BORDERLINE Albury/Wodonga

Cr Duncan-Strelec's inferred reading of the riot act to an as yet unelected council (Border Mail, July 11) in which she threatened to demand the sacking of the new Albury Council if councillors 'cause trouble' is perhaps the best display yet of Cr Duncan-Strelec's capacity to use intimidation to try and isolate those who do not share her view of the world.

The councillor's egocentric grandstanding is proof enough that when it comes to her intolerance to people with another point of view she knows no boundaries when it comes to her capacity to manipulate and engage in Machiavellian intrigues in order to get an advantage in her scheme of things.

Of course in order to do this requires a certain degree of self-delusion, bucketfuls. Here Cr Duncan-Strelec is particularly well endowed, as are large quantities of other less wholesome attributes of the human kind particularly self-righteousness, self-pity and above all, deviousness.

Cr Duncan-Strelec 's proclamation that if she got a whiff of councillors pushing their own interests with their own agendas she would be asking "For the council to be dismissed and an administrator appointed" suggests that her egomaniacal tendencies to subvert any idea she thinks might threaten her own agenda must be eliminated with whatever it takes.

Such is her obsession with power that she always has a fallback position. Her modus operandi always relies on a fallback position
which she skillfully uses with success. When she was the victim of a palace coup last September and replaced by Cr Baker who was convinced that for whatever reason, and provided the numbers were handed to him on a plate, that he might find most it agreeable to see out the twilight months of his foray into municipal politics as mayor.

Cr Duncan-Strelec was devasted - momentarily that is.

Such a stab through the heart (inflicted via the back) would be to many a coup de grâs, and that Cr Duncan-Strelec would have retired to nurse her wounds and await the opportunities that would no doubt, given time, come her way. No such thing. That very night Cr Baker was sworn in as mayor Cr Duncan-Strelec was able to exert her influence over every committee constituted by the Albury City Council. An acquiescent group of councillors were only too obliging to go along with her providing they shared in the spoils of victory, and a junket or two that might possibly come their way. She didn't give a damn when Cr Frauenfelder expressed his frustration telling him in no uncertain terms that this was the new reality and that if he wanted to take his bat and ball home then do it.

After that any councillors who might have contemplated adding their voice to Cr Frauenfelder chose to remain silent.

In this first tirade on July 11 Cr Duncan-Strelec's delusions of grandeur seem to extend far beyond the boundaries of Albury and into the upper echelons of power in Sydney itself. She seems to suggest that she has a hotline to the NSW Local Government Minister, Paul Lynch. No doubt Mr Lynch lies sleepless in bed waiting for a phone call for the latest developments from down South.

It is an influence she has repeadedly attempted to nurture amongst the Labor movers, shakers and head kickers in Sussex Street. They would have found it particularly attractive at first. For a time there was some speculation that they might accommodate her ambitions but nothing much come of it, but you never know.

In the other diatribe, more a denunciation than anything else, she writes to the Border Mail. The letter leaked to Borderline is remarkable for the lucidity of unfettered capacity to fabricate a document without any consideration for accuracy or truth. Cr Duncan-Strelec berates the Border Mail for a number of perceived sins and with it a rather unreliable appraisal of the reality she finds herself. This erratic harangue unravels a particular aspect of her tactic that Cr Duncan-Strelec uses incessantly, that she is the victim. She then makes some implicit threat based on a rather haphazard course of action to protect "my staff, my friends, my family and my supporters but cryptically terminates her expected method with "I'm sure if you were in my position you would be doing the same."

Cr Duncan-Strelec is in no doubt about her promises to exact retribution on those who deny her. The silent majority rise up and vocal minority will be silenced. Prominent business people ring her at all hours of the day and night seeking her counsel and threatening to withdraw their advertising from the Border Mail. All she has to do is give the word. Cr Wareham comes in for a pasting as does Paul Greene, dealer in half-truths and editor of the e-magazine Borderline.

Paul Greene publisher of the E-Magazine Borderline absolutely denies that his report that Cr Duncan-Strelec took her bra off at a Local Government Conference at Mudgee and gave it to Cr Porter for safekeeping was a half-truth. Nor was the accusation that Cr Duncan-Strelec walked into a store in Dean Street and in a moment of censorial outrage ripped down a poster which she had some dispute with was a half-truth either. Then when she accuses Paul Greene of dealing in half-truths what exactly is she saying - Mr Greene is half right or half wrong. Still I suppose it's better than saying it's a load of cobblers - or a lie.

Of course in this letter which is mostly a fabrication of Cr Strelec's increasingly paranoid imagination she takes time out to again elaborate about herself as a victim of it all. If one has been at the end of the gratuitous verbal abuse that she dispenses as easily as someone giving out chocolates then one might be hard pressed to keep a straight face when she rebukes those who don't care who they attack, denigrate or hurt in the process.

It goes on, just read it. I don't think any further interpretation is necessary. As for the doubtful veracity of her claims in the letter standing any kind of scrutiny, time will undoubtedly tell but rest assured Cr Duncan-Strelec's methods of intimidation interwoven with bouts of self-pity are plain for all to see.

Of course we might ask did this letter have the desired effect?

