President's Report - Shire of Ashburton

Tom Price Community News
Seal our road: Tom Price residents
There has been a renewed push to complete the alignment and sealing of
the direct road between Karratha and Tom Price; a move which could cut
the travel time for non-four-wheel-drive vehicles almost by half.
Tom Price resident Cecilia Fernandez
has collected more than 900 signatures
from residents of the inland town in
a petition asking for funding to be
allocated for the road to be sealed.
She said she planned to pass on the
signatures to her local member so
the argument could be put before
Parliament.
About 110km of road from Karratha
inland has already been sealed and
about 25km from Tom Price out to
Karratha has also been sealed.
To travel via the inland route, travellers
currently need permission from Rio
Tinto to use a privately-owned road.
Ms Fernandez is pushing to have funding
allocated by the State Government to
complete stages three and four of the
alignment, a move which she said would
require about 155km of road to be sealed.
For residents of Tom Price like Kelly
Waller, who travels to Karratha regularly
for orthodontist appointments, the
sealing of the road would turn a weekend
away from home into a day trip.
“I could go easily by myself, I wouldn’t
feel like I would have to go with my
husband – for security(and for) changing
tyres,” she said.
“It would be so much quicker and I
could do it in one day. We wouldn’t stay
the night because it wouldn’t take us so
long to get over there; it wouldn’t be as
exhausting for us.”
For residents of Tom Price who don’t
have a 4WD and are, therefore, not in
a position to travel on the unsealed Rio
Tinto road, the only other option is to
take the route provided by the Nanutarra
Wittenoom and North West Coastal
Highway roads – a drive which can take
Picture by Cameron Myles: Cecilia Fernandez
with the petitions she collected.
more than six hours.
Mrs Waller said she felt the trip along
the sealed route was more dangerous
due to the amount of time spent on
the road.
“Why should we be so isolated? We’re
missing out on so many things here,
being in a regional area, that we have to
go to Karratha … it’s our only option,”
she said.
Pilbara MLA Tom Stephens said he
planned to put the petition before
Parliament before it breaks for the end
of the year.
Tom Price Library News
Book Club met on Thursday 17th
November to discuss The Flight of
the Dragonfly by Melissa Hawach &
Salvation Creek by Susan Duncan.
The ladies enjoyed reading Salvation
Creek, they gave it a rating of 8 out
of 10.
The last book club meeting for the year
was on the 15thof November.
Book Reviews
“Julian Assange, The
Unauthorized Autobiography”
Is a book that describes not only
the work of Wikileaks, but from his
childhood in Australia up to the
present day.
“Maggie’s Kitchen”
120 favorite recipes she shared with her
TV audience.
Rhyme Time & Story Time
Rhyme Time: Mondays at 11a.m –
We are having fun singing rhymes and
lately the kids have enjoyed using the
musical instruments.
Story Time: Fridays at 11a.m –
The kids enjoyed making a tiger paper
bag puppet and a dinosaur puppet, and
paper plate dancing streamers.
Our last story time session for this year
will be on Fri. 9th December.
Opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Friday 10 am – 1 pm & 2 pm – 5 pm
Thursday 10 am – 1 pm & 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Saturday 9 am – 12 pm
Wednesday & Sunday CLOSED
COME IN AND CHECK OUT SOME
GREAT NEW JUNIOR FICTION AND
YOUNG ADULT FICTION BOOKS!
The Tom Price Library will be closed
for the Christmas Break, from
Thursday 22nd @ 4pm, until Monday,
2nd January. Reopens on Tuesday,
3rd January.
THE NEW BOOK EXCHANGE
HAS ARRIVED FROM THE STATE
LIBRARY, SO COME IN AND
CHECK IT OUT!
Page 10 | Inside Ashburton | December 2011