CASEY Council refused an application to establish an adult bookshop in Berwick Village, revealing that several of the submissions received in support of the proposal did not appear to be legitimate.
THE Kooweerup Demons celebrated their first win for the season – over the red-headed cockchafer bug.
The insects had been causing problems for Kooweerup Recreation Reserve groundkeepers, putting the Demons’ opening game against Neerim South in doubt.
A NAR NAR GOON man’s brush with a deadly disease spurred on his daughter to tackle one of the world’s most gruelling treks.
Teresa Angelone was to take on the Kokoda Track in a bid to combat heart disease after her father Nick suffered a mild heart attack in 2007.
Ms Angelone hoped to raise at least $10,000 for the Heart Foundation.
TWO elderly women were counting their blessings after a 60-tonne pine tree crushed their unoccupied Berwick Village retirement units.
The giant 100-year-old pine was uprooted by fierce winds, crashing on to the Edrington Park Retirement Village units along the Princes Highway.
CIVIC leaders gave the green light to the establishment of an Islamic primary school in Officer.
Minaret College, which has an existing Springvale campus, will open its doors at the beginning of the 2009 school year.
JOLLY Jumbucks Child Care Centre was evacuated and Puffing Billy stopped after a small gas leak in Emerald.
A bobcat bulldozer accidentally ruptured a natural gas line as contractors carried out work on a footpath in front of the childcare centre.
NAR NAR GOON was the big story of the first round of the EDFL season after it walloped previous season finalist Poowong by a whopping 127 points.
ROC recruit Chris Jones put a bullet beside his name with eight goals and such was the Goon’s dominance a dozen players put their name on the goal sheet.
TERMINAL cancer patient and mother of two Tina Streader was able to move into a new home after being accepted for a Pakenham rental property.
Ms Streader and her family would have become homeless unless she found somewhere to live before 26 April. Tina’s plight inspired the community, but sadly she lost her battle with bone cancer in October.
PAKENHAM Secondary College welcomed a new principal, 18 months after the school’s previous head Cheryl Chapple took up a position as senior education officer with the department.
Ray Squires, who had taught at the school from 1987 to 1998, replaced acting principal Emanuel Merambeliotis.
CASEY Council unveiled an ambitious plan for a 200-space multi-level carpark to revitalise the Berwick Village shopping precinct.
CARDINIA Shire councillors got a pay rise after the State Government announced that councillors across Victoria would receive an extra 30.46 per cent in allowances.
BERWICK Village was left at the mercy of belligerent birdlife, after Casey council officers reported that all efforts to frighten cockatoos and corellas from spotted gums and nature strips in old Berwick streets had failed.
The scare tactics followed a petition with 31 signatures demanding the council take action to stop the damage some residents said the birds were causing.
RECORD crowds turned out to the 32nd Annual Yakkerboo Festival.
Pakenham’s streets were packed as people came to watch the street parade, take part in a range of free activities and enjoy one of the biggest fireworks displays Pakenham had ever seen.
PAKENHAM’S Kate Hands called for a local 2020 summit after finding the Canberra forum failed to give her a real chance to represent the average Victorian.
The mother of three said although the April 19-20 convention was interesting and well-intentioned, the ideas to come out of it were simply too broad.
OFFICER motorcyclist Blake Hore led a local assault on the Australian Four-Day Enduro (A4DE) event in Warragul.
Hore, 22, was among almost 350 competitors to battle it out over a gruelling weekend’s racing, riding into fourth place overall to record his best result at a major event.
The 30th annual A4DE, which is one of the world’s most prestigious off-road races, was held from 17-20 April on a dusty and difficult Warragul circuit.
AN INVESTIGATION was underway to determine whether a fire that burnt out more than 800 hectares of bush in the Bunyip State Park was lit deliberately.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment was looking into whether a firebug started the blaze that threatened homes in Garfield North and Tonimbuk.
AN ELDERLY pensioner was distraught after the theft of her 16-week-old puppy, which was stolen during a car heist in Berwick.
Joan Sloan left her pet in the front seat of her car while she returned some books to the library on High Street.
When the 74-year-old returned 10 minutes later she found her vehicle, along with the puppy, had been stolen.
The Pakenham Upper resident said she was shattered the thief had the nerve to steal the car with her pet inside.
FORMER Melbourne player Ray Biffin resigned as senior coach of the Garfield Football Club, just three rounds into his tenure with the club.
Biffin, whose appointment this year was hailed as a coup for the Stars, announced his decision to the players after their 14-point win over Drouin in the West Gippsland Latrobe Football League.
A MAN kicked in a front door and entered a Pakenham woman’s home after abusing her in the street.
Police said two men were seen coming from the direction of the Cardinia Club before one of the men began abusing the woman who was outside her house on Racecourse Road.
HARKAWAY and Narre Warren North residents vowed to block a proposal to turn the Hanson Harkaway Quarry into a tip.
Alarmed residents voted unanimously against the plan at a meeting in Narre Warren North.
RESIDENTS celebrated as VicTrack abandoned controversial plans for a 12-factory development in Beaconsfield.
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato announced that the organisation had withdrawn its application to develop the factories on the corner of Beaconsfield Avenue and Station Street.
Locals had strongly opposed the plans with 152 objections lodged to Cardinia Shire Council, which cited traffic, safety of nearby school children and parking as concerns.
A PAKENHAM man hit the red carpet at the TV Week Logie Awards as one of the official photographers.
Taking snaps of stars such as Megan Gale and Jennifer Hawkins, Clinton Plowman said it was great to be at television’s night of nights.
A DRUG to treat a rare disease transformed the life of a young Berwick Secondary College student, Jimmy Webber, who has Hunter Syndrome, or MPS II.
