ELVIS is on the way to Frankston in the form of Ben Portsmouth, officially crowned the king of The King tribute singers by Elvis Presley Enterprises six years ago. Portsmouth, from Berkshire in the UK, shook up the world of Elvis performers by being the first non-American to take out the Ultimate Elvis crown in Memphis in 2012. The singer’s success in the contest led to an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman to perform An American Trilogy. “It was an incredible opportunity to do that on such a big show,” Portsmouth told The Times. He is bringing…
Author: Neil Walker
A NEW Year’s Day near tragedy has highlighted the need to play safe around and in water off bayside beaches in the hot summer weeks ahead. A boy and a girl playing by rocks near the mouth of Patterson River were swept into the river at about 7pm on 1 January. An adult family member reached the boy but the five-year-old girl was carried out to sea by the river current. Three men responded to cries for help and managed to rescue the girl. Carrum Surf Life Saving Club is again urging people not to swim near Patterson River. Club…
Teen arrested after Carrum Downs fire A FIRE that swept through part of Carrums Downs during Saturday’s statewide heatwave may have been started intentionally. Police arrested a 15-year-old girl in relation to the bushfire that forced the evacuation of about 30 residents from Darnley Drive and Augusta Court on Saturday (6 January). The initially small fire began in nearby Blue Wren Rise at about 3pm and quickly threatened to engulf homes. A Darnley Drive house was badly damaged by the fire. No-one was injured and firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control by about 9pm on Saturday evening. Police…
A STATE government website tracking the performance of councils across Victoria shows Frankston Council makes far more decisions at meetings closed to the public than comparable councils across the state. The Know Your Council site, launched by the Labor state government two years ago, is updated annually to give ratepayers a snapshot of how their council is performing across a range of services including community care, planning and waste collection. Information on the site for the 2015-16 financial year, released last week, shows 17.44 per cent of council decisions were made by councillors behind closed doors compared to an average…
A MONITOR to investigate and report on governance at Frankston Council has finally been named by the state government three months after the Andrews government first announced state intervention at council. Prue Digby, the former CEO of the Victorian Building Authority, will begin attending council meetings in January and report back to Victorian Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz. The Labor state government announced last week that Ms Digby will monitor council and councillors’ conduct for an 18-month spell until June 2019, well beyond the next state election date of November 2018. Ratepayers will foot the bill for the monitor. Monitors…