Cr Duncan-Strelec and the Border Mail seemed to have had some kind of reconciliation. She has made several appearances in the Border Mail since including a three page spread in the Border Mail's Weekend Pulse in which she shares her adventures and stunning photographs of her recent Alaskan adventures (July 5). She also states that she is going there next February for two months as a guide and completes the training she needs to get her pilots license.
I wonder if any of the other councillors presented similar adventures with stunning photographs would they get a look in?

Then there's the matter of her absence from Council with Council meetings resuming From the Christmas break. How then might Cr Duncan-Strelec justify her absence or will she just dismiss it as other malicious outrage on herself by a vitriolic vocal minority. I'm afraid the latter might possibly take precedence given her fragile state of mind at the moment. Was it a strategic mistake to say she'll be gone for perhaps two or three months next year? I suppose that depends on whether or not she's elected come September 13.

Vincent Kieran Kiss was a priest who had the best of both worlds. Even as a young priest at the Sacred Heart Parish, North Albury, he had a certain charisma that even when he was to find himself at HM Ararat Prison years later, many of his former parishioners would still send him their best wishes, and reassure him that he was forever in their prayers. While the parish priest Fr Bongiono wore an off the rack cassock and lace up shoes his assistant Fr Kiss preferred a more tailored look and elastic sided shoes. He was a priest on the way up.

By the 1980's Father Kiss had charmed the devout and the secular. His devout attributes were such that he ingratiated himself to the cream of Melbourne society and his charm and godliness was reciprocated by the cream of Melbourne society, so much so that arts patron Jeanne Pratt, wife of Richard Pratt once described him as "like Jesus Christ ... He is not priestly, he is saintly."

While many worshipped the ground Vincent Kiss walked on he also developed a lifestyle that required ever increasing funds to support. Such a lifestyle could not be supported on a priest's stipend. In the 1980s, the Wagga Wagga diocese had seconded Kiss to work as the manager of the ANZ Executors and Trustees Company in Melbourne. As manager, Kiss had discretion to distribute up to $100,000 to various charities. He set about to use this position to divert $2.5 million from four of those charities into a non-existent charity, the Vanuatu Development Project, a bogus charity which he was sole signatory and beneficiary. In return he invested the proceeds in several properties, including a house in South Melbourne replete with an extensive wine cellar, Jacuzzi and a Philippine houseboy.

He had also made ample provision for the future and was planning to retire to "Casa Bianca", to live in a villa with pool and tennis court at Pagsanjan which he had purchased south of Manila. Here he was to be linked to a number of paedophiles operating out of the area. His preferred method of transport between Manilla Airport and Casa Bianca was by helicopter.

His subsequent arrest and a sentence of 6 years gaol for theft put an end to his retirement plans. He appealed the sentence on the grounds that the judge who had initially sentenced him took an 'irrelevant consideration' into account. This was apparently the judge's observations of the prisoner in the dock during the plea. The judge had observed that Kiss was completely disinterested during the Crown Prosecutor's opening address, though he also observed that Kiss had become more interested during his own counsel's submission. The judge surmised that he had indeed seen similar conduct when other professional criminals were in the dock.

Kiss contested the judge's observations by saying that in fact his apparent disinterest was not as it seems and in fact he was praying.

The judge was however not convinced of Kiss's prayerful mannerisms and rejected the appeal.
Then he appeared in the Sydney District Court on 13 September 2002, on various sex charges committed against four teenage boys. At first he pleaded not guilty and attempted to obtain a permanent stay of proceedings due to the length the prosecution took in preparing the case and the adverse affects the matter was having on his health. The Judge, Penelope Hock, refused saying that the community interest had to be taken into consideration. Subsequently he pleaded guilty to three charges of buggery and ten of indecent assault.
Vincent Kieran Kiss then aged 70 was sentenced to ten and a half years in jail, and will be eligible for parole in 2009. How many other boys he molested, both here and in the Philippines, we'll probably never know.

FATHER X
About the time Vincent Kiss was performing his priestly duties at the Sacred Heart Church, North Albury, another priest was operating in the Wagga Wagga Diocese. It is only now in the public interest that this priest known variously as Father X can be identified by Borderline because it is in the public interest to do so.

The matter in which Father X was able to avoid public scrutiny or justice when there was almost overwhelming evidence that he was a paedophile is at the heart of the accusations that some sections of the Catholic Church have been reluctant to address sexual abuse and the enormous damage it has done to the victims of this crime against God and humanity.

In May 1997, Bernard Connell appeared before Judge Dent in Albury District Court charged with sexual offences against two boys. Few would ever hear about it because Judge Dent granted a permanent stay in the case and subsequently the matter went unreported.

Fr. Connell was a priest at St Patrick's Church (late 1960s and early 1980s) who spent most of his career in the Wagga Wagga Diocese of which Albury is part. Such was his apparent competence that in the 1985 Australian Catholic Directory, he was listed as secretary of the Diocesan Council of Priests. He was by all accounts, and not unlike Kiss in being of an egregious nature who quickly gained the trust and respect of his parishioners.

In Case 1, Connell was charged with sexually assaulting a 10 year old boy in the Junee parish in 1964. The complainant's statement alleged one count of sodomy and three of indecent assault. The complainant contacted police in 1993 during a police phone-in about child abuse. Judge Dent granted a permanent stay in this case, and the case was not reported in the media.

