Letter to the editor

LILYDALE VANDALISM

The Lilydale community meeting at the Mt Arthur
Centre addressed the issues for our young people quite well. Our younger members need assistance from us, the older part of the community. The issues raised, and some of the solutions suggested are very relevant and I am sure we will all work with the school and the students to address their needs.

I felt that the issue of our police presence at Lilydale was not adequately addressed at the meeting or
minuted in the 'suggestions'.

The vandalism over recent months has resulted in
significant financial cost to businesses, the school and council. Vandalism also brings with it worry, stress and emotional costs to those directly affected, and to those who live near to the vandalism. This includes many
elderly people. Is it appropriate for residents to
confront a group of people at night who may be
throwing rocks on roofs, breaking windows with
slingshots or attacking the phonebox? Even if you knew the identity, age and alcoholic/drug state of a group of people, would you approach them?

We need to be able to contact our local police officer when we need him. This means a 24-hour-a-day
availability. This is going to need some political push from the community. We may need to send a petition to our Minister of Police so that we can have our local police station upgraded to a 24 hour 'on-call' station. What do you think?

Helen Denney.

Tasmanian Regional Arts News
It has been a quiet month for our Branch.  The only happening to report is that several of our members
attended the AGM of Tasmanian Regional Arts, held at the Inveresk Museum complex.  Carol Charlton will again be a member of the State Executive, and
President of the Northern Region.

By the time you read this, our Mandala Workshop will have been and gone, but a report of the day will appear in the next issue.

Some dates to remember
Friday June 20 - The annual Lantern Walk.  Please remember that for safety's sake we recommend that lanterns be suspended from a stick.
Some requests - Does anyone have any ideas about a way to light up the route the walkers take along the school oval?  Lanterns have been tried in the past, but they do not provide enough light to make the route clearly discernable.
Also - does anyone have a decent sized electric urn we could use to heat the water for the Milo?