The Beaconsfield 13-year-old’s condition improved after accessing the drug Elaprase.
Before taking the drug, the disease had stunted Jimmy’s growth, enlarged his liver and spleen and greatly affected his movement.
NAR NAR GOON Primary School staff and students were big winners in the State Budget, with the school receiving $4.4 million for urgent repairs.
THE announcement that more than 200 additional car parks will be established at Berwick Railway Station by 2012 met with mixed reactions.
Plans for the 209 extra parking spaces, announced in the State Budget, came as a welcome relief for station patrons.
However Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce president Harry Hutchinson said the extra parking spots would not be enough to meet demand.
BEACONSFIELD Netball Club made it a clean sweep against Narre Warren with wins in both senior grades while the two Junior teams also emerged victorious from their weekend matches.
THE wife of a Casey councillor denied allegations that she unleashed a public tirade of abuse at Berwick Football Club president Peter Jensen, culminating in a racist insult directed towards Aboriginal coach Ronnie Burns.
Pauline Hetherton, a former secretary of the Pakenham Football Club and wife of Edrington Ward councillor Brian Hetherton, denied making any comment about Mr Burns.
She said she had only questioned Mr Jensen’s role at the Berwick Football Club in a private conversation.
CARDINIA Shire Council was set to plunge further into debt amid fears it could not pay the money back.
The council was to borrow $6.951 million before the end of the financial year, taking its debt up to $42.6 million.
Civic leaders gave council CEO Garry McQuillan the green light to begin negotiating with banks for the loans.
The money was approved in 2007 to pay for the council’s capital works program.
THE Casey Scorpions’ defence claimed another scalp as they overcame wintry conditions at Casey Fields to register a 43-point win over Collingwood and former captain Nigel Carmody.
The Scorpions conceded just 28 points along the way.
A COCKATOO couple feared for their lives after a cement truck smashed through their yard and narrowly missed killing them.
Luck was on Kathy and Brian Lang’s side as the truck stopped mere centimetres from the house.
The Langs said the crash was the latest in a series of similar incidents.
Shire of Cardinia spokesman Paul Dunlop said the council was looking at options to improve safety for motorists and residents in the area.
LOCALS joined past and present members of the Pakenham Fire Brigade for the official opening of the Pakenham Fire Station.
Firefighters participated in a traditional march from their old station on John Street to the new station on the Princes Highway.
PAKENHAM trainer Brian Turner walked away with the spoils of a great victory in the Pakenham Gazette Class 1 Handicap after his home-bred gelding Quickly Adamant ran its rivals ragged in the 1750-metre event at his home track.
The local victory highlighted a great day’s racing on a track rated a slow (5) but which raced better than that for the entire 10-event program.
AUTHORITIES attended the scene of the slaughter of 20 currawongs and 10 wattlebirds in Berwick.
Two of the birds were shot, and authorities believed some may have been poisoned, but they could not confirm the cause of all of the deaths.
The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) visited Elgin Street after residents reported the killings.
RESIDENTS and businesspeople called for an additional post office in Pakenham, saying they were tired of long queues.
While Australia Post indicated it had no immediate plans to open a new outlet, the company was looking at refurbishing the Main Street facility to provide better customer service.
CIVIC leaders blocked a move by the Pakenham Inn to extend its lounge area’s liquor licence to 5am, saying an approval could open up the floodgates for other venues in the shire.
Although police said they had no qualms about the proposal, Cardinia Shire councillor Kate Lempriere expressed concern that such an extension could lead to an increase in fights, graffiti and other crimes.
BERWICK Village traders demanded better safety.
Traders, particularly along High Street, Berwick, were at the mercy of late-night revellers who regularly smashed shop windows and vandalised businesses.
Surveillance cameras were needed immediately to stop the damage, traders said.
FORMER Pakenham Shire mayor Charlie Rossetti was honoured for his service to local government, aged care and the community on the Queen’s Birthday.
The 72-year-old was surprised and humbled to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia.
THREE stunning upsets turned the WGLFL season on its head: Garfield produced the biggest surprise when it annihilated reigning premiers Maffra, Drouin pulled off a heroic victory over a well-performed Moe and Morwell shocked premiership favourites and ladder leaders Sale.
ONE YEAR after losing half a leg in a bus accident in Berwick, Beaconsfield schoolgirl Shanae Rossiter and her family and friends scattered the ashes of her cremated leg over a lake near their home.
A bus at the Manuka Road and High Street traffic lights hit Shanae, 12, as she was on her way to school on Friday 15 June 2007.
Surgeons at the Royal Children’s Hospital amputated the lower part of Shanae’s left leg after she was trapped under the bus for about 20 minutes.
TWO Pakenham charities were counting the costs after they were the targets of callous thieves.
A brick was thrown into the window of an Outlook bus and a mobile phone was stolen, while a door was kicked in at 4Cs before an alarm scared off intruders.
GARFIELD Netball Club’s A-grade team fought out a thrilling game to down Moe by two goals for their first win of the season.
Garfield got off to a great start and stayed with Moe in a game where the lead changed many times.
EVELYN Rannstrom won a historic battle to play football with the boys.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted the 14-year-old Gembrook-Cockatoo footballer an injunction, allowing her to play.
The up-and-coming defender was ecstatic to pull on her guernsey for the Brookers.
Evelyn and her team-mate Toni Wilson had been fighting for the right to play since April.
A VICROADS licence testing centre was set to open in Pakenham.
The centre came as a relief for many who previously had to travel to VicRoads centres at Dandenong or Warragul to complete their driver’s licence test.
LES Drayson hung up the red jacket after 19 years as an attendant at Cranbourne race meetings.
Les and wife Joan lived in Pakenham for many years, running the post office and opening the town’s first TAB.