In Case 2, Connell pleaded not guilty to indecent assault of a boy, aged about 17, at the boy's house in a rural district north of Wagga Wagga in 1967. Connell went to court wearing clerical garb.

Early in the hearing, Judge Dent suppressed Connell's name. A jury was empanelled but the jury was not told about Case No.1. Therefore the jury assumed that there was only one complainant and that it was an isolated incident and presumably chose to give Connell a chance. Connell claimed he visited the house in 1965, not 1967.

The complainant had said that about a week after the alleged offence, he told his girlfriend who he later married and also his mother. He said he also told the then Bishop of Wagga Wagga, later the Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn, Bishop Francis Carroll. According to the brief, the victim's girlfriend was related to Bishop Carroll and that the alleged conversation had taken place with Bishop Carroll at a family barbeque. The girlfriend had overheard the conversation.

Why the victim's wife was not able to confirm in court did not eventuate as the prosecution failed to call her to give evidence. Archbishop Carroll gave evidence and denied that the victim had told him about the incident. Carroll claimed that if he had known about the offence, he would have done something about it. The defense referred to Carroll's denial several times in its closing address.

The whole process in which Father Connell was investigated by his superiors and the manner in which the prosecution was conducted led police to believe that case was 'fumbled' by the prosecutor, a catholic.

It has been known to Borderline for some time that Connell used even the confessional box as some form of perverse gratification, when he would ask young boys intrusive questions in regards to sexual desires. Connell's surreptitious behavior sometimes took on a rather bizarre notion of subterfuge when he would park his car at the Mercy Hospital and then saunter down to the Star Hotel for a Saturday afternoons drinking.

After the Judge Dent case, the complainants, distressed and angry, took their complaints to the Catholic Church's Complaints Authority which carried out its own investigation of their complaints against Connell. They ruled in the complainants' favor. It was then, and by all accounts somewhat reluctantly Bishop Brennan, the then Bishop of Wagga Wagga removed Connell's faculties (license) as a priest. Connell then took early retirement.

THE ALBURY BOYS CLUB

About the time Kiss and Connell were operating with impunity in Albury and other places throughout the diocese of Wagga Wagga, a venue every Wednesday evening was at Greenfield Park the Albury Boys Club. It taught the rudiments of boxing, running and other physical activities. The young boys were supervised by what seemed a sometimes inordinate number of men supervising these activities. It was the perfect place for a paedophile.

Borderline is not suggesting that all these men were engaged in such conduct but there were some.

H, as he would like to be called has thought about it a lot. Now a resident of Wodonga, he remembers a man appearing at the house, a sporty outdoor type of person. In fact H can't remember when he first appeared. It was like he was just there.

H, however recently came across another man and was taken aback by the similarity of their circumstances; both mothers were widows, they like a lot of other people at the time lived in very modest means. Then he remembers that they were called on by a representative of Birthright an organization that helped civilian widows. It was after this that almost simultaneously this man appeared on their footsteps offering to take the boys swimming or to take them to the Albury Boys Club.

"I remember once by sheer coincidence I met someone who knew about the Albury Boys Club. They were like little networks of nests that preyed on boys.

H was, out of the group, the youngest and most vulnerable which were duly exploited and then began a period of abuse that destroyed H's, up until that time, innocence of youth. Leaving him to reconcile the betrayal of trust through a haze of alcohol, depression and failed relationships.

Ironically perhaps H recounted one summer's afternoon as he and a group of boys were walking the banks of the Murray near Mungabareena.

"Eventually I made an admission to Albury police who were exemplary in the way they handled the case. Eventually he, the accused, was charged. I remember him being assisted into the courtroom by two soldiers he had served with in New Guinea. When the magistrate asked me to be more precise about the date I just couldn't quite remember them. The magistrate then apparently had no alternative other than to dismiss the charges and my case never went to trial. Perhaps I was thinking more of the trial than the committal proceedings… it doesn't really matter now does it."

"We always went a bit upstream when he took us swimming where it was more private and I remember Father Kiss with a student from Aquinas College (now Xavier College) sunning themselves on the banks of the river. I remember Kiss's bright yellow orange Fastback Charger parked beside them. It was every boys dream to have a Charger then. It was the car. It was only decades later that I began to understand the significance of that afternoon.

Turning back as we rounded the bend in the river until Kiss and the young man beside him disappeared from view. Was he one of Kiss's victims? I suppose I never thought much about it then but I do now. Every day."

As Town Crier he is ringing out: "Oh yea, oh yea, oh yea to all people of good health…. Or whatever then he leads the invited folk up the stairs in the splendid French Rococo styled Albury Art Gallery to an extraordinary meeting of Albury City council to commemorate the centenary of when Albury's grand Town Hall was opened.

If only these walls could speak.

Even the memories are reduced to potted memories in a few remaining documents. Save for the occasional plaque commemorating the civilising efforts of those chosen to dedicate themselves to the public good. Little is known about most of them. Alderman as they were then called received no remuneration though it was generally considered by many that such sacrifices would be more than compensated by public esteem. They were different days then so we're all told, less complicated times.

