Cassandra Anne McKechnie, 20, James Cameron Dix, 22, and Damien Rochester, 22 - Adelaide Thugs

Cassandra McKechnie should be damned ashamed of herself. This thug was the catalyst that started a fight on a bus between her two drunken thug mates, James Dix & Damien Rochester and a group of innocent older men on the city bound bus.

I hope these dickheads get the maximum penalty and be thrown in jail for years. They won't of course because our criminal system is full of wusses, but they have got to pay the price for their thuggery.

I'm sick to death of this bogan uneducated culture that's developing in our younger people. They no longer have any pride in what they wear. They can't spell for peanuts. They have crap grammar, and to top it off, many employers don't want them because of their crap work ethic (I used to work with two younger blokes in late teens, early twenties. They were too lazy to get up earlier in the morning to shower!). OK, I know this is very generalised as there are a good percentage out there that do the right thing, and don't fall into this category. But I digress.

The woman that started it all, Cassandra McKechnie

Either way, justice has to be done and I only see jail as the right punishment. A 12 month stint should be enough to teach these thugs a lesson or two. It's a pity we can't go back to public shaming and have them on display in Victoria Square receiving a hundred lashes, then thrown in jail. Maybe a choice - 200 lashes with a whip, or 6 months jail - let the thug choose.

Damien Rochester

The other part is now three young people will have criminal records that will not allow them to work in the public service, (enter America on holidays) or work with the elderly or children. All jobs where you must have no criminal record. Hhmmm, maybe they should have thought how a criminal record is going to affect their futures.

Get Real

Update 25/11/2013

Both Dix and McKechnie pleaded GUILTY in court and were sentenced to community service and subject to good behaviour bonds. Rochester is yet to be sentenced.

Update 25/1/2014

Damien Rochester, (see picture above) gets off with a pissy SUSPENDED SENTENCE. The judge should hang their head in shame! Just disgusting.

After the sentencing, Rochester posted on his Facebook page: "I GOT A SUSPENDED SENTENCE!! I had an angel watching over my back big time, and I will never be dealt another hand like this again. No more. I'M FREEEEEEEE. THANK YOU GOD."

Notice there is not a word of regret or even saying sorry to his victim .. OK, I'm only looking at this post, but I reckon I'd be right anyway.

No Rochester ... you didn't have an angel watching you ... the judge made the wrong decision! It's that simple.

And what's more, I'll bet you anything that within the next few years, you'll be back in front of a judge again!

Get Real

South Australia's Education Department Minister, Jennifer Rankine

It's time to go Jennifer, You are the weakest link.

You can't handle the portfolio.

Too many claims of "I didn't know about it", and too weak a grip on the department.

Too many sex scandals, which are not your fault, but when uncovered, tried to be hushed up, then it's your fault.

Now we have millions of dollars of over-payments, and caregiver reviews not being done. What Next?

Time to go Jennifer. You are the weakest link.

Get Real

ps: Maybe you could join Chloe Fox, because she can't get a grip on the Transport side of things either!

Minister Chloe Fox and THOSE paintings on loan from The Art Gallery of South Australia

Chloe, just grow up and get a little more thick skinned. You've been embarrassed because you have deprived Adelaide people of it's artwork to decorate your office. No, the article didn't imply you stole it or misappropriated it, it simply had a jab at you (and the Premier) for having the paintings on your walls. If you want artwork, buy your own and hang them. Don't use public property that should be on show, for your own singular enjoyment!

If you don't like the jabs of public life, maybe it's about time you left politics.

There are a lot more pressing problems with Adelaide's transport system to be thinking about than mucking around with a cartoonists jokes.

Politicians have had a lot worse thrown at them than this petty trifle of yours. A storm in a teacup.

Get Real

Are some Adelaide suburbs a Third World living environment? pointing fingers at DTEI, Salisbury, Tea Tree Gully, Charles Sturt, Onkaparinga, Playford, Marion and Port Adelaide Enfield Councils to name a few!

Recently I had a visit from longtime interstate friends who had come to Adelaide to look around and visit the various sights and sample the wonderful wines & food culture of South Australia.

We drove to the Barossa Valley deciding to use Main North Road through the northern suburbs of Adelaide as our visitors wanted to see a little more of the suburbs and surrounding development.

What we encountered, however, was nothing more than a total disgrace and a huge embarrassment not only for me, but all Adelaide people. We were dumbfounded and left speechless at the disgusting state of roads, footpaths, median strips and so-called ‘natural green belts’. 

If a natural bushland setting is what is trying to be achieved by Local Councils & the Department of Transport, Energy & Infrastructure "DTEI", then it has failed miserably.  Bushland is not over-run with domestic garden weeds, plants and massive amounts of household rubbish strewn threw long grass and blowing about in the breeze. 

