50 years ago February 1976
From this week, motorists in Echuca's parking meter areas will get less parking time for the same amount of money as parking before.
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Following a city council decision parking meter charges have been revised.
The new charges for Hare St between Pakenham and Anstruther Sts are: 10c for 30 minutes (previously 10c for an hour), 5c for 15 minutes (previously 5c for 30 minutes), no 1c or 2c coins (previously 2c for 12 minutes).
For the remainder of the parking meter area the new charges are: 10c for one hour (previously 10c for two hours), 5c for 30 minutes (previously 5c for an hour) and no 1c or 2c coins (previously 2c for 24 minutes).
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Moama could have a $130,000 multi-purpose community sporting centre before the end of this year.
A State Government grant of $51,000 to help with building the centre was announced this week by MLA for Murray, Mrs Mary Meillon.
The difference between the actual cost of the centre and the grant will be made up by local contribution.
In announcing the grant Mrs Meillon said funds would help Murray Shire Council to meet the costs associated with the development of the centre.
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A young Patho artist is exhibiting one of her paintings in the Herald open air art show.
The painting ‘’Desert Island’’ is the first that 17-year-old Sue Poxon has publicly exhibited.
The Herald exhibition, in the Treasury Gardens, will run until March 8.
Sue has been painting for about two years and hopes to become a full-time artist. She is particularly keen on painting landscapes and horses.
Recently, she took an eight-lesson course with Echuca artist Mrs Ida Askwith.
25 years ago February 2001
The National Party’s candidate to fill the shoes of Tim Fischer in the Federal seat of Farrer has no illusions about the fight on his hands.
Bill Bott, a retired farmer from the Corowa district, said that while the seat had been extremely well held, the electorate was volatile.
Mr Fischer, the former Deputy Prime Minister, has held Farrer since the seat was formed in 1983.
He retained the seat for the Nationals in 1998 with 52 per cent of the vote.
The next federal election must be held before the second week in January 2002.
The Liberal candidate will be confirmed at a Liberal Party pre-selection meeting in mid-March.
Those nominated include Joy Walker, Paul Trevethan, Ron Lewis, Sussan Ley, Ulf Ericson and Amanda Duncan-Strelec.
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Olympic gold medallist Scott McGrory and Echuca-Moama's Brad Edmunds shared a friendly chat about cycling on Friday night, but come March 11, the pair will tum into rivals as they compete in the Bendigo madison.
The pair met up at the Echuca-Moama Sportstar awards where McGrory was guest speaker and Edmunds was a junior monthly Sportstar winner.
In Bendigo McGrory will team up with gold medal partner Brett Aitken in the event they won at the Sydney Olympic Games.
Edmunds will join with Geelong's Lee Godfrey in the event for the first time.
While Edmunds has ridden in a couple of madisons before, he is looking forward to this one.
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Murray Shire Council has taken another step forward in its push to set up Mathoura Rural Transaction Centre.
An application for capital funding worth $460,000 for a Rural Transaction and Forest Heritage Centre has won support from Murray Shire Council.
Councillors were presented with a preliminary design and plan for the proposed centre at last Tuesday's ordinary meeting.
Murray Shire Council received a Federal Government grant for $9600 in November 1999 to prepare a business plan to test if an RTC would be a viable service in Mathoura.
10 years ago February 2016
Ryley Dodman might only be 11 but he has a very grown-up approach to the world around him.
For 18 months the Moama boy has been growing his hair. But it’s not a hippy phase.
It’s pure mathematics — the longer his hair gets, the more it’s worth.
Because he’s about to shave it all off for cancer.
‘‘The idea came into my head when my pop was diagnosed with prostate cancer for the second time,’’ he said.
‘‘I really wanted to help a cause, the World’s Greatest Shave just fitted really well into what I wanted to do.’’
He’s been busy telling classmates, teachers and anyone who will listen what he’s doing and why it’s so important.
‘‘Shavers get to feel some empathy with people who don’t get a choice to lose their hair.’’
So far Ryley has surpassed $2000 in fundraising, but he’s nowhere near done.
‘‘Mum said she’ll shave her head too if I hit $5000,’’ he said.
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Jobs and services at Echuca hospital could be slashed after a major funding cut from Canberra takes effect next month.
The hospital is set to lose $350,000 after Canberra — through the National Health Funding Pool — changed the way it calculated and allocated funds in Victoria.
Echuca Regional Health chief executive Michael Delahunty said the cuts would have a major impact on services, with the decrease equating to 868 emergency presentations and 56 elective surgeries.
When asked if jobs would be affected by the loss in funding, Mr Delahunty said: ‘‘I cannot guarantee anything’’.
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Paul Eade is a man with the need for speed.
He is the pilot of the Bud Light Racing formula 1 powerboat which this week returned from a successful meet on Lake Mulwala, the first round of the Formula Powerboat Grand Prix Championship series.
Eade’s team raced in three events in the formula 1 category, coming away with a perfect result with a win in all three races.
‘‘The conditions were good for racing, so it turned into a really good weekend,’’ Eade said.
‘‘We probably didn’t expect to win all three, but we were certainly well into contention at the start of the event.’’
Unlike ski racing which is hugely popular in the area, powerboat racing has all the boats racing at the same time rather than in a time trial format.