In those days the Station Master was perhaps the most important man in Albury followed by other trades and professions that have since been reduced to less important functions or living history. Participants like blacksmiths who make souvenir horseshoes for people, individually boxed and promising good luck especially nailed to the door with seven nails because a lot of things come in sevens - life was divided into seven ages for example.

Or was it all that different. Probably not for the obvious differences that technology and wealth have brought us.

I'm sure over the years many elected to Council had the perfunctory eye to the main chance and took the opportunity to better their financial position as well as their status. People seemed to have a bit more trust in elected officials then; nowadays one is more hesitant in declaring their respect, preferring instead to stand back with a more objective skepticism.

In those days there were certain criteria in 'getting on the council'. All you had to do was simply convince the townsfolk that you were a really good man. It was also important that you became a Justice of the Peace. In those days with JP tacked on to your name it gave you added respect.

It always appealed the expression 'getting on the council,' it had a more distinct integrity about it, like you got into parliament. It always implied that you 'got on' much as like you get on a merry-go-round or got on a winner. They don't seem to use it anymore.

My nostalgic interlude was suddenly interrupted by a voice behind me.

"It's ridiculous isn't it?"

"What is," I asked?

"The town criers bell, that's what!" said a gentleman who was now standing beside me.

"Bloody bell it's about as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet," he said cryptically.

A woman working at the front door spoke and she asked me did I have an invitation… I even told the General Manager I was coming and she said can you put it in writing."

"What's wrong with the bell," I asked.

"It not like the queen summonsing one of her lackeys to bring her a cup of tea… alright then I voted for the republic… bastards," he muttered bitterly. "You see it's too bloody small. See in those days you had to rally to attract people's attention - I've seen bells that would give a weightlifter a hernia… well they looked heavy. You ever saw one?"

"I think I saw one in Oliver!"

"Oliver… Oliver who?"

"The Charles Dickens classic."

"You want to know something, why the town crier has only a small bell because if you don't I do,' he asked resolutely. "Can I say something confidential," he said nodding his head. They've got a big bell but they never use it."

"I don't know much about bells - why not?" I said.

"It's because if they used a big bell they would attract unwanted attention and on hearing it half the population would be all over the place demanding to join in the occasion. That's why it's a little bell so only a few can hear it. The chosen ones."

"It's a great metaphor for the present situation… a little bell?" I said.

"Metaphor… what do you mean metaphor - what's a bloody metaphor or what you call it got to do with it?"

"Well… you know - getting a bigger bell… September so more people can hear it…"

The gentleman eyed me suspiciously.

"You're a bloody idiot, he said without any sense of irony. "What I mean is if everyone heard the bell they'd be here in flash wanting refreshments - think of the expense!"

'That's why I told them they could use the big bell but close the main door so no one else would hear that's logical isn't it?"

"I suppose so," I said. "What did they say?"

"They asked me to show them my invitation."

"Did you?" I asked.

"No because I haven't got one."

"Then why are making a song and dance about it all?"

"You really want to know - I'm going to stand for council. No more waste of ratepayers' money, and do you know what we could do with the thing, we could put four big tractor wheels on it and use the steam engine to propel it around the place - you could have tours, all you can eat and drink for forty dollars my wife could do the cooking
and because it's an amphibious type vehicle you could even take it to New Zealand... got a son over there who owns a gift shop... they could all stop at his place - ten percent off!"

He was talking about the 'Uiver' when I said I had to go.

"What we could do is recreate when they were pulling the plane out of the bog in 1934, we could have competitions like how far could you pull it in ten minutes - that type of thing. My son's a bit of a promoter - he's already got a team lined up from Culcairn."

"You've got it all worked out then," I said making for the stairs.

"Too right he said - when you come from a family of visionaries you owe it to the people don't you?"

You could be forgiven for thinking that as the assembled councillors gathered for the extraordinary meeting held on Thursday 31 August that they just wanted to get it over and done with. However being tired of the affair and the wish to leave the issue behind them seems to confirm their willingness to believe, for the moment at least, that once the issue fades away a collective amnesia will persist and the issue forgotten.

Whether the Albury residents will display a similar forgetfulness
is still to be seen.

They were not however fatigued enough to realise that there should be no untoward complications arising from the meeting so that not too much should be made of Cr Wareham's guilt. To say that the chief strategists of the gathering had it down pat and would brook no unscripted nonsense was evident.

Nothing was left to chance because any chance Cr Wareham had to
us it a defense of the charge brought against him might bring into question the sorry circumstances that cumulated in the charge brought against him in the first place.

The mayor, reading from a scripted mayoral minute, and looking a bit tired of the whole thing himself talked about the responsibility and what was expected of the councillors. Of course being nice to each other and a regular attendance at council meetings is important. However the one issue that Cr Baker chose not to elaborate on was the responsibility of councillors to make an informed decision based on accurate and impartial information.

Then again accuracy and impartiality can sometimes be a bit subjective when you want it to be. That's when you just hope it'll all go away, but that's wishful thinking. Yes, there were some councillors a bit concerned about the process but they were comforted by The Conduct Committee watertight case, or so they thought. The vagaries and inaccuracies of the report would never
be tested at a full meeting of Council and the councillors were less than enthusiastic in asking any questions because half of them couldn't get their heads around the the nuances of the matter anyhow though they were loath to admit it.

