Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, September 24, 2013 — 11

YMCA of CA School Holiday Programs

30/09/13 to 4/10/2013

ZumbaATomic (5 -12) Monday 30/09/2013

Fri 4/10/2013 10-11 am

$10 pp

I n d o o r R o c k C l i m b i n g ( 5 - 1 2 ) Tues 01/10/2013Thurs 03/10/201310pm-12pm$15 pp

Indoor Rock Climbing for Teens (13-17)

Thurs 03/10/2013

2pm-4pm

$15 pp

YMCA Gymnastics (5-12) Wednesday 02/10/201311am-1pm$20 pp

Please book early at YMCA of CA reception to guarantee place

Wear comfortable clothes and trainers and

bring a water bottle/snack

For all enquires contact YMCA reception team 8952 5666

reception.ca@ymca.org.au

NEWS

Cars burn intown brawlTHE peaceful town of TiTree was rocked by a con-frontation involving wea-pons and two cars that wereset alight on Fridayafternoon.

Police said they wereworking to resolve issuesbetween two family groupsin the area after theconfrontations.

Police received a report ofa disturbance at CreekCamp near Ti Tree, about200km north of AliceSprings, about 1pm onFriday.

A group of 40 to 60 peoplewere there attending a‘‘sorry camp’’ being held fol-lowing a death.

Another family group ofabout 20 people came to thecamp armed with axes,machetes and nulla nullas.

Police said that during anargument, two vehiclesnearby were set on fire.

Police attended and inter-vened, trying to mediateand resolve the problems.The fires were extinguished.

At the same time Satur-day, police said two groupsof about 30 people wereagain fighting in Ti Tree onCrown land opposite thepolice station.

They were carrying trad-itional weapons and ironbars.

Police attended and sep-arated the groups.

Two people received whatappeared to be minor injur-ies during the secondincident and had beenattended to.

Hitting brakes for hospital

Alice Springs Town Council is considering reducing the speed limit near the hospital entrance.

Jessica Brown

THE speed limit betweenTraeger Avenue and StuartTerrace could change from60km to 40km to prevent caraccidents at the AliceSprings Hospital’s newEmergency Department en-trance.

The Alice Springs TownCouncil discussed the mat-ter at its monthly Commit-tee Meeting last week afterreceiving a letter from thehospital’s chief operationalofficer Sharon Sykes lastmonth.

Ms Sykes said in her letterthat there have been severalnear-miss instances be-tween vehicles exiting theshort-stay carpark andambulances approachingfrom the south along GapRoad.

She also said there is anissue with visibility fordrivers exiting the short-stay carpark when lookingnorth (left).

Council agreed that thenew hospital entrance wasnot very user friendly formultiple reasons includingthe speed limit along GapRoad and the amount ofsigns in that area, whichcombined seem to confusethose trying to get to thehospital quickly.

Owner and manager ofData Driving and formermember of the NT RoadSafety Counci l JohnBridgefoot said reducingthe speed limit betweenTraeger Avenue and Stuart

Terrace is an excellent idea.

‘‘I still think people shoulduse their common sense but(reducing speed) outside ofthe hospital, that’s a validcase,’’ he said.

‘‘If they got rid of theschool sign and just made ita blanket 40km the whole

way (along Gap Road) itwould be much easier.’’

Mr Bridgefoot said he alsoagrees that there are toomany signs in that area, ashis students are often con-fused when driving alongGap Road.

‘‘There’s line all over the

place and there’s so manysigns, it’s an absolute s***fight,’’ he said.

The pedestrian crossingfurther south along GapRoad is also proving to be aproblem as the fence wasripped off and in the middleof the 70km road last week.

The crossing has been re-paired multiple times withinthe past year but continuesto be a target for vandalism.

Counci l wi l l decidewhether the speed limit willbe reduced and signs re-moved at the general coun-cil meeting next Monday.

Award recognises workof aged care co-ordinator

Marion Pilipovic

Steve Menzies

SIX years’ caring for otherswas acknowledged whenMarion Pilipovic was pres-ented with the 2013 Austra-lia Association of Geron-tology NT award foroutstanding contribution togerontology yesterday.

She is the care co-ordinator of St Ives Com-munity Care Services in Al-ice Springs.

Marion’s nominationhighlighted her outstandingcontribution in the practiceof aged care, the delivery ofa quality aged care serviceand the understanding ofthe individual and uniqueneeds of clients from aculturally and linguisticallydiverse background.

This was told through thepersonal experience of a cli-ent: ‘‘I was so grateful forbeing giving another chanceat life’’ says one client inMarion’s nomination.

‘‘By viewing the personholistically, Marion is able toprovide a service that fitsthe needs of her clients andenables them to reach theirpotential rather than be-come increasingly more de-pendent on others,’’ the cli-ent said.

Marion has been workingwith St Ives CommunityCare Services for six yearsand was surprised to benominated, let alone win,the award.

‘‘I am a caring person andI enjoy working with people,

especially my clients,’’she said.

‘‘I was taken off guardwinning the award. It is niceto be acknowledged.

‘‘It can be hard work butat the same time, it isvery rewarding.’’

Marion was presentedwith her award by the pre-sident of NT AAG MelissaLindeman during the De-mentia Awareness Week ac-tivities at the Alzheimer’sAustralia NT in the CinemaComplex yesterday.

‘‘With Australia’s ageingpopulation, professionalsspecialising in gerontologyare increasingly in de-mand,’’ Ms Lindeman.

‘‘Why not become amember of this exciting

new chapter in the North-ern Territory.

‘‘As a member of the AAG,you will be a part of Austra-lia’s largest community ofgerontologists drawn fromdiverse backgrounds.’’

Gender diversity issuesfocus of new workshopS I S T E R G I R L S &Brotherboys NT are con-gratulating Alice SpringsWomen’s Shelter for reach-ing out to people of diversegender, sex and sexuality.

The shelter is currently inthe process of writing ananti-discrimination policythat is inclusive of allwomen, transgender andintersex people.

The Women’s Shelter isinviting organisations andindividuals to attend atraining and awarenessworkshop this Friday,hosted by Crystal Love

Jonson, an esteemed seniorSister Girl, and ZoeyBirkinshaw, from the Mel-bourne Zoe Belle GenderCentre.

Crystal said this workshopwould bring issues regard-ing diverse gender, sex andsexuality into the light, andhelp remove the stigmawhich it often attracts.

The workshop will be heldfrom 9am on Friday in theAndy McNeil room at theCouncil Chambers in AliceSprings. To register for theworkshop contact Star Ladyon 0423 149 288.

Todd River dust snaps aplace in Elders calendarHUSBAND Locky was dis-appointed it wasn’t his30-year-old truck that wasimmortalised.

‘‘But you can’t pleaseeveryone,’’ said station man-ager Paddy Weir.

Ms Weir, the mother oftwo who looks after Allambiand Todd River stationssoutheast of Alice Springs,has snapped her way into anew calendar with anaward-winning photographof gritty outback life in thedead Centre.

She beat more than 465other entrants to win her

spot with Dusty North Bore,Todd River Station.

Ms Weir produced a seriesof pictures from Todd RiverStation that won a prize atthe Alice Springs Show. Butit was her snap of a 44 gallonoil drum caught in a duststorm, the last in the series,that has been immortalisedin the 2014 Elders calendar.

Ms Weir decided to learnphotography to documentthe spectacular sights shecomes across as she man-ages cattle. Winning photo-graphs can be seen atelders.com.au/photocomp.