By CAROLINE STRAINIG
WHEN is a job not a job?
When it’s half done, or not done at all.
It may sound strange to start a story with a riddle, but when it comes to Port Macquarie’s weed saga, we can afford to be a little tongue in cheek.
In the 27 March issue of the Independent we carried a story about the weed-infested state of the Oxley Highway leading into Port Macquarie. Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams promised to take up the cudgels and get Roads and Maritime Services to clean things up. Council had denied responsibility saying the Oxley Highway was a state responsibility, so as the local state member, Mrs Williams was the appropriate channel.
A week or so later someone slashed tackled a small area on the western side of the doughnut roundabout.
“Yippee,” we thought. “Progress at last,” and the Independent carried a report to that effect in the 17 April issue.
Sadly, our reaction was a little premature. Only one small area was slashed and no weeds were poisoned. The rest of the roundabout area remains un-slashed, and weeds continue to flourish in the immediate vicinity, and all the way along the highway for that matter, with numerous she-oaks now up to a metre high growing in cracks.
We promised the Independent would stay on the case with semi-regular weed updates on what one reader has so aptly tagged “Weedsville” – so we have.
And our intro? We’ll that’s a little bit of barbed fun at the relevant state authority’s expense. However, in reality we’d score them 1 out 10 on the tidy up, so “half done” is probably a little generous.
Come on guys, someone, somewhere must be responsible for ensuring such roads are kept reasonably neat and tidy, so please get onto it!
