Youth focus on sun safety
August 23, 2010
The Cancer Council has encouraged Australians aged 12 to 17 years to get creative and bust a myth about skin cancer by entering a short film, image or creative writing piece in the SunSmart competition before September 24.
With one in four teens getting sun burnt on a typical weekend, the competition is an opportunity to show friends and classmates how to be sun smart. Read more
Youths gain show ring experience
August 2, 2010
More than 40 youths from the South East, amongst a total of 186 entrants, including 44 from interstate, competed at the annual All Breeds SA Junior Heifer Expo in the July school holidays at the Adelaide showgrounds.
The expo is the largest and most successful event of its kind in Australia. Read more
Career opportunity for young music fans
July 12, 2010
REGIONAL youth across Australia have the opportunity to pursue a career in the Australian music industry with the launch of a new music journalist initiative. Read more
Students gain dairy industry insight
July 5, 2010
The Cows Create Careers program officially ended late last month with a presentation day at the Barn Palais, where students listened to guest speakers before awards were given out, along with lunches packed with dairy products.
Schools across the South East were recently involved in the initiative, which is a project of DairySA and Dairy Australia attempting to promote career pathways in the industry. Read more
Authorities answer call to clean up streets
July 5, 2010
Shop owners, city council, police and the Mount Gambier Chamber of Commerce have come together in a collective effort to clean up the streets of Mount Gambier.
Prompted by Wednesday, June 30’s The Border Watch article regarding Commercial Street being dominated by loitering youths on Thursday nights, the appropriate bodies heralded a proactive response to addressing the issue and said they would begin meeting for discussions soon. Read more
Junior talent shines through
July 5, 2010
Programs put in place several years ago to harness junior basketball talent in Mount Gambier is starting to pay dividends with six players involved in the initial stages playing at a national level this weekend.
Now competing at under 16 level, the four girls and two boys will represent Australia at the Junior Basketball National Championships which are being held in brand new facilities in Logan, Queensland. Read more
Dunn on target for international championships
July 5, 2010
International success is in the sights of Mount Gambier Field and Game Club (MGFGC) member Jamie Dunn when he travels to Italy to represent Australia later this month.
Dunn will compete in the junior division at the World Field and Game Clay Target Open Championships. Read more
Traders shut doors as youths roam streets
July 1, 2010
Traders claim loitering youths on Mount Gambier’s streets have forced them to close their doors early due to increasing theft, aggression and intimidation.
Reports of youths angering store owners and intimidating shoppers during the once popular late night trading on Thursdays in Mount Gambier prompted an investigation by The Border Watch last week.
Over the course of the night in the central shopping precinct, Commercial Street resembled a closed carnival ground in which restless youths treated the city centre as their playground while an increasing number of “fed up” shop owners closed their doors.
One shop owner, who asked to remain nameless due to fears of further harassment, emphasised the seriousness of the situation.
“We are often closing early now because of the problems we have with the young kids — that is how bad it has become,” he said.
“Look across the road — it is the main trading night of the week and all the shops are shut.”
The shop owner reported that he had concerns for the safety of his staff and customers on many occasions.
“Customers are scared — we have had to walk people to their cars and my staff often ask me to do the same for them,” he said.
Peter Gandolfi, who owns a Commercial Street shop, said he also feared for the safety of his staff.
“There are often youths about hurling abuse — when this is happening I have to bear in mind the safety of the staff,” he said.
Mr Gandolfi said he was considering reducing his trading hours even further due to the problems affecting the main street.
“I am only open until seven, but am looking at closing even earlier as business is becoming worse,” he said.
According to shop owners who spoke to The Border Watch said incidents included theft, petty vandalism to cars and shops, violent brawls, offensive language yelled at pedestrians and skateboarders playing chicken with customers using the footpath.
One shop assistant reported a group of teenagers had walked over the top of her car, damaging the roof.
An employee at clothing shop said theft attempts were common on Thursday nights.
“Girls often give me a hard time and play around to try and steal a jacket,” she said.
Another shop assistant pinpointed young girls to be the worst offenders.
“The girls are very vocal with their foul language,” she said.
On a night said to have once belonged to families, shop owners spoken to all agreed “hoons” were to blame for desertion of the streets on Thursday evenings.
“I remember I used to come down with Mum and Dad to shop on Thursday nights, but now only scattered shops are open– I blame it on the hoons,” a female shop assistant said.
The local shop owner who asked to remain anonymous said “late night trading hours used to be family time, but now Mr and Mrs average family say stuff that! We don’t want to go out and be abused.”
Mr Gandolfi agreed, stating the atmosphere created by the “undesirables” loitering along the street did not make the area attractive for families after dark.
One shop owner suggested the recent increase in trouble on the main street could be attributed to Centro Mount Gambier’s recent success in dealing with the same problem.
“I heard they have been kicked out of Centro so they have come down here now,” he said.
The problem seems to have migrated from Mount Gambier Centro shopping complex to the main street in recent times as the centre works to attract families back to late night shopping by banning misbehaving youths.
Centro Mount Gambier manager John Cooper said the centre had been experiencing the same problems, yet successfully worked collaboratively with the police and their security firm to “clean it up”.
“We do have a barring policy at the moment — since it has been implemented the problem has cleaned up, unfortunately it has moved to other parts of the town from my understanding,” he said.
“We only have six barrings in place at the moment, yet the impact of them has prompted the other troublemakers to clean up their act”.
This migration appears to have created a “hooligan” strip developing along Gray Street as the “troublemakers” move between Centro and the main street throughout the night.
“People shouldn’t commute down Gray Street at night — that is where the hooligans hang out,” a local shop owner said.
However, in the opinion of one shop owner, the youths were not wholly to blame for their idleness on Thursday nights.
“There is nothing wrong with the kids — they are just being kids,” he said.
“They don’t even want to be out there, but they have no choice and don’t know what else to do.”
Mr Cooper agreed, stating the kids were harmlessly “hanging around” and it was the large numbers in which they congregated that proved intimidating.
Full story in Wednesday, June 30’s edition.
Councils demand Youth Allowance equality
June 24, 2010
A joint effort to lobby the Federal Government has stepped up to amend Mount Gambier’s Youth Allowance classification boundaries from “inner” to “outer” regional.
The District Council of Grant passed a motion during a council meeting on Monday evening to call on Mount Gambier City Council and Wattle Range Council to jointly lobby for the change to enable more students to qualify for Youth Allowance. Read more
Life-saving gifts flow from tragedy
May 12, 2010
Red Cross Blood Service saw a “phenomenal” number of high school students donate blood in Mount Gambier last week, following a student-led promotion of the appeal.
The appeal comes one week after Robin Shepherd’s funeral — a local teacher who promoted blood donations and leukaemia awareness before the illness took his life. Read more
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