Hervey Bay Gossip

Don Burchill has been recognised in the Australia Day honours list for his services to surf lifesaving at a state and national level.

It’s something that I have never been able to understand and most other professional drivers can’t understand it either. Double parking outside schools - even for just a few seconds - is extremely dangerous and you should not do it! It endangers the lives of the kids - yours and others!

A report in today’s Courier-Mail highlights the problem.

An Ipswich mother was arrested and removed from her vehicle by police after she was allegedly found double parked outside a school on Wednesday morning.

While there are two sides to the reasons behind the handcuffing and removal there is no doubt that she shouldn’t have been there - but then it appears that the police were also double parked further down the road.

What sort of example is that?

Does the law in this State hinge on the old saying of “Don’t do as I do but do as I say”?

Double parking outside of schools is wrong and dangerous and no one should be doing it!

It seems that the cause of all these ructions in Federal Parliament is our very own Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce.

Shame on you Barnaby for daring to have a mind of your own and actually doing what we, the people, pay y0u to do and that is represent our interests in Federal Parliament.

It beats me how anyone - even another politician - could think that the electorate was so dumb as to believe that Barnaby Joyce was the reason that anyone would want to defect to the Liberal Party.

Please Mr Lindsay don’t insult our intelligence - you might choose to believe it but then you’re a politician aren’t you?

Yesterday we reported on the announcement of a new Ramada resort for Hervey Bay. Previously there had been some speculation that it might have been built on the site of the Anchorage caravan park in Urangan.

Late yesterday the developers revealed that the new resort will be built on land between Pialba and Point Vernon that is currently occupied by a hotel. Concerns about the height of the building are already being voiced by several groups.

No development plan has yet been submitted to Council.

School is back and motorists are reminded to watch their speed in school zones. Police are currently targeting motorists who speed in the 40kmh zones.

Statistics show that the worst time for accidents involving school children is in afternoon so take care and remember that speed limit.

The Kia Cerato has received the “Most Delightful Vehicle of 2005″ award in the small car division from Strategic Vision, a US company that has been running the awards since 1996.

Strategic Vision measures the experience of approximately 90,000 new vehicle owners annually. According to Strategic Vision, the results give the industry actionable information about multiple issues, including building better vehicles, communicating more effectively, increasing sales opportunity, creating strong brand image, creating loyalty, and assessing success and failure of strategy.

Nissan are poised to release their latest new car on February 1. The Tiida will replace the Pulsar and promises to bring a new level of comfort and technology to the class.

Reed Property Group of Maroochydore have announced that a new 125 room resort will be built in Hervey Bay for the Cendant Hotel Group - better known as Ramada.

The resort will be part of a large investment in resorts by Ramada and by the time construction is completed there will be 10 resorts spread along the Queensland coast.

Construction of the resort in Hervey Bay is not expected to start until 2007.

Anyone who has had a heart attack now has a damaged heart but what if that damage could be repaired or mended?

The ability mend a broken heart is almost with us and all it will require is a patch. The patch is a piece of healthy cardiac tissue grown in the lab in just a few days and applied to damaged hearts.

Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York described the new technology at symposium on Thursday.

You can read the full story here at HeartInfo.org.

For all you Hervey Bay boaties here is some news about a new outboard engine that has been released.

Japan’s second largest outboard manufacturer Tohatsu has unveiled a new 115 horsepower two stroke outboard engine featuring Orbital’s air-assisted direct fuel injection technology.

Tohatsu have stated that the new MD 115A engine is the new flagship for the TLDI(R) range, and will be on sale in the northern summer of 2006.

The TLDI(R) series of engines are Tohatsu’s award winning outboard motors utilizing the Orbital air assisted direct injection technology (OCP). These direct injection two stroke engines have been in production since 2000 starting out with the 50 horsepower (MD 50) engine. Over the last few years the TLDI(R) range has been extended to cover 40, 50, 70 and 90 horsepower in-line 3 cylinder engines. This new release now extends the technology onto their largest displacement in-line 4 cylinder engine for the first time.

Orbital Chief Executive Officer Rod Houston said this new release continues to show the commitment of our licensees to two-stroke engines in combination with Orbital’s direct injection technology.

“Tohatsu have done a brilliant job on their new flagship TLDI(R) engine; not only have they produced a clean and efficient outboard they have also paid significant attention to the refinement of the overall product including noise quality and styling. This product is confirmation that there is a place for clean and quiet two-strokes in the marine outboard market alongside the four- strokes,” said Mr. Houston.

“Any day that one of our customers releases a new product with OCP is an important day for our future revenue streams and the sale of Synerject components.”

Just when Federal politics seems to be settling into a boring and predictable rut the Prime Minister decides that it’s time for a new look cabinet so Ministers start retiring and then yesterday a National Party member defects to the Libs.

Suddenly the National Party’s share of plum Ministerial jobs is starting to look a little uncertain and we here the leader of the Nats resort to the ‘h’ word. You know a politician is worried when he calls on another of his breed to do the ‘honourable thing’.

Using that word is only one step from wrapping himself in the flag.

An honourable politician? Hmmmm.