Comments on: World Rally Championship stars arrive

By: andr3w103

andr3w103 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:17:47 +0000

more cars IS better for many reasons…..there is more compition so drivers are really pushing……..there are more seats for new drivers…..if you watch wrc 95 on youtube and compare it to today you will understand why more manufactures are better………….and no wrc cars are v8s they are capped to 2.0l 4 cylinder..and soon 2 be 1.6l …..and rally drivers dont use scandinavian flicks that much anymore, the cars are alot more responsive so dont require them………by the way m3 e30s are the best…….seirras are also….and skylines are good cars…r33 looks best

By: Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:17:51 +0000

…and yet, others who were in Byrril Ck Road at the time, including the Rally Winner, say it did not happen. There will always be an ‘us and them’ and a ‘you and me’ in any discussion and in relation to my cheeky and yes, cheap joke, I think we both agree I was probably just reflecting back at you your own frustration with the discourse but I do ask you, and the other reasonable contributors participating in this forum that those who incite violence and threaten murder are the ones you should be responding to and with the full strength of your disdain. That type of response is quite immoral and totally illegal and much more unacceptable, I hope, than my strong Conservationist position. Where’s the moderator?

By: Richo

Richo — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:18:51 +0000

Jenny – I went to great length to address your points, I stated my position very clearly and logically and without insult, your reply was anything but and I feel there is no point even talking to you any further.

And don’t give me that “don’t believe everything you read in the paper” crap, I was there Jenny! I was part of the crew who ran the rally and exactly what I said happened DEFINETLY happened! And I haven’t even read the newspapers so I don’t know what they have been reporting anyway

By: Falcodore

Falcodore — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:18:27 +0000

Afterall, a bullet is cheaper than dragging these imbeciles through the courts and keeping them in gaol (jail).

By: Falcodore

Falcodore — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:12:35 +0000

Those idiots throwing rocks at cars and tearing down fences should be charged with attempted murder and environmental vandalism! And anyone who condones their actions should be charged as an accessory.

They’ve only ruined their cause by acting like immature spoilt brats!

I wonder if these are the ‘feral animals’ the shooters party are talking about when they say they should be allowed into national parks to perform culling operations? If so, i\’m all for it!

By: david_t

david_t — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:02:48 +0000

Jenny, the quicker you and the rest of the out of touch quasi environmentalist realise you dont speak for the north coast majority, the better off we shall all be…

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:17:31 +0000

So rather than addressing Richo’s points, you choose to insult him instead. Says a lot about your maturity.

By: Brockas

Brockas — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:15:35 +0000

I’m sorry, but what do you mean by “try harder than that”? It wasn’t exactly hard to point out obvious holes in your statement.

By: Jenny Bluefields

Jenny Bluefields — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:53:58 +0000

Sebastien Loeb, in his blog, says it all really. Yes, the people who live in the valley live in a very quiet and peaceful place and are really cool. Perhaps those of you who believe everything you read in the papers should take a leaf out of his book and admit that it was the wrong place for a rally. Also, inciting deadly violence, like you are Slow Eddie, are breaking the law, I think.

By: Jenny Bluefields

Jenny Bluefields — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:49:13 +0000

Richo, you’re a bit rich and a bit thick, in fact just like a good sauce and self-stirring!

By: Jenny Bluefields

Jenny Bluefields — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:44:27 +0000

This group, the (Homeleigh Road and…) Sargents Road Community Koala Watch has been documenting the Koalas for the past 9 months. You will realise this loop road, the Homeleigh/Sargents Roads, were used as two stages. Most, actually, all of the Koalas documented here in several webalbum folders
http://picasaweb.google.com/k.komodo
were spotted in trees on the road verge. How many more live farther away? If you need further proof that Koalas are returning to the areas featured in the Rally program, this map
http://maps.google.com.au/maps.....5&z=13
shows the logged sightings. Enough? As for Carbon Footprints and Forestry, I’m sorry but you’ll have to try harder than that. As for Paragraphs, yes, totally agree, they are useful.

By: QwkEddie

QwkEddie — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:31:30 +0000

Next time the entrants should be supplied with baseball bats so when these pathetic,cowardly so called environmental protestors throw rocks they could be dealt with accordingly.
At present,from around the world, most environmental protestors(and animal liberationists eg PeTA) have become out of control,unreasonable and not open to discussions/negotiations and from time to time have resorted to very dangerous tactics.
These militants should dealt with only in servere terms.

By: Richo

Richo — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:25:15 +0000

Also, Jenny, yes the organisers had been their for months, but you can hardly say they have been a disruption, 99% of the work they had been doing was in bringing some of the roads up to an acceptable level for the event, so if you consider improvements to your roads as “disrpution” then seriously… Also having more people in town, filling up the motels, buying meals at the pubs, newspapers at the newsagents, pies at the bakeries, fuel at the servo’s… i mean seroiusly how dare they help the local businesses!!!

Seriously.. you can turn anything into a whinge if you try hard enough, but your going to be a miserable person as a result so who really loses?

