Arthur Harshall!
ARTHUR MARSHALL I think you may have been a bit harsh in your letter regarding Simone McGurk (Herald, August 30, 2014).
Simone has been a great help to our local school since she was elected. She was instrumental in helping us remove a dangerous, vacant, asbestos house on the school site which the school has spent more than 10 years trying to get removed.
No other local member managed to do this.
She has also given up her time to attend a meeting regarding our 125th year celebration committee and offered us help for holding this community event.
I’m sure the local community would have plenty of other positive things to say about her. If you don’t like wasting paper, how about checking out her Facebook page to see what things she has done
Nikki Bowyer
Lefroy Rd, South Fremantle

Home unhosed
TO the person who thinks nothing of cutting up my garden hose. You do not come into people’s gardens to cut and help yourself to pieces of garden hose (especially when it is new).
This has happened to me three times now and it’s so annoying and frustrating when I unsuspectingly go to hand-water my plants to find water gushing out from various places of my garden hose and/or from my tap because the hose has been cut.
It happened again last night and this time even the tap fitting was taken. I didn’t have a spare one and couldn’t water the plants—I now have to go to the shop to get another. It’s going to be new—are you coming over at a later date to take that too??
If, as my neighbour suggested, you need pieces of new garden hose so you can smoke pot at Wireless Hill, I despair for you and for your family. Please stop before it’s too late – give yourself a break, give your family a break and give me a break!
Name and address supplied
Booragoon

Jump off the judgemental
I JUST read Ron Renton’s letter (Herald, August 30, 2014) commenting on “Biker son berated,” Deborah Swann’s letter of the previous week.
Ron, it is no joke. Deborah and her partner are having problems with their son’s behaviour. Yes, Deborah did say “we cannot control our son, who lives under our roof, and we rely on neighbours and the police to do so” but you cannot assume it is due to their “dismal failure (as parents)”.
Yes, sometimes children are badly behaved because of poor parental control but this is not always the case. The story behind the bad behaviour is not always so straightforward as Ron may think it is.
I have been a parent for 27 years. One of our children was seriously off the rails for a while. Yes, we did have no control over our child for that time, but that wasn’t due to lack of effort. Afterwards, our child got back on track, I then took an interest in observing similar situations and I have learnt through meeting parents who have faced similar challenges with a particular child, it wasn’t always due to “dismal failure” of parents but more to do with maybe the kid’s inherent nature or some unhelpful, unwanted circumstances.
I can fully sympathise with Deborah Swann. In fact, I think she is very brave for being so honest and upfront about it. Good on her!
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand these situations. I wouldn’t have understood 20 years ago as I come from a family background where none of us had any difficulties. In fact, I probably would have agreed with Ron back then.
So Ron please think again, don’t jump on the “judgemental bandwagon”. Life is complex, these issues aren’t always straightforward. Parents need society’s support to help their kids grow.
Name and address supplied

North Freo rail roaded
THE Fremantle rail bridge closure seems to have given Transperth permission to close down the suburb of North Fremantle for its own purpose. Buses used Thompson Road and Lesley Street as a racing circuit to turn around. There were between 20 to 30 buses every hour speeding and driving aggressively along the back streets.
I witnessed one car forced off the road because a bus swerved around the intersection without slowing.
Also, Stirling Highway came to a standstill every day because a lane was closed so buses could wait for passengers from trains.
Except for peak hour, most buses from Fremantle were empty or had fewer than five people on them.
There seems to have been no co-ordination to limit the number of buses needed.
Was there really a necessity to use huge double buses for three passengers?
As always, the living conditions of Fremantle residents are never considered.
Terry Neave
Thompson Rd, North Fremantle

Elephant atax
TAX returns are no joke, and neither is cruelty to animals. So when H&R Block used a captive elephant in a new television ad, the public didn’t laugh.
Many elephants used for entertainment in Asia are stolen from their mothers as babies in the wild—an extremely traumatic experience for these social, family-oriented animals. We encourage taxpayers to take their custom to a company that doesn’t support elephant abuse.
Jason Baker
Director of Campaigns
PETA Australia