Cr Baker also spoke of copping out on important decisions by abstaining or stating a conflict of interest. Perhaps Cr Baker was referring to Cr Frauenfelder who had earlier told councillors of his intending absence from the meeting because 'of a conflict of interest'. Cr Frauenfelder did not elaborate on his conflict of interest. Cr Frauenfelder's position is much like the Adam and Eve theory guilt by association in which if you go back long enough you can just about have a conflict of interest in just about anything, but then again such an approach to life would obviously lead to mental stability.

Perhaps Cr Frauenfelder was speaking of a conflict of interest 2 or 3 times removed. Who knows.

So when Paul Wareham was found to have breached the Albury Code of Conduct in having accused Council officers of being deceitful and dishonest in their dealings with the public in relation to the Fromholtz Park development, it seemed that the collective judgement of the 7 councillors had convinced themselves of his culpability because there was no alternative. They hoped that a speedy resolution to the matter and as little blood on the floor as possible could avoid any embarrassing headlines or mutterings. This would be a good thing, not so much whether justice should be served but but in the interests of harm minimization. Harm minimization not as the result of Cr Wareham running amuck with violent intent but whether the whole sordid affair might impact on their chances come September.

Cr Wareham's attempt to question officers was refused by the mayor.

"We've been through all this before," he seemed to be saying.
Cr Baker and his fellow councillors might be lucky that Cr Wareham is not a litigious man if Cr Baker's directions had been tested in a court of law.

When Cr Wareham got up to speak hose expecting a full and frank confession would be disappointed. Of course few would have expected a confession. What they didn't want was that the evening provide a platform for Cr Wareham to denounce the whole damn thing. The inflatable kangaroo was nowhere to be seen.

Cr Duncan-Strelec led the charge with a brief harangue. Cr Porter reaffirmed his guilt.

It was all over in less than half an hour.

Now that it was seemingly all over Cr Wareham was in a conciliatory mood when Borderline spoke to him, not so much to his fellow councillors but more a conciliation to his own peace of mind. The chance of getting out on the hustings in readiness for the September elections had him excited.

"I am not guilty and the whole process has been further compromised in that (last night) I was not allowed to respond adequately to the report prepared for the councillors before they voted upon it. In my opinion this was sufficient proof the matter has been handled incompetently and without due diligence and that this denial of natural justice to me was just another instance of the way the Council have handled this matter in a prejudicial way - the whole thing was probably illegal anyhow." Cr Wareham told Borderline.

"The crux of the matter is did council know of the development and while I have numerous documents that support that they did know about it, however the telling one was the DA (Development Application) with the names of 2 senior council employees Ray Gear and James Jenkins on it clearly indicates that Council must have been aware of the intended development. This DA which was basically blank was sent to the Department of lands for their signature. It contained various aspects of the land such as flood levels."

This was highly irregular and when Mr Tomich stated that surprised at the response of council officers that the intending acquisition and development on Fromholtz Park was endorsed by council officers was wrong. Yet the names of Ray Gear and James Jenkins on the DA suggested council officers shouldn't have been surprised about it at all. Even the mayor Cr Baker is on record as saying he would have expected assistance from the Council in preparing the DA, yet Les Tomich denies any staff involvement whatsoever."

"There is nothing with wrong staff involvement helping in the preparation of a DA but when Mr Tomich subsequently denies that there was any staff involvement then it draws you to the conclusion as to why he and Cr Duncan-Strelec's fervent insistence there was no council involvement instead to prefer to explain it away by blaming junior staff and clerical errors."

This advice was explained by Mr Tomich as 'generic advice' however it seems hard to believe that these people are discussing a public park, Fromholtz Park in fact at one stage Mr Gear was standing in it and yet no bells were starting to ring, they weren't talking about something on the moon, they were talking about Fromholtz Park.

Cr Wareham was scathing in his assessment of Cr Duncan-Strelec and Albury City general manger, Les Tomich. It is believed by Borderline that a lot of the resentment shown by Cr Duncan-Strelec is that the normally politically savvy councillor underestimated the reaction of those who opposed the development on Fromholtz Park. It has also a lot to do with a normally compliant council intent on presenting an image of a harmonious and co-operative council. Mr Tomich motives are less apparent but ever since Cr Duncan-Strelec assisted Mt Tomich in becoming general manager they have shown a remarkable synergy in the day-to-day workings of council.

"Cr Duncan-Strelec's vendetta against me is possibly explained by the fact that the Fromholtz Park issue directly contributed to her replacement as Mayor last September. Undoubtedly she hates me because I'm one of the people she blames. The letter leaked to Borderline from the Border Mail clearly shows that she will go to any length to destroy my reputation and the incoherent ravings contained in the letter, while nothing but lies, show her lust for revenge is unabated. She probably wrote it late at night and I have no doubt regrets that such a distorted logic, emotionally unbalanced ranting is now before the public."

