Letters

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Binge-drinking thinking binge

M Mizzi (Letters, October 2), why does it have to be a problem? Kids will do what they are going to do. Why not help kids realise what they are doing? Instil some self-awareness into their minds so they can learn to make mature decisions, rather than blame it all on liquor suppliers. Communication and not prohibition is the key here. It seems like everyone would like to solve the problem of teenage transgression with as little communication with their young as possible. Talk to them. And if you expect these problems to be solved without communication then you dont deserve to have kids, and you are lying to yourself when you say you care about these problems. Lastly, lets think about not how kids get alcohol, but why. Why do they go out drinking and partying? Let me tell you that if you are the sort of person to blame others (such as Dan Murphys) for your kids problems and expect to solve them without talking to your kid, and do not know the answer to the question why?, then it is your lack of communication which is responsible for these problems. It is your fault. Parents, grow up.
A Rushwood

Byron Bay In response to M Mizzis letter, I will disregard his personal

attack on me to get to the issue. Instead of asking why kids dont listen to their parents, his somewhat sarcastic portrayal of party kids makes mockery of a very sad situation we face in our communities today. He is not willing to accept the fact that parenting support and supervision go a long way to guiding our children through adolescence and into adulthood without reckless behaviour. Love, respect and boundaries, in my view, are essential elements for a sound upbringing. This is what parents are supposed to provide. Unless you have developed a close parent-to-child relationship with your children from a very early age and have not fallen into the trap of trying to be your childrens best friend, you dont stand a chance of supporting them through their teenage years. This means a lot of time, hard work, long and heated negotiations, and giving them priority over everything else, including yourself! Kids will have many good friends in life; they only have one set of parents. Teenage kids will drink and they will experiment with drugs; very few dont. If they have been taught to value their lives, look after themselves and respect others, they will always know when to stop. They will sense when the drinking is getting out of hand, when they are at risk of hurting themselves or others. Its built into their subWhile NSW premier Barry King Canute OFarrell has used the residue of the abandoned 3A legislation as an axe to cut through NSWs legal and community standards, we await completion of the federal governments consideration of this referral under the EPBC Act to know whether there is any legal consent for this proposed development.

conscious. I know it from my own personal experience, from seeing my own children grow up through the nineties, and currently with my 16-year-old stepdaughter. There are a lot of kids out there having a great time going out to party at night with friends who rarely get into serious trouble. This did not happen by accident. Stop blaming kids unruly party behaviour on a generational issue or corporations, and lets seriously think more about what we can do to become better parents for our children.
Carlos A Gutierrez

Myocum In response to M Mizzi, your ageist comments are doing no good for the Byron Shire youth predicament. I am a youth of the Byron Shire and I was disgusted by your naive generalisations of youth today. I, and many others like me, would rather stay home on a Friday night than hit the town with a goon sack and nothing to lose but my virginity. Sadly, especially with the Dendy cinemas on the brink of shutting down, I have nothing better to do than sit at home or risk my happiness in order to muffle my boredom by going out and having to deal with some 50-year-old drunkard cracking onto an 18-year-old girl whos simply looking for some sort of mental or emotional stimulation.

Its only natural for people of my age group to want to branch out and socialise with others but with no way to achieve that but binge culture, what else are we to turn to? And in retaliation to your comments about the consumerist habits of young people today, do you really think we have enough money to supply ourselves with overrated designer shoes and assorted gadgets? Its already hard enough for us to get an after-school job because of ageists such as yourself. Plus, who do you think has fuelled said consumerist habits? The popular-music industry seems to only produce songs about expensive taste and mild alcoholism and the industry heads and shareholders only care about the money theyre milking out of impressionable youth with poorly executed advertising schemes. The previous letter (Carlos Guiterrez, September 25) held far more truth than yours. We are a product of your lessons of values and morals. If youre unhappy with your hard works products then maybe parents ought to try a little harder. I know I will.
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Mullumbimby
Byron Youth Service is launching a national campaign to help prevent binge drinking. See more at www. cringethebinge.com.au. Ed

Caring for the dying at home

with Amitayus/Byron Hospice Service i (a Byron Community College course)
Participants will learn to be of genuine service to others, who may be family or friends, who are dying and who have chosen to die at home. Any person can attend this course, and it can, if you wish, lead on to full training as a volunteer carer for Byron Hospice Service (formerly Amitayus). This course is run as a personal, interactive, and safe exploration of the many issues that may arise around death and dying, grief and loss.

Last Aid

Way out?
Nobody would want to stop farmers markets, even the most meathead of rednecks. Nobody wants to retard tourism. So what has Simon Richardson got for the community that is innovative? What about encouraging or even establishing enterprise around ecologically sustainable industries? For example, composting toilets, solar electricity and water tanks. Is that too way out for a Queenslander?
M Couell

build our own energy future. End the imports. End the subsidies. Gently but firmly, folks. Since our federal government is embedded with fossil fuel industries, and hostile to effective change, it is these local initiatives and businesses supplying them that will create the future. But having said that, let me finish with delight. Wave energy seems to be progressing John Lazarus nicely, solar is well underway, Convenor, Byron and the electric vehicle is here Environment Centre to stay. You beauty.
Matt Hartley

land and our quality of life is at stake. Our strength will be in our unity, coming together across the community. A March Against Mining in the Northern Rivers at Murwillumbah on Saturday October 13 is a chance to show our solidarity everyone wearing
continued overleaf

Thursday Evenings
6.30pm8.30pm Oct 25thNov 29th To enrol, contact Byron Community College at www.byroncollege.org.au or call 02 6684 3374
Byron Hospice volunteers are committed to serving people who wish to spend their last precious days and to die peacefully in their own homes. In happily offering this service, we also serve as support for primary carer(s). Please call 6684 3808 and leave a message, with your contact details. Well get back to you soon to arrange a meeting to discuss what our service (and its carers) can offer.

THE

Billinudgel

Good solar news

It is an absolute pleasure to be able to write a letter supporting the reported solar-energy initiatives of Repower Byron and Beyond Zero Emissions. This is exactly what needs to be done. Big solar-thermal units built inland, in combination with the localised use of efficient and that means unsubsidised panels. It must be added that it is essential for the nation to refocus industrially on energy technology production, and we must not kid ourselves we are succeeding if we are subsidy, ie tax dollar, dependent. We must

Byron Bay

Splendour prospects
While Splendour is free to hold whatever meetings it wishes (Echo, October 2, Reps for North Parklands group and Deputy Mayor Woodss working group comments), the consent for their proposed development at Yelgun is not in place. The North Byron Parklands development proposal is currently before the federal government awaiting assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC No.2012/6474).

March against mining

Lock the Gate, Lock the Roads, Protect our Region is a motto of the movement for CSG-Free Northern Rivers. With exploration licences taken out over the northern rivers, including Byron Shire, even we are under threat from CSG and other gasfield mining. Fracking has now been approved by OFarrell and production is approved in Casino. Many of us have differed over the local economy; now its the local ecology. Our water catchment, our agricultural

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Letters to the Editor

Send to Letters Editor Michael McDonald, fax: 6684 1719 email: editor@echo.net.au Deadline: Noon, Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. Letters already published in other papers will not be considered. Please include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.

CLINT CREIGHTON
Monday 15th October

JON J BRADLEY
The Byron Shire Echo October 9, 2012 11

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