AT: Tim, the court staff have waved the big stick at the crooks and solicitors who smoke out the front of the complex in Koroit Street. I'm told the smoke drifts in through the entrance and as of this week police have been instructed to enforce the new smoking laws that ban smoking under state-owned shelters. Apparently the fines are about $1000. The new laws apply to out the front of the court and other facilities like shelters at train stations.
TA: I'm looking for the phone number of the big bookie, Gerard Daffy. Have you got it?
AT: What are you trying to back?
TA: I want to have a few dollars on Warrnambool umpire Shaun Ryan getting a gig in the AFL grand final. I'm sure Daff will bet some good odds. Ryan is one of the umpires in charge of the big Geelong/Western Bulldogs clash after a great season with the whistle.
AT: Allansford barman Friar Fisher has been known to attract trouble, but he has changed his tack. He's now driving head-first into it. Friar was driving along near the old Woollen mill and he thought he would do the right thing when he came across an elderly gent with a couple of corgies and got off the road. He didn't take a lot of notice and drove into a puddle like a mini-lake. Friar was surrounded and bogged so he called on his fisherman mate Peter Sandow, Sandy drove past but didn't stop. ``I had to keep going or I would have finished up like him, bogged,'' Sandy said. While Sandy was off getting a four-wheel-drive, police were alerted to the presence of a vehicle in an usual position and because there had been some hoon driving in the area they investigated. Friar was found with wheelie marks leading directly to his bogged car and it was only Sandy helping explain that got him home without the law's intervention. Even when the constabulary arrived Friar was calmly sitting in his car.
TA: I reckon its fitting that we should acknowledge the substantial financial commitment that Port Fairy's Paul ``Nuts'' Carter and Roberta Carter have made to the Port Fairy Surf Life Saving Club. I can't reveal the sponsorship deal but I can say the club has ordered a new boat and trailer for this season. The couple have two lads playing junior footy in the town and the sponsorship deal has created plenty of interest at the life saving club. A couple of extra crews are working hard now for the peak season. It's believed the boat, which is being built in Sydney, will be here in November.
AT: The rumour of the week is that Warrnambool's Reeves Bakery is in the process of being sold to the family of a tennis coach.
TA: There seems to be a bit going on in basketball and netball circles on and off the court. Former Warrnambool Seahawk Bobby Cunningham appears to have attracted a bit of attention.
AT: Tim, I think you would find if you're an African-American in Warrnambool approached 200cm tall and a fraction vocal and boisterous then you would attract attention. Just about everyone recognised Bobby and it could be a bit of the tall poppy syndrome. Cunningham has been very good for Warrnambool and basketball. He's passionate about his sport. Cunningham now has a young family in Warrnambool and has established himself outside sport. He's a juvenile justice worker providing an ear and guiding hand to many of Warrnambool's troubled youth.
TA: Well you spend a bit of time in court how much is going on?
AT: There's only so much you can write about children's court because the protection of the child is the No.1 concern but some kids who experience massive problems. Broken homes and other factors can lead to substance abuse and without the efforts of Cunningham and his colleagues many of these kids would go further off the rails.
TA: I've got an update on former Terang, Essendon and Melbourne footballer Chris Heffernan and his overseas trip. He travelled around the United States doing all the tourist things and is now lining up for a few job interviews. There's talk about a new Mercy Health and Aged Care 65-bed retirement village in Warrnambool on Hopetoun Road.
AT: It looks like Allansford's Tim Ward has been cleared to Panmure. Until next week, hooroo.