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Canberra Today 14°/17° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra Confidential / Storm in a kid’s tent

Oscar Henderson, 8, and his troublesome tents.
Oscar Henderson, 8, and his troublesome tents.

READER Stephen Henderson lives in a strata townhouse in Deakin and has fallen foul of his strata manager, Joshua Hopper, of Civium Strata People, who wrote demanding the removal, as soon as possible, of “three structures erected in the garden, two of which are tents”.

Unphased, Stephen replied saying the strata manager’s email had caused some hilarity, in that the tents “are a birthday present to my son Oscar, who just turned eight.

“He is very proud of them and is enjoying the experience of sleeping outside (though he’s yet to make it through an entire night) whilst still being within the confines of the security of his home.”

He goes on to express bewilderment at the agent’s concern for the kid’s tents yet had made no contact in relation to complaints about “the overflowing sewer pipes that have flooded the garden twice in the past months” and a litany of other leaks and maintenance issues including the unwelcome presence of rats.

But Joshua was having none of this, saying the tents had to come down because “allowing children to occupy such areas may present a danger to the children and others that belong to this complex”.

To which Oscar’s dad sniffed there were no safety issues and offered an OHS inspection to prove it.

“In the meantime, the ‘erected structures’ will remain in place until my son’s interest in enjoying them dwindles. This would constitute as my earliest convenience,” he wrote.

Best of intentions

Jack Best losing his moptop last year.
Jack Best losing his moptop last year.
LISA Best writes to say her 10-year old son Jack is about to lose his hair – again – for a very good cause.

Recidivist Jack raised $1902 from his first head shave for the Leukaemia Foundation last year in honour of his unwell 85-year-old grandad.  

“This year, Jack decided to shave again as our good friend is battling Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for the second time and has just come out of hospital after a two-week stay in ICU, at times close to death,” says Lisa.

“In the meantime, Jack’s pop has had a return of his cancer.

“So dealing with all of this is big in the life of a 10-year-old. He is committed to making a difference and wants to do this every year till he’s 18.”  

Jack’s bonnet comes off at Emmaus Christian School’s Crazy Hair Day on March 10.

To help Jack reach his $2000 target donate at worldsgreatestshave.com, press the sponsor button and follow the prompts.

Working for the man

TALENTED local commercial photographer Martin Ollman seems to have shelved his freelance shingle and signed up to the staff of the advertising agency Coordinate.

No spin here…

LAST week “CityNews” featured the frustrations of Greens candidate and lawyer Carly Saeedi, who is facing Labor’s unassailable Andrew Leigh in the north Canberra seat of Fenner at the impending Federal election.

This week meet the decidedly more optimistic Joel McKay, of Conder, who has announced his candidacy as an independent for the southern seat of Brindabella in October’s ACT election.

“Canberra needs politicians who will not spin facts and figures to make an idea more palatable,” the public servant pronounces.

“If elected, I will work to expose half-baked proposals that rely on questionable data and a loose interpretation of facts. I pledge to make commonsense decisions based on honesty, factual evidence and which the residents of Tuggeranong support.” Sadly, they all say that when they start out.

Raspberry for Barnaby

INSPIRED by Robert Macklin’s Seven Days column last week, CC’s Weston snout John Milne took the trouble to write to Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in defence of the national capital.

“Dear Barnaby,” he writes, “I refer you to page 4 of this week’s ‘CityNews’, and would like to know why you have a grudge against the nation’s capital?

“As a neighbour has said to me: ‘Perhaps Barnaby Joyce would like to close down Canberra altogether and relocate the Federal Parliament to Broome, as part of his so-called decentralisation program, the National Library to Alice Springs and the National Gallery to Cape York. Or does he selfishly want them all in his backyard?”

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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