When Borderline asked Cr Wareham what this whole episode had taught him there were however some positive outcomes as well as the obvious negative outcomes , particularly the legal costs which process left him out of pocket some $6 0000. How much it cost the Albury City Council is not known but with the council solicitor, who co-ordinated the case against Cr Wareham, on $300 plus an hour it could have conceivably cost Albury City Council upwards of $50,000.

"It strengthens you in a way, ultimately if you do what's right in the end you will get rewarded with your integrity intact. I don't think it was done in a deliberately malicious way, I didn't think there would be a great furore from the community and when it did come they explained it away by saying it wasn't us and blamed the Department of Lands."

"The general manager would have you believe that someone came in with a DA from the Lands Department and they said here it is just sign it, clearly they were involved in it up until this stage, and then their behaviour was more incompetence or unprofessional - whatever word you want to use and if they'd said after the DA came they had made a mistake and apologised for doing things it might have turned out differently."

"However they chose to take the position that they had done nothing wrong - it wasn't our fault, it was the Lands Department - end of story - you talk to them. That's what got peoples back up. There still has not been an apology to the Albury community and that's not right."

As the interview concluded Cr Wareham was in no doubt that the issue is still very much alive in the communities mind.

"While some people would like the issue to go away the underlying problem still exists. While some people can say that redress can be sought at the ballot box this does not address the ongoing problem of how the council's accountability can be reconciled when they base their judgement on information supplied by council officers which surely has an adverse effect in the day-to-day running of Council."

"If the councillors are dependent on officers information then where is there responsibility in finding the essential truth of the matter. Some councillors are of the opinion that with so much information being supplied to them they are limited in how closely they can pursue any matter that may be problematic. This is a common excuse and the amount of time that their council duties take up."

"Yet the whole Fromholtz Park has roused very few questions from councillors throughout the time Fromholtz Park became an issue. Then again it's not only Fromholtz Park it is the processes put in place throughout the entire procedure that have come under increasing scrutiny. Then again if this issue has not been resolved properly then won't the problem continually reoccur?"

"Once company directors got directorships as a means of supplementing their income and a bit of social kudos. All this has disappeared now that directors are personally liable for the decisions they make. "

"They're just tired of it all and the problem has essentially not been addressed, and I suppose it's like all processes it comes down to checks and balances and doing the right thing. OK if you don't do the right thing it's not a hanging offence but it does disappoint me that a whole number of issues raised during the Fromholtz Park issue have gone unresolved."

Cr Wareham was unrepentant about the vigorous way he has perused the issue and the numerous toes he had trodden on.

"I'd still do it again but I'd be more careful in the way I phrased the issue in the public arena, and I still say that even though the mayor says you can't criticise staff, you can criticise the procedures and as part of this process are the numerous reports and advice generated by council officers. I think it's perfectly within my rights to criticise if they are found to be inaccurate, misleading or are made at the behest of pressure from the executive or other councillors who wish to dictate a certain outcome which I feel may be detrimental to Albury residents."

A former Albury Councillor, founder of the Albury Citizens and Ratepayers Movement, John Emmery has described the Liquor Accord a farce that has had very little effect on the level of violence in Dean Street. The Albury City Council makes it out that the place is safer but I'm not convinced. I think its all hype."

"When I started going to pubs there was the occasional fight, usually using fists. It was quickly broken up by the fellow drinkers and everyone retired to the bar including the protagonists. Now it's almost a fight to the death, or someone gets their face cut open, knifed or glassed. "

Mr Emmery believes that violence is too readily accepted by society and that people should have a zero tolerance to violence, and that there should be more courage shown by everyone in confronting the problem.

"You just can't expect the police to clean it all up. Some people simplify it into a law and order issue and think that violence can be controlled by increasing police numbers. The problem is a social and cultural one as well as a law and order problem. They all go hand in hand and until the problem is addressed using a multi pronged approach, then all the CCTV and police officers will not solve the problem."

"Then there's also the vested interests, the millions of dollars invested in the facilities. The more bad publicity Dean Street gets the less inclined people are to go there. I believe that this leads to some violence going unreported in the interests of avoiding bad publicity."

"Only recently two of my sons' friends were assaulted by fifteen youths - what sought of cowardly act is that - what motivates them to do such a thing? Didn't they get any moral leadership from their parents? What makes someone join in with fourteen or so other people in attacking two defenceless youths?"

Darryl Betteridge who runs a pizza restaurant in Dean Street believes there are also other dynamics at work that make the control of anti-social behaviour somewhat more difficult to control, and that sometimes blaming licensed premises is problematic as well.

"Drinking at these places can be expensive so you have people who go to Dean Street to top themselves up while others DIY to oblivion. How to control this behaviour is more problematic when a police presence in required. Whether you have a zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour or a softly-softly approach can also have different outcomes."

Still Mr Betteridge seems more optimistic than Mr Emmery about controlling anti-social behaviour in Dean Street.

"I believe there has been a reduction in anti-social behaviour in the last few years in Dean Street but I'm not quite sure if it's the fifty or so percent they bandy about. This is due to a number of factors other than reluctance to come into Dean Street. The 1.30 am lockout certainly helped, the people serving alcohol are better trained and aided by the greater availability of transport home."

Mr Betteridge has some sympathy for places that serve alcohol because there is another dynamic at work that is beguiling and at the same time complex. How you solve it is difficult.

