halt problems at the cause...tayla-jayde smedley, 17, said she is waiting to find out the cause of...

Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, July 31, 2012 — 3

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Rusty Zipper opening hours for sale period: 8.30am – 6.00pm Thursday and Friday

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NEWS

Meet thecandidate

Halt problemsat the cause

Adam Findlay - runningagainst Robyn

Lambley for the seat ofAraluen as a Labor

candidate

I arrived in AliceSprings in July 1986,the Todd was flowingfrom bank to bank, theairstrip at the Graniteswas wet and closed andI was staying at theMelanka Lodge.

Like so many people,I was hooked.

Over the next 26years I worked in andaround Central Aust-ralia. In 2006, I movedmy young family to theAlice because I knewthis is where I wantedto raise my family.

I am a strong sup-porter of workers’rights; I have seen thisfrom both sides of thefence, as a small busi-ness operator, as aunion delegate and asa manager for largecatering companies.

Nothing is more im-portant to me than en-suring that everyonegets a fair go.

As such, I’m a proudmember of Ross ParkPrimary School coun-cil and a volunteer forMeals on Wheels.

I firmly believe thatthe best long-term sol-

ution to the anti-socialproblems in AliceSprings is ensuring astable home life forchildren and ensuringthat every child gets aneducation. That is whyI am a strong sup-porter of the ‘‘everychild every day’’ policy.

I’m concerned thatthe CLP, if elected, willscrap the BannedDrinker Register.

This would put 2500drunks back on thestreets in our com-munity, with easy ac-cess to alcohol. I’m alsoconcerned about theCLP’s drive to openbars earlier, at 10am.

Their policy of ‘‘getthem drunk early sothey fall down beforethe sun goes down’’ isdisgusting and willonly result in more vi-olence on our streets.

The CLP tells us thatthe answer is more pol-ice — yet we alreadyhave the highest policeper capita ratio any-where in Australia.The answer is fightingthe problem at thecause, and that can

only be done by cuttingoff problem drinkers.

The CLP has heldthe Alice SpringsTown electorates forover 38 years — we’venever had a LaborMLA. The CLP runsour town down anddrives the negativehate campaign. I loveour town and I believethat having a Laborrepresentative in AliceSprings would helpshift the focus back topositive outcomes forour town.

During the 2010Araluen by-electionthe Henderson Gov-ernment announcedthat it would not sup-port a uranium mine atAngela Pamela.

This site, close to theairport, is just too closeto our community.

It is a position I stillhold and, if elected, Iwill never allow themine to go ahead.

Avatar is back – in 3DONE of the biggestmovies of all time isreturning to AliceSprings next week.

James Cameron’s

masterpiece Avatar willbe on again at the AliceSprings Cinema, thistime in 3D.

Australian actor Sam

Worthington has astarring role.

Avatar is on fromThursday, August 9, toWednesday, August 15.

n Wicking Page 6

Thanks to a letter to the editor at the Centralian Advocate, Heather Whittaker now has 12 volunteerswilling to deliver books to her to read. Picture: JUSTIN BRIERTY

Kick-start forlibrary service

Katie Weiss

A PENSIONER’S letter to theCentralian Advocate bemoan-ing a lack of library book deliv-ery services for elderly people inAlice Springs has stirred thecommunity into action.

Within days of HeatherWhittaker writing about herinability to access the library, 12residents contacted the Central-

ian Advocate offering to person-ally deliver books fromHeather’s favourite authors di-rect to her doorstep.

Library manager GeorginaDavison said the overwhelmingresponse supported her intent-ion to start a volunteer-basedlibrary delivery service fromnext year.

‘‘A lot of people would benefitfrom it,’’ she said.

‘‘There are many people wholove reading and I think readingis important for people of allwalks of life.’’

Mrs Whittaker said she wasunable to drive to the libraryherself and hated the idea of

using a tablet. ‘‘I think it’s

terrific,’’ she said of the offers to

deliver books to her.

A passionate reader who haslived in Alice Springs for almost50 years, Mrs Whittaker worksfrom home as a historical photo-graph archivist for Charles Dar-win University.

Alice Springs Town CouncilMayor Damien Ryan said: ‘‘Anytime that the community pullstogether to help each other is agood thing.’’

o If you would like to contributeto this initiative, please contactthe library on 8950 0555.

Mother’s sad plea

Tayla-Jayde Smedley, 17, with a picture of herbaby, Michael Keith Smedley, who died onThursday Picture: CAMERON BOON

Cameron Boon

FOR the mother off i v e - m o n t h - o l dM i c h a e l K e i t hSmedley, who died onThursday afternoon,waiting to find outexactly what happenedis almost as bad aslosing her son.

T h e d e a t h o fMichael Smedley wasreported on Friday.

Police are treatingthe death as suspiciousand are still investig-ating.

T a y l a - J a y d eSmedley, 17, said she iswaiting to find out thecause of her son’sdeath before she canbury him.

She said: ‘‘We can’tdo anything until wefind out. Our next stepis to start planning hisfuneral and to live onin his honour.

‘ ‘ E v e n t h o u g hMichael wasn’t mypartner’s child, he isfinding it really hard.’’

Baby Michael was athird-generation Cen-tral Australian. His

mum and grand-parents were born inAlice Springs.

‘‘He was a happybaby and he madepeople smile,’’ Taylasaid. ‘‘He was alwaysgiggling. He loved hisfood and was a reallygood baby.’’

Tayla got a call froma family friend, whowas looking after him,at 11am on Thursday.

‘‘We rushed to thehospital and he’d beenpronounced dead.

‘‘It’s been hard for us,especially when thereare things going innewspapers that aren’ttrue and people sayingthi ngs that the yshouldn’t.

‘‘There’s more thanone story out there,and the cause of deathhasn’t even been of-ficially released.’’

Tayla thanked herfriends and family fortheir support duringthe past five days.