Rant 1 - Lismore City Council Comedy Show

Rant 2 - The Weekend That Was – 11-14 October 2012

Rant 3 - Aggressive Police Enforcement

Rant 1

Our new Council has been elected, they have had their first meeting and they are all settled. Only three faces have changed. However, the balance of power remains the same.

Devious Dowell controls the Country Labor Party with an iron fist. This seemed evident during the extra-ordinary meeting where she repeatedly called for re-votes by show of hands when they did not go as she planned them. Except for Simple Smith dropping a County Council seat following a challenge to a written vote, everything else went seemingly as planned with the ‘Six Pack’ yet again dominating the Lismore area.

Devious Dowell’s Country Labor Party occupies 4 of the 11 seats available on this Council even though party politics is supposed to have no place at the local level. It is supposed to be locals representing locals, not locals being dictated to by a State or Federal Party.

When Simple Smith is asked about Labor Party control, he tries to deny any influence from others in relation to his decisions and often responds with comments about Independents who have affiliations with a State or Federal Party. Such comments are ridiculous since they run as Independents at elections and do not seek donkey votes from those who do not understand the different levels of government or who are die hard Party supporters that will vote for anyone under that Party name.

Funnily enough, shortly after the outcome of the latest election became pretty clear, Simple Smith found his ‘voice’ again and began getting into debates or discussions with those he has avoided for many months prior to the election. He was quickly shot down and it seems he has lost his ‘voice’ again. Has Devious Dowell muzzled her number two once more or was it the Labor Party organisers?

Confused Clough ran as his private Our Sustainable Future Party. He was sitting at position 12 and looking like missing out on a seat after primary votes were all counted. Then the tactical preference votes kicked in and escalated him to position 6. He owes his seat to the Country Labor Party and The Greens who got him across the line. He certainly knows this and repays the support by regularly voting as part of the ‘Six Pack’.

So we have a green Council with 4 from the Country Labor Party, 1 from The Greens and 1 from Our Sustainable Future. This is the new ‘Six Pack’ which saw Yarnall dropped and replaced by an extra member from the Country Labor Party giving Devious Dowell even more power.

Since it has been in the news lately, it is only fitting to discuss the incident with State Planning Minister Brad Hazzard. Devious Dowell recently met with him to address concerns about the removal of environmental zones from local environment plans. As the Minister was leaving, he made a comment about the development of a coal seam gas industry in the region being inevitable. Devious Dowell went straight to the media as she often does. She is commonly known as ‘Jenny Be Seen’ in some circles since you cannot pick up a local newspaper without seeing her all through it.

The Minister was obviously disappointed by her comments to the media divulging comments made during a private conversation. He concluded Devious Dowell has a “political component” to her background. He seemed to be suggesting she is a Labor Party puppet and went on to say he “will be more aware” regarding future dealings. He also said:

“It would have been more constructive to have had a continuing trusting relationship.”

Of course, Devious Dowell denied party politics played a role and expressed her gratitude at having a “fruitful discussion about the local environmental plan”. I am pretty sure it would be safe to suggest that that discussion is no longer “fruitful” since Devious Dowell made her comment.

My main concern is that Devious Dowell spends so much time on publicity and “grandstanding” that she has very little time to actually do anything that she is supposed to be doing. I cannot remember a motion she has put forward in the last few years or any of her other successful achievements. She has been focusing on State issues that are fantastic for popularity and getting votes as was seen following the recent election.

I have asked so many people who adore her and voted for her why they did so and all they could say is that she is nice. I have a nice cat but we are not going to vote it in to represent us at the local council. We need more than ‘nice’ to represent us.

In the mean time, Lismore is dying.

You are listening to River FM 92.9 and I am Big Rob.

Big Rob’s Rant is interactive while being broadcast. You can find me on Facebook by following the links to Big Rob’s Rant on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

Rant 2

The Weekend That Was’ again started off slowly.

‘Chest Puff Thursday’ resembled a ghost town. You could literally count the number of people out on two hands. Nothing of any note seemed to happen. It was a very welcomed peaceful night.

Friday Fight Night’ was definitely the problem night again last weekend.

There was an early incident involving a young guy who had just walked out of Night Owl and was king hit for no apparent reason. It was reported that he did not suffer any serious injuries.

Friday night saw a bit of the usual Thursday night chest puffing with one guy and his mate being moved on by Lismore City Council’s street security from the ‘one little seat’ in front of Night Owl. A group had congregated and were causing some trouble. This one guy tried to stand up to one of the big security officers who ended up pushing him back when the guy got in his face and was yelling and then knocked his arm down when the guy tried to raise it at him. It ended with the guy walking off making lots of threats at the top of his voice. I am not sure what set him off in the first place.