"If you tell someone to leave licensed premises the person is usually offended, angry and once they're away a certain distance it is no longer the responsibility of the licensee and presumably then it is a police matter if that person in the midst of his anger decides to break a window or assault someone. However that's not the case for the police as they apprehend them and compiles a linking report in which the person is asked where was he drinking. The licensed premises that the arrested person had last been drinking is duly noted and as the linkages increase so does the chances of the licensed premises risk having problems with their license. It's the same with a person caught drink driving. The person could of drank twenty beers at home, driven to a place and had one beer. When he was caught driving home and breathalysed he would be asked where has he been drinking. Again a linkage report would cast suspicion on the licensed premises where he had one beer."

Both candidates believe that the easy availability of drugs make the situation more difficult as the psychotic effects of drugs such as ice make people more prone to violence.

"The scary thing about it can happen so suddenly - you just don't see it coming. The difficulty with drugs like this is detection is more difficult especially as the person can look perfectly normal."

John Emmery believes that the government could do a lot more to address the problem.

"Both the federal and state governments reap billions in excise and other taxes from the sale of alcohol, yet they put very little into the consequences of the anti-social behaviour caused by alcohol. They don't want to spend any money other than an occasional advertising campaign. It's just not good enough. What's needed is a more holistic approach to the problem and not just input from youth and parents - anyone who has an interest in the way alcohol affects society because it's not just Dean Street where anti-social behaviour happens, it's everywhere."

"You know it's been a while - well a lot of water has gone under the bridge,' he said.

There was no doubt about it The Rack as he was known in Sydney was in a contemplative mood that night. I hadn't seen him for over twenty-five years or more when he lived in various residences in the border area. The last I had seen him he was residing in a tent in an acquaintances back yard. I remember his landlord charging him what I considered an excessive amount to pitch his tent amongst the weeds and debris.

"It was never entirely satisfactory living in a tent, he said his voice tinged with regret. "When the police would come I'd pretend I wasn't at home. I got away with it once but they must have heard something so they ripped the tent clean out of the ground and I tripped over one of the ropes… still that's all water under the bridge now - now that I've found God.

He was never a religious type, was the Rack. In fact he wasn't taken very seriously in criminal circles.

Perhaps it had something to do with why he was called The Rack in the first place, when, he removed a rack of clothes from a men's boutique in Kings Cross. Apparently it wasn't hard to get a description and the fact that Abe Saffron, a notorious criminal had taken it personally never helped his chances of continuing anonymity either.

"How was I to know Saffron had an interest in A Man's World, that's how they got me. I was walking down the street and I heard someone yell out "stop the bastard that's one of my shirts." The name stuck after that. I suppose you could say that it must have been in God's plan."

The Rack called for another round of drinks.

"I've changed a bit - remember how you used to say I looked like William Holden?"

"I don't remember saying that,' I said trying hard to recollect. "It must have been someone else - but now that you're here I've got a confession to make that's why I've got to tell someone and you're the only person I seem to recognise. I suppose the old crowd are all dead."

The only person I knew who associated with the Rack was George who lived in a lane near Waterstreet's Hotel, where he would sit in a dilapidated shed at the back of the house drinking beer and listening to his favourite tenors. I went to George's shed on a few occasions I don't remember any of the tenors but I do remember the biting cold due to the pervious nature of the decaying walls.

'I'm not proud what I did but you've got admit it saved me a lot of work,' he said. "And I don't know if anyone else knew about it but I suspect one or two of them were in the know because I was up in Lindsay Avenue one night and I bumped into someone acting suspiciously - then again I suppose I was acting suspiciously as well so we both scarped it."

I was not quite sure where the conversation was going, but The Rack was a perceptive person and immediately recognised my confusion.

Remember that woman Judy Seebacher that used to write that column… I think it was called About Town… in the late sixties early seventies.?

I remembered Judy's column. In those days if you were seen in that column of hers What People Are Doing you were on the A list in Albury and Wodonga.

"She used to write about when people used to go away for a holiday… Mr and Mrs Whatever have gone for a four day holiday on the Gold Coast. That's where everyone used to go in those days, and Melbourne and Sydney. Only occasionally did people go overseas I liked that when Mr and Mrs Whatever went overseas you were less hurried… more selective."

"I'm not quite sure what you mean," I said. I was about to elaborate but The Rack being the perceptive man that he was, immediately addressed my expected query.

"You see," he said with a slight hint of smugness. It wasn't just me - there were plenty desperate enough to make the trip because you were assured of a modest return for your efforts. You see what you'd do is to read About Town and note those who had gone away for a few days. Of course you had to cross reference it with the telephone book… then again if you lived in a shack you didn't go to the Gold Coast did you."

"I suppose not, "I said.

'It helped if you knew where the toffs lived because that saved a lot of bother when you had to fence them, those big televisions they had then, that's how you could tell the novice walking the streets in the middle of the night with a large television. Like, who wants to buy a television at three o'clock in the bloody morning. The pubs shut at ten in those days."

I was beginning to wonder when he'd get to the point but the almost uncanny perception of The Rack was onto my confusion in a flash.