I mean once it was confirmed the rally was going ahead, rather then trying to have the event cancelled which was never going to happen, why wouldn’t you instead put your efforts into saying “right ok well i didn’t want it but its going to happen so lets work together in addressing our concerns” because mate beleive me the organisers did NOT want protests and where more then willing, desperate in fact, to work with those who had issue with the event to address their concerns, but the protestors where 100% non-receptive…

By: Richo

Richo — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:16:37 +0000

Protestors throwing rocks at rally cars driving at rally speeds.. don’t say it was a media beat up and didn’t happen, it happened! We had to cancel two stages because of the extreemly dangerous actions of some extremist protestors, it was completely disgraceful.

What else was disgraceful was the fact that the protestors where saying we where koala killers, but protestors had pulled down 200 meters of koala fencing on one of the stages! THEY WANTED THE KOALA’S TO GET HIT! Why? Well ofcourse that would have been good for their cause wouldn’t it, so they wanted the very thing they where protesting against to happen! I don’t know if that little fact made the media or not but the organisers where absolutely outraged by this one, more then anything else.

For the record there was environmental units whose job it was to specifically go through every single stage after the cars to check for road kill and to document this for the post rally environmental survey, no koala’s where injured from the rally. What they did report was that some protestors had thrown old road kill on to the stages after the cars to make it appear that there was more road kill then there really was… again, disgusting.

The organisers of the protest promised peaceful protests, throwing rocks at rally cars is not peaceful, its a disgrace, these protestors lost all of their credibility with their actions over the weekend, and as a result their message get lost along the way and they became branded nothing more then “ferrals”.

The amount of signs we saw from locals saying “yes rally, no ferrals” was astonishing. I also loved the bloke holding the sign saying “peak oil” and “carbon vandals” as he was leaning against his 20 year old heap of crap 4WD, as if that thing is a low pollution and efficient vehicle! Also the signs saying “WRC kills deomcracy” what a laugh, he was excercising his democratic right to protest wasn’t he! But at the same time was blocking our democratic right to participate in a totally legal rally. But i think the winner was the lady’s doing the little pinky wave from the RTA ad’s.. doesn’t she realise that 80% of the field is from overseas and has absolutely no idea what she is talking about! classic…

By: Brockas

Brockas — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:03:42 +0000

Jenny, you do realise the “carbon footprint” you’re complaining about is actually helpful to forestry don’t you?

You could argue in fact, that the WRC promotes plant growth in the local area.

By: Brockas

Brockas — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 07:09:54 +0000

Your choice of words highlights the ironic contradiction in your statement.

Your statement that the government “invests” in rally is accurate. It is an investment because the rally brings about a return (somewhere around $1.4 for every $1 spent).

Never fear “smarty”, you can have as many children as you like.
On behalf of rally enthusiasts everywhere, you’re welcome.

By: david_t

david_t — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:23:24 +0000

Jenny,

Two points.

Firstly, Paragraphs. They really help!

Secondly, we had protesters out on our road yesterday putting up signs saying “save the Koala” and would argue with all the spectators, abusing them for supporting the killing of koalas.

Now i have been going to our farm for 34 years. I have never seen a koala anywhere in our valley. My dad has been going there for 50+ years, and he had never seen a koala in the valley. My uncle, who has lived on the property for 63 years… get that 63 years.. has NEVER seen a koala in the valley in ALL of that time.

so to be standing at our front gate, watching kids and families having picnics by our creek, and having a great time, and to be told by some protester whom we have never seen in the valley before that our support of the rally is killing local koalas is nothing short of a freakin joke!

If people want to protest, it might be more helpful to the cause to protest against something that could actually happen! Not knowing if the koala actually lives in the location being protested at shows its not about the koala at all, its just about stopping the rally and by hiding behind the koala is a means to do that.

and dont tell me locals didnt vote for the WRC.. I am a local, probably a damn sight more local than you.. and i fully support the WRC and the investment it brings to our corner of the world.

By: Tim_R

Tim_R — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:07:16 +0000

The Northern Rivers has come up a treat on the telly – and that can only help your region. And as for the actions of a few extremist protesters; I’m utterly disgusted that they would risk lives for the sake of a sporting event.

Claim ‘media beat-up’ all you like, too; I’ve spoken with people on the ground there who saw it happen. For shame.

By: Jenny Bluefields

Jenny Bluefields — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:41:34 +0000