A group remained at the ‘one little seat’ and were seen to throw food at what appeared to be the security officers working the taxi rank across the road. There was no-one else in the vicinity of where the food landed. I think they were pretty lucky it missed hurting anyone. Moments after this, two of the group began fighting after one was mouthing off to another. A few punches were thrown and Lismore City Council’s street security were all over it breaking it up very quickly.

Towards the end of the night we were treated with another unusual domestic. The female involved was very angry about something and her partner was hitting street signs in frustration. They walked off arguing. I believe they were excluded from one of the licensed premises as a result of being too intoxicated.

The end of the night had its own bit of action with one lady being punched in the mouth after leaving the Night Owl and crossing over to the taxi rank. Street security had already gone home. There was some screaming for a few minutes before someone intervened and removed the lady who punched the other one. There was a bit more commotion when one of their friends returned for more. The ensuing argument quickly ended when the lady who got hit walked off.

Saturday night again had its crowd of predominantly happy revellers. Unfortunately, there were car loads of people drinking in the street and causing some trouble. It would have been a peaceful night otherwise. Some young people were out and about but they were not causing any trouble or hassling anyone. There were also a few good buskers out to keep us entertained. We couldn’t complain about that.

Our creepy stalker guy from last week was out again on Saturday night but he did not appear to follow anyone. Maybe he was just extremely intoxicated last week and did not realise what he was doing or maybe he was just pretty wasted this weekend.

I did catch some information about a horrible accident out Coraki way over the scanner on Sunday night. A 4WD ended up on its roof resulting in police, fire brigade, ambulance and the SES being called out. The last I heard, the female occupant was removed from the vehicle and treated at the scene before being conveyed to hospital. She seemed to be ok.

This is River FM 92.9 and I am Big Rob.

Find me on Facebook by following the Big Rob’s Rant links on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au. 

Rant 3

I have seen many incidents over many years involving police officers that have escalated so much further than they should have. I have even been involved in a few myself.

It is a very difficult situation to deal with due to the infinite number of variables but I will focus on those that do not involve a serious offence or alleged violence from a person of interest prior to being approached by police.

Imagine the following scenario:

Someone is outside a licensed venue and has been asked to leave by security. The person is intoxicated and is being argumentative. They are usually the nicest person in the world and they are clearly only arguing because they do not understand why they were asked to leave. They are not causing a major disturbance and do not know that they could receive a large fine for not leaving a licensed venue.

Police arrive and take over from security. They identify the person from identification and explain to the intoxicated person that they have to leave or they will receive an infringement notice. The person ignores them and stays there. The police officer gives them a final warning and the intoxicated person clearly just does not care about being confronted by a fine.

The person is not being aggressive or causing a scene. They are just ignoring the police officer and a crowd is now watching. The person turns their back. The only offence they have committed is failing to leave the area which is punishable by an infringement notice which can be posted to the person who has been identified.

The police officer can let the matter go and send the person a fine but this does not happen. The police officer decides to grab hold of the intoxicated person from behind who responds to the touch by pulling away. The police officer holds onto an arm and lifts it into an arm lock to restrain the person.

Other police officers see what is going on and run in and take the intoxicated person to the ground using leg strikes. The person thrashes around in pain as a result of the arm lock, the legs strikes and the people now kneeling on their neck, back or legs. As a result of the thrashing around in pain, one police officer is contacted by the person’s elbow.

Handcuffs are forced onto the person’s wrists and squeezed tightly causing even more pain. The person is then lifted from the ground causing further pain to the person’s shoulders. The intoxicated person is now screaming out and everyone has been forced to witness a very disturbing scene. Those trying to get the police to settle down are yelled at to back off and do so out of fear of receiving the same treatment.

The intoxicated person is conveyed to the police station, locked up for a few hours and later released with the fine and additional charges including resisting arrest and assaulting police.

What was initially a simple fine matter that could have been handled much easier in many other ways has now turned into a matter that could see a person locked up. The risk to safety, strain on resources and impact on all involved can be considerable. It is just not necessary.

Another common issue in such matters is that there are never any independent witnesses or CCTV footage. Two or more police officers will usually submit very similar statements and the accused must defend. The court will often accept the version provided by police as true since the accused was intoxicated and they are only one person.

The scenario above is one where police officers may be found guilty of assaulting the individual. The person was never told they may be arrested or advised they were under arrest. They were just set upon by police. Not doing as you are told is not an offence punishable by being beaten, arbitrarily arrested and maliciously prosecuted but happens all too often.

What should have happened is that the police officer should have just issued a fine and left the matter at that unless the intoxicated person caused any further problem.

The reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once said:

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love...

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate…

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

This is River FM 92.9 and I am Big Rob bringing you Big Rob’s Rant.