"You see it took all the risk out of it - breaking and entering can be can be a nerve-racking business, you try it in some pitch black place and someone says "whose there?" That's why when we read Judy's column we knew we wouldn't get into any situations like that because she prided herself on her accuracy. You couldn't say Mr and Mrs Whatever were holidaying on the Gold Coast, and the next day they were seen walking down Dean Street. It would have meant social disgrace. You'd never get over it. You'd be ostracised.

"So if Mr and Mrs Whatever were going to the Gold Cost for four days you had four days to do the place over?"

"Not quite because you were never sure how many other villains had read the column and were planning a similar venture, I heard them one night somewhere near Wyse Street there was another one. Can you imagine other burglars wandering through darkened rooms… it was only a matter of time before…? I got wacked over the head with a jemmy - awful business.

'Did the police have any idea what was going on."

"Of course they didn't, they thought they were a - a gang ha ha - a gang!" The Rack began to laugh hysterically.

Just as I was about to leave The Rack took on a more serious expression.

"You know," he said shaking my hand 'are you sure you never said I looked like William Holden."

"I don't think I did - I'd say more like Lee Marvin,"

"The Rack's eyes suddenly brightened.
"Lee Marvin - well I'll be damned!"

As I left The Rack was attempting I was born 'under a wandrin' star made famous in the musical Paint Your Wagon. I don't think there was much demand for pre-recorded music for the song - still Like when Lee Marvin sung it you didn't have to be a Caruso or a Pavarotti. After all would you see them at Karaoke night on a Wednesday night?

Not on your life.

Momentous events in Victorian politics appear to have slipped under the radar this last month. While the media was full of a 7% "slap-in-the-face" swing against Federal Labor in the Gippsland byelection, the Kororoit byelection delivered a 16% swing against state Labor in its third-safest seat.

The result points not only to serious problems for Labor in it's western suburbs heartland, but a split in the right's Unity faction of historical proportions.

To begin, right wing power broker and factional chief Bill Shorten was humiliated three times in one week - not a very good start for a man who likes to tout himself as a future prime minister of Australia.

Firstly, he was humiliated at the preselection where his candidate Natalie Suleyman failed to rate a mention despite all his best efforts. Apart from being a past mayor of Brimbank Council - surely the biggest black hole of the ALP Right - Suleyman worked as electoral officer for MP Andre Haermeyer whose untimely resignation brought on the byelection in the first place!

Like Haermeyer, Suleyman has been dogged for years with allegations of conflict of interest, rorting and there were even matters of criminal fraud raised in the parliament. With this amount of baggage, a drover's dog would give her little chance of preselection.

Still Shorten persevered, so bringing his second humiliation.

Connections in the AWU next saw to it that the preselection was discounted and a new one called, allowing Suleyman to contest. It also had the unfortunate effect of delaying the announcement of Labor's candidate for a week or so until a members' vote could be held.

It allowed Oppostion Leader Ted Baillieu to promenade the Liberal candidate Jenny Matic up and down the main street of St Albans with nary a Labor Party poster in sight. All the while, Labor looked like a party at war with itself and hardly even aware there were voters involved.

Not a good look for Labor. Not a good look for Shorten, especially as his candidate Suleyman was reported to be "devastated" when she failed in the preselection the following week.

Shorten's third humiliation came when the members' vote was ratified and Marlene Kairouz finally became the ALP's official candidate for Kororoit.

Having got off to a bad start the Labor campaign deteriorated quickly under the stewardship of state secretary Stephen Newnham. Labor made no new spending promises despite the electorate having some of the most disadvantaged postcodes in the state. Two of its railway crossings are among the five most dangerous in Victoria, the settings for nine deaths over the past decade. The Libs promised $70m to address it "win or lose".

Not a good look for Labor. It was the entry of an independent candidate, youth worker Les Twentyman that put the cat among the pigeons. The Labor campaign deteriorated to a gutter level when Newnham distributed leaflets for Labor accusing Twentyman of wanting to put heroin injecting rooms "next to schools". (The truth of the matter is that Twentyman is on record from some years back supporting the Labor Party policy on injecting rooms.)

Newnham's next leaflet brought both the party and the premier into disrepute, claiming that a vote for Twentyman was a vote for the Liberals. At the time, Twentyman's how to vote card clearly showed his preferences going to the ALP ahead of the Libs.

When Premier Brumby was asked if he supported the lie it turns out that he didn't not support it, and was promptly branded a liar himself in the press. Especially humiliating as Brumby had only recently branded pipeline protesters liars. Irony is seldom lost on Victorians who relish the pot calling the kettle black.

The outcome has seen calls for Newnham's blood, with even his Labor colleagues now describing him as a "carcass blowing in the wind". The 16% swing in Kororoit - Labor's 3rd safest seat - follows a 10% swing in neighbouring Derrimut at the last election - Labor's fifth safest seat.

Both Newnham and Twentyman agree the "dirty tricks" in Kororoit held back a 10% swing against Labor. In other words, they cost Twentyman the election. The cost to Labor is slowly becoming clear.

Newnham and Shorten were the first two colleagues thanked by Steve Bracks in his resignation speech more than a year ago. Through the machinations of both men significant long-term damage has been done to the party in its own heartland that may well prove fatal to Brumby's chances at the next elections.