Damage to a toilet block, underage drinking and possession of alcohol in a dry zone - Copper Coast police were busy on Friday and Saturday nights, October 14 and 15, dealing with disturbances in the area of Victoria Square, Kadina.
A number of infringement notices were issued for underage consumption of alcohol and to people found in possession of alcohol. Victoria Square is a dry zone between 9 pm and 6 am, when possession of alcohol in the square is an offence.
There was positive news, however, with a police operation involving a special watch on school property resulting in the report of only one incident at Maitland, for which a male adult has been arrested (see last week's Police News).
With community organisations constantly on the hunt for ways to raise funds and looking for projects to benefit their town, Balgowan Progress Association has come up with a winner.
The project involves owners of holiday homes in the town paying for a weekly house check with funds going to the Progress Association to be used for community initiatives.
Although the scheme has been in operation for many years, it was upgraded in 2004 after Helen put forward some ways in which the long-running scheme could be improved in order to provide a better service for participants and, at the same time, improve the financial return for the association.
"In the past, people were paying less but not getting any official record of the service being done. Now, for a fee of $50 a year, volunteers check the houses each week and a written report detailing dates, times and relevant information is sent to each householder in the scheme."
A team of five volunteers checks doors and windows, reporting immediately if anything is amiss. In addition to normal security checks, the volunteers keep an eye out for storm damage or other problems.
"We put their bins in if they've been left out, take details of registration numbers if a vehicle is seen on the premises (they don't disturb guests) and make contact if anything is wrong."
Not limited to reporting break-ins and such, the checkers also report fences down after storms, or if they've left a door open. "We encourage home owners to leave a key with a trusted individual in case of an incident where we need to enter."
On one occasion, a checker heard a strange noise, sounding something like a person in distress. Helen was alerted and the owner was contacted. Fortunately, a key was available and, upon investigation, the "distress call" was found to have been coming from a smoke detector.
The scheme is attracting more and more participants with some queuing up to renew their listing and even sending donations to support the service.
Some of the seven homes vandalised recently were on the watch list and homeowners were alerted immediately, something that may not have happened for some time had it not been for the checkers. Also, other owners on the list were able to make contact with the association and be reassured as to the condition of their properties.
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