That was an interesting conversation and only a little bit of oppositional aggression. Well done, it makes a change from the usual debate that’s been going on but a little bit of anger creeping in at the end inspires me to ‘finish’ for the guy you say pissed off. Ok, Carbon Footprints for WRC are huge compared to professional Tennis players for example. That’s obvious yeah? How many techs in a team, how far to they fly around the world in any two years and how do they fuel their sport? So it’s not an unreasonable angle in an Environmental debate. Endangered wildlife? The opponents who do live in the area and along the route have developed, naturally, an empathy for the animals they live near. Even the Federal Government’s paper on Koala Management identifies the strong ties people make to resident animals as a measure that will contribute to the conservation of their habitat. That’s just common sense because I know that any of you following the sport would be thrilled to see a Koala close up in a tree. Now if you knew that Koala a little better, you’d have developed more than just a passing interest in its wellbeing and if someone then told you that they had decided to run a high speed rally right under that particular tree the Koala hung out in, what would you say? ‘Can you run it anywhere else, I don’t really like the idea of unnecessarily scaring this little fella…’ Of course you would. A little known fact about animals in the wild is that they can die from fright. The condition is called Stress Cardio-myopathy. Ever tried to save a bird only to find it’s dead in the box when you wake up next morning? Yes again? The Rally stages may only be run on three days but there are weeks of organising and the traffic to the area is increased beyond the norm. Helicopters fly low, drivers practice, officials start reorganising the road verges. Oh, roads. I’ll fill you in. That other guy was almost right about locals driving slow but perhaps they only do 25kph if they’ve had a joint??? Just a thought. No, normally its under 60kph because from 60 on, it’s true, you just can’t swerve for an animal and you shouldn’t because as its just been declared, this can cause fatal accidents for humans. To return to my argument, the roads are local and Homeleigh/Sargents Road is a loop road off the main road and at it’s very furthest point it is only a stone’s throw from the Border Ranges. It most definitely is a Wildlife corridor evidenced by the Pademelon Crossing. BTW, locals had, almost 18 months ago and before the Rally was known to them, erected pretty good Pademelon Crossing signs to alert locals and visitors to the nocturnal habits of these small marsupials. Council recently painted them out. Why? Anyway, the loop road is also the best vantage point to watch a very large Koala population. They really like the big open trees on the verge of the road too so you don’t have to trawl through the bush to know exactly where some hang out. On day 2, three Koalas had to be Marshalled because they were in their trees doing their thing. No-one, WRC Organisers included, want to hurt any animals. Opponents know that, deep down, so I have been surprised at some of the violent suggestions some lowlife have made in response to their concern. That hasn’t occurred on this website though…so I know you will read this knowing that I offer a genuine overview of a part of the situation surrounding the Rally Protest. Animals as a word doesn’t just mean those big furry tangible things either, it also means frog and their spawn, insects, butterflies, lizards, birds, fish etc. The environment is indeed trashed when any car deviates in any way from its designated path and that includes raising enough dust to refill the Great Desert. So the impact of the three days of racing in the small area is significant to all that is found in the small area but to those who don’t inhabit it, it’s hard to see. In a flash, you’re back in Murwillumbah’s main street, or still sitting comfortably in front of the TV. But for a local who didn’t ask the rally to intrude upon their way of life, the norm, the build up has been monstrous. The three days are upon them right now as we write and they have been living with this for almost a year. That’s the main problem for them too, that they didn’t all collectively ask for this change in their life. There is plenty of evidence to show that all the deals were done by suits with ulterior motives. The suit who used to be the Mayor of Kyogle for example, headed a Council notorious for its old-guard approach to Environmental and Heritage issues. You just have to see how they allowed Art Deco classic buildings in their main street to be pulled down to realise that they aren’t ‘with the times’. They also didn’t enact the compulsory Environmental Management Plans and so left loopholes and blaring gaps in the security of the land they managed. But that is history now and nobody ended up having a say about whether the Rally would be a good thing or not because a different bunch of suits in NSW Parliament did what one would expect and followed each other in saying AYE to Ian MacDonalds special events legislation that permitted the Rally to proceed regardless and for another 20 years. Can you imagine the impact that had on these people who were minding their own business before the Rally Organisers decided they also liked the area. We’re talking the promise of not only money here but that special allure that a high powered media event can offer. What weak willed local councillor or MP could resist that? They don’t want to be left off the bandwagon and so the Rally Suits got their way. The hoops they originally had to jump through were all for naught in the end because they didn’t end up having to get permission from the locals at all. The Environmental Reports didn’t take into account that the race was being run in Breeding Season, in September and the impact of twenty years of interruption at that time is unknown but do we really need to risk it? That’s the whole thing, many people say the economy needs it but we’re only talking about a very small sector of the society that will benefit economically from a Rally. The figures were not determined by an economic report but were based on guesstimates. If you visited this area and knew these people who don’t want the rally in this part of the region, you would know that these are the kind of people who look out for their economy and buy locally and support struggling businesses. There was a fire in a factory in Kyogle a few years back and there has been the argument that we lost something really important but I’ll tell you what we lost then. We lost a worksite that was notorious among workers as a hellhole to work in. It was a relatively backward enterprise with no social conscience and it belched pollution into the sunny little valley day and night. We all hoped the few casuals they employed there went on to healthier and better jobs. It didn’t really impact the community’s businesses and if it did, the local council should have tried harder to build a tourism industry based on what they had rather than invite a crew to come in and then fly out again with a short term gain. I’m starting to ramble, I know you can tell, but the history is long and the experience is frustrating. The Northern Rivers has more biodiversity than Kakadu. The locals didn’t vote on the WRC Rally. The area is negatively affected regardless of which angle you look at because the community has suffered untold abuse and stereotyping because of their courage to stand up for their land. I’m going to close here.

By: Richo

Richo — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:24:18 +0000

notice how whenever the enviro’s are challenged they run away… they know their arguments are weak and without base, their just serial whingers