drinks on the night as well as staffed the event with the P&C volunteers.

It’s hearing good stories like this and seeing selfless people and businesses do this for no reason at all but to help others out which makes our community so great.

 

Mossman Mill

It is so sad to see the closure of the Mossman Mill after all these years. Sugar cane has been the life of our town, tourists taking photos of the harvesters working and, in yesteryear, the burn-offs, and not that long ago, visits to the mill to see it operating.

Club Mossman has a sugar festival bowling event in August to celebrate our town’s history of sugar cane.

Previous governments have put in millions of dollars to keep the mill operating. Why can’t this one put a few dollars in?

 

But here’s a thought

The LNP federal opposition, if elected, is promising to spend billions and billions of taxpayers’ money on building and owning nuclear power stations across the country.

The people from the party of “free enterprise” are saying that they believe the government should nationalise this measly 4 per cent of the electricity generation in Australia. They say that they believe they can produce electricity cheaper than private industry.  (The truth is that private businesses won’t touch nuclear power generation because they’ve done the sums, and it just doesn’t add up.)

So, if the LNP thinks it can do better than private industry, how about it promises to buy and run the mill for a fraction of the cost of a nuclear power station.  It could start next season – not in the pie-in-the-sky promise of nuclear power in 2040!

And another observation.  During the last state election, the LNP promised to save the Mill and Mossman. That promise won some votes for sure, but now could well be the last puff of smoke to come out of the Mill’s chimney.

And what about the mill workers?

 

Douglas Shire Council

The council is doing an excellent job of upgrading our water supply for the Shire, with the help of government grants that it was able to negotiate. Council appears to be working very well as a team with a good chief executive, by all accounts, so good on you all. 

Nice to see more transparency in council also, as well as councillors who are working for our Shire, not some other agenda.

Around the traps is a monthly column contributed by well known Douglas Shire resident Bill Allison.

The views and opinions in the column are those of the author and author only and do not reflect those of the Newsport editor or staff.

 

 

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