Who pays when you go Dutch?
I WONDER how many more tax-funded overseas trips will it take to get our public transport fixed, and how much do these trips cost?
The present waste of money taking place is a trip to Holland to study bicycle transport.
If you have visited Holland as I have, you will find it has been their life and culture ever since the bike was invented.
WA has a different climate to overseas countries that the so-called experts are looking at. Not every Aussie wants to ride a bike to work in the rain, or on a hot summer’s day.
In the 1940s and 1950s, we had no option but to ride our bike to work, or catch public transport, as we couldn’t afford to buy a car.
It is time we looked at ourselves and not elsewhere, use the resources and local knowledge we have here.
Make more use of our river, improve the feeder bus service to our trains, purchase double-decker train carriages, increase the length of the train platforms.
Public transport should be made more affordable.
For my money it would be better to encourage the use of public transport and lose money than pouring more money into roads and overseas trips.
Frank Granger
Melville Bch Rd, Applecross

Church aces tennis
RICHARD FINUCANE (Herald letters, August 30, 2014) maintains the St Joseph Pignatelli Tennis Club, of which he is president “has not opposed the building of a new church in Attadale”.
Perhaps we should be grateful. To dwell momentarily on the topic of “gratitude”, if the tennis club is at all grateful to St Joseph Pignatelli Parish for the generous gift of 50 years’ free rent, its members have chosen a really fine way of showing it.
With all due respect to Mr Finucane, and his comments regarding the matter, the material result of the tennis club issue is the likelihood the church building process will be delayed while Melville council gives consideration to the club petition.
This seems most unfair to St Joseph Pignatelli parishioners who do not share in the benefits and the privileges of the tennis club, but who would far rather have a parish church built as soon as possible, without unnecessary delays. Now, it seems we must be patient a little longer. Notwithstanding this, I’m truly delighted to hear the tennis club has financed its own valuable infrastructure: this is completely appropriate, because “user-pays” is an excellent principle.
But, it seems that in this matter, tennis club members see only their own vested interest. In order for priorities to be correct, it would help to remember that without the Catholic Church, there would have been no tennis club and that, though the tennis club may well be some 50 years old, the Church is much older and performs a much more important role than any tennis club.
Dr Pauline Farley
Studley Rd, Attadale

Call for consistency
LAST weekend I read in the Herald the story of David Anthony and the fines he received from the Fremantle council over his pergola.
It was only later that weekend I discovered I had my own dilemma over building permits and regulations. On August 22 I had received a letter from [a big developer], dated August 20, advising of construction of a home adjoining land to a property of mine.
The letter enclosed a form BA20A requesting consent for removal of the current boundary fence and erection of a temporary fence on my land. The letter advised I had 28 days to respond. We returned the form clearly indicating we did not give consent at this stage. We might as well have saved our postage: the fence had already been removed, without notice or consent, and a temporary fence erected on our land.
The pamphlet enclosed in the company’s letter states: “New laws introduced in Western Australia under Part 6 of the Building Act 2011 require those proposing to do building work that may affect adjoining land to obtain consent or a court order before doing so. Substantial fines may be imposed on those who do not adhere to these requirements and commence works that affect neighbours’ land  without permission.”
We will be following up with the Fremantle council first thing Monday morning. I can only hope the council will be consistent and ensure big business does not get to flout the laws while the average man in the street is penalised.
Selena Knowles
Fortescue St, East Fremantle 

Arthur ashamed?
I AM not surprised former Liberal MP Arthur Marshall (Herald letters, August 30, 2014), was unhappy to see my recent communication to Fremantle seniors.
He must feel somewhat ashamed at the way state and federal Liberal governments have cut benefits to seniors. Rebates have been reduced, concessions cut or under review, and the proposed GP co-payment are all likely to hit seniors hard. At the same time vanity projects are being built and Colin Barnett’s closest advisers are granted massive pay rises. I certainly see it’s my role to point out to constituents the effect that government policies will have on their cost of living, although it’s hard to miss a $75 increase in your car licence renewal.
Simone McGurk MLA
Member for Fremantle