Graffiti is rife! I’m not talking ‘street art’ here. I’m talking about tags, scrawls and defacing of any surface possible from senseless small-minded uneducated individuals who have nothing better to do. You can sort of understand graffiti from the above described persons, but when you have adults throwing household rubbish onto verges, it really stinks. I'm not talking about the odd cardboard box or two, but old fridges, TV's etc.

Maybe Main North Road from Gepps Cross to Gawler is going to be upgraded and cleaned up – who knows? But in the meantime, do we need to suffer this pathetic embarrassment. And why the sheep fencing dividing the dual carriageway? I know why it is there, but why “sheep fencing” in this modern time? Surely that can be replaced with high-tensile low height wiring. We live in a City, not on Old MacDonald’s Farm! This same sheep fencing is used along most of the railway lines in the suburbs. Look at the Grange Line on West Lakes Boulevard in Adelaide's West as an example. Surely a more attractive fencing option is worth considering and installing. Adelaide Metro should clean up their land as per their own Environmental Policy as stated on their website (which they constantly breach). Or maybe this Department just consider us to be sheep!? Just go with the flow, put up with the shocking railway conditions and  follow each others ass. But I digress….

After this "memorable" encounter en-route to the Barossa Valley, I decided to take a more detailed look around various suburbs all over Adelaide to see if the same pathetic attempt at maintenance is being undertaken by Councils and the DTEI.

One such suburb stood out as a very good example - Mansfield Park. And before any reader cringes, I suggest you visit this suburb. (And for the record I do not live in this area).  It is changing dramatically with many new dwellings being constructed. And the dwellings that are there are being looked after by the residents much better than ever before. They have a sense of pride. However, what lets them down is the street maintenance. It is woeful!! If you were to stand in any street in this suburb and visualise the street being cleaned and maintained at a high PROFESSIONAL standard by Council contractors (as it should be!!) you would find that the residents are not the reason as to why this, and many, many other suburbs look so bad. Yes, there will always be those individuals who dump rubbish etc on the verges – however these are few and only need to be educated by the relevant authorities. At present, Council do nothing to help the situation. Posting signs on stobie poles fifteen years ago – ‘Illegal dumping. We’re out to get you’ - does not and has not worked!

Local Councils are receiving more revenue than ever before, mainly from rates payments from higher and higher density living, and yet we are seeing less and less being done on a daily basis in our streets, parks & roadways. Where is the money going? I think we all have a fair idea. And we definitely know it’s not being spent in our street and road maintenance programs.

However two exceptions I have discovered myself relate to the Anti-graffiti programs (usually voluntary) being run through some local Councils. Charles Sturt Council and  the Port Adelaide Enfield Council do a brilliant job with their Volunteer Teams. There are bound to be more Teams like this and they are very, very good. I urge residents to seek them out.  However, unfortunately, some Council’s such as Walkerville Council (the most expensive council area in the  State!!!!) have absolutely nothing to offer. Ironic considering the amount of revenue they attract from their rate payers. This is totally unacceptable. This Council needs to clean up the area and introduce a worthwhile program for its residents, rate-payers and visitors alike!

Why aren't Councils allocating resources to these maintenance areas in line with demand? Time and time again I have been told by my local Council that ….”because of the recent rains, we have experienced high growth rates in weeds and grass” I am told this EVERY SINGLE year…. who would have thought that the winter rains we get, EVERY winter (even in drought), would make grass and weeds grow????!!!  And yet time and resources are NEVER pre-empted in readiness to keep the verges and median strips under control and looking presentable. Quarterly verge mowing is NOT enough. And the way the verges are SLASHED (NOT mowed) is pathetic. Large strips are left uncut, rubbish chopped up by blades and spat out and left to blow into peoples gardens and front yards. Edges are not done and the street sweeper collects only half the mess in the gutters. I suppose that’s what you get when you outsource the work and pay "peanuts" - you get a pathetic unprofessional result. If footpaths are too much to maintain then pave them like they have done on North East Road at Collinswood through to Holden Hill or Regency Road from Prospect through to Greenacres and beyond. Or just bitumise the verge & plant a tree instead !!!! 

I love Adelaide and I hate how the suburbs EVERYWHERE in this city are being left to overgrow and fill up with rubbish. DON’T let us go the way of filthy Sydney or Melbourne. Adelaide people have more pride and deserve a better environment to live in. We are NOT a third world country, however in some suburbs you might think we are.

KESAB – where are you??? Bring back ‘Keep SA Beautiful’. Where is your media presence?? If you need funding – speak to the Government. They won’t come to you!! Most politicians live in their ivory towers with there private gardeners and street sweepers. Bring the street rubbish and the dumped verge trash to their attention!!

Someone suggested I should run in the upcoming Council elections. My answer - why should I? I pay council rates – exorbitant council rates. I pay taxes, fuel levies and all other costs associated with Council & DTEI maintenance. I want value for my money. I don’t want to have to do it myself. I pay for it to be done for me. And so do you!! But it’s not being done at an acceptable level by any of these Government Departments.

If you've ever wondered to yourself ‘What do the visitors to our city think when they see these eyesores?’ Be assured, they DO NOTICE and they DO FEEL DISGUSTED and they DO TAKE AWAY A BAD IMPRESSION of South Australia’s capital. It’s one of Adelaide being dirty, and having a low socio-economic status. The clean, pretty postcards you buy are mostly false advertising. We are being badly let down by local and state government departments and their ‘contracted workers and co-ordinators’, who are being paid from OUR land rates.

All Adelaide residents should feel embarrassed and should not sit back and live in this type of environment – YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH IT!!!!  I suggest sending emails rather than ringing, and it is far more effective. Not only can you send the emails to multiple people, you have a written record. Go to your Local Council website and find the email address then COMPLAIN AND COMPLAIN AGAIN until you are satisfied with the work.

Use the following website to find and contact your local council. If you're not sure of your council, enter your address and your council area will come up.

http://www.lga.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=210

If you're renting, don't feel as though you can't complain to the Council. You have every right to complain about rubbish in your street, dead tree's, overgrown footpaths etc.

You may also be interested in a previous article on this blog titled "Is the Tea Tree Gully Council the worst in South Australia"?

http://adelaideviews-isthisfair.blogspot.com.au/2012_11_01_archive.html

Let me show you some of the crap conditions Councils seem OK with:

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Guest Blogger

SA Water and The Essential Services Commission of South Australia "ESCOSA", high water prices and lower standards

I read with amazement the decision by ESCOSA, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia for SA Water to lower it's standards, AND STILL keep charging huge amounts for supply of water.

I can't fathom the reasoning of saying to SA Water, "Hey guys, lower your standards, keep charging huge amounts for water, and we'll stick it to the public".

What a load of bullshit!

It almost stinks of ESCOSA being in bed with these companies, and getting some sort of kick-back. I'm sure that's not happening, but where is the reasoning. I know there has to be a balance of determining a reasonable response time to faults and emergencies, but it has to be countered in the other direction as well.

I'm sick to death of services and commissions being on the side of big business. You can bet your bottom dollar, SA Water is top heavy with senior staff on huge salaries, working out of that nice new building in Victoria Square which would be costing a mint. Why not build a headquarters at Thebarton, Pooraka or Elizabeth, where land values are heaps less than the city. After all, Woolworths SA Head Office is at Pooraka way, as is Coles SA Headquarters. Why not SA Water? It's because it's a stuck up snobby thing for the company directors. It stinks of crap to me and I'm sure most South Australians are sick of being ripped off by these arsehole companies that literally hold the public to ransom, all for the sake of excess profit. We've all believed the bullshit spun to us by government before. "Privatising electricity will make the market become more competitive and prices will come down". Well, John Olsen (Who was the instigator of the ETSA sell-off), we've had nothing but huge increases in electricity ever since. Thanks John for being South Australia's worst Premier and getting us into this mess. I know, I know, we had to sell of ETSA to get us out of the State Bank bungle, but why couldn't the government put a $5 a week levy in place for six months or a year to get us out of the State Bank debacle? I would have been much happier paying a $5 a week levy for a year, and keeping ETSA the way it was and still should be.

But I digress. As the public who are being ripped off, I reckon we should start pushing our own people power around. Why not refuse to pay your SA Water bill? just imagine if 10,000 bill payers decided not to pay their bills? Woo Hoo, wouldn't that stick it up SA Water? It would literally be impossible for them to get out to ALL those non-payers and turn off the meters. even if they did, I'd just turn it back on again. Illegal, I know, but what the f**k, what are they going to do... take 10,000 people to court?

Meanwhile, take ages to pay your bill, and then when SA Water stick a late payment fee on your next bill, just underpay the bill, and don't pay the late fee. You are paying for your water, albeit, late, and they can't cut you off for not paying the late fee.

To ESCOSA, start sticking up for the public instead of being in bed with large money hungry corporations. To the government. Get the balls and stick it to these same corporations. You're here for the people, not for money hungry corporations. If we were talking about luxury items that people can do without, I couldn't care less about the profit made by the manufacturers, retailers, etc. But were are talking about basic necessities, and they government(s) see fir to allow blatant public ripoff.

Lets face it, ESCOSA is probably top heavy with senior staff on big salaries who have no real idea about the average person whilst they look down on the people out of their ivory towers!

Come on public. Time to stick it to the corporations. Lets starve SA Water of funds, and start making things tough for them. They can't take us all to court, and let's face it, if they did, I wouldn't be surprised to see magistrates throw the cases out.

Get the balls Jay Weatherill to make these companies accountable. It might just be your saviour at the next election.

It's not a criminal offence to stick up for your rights, and bill payers have rights as well. If I'm going to pay high water bills, I expect good quality drinking water and excellent service.

Simple.

Get Real