FRIDAY, 6 NOVEMBER, 2020 WEATHER PAGE 22 TV GUIDE PAGES 25-26, 47-48 PUZZLES PAGE 24 CLASSIFIEDS PAGES 51-54 borderwatch.com.au | $3.00 Connection coup for city HUNDREDS of Mount Gambier businesses can now access dedicated high-speed fibre broadband infrastructure, which the Nation- al Broadband Network Co says will level the playing field between regional and metropoli- tan areas. Mount Gambier is now home to one of eight NBN business fibre zones in regional South Australia, promising to deliver reliable business grade connections at city prices, po- tentially reducing business internet bills by thousands of dollars. STORY PAGE 3 PATS subsidy boost plea CHANGES to South Australian’s Patient Assis- tance Transport Scheme (PATS) do not go far We will remember them enough Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell GREEN LIGHT: says, with the independent MP calling for an The Limestone Coast’s largest Remembrance Day public increase to the $40 a night accommodation service will proceed next Wednesday with Mount Gambier Community subsidy. RSL president Bob Sandow urging the community to comply with COVID requirements to ensure its success. Picture: BRETT KENNEDY From Monday, patients eligible for a PATS subsidy will be reimbursed for the actual dis- tance they travel to their treatment locations, STORY PAGE 2 rather than reimbursed for the distance trav- elled to the Adelaide GPO. STORY PAGE 4 Call for log clarity RAQUEL MUSTILLO mittee into the timber industry has heard. Jerry Leech said the committee was likely to of exports would be set in the sale contract. conclude the problems underpinning the in- [email protected] The Legislative Council committee toured Mr Leech told the committee unless the the region on a two-day trip this week as part quiry are with the clauses in the sale contract, sale contract was made publicly available, the A ROYAL Commission into the sale of the re- of an inquiry on issues relating to the timber which has never been made public. inquiry would “totally lack credibility”. gion’s forests is key to understanding the cur- industry in the Limestone Coast. In a written submission, Mr Leech said Trea- rent log export issues, a parliamentary com- At a hearing, veteran forestry consultant surer Jack Snelling said that control of the level STORY PAGE 5 199 JUBILEE HIGHWAY WEST, MOUNT GAMBIER. 08 8721 3400. LMVD 106736 BARRYMANEYFORD.COM.AU. [email protected] SALES: IAN WILLIAMS 0418 230 469 MICK BONHAM 0417 824 281 BUSINESS MANAGER: NIC LATTIN 0499 227 645 WITH STANDARD † 5 year unlimited km warranty commences from date of first registration on demo vehicles. Our goods come with consumer guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Our warranty does not limit and may not exceed your rights under those guarantees. See ford.com.au/owners/warranties for full details. Subject to change or extension. See ford.com.au for full terms. 12468996-DL46-20 2 NEWS Friday, 6 November, 2020 BORDERWATCH.COM.AU Region to remember sacrifice BRETT KENNEDY [email protected] THE Limestone Coast’s largest public Remem- brance Day service will go ahead but residents are urged to comply with COVID requirements or risk jeopardising future events, including Anzac Day 2021. Mount Gambier Community RSL president Bob Sandow said Wednesday’s service at Van- sittart Park would be capped at less than 1000 people as part of the COVID-Safe planning. Mr Sandow said just as the community found a way to acknowledge service men and women on Anzac Day, new measures were be- ing taken to ensure Remembrance Day would be inclusive to all. This includes a livestream of the morning service, which will be shown at the RSL branch and available on its website for public screen- ings, such as at schools or community spaces. Eight Lions Club of Mount Gambier volun- teers will be stationed around Vansittart Park to take attendees’ details for contact tracing, while invited schools and community groups have been limited to two representatives. “My philosophy is if you don’t know the person next to you, stand away from them,” Mr Sandow said. “There’s plenty of room in the gardens so spread out,” he said. “If we can’t handle this, we won’t be doing Anzac Day.” LEST WE FORGET: Mount Gambier Community RSL president Bob Sandow stands in the facility’s war museum, which includes a Boer War After a year of disruptions to public events, display. Mr Sandow will use Remembrance Day to highlight the conflict and Australia’s involvement. Picture: BRETT KENNEDY Mr Sandow said he was pleased the commu- nity had a chance to pay their respects. “We would never not honour our veterans versation he once had with World War II vet- While Remembrance Day this year will – we weren’t even a nation when it started, we as an RSL, whether we do it in private is an- eran Cyril Blackmore. nationally commemorate 100 years since the were six colonies,” Mr Sandow said. other thing,” Mr Sandow said. “It was when we started to encourage the end of World War I, Mr Sandow will use his “Some of the early people had to pay their platform to highlight the Boer War. “I like what we did Anzac Day,” he said. kids to come to Anzac Day and Cyril told me it own way to go, they had to pay 20 pounds to “There was a lot more children standing at brought a tear to his eye when they would lay “It is the war before, that people have for- go and fight,” he said. the end of the driveway with mum and dad wreaths,” Mr Sandow said. gotten,” Mr Sandow said. A memorial on the corner of Bay Road and that might not normally do anything Anzac “He said ‘Bob, that’s why we went to do Australia supported the British Empire Day, learning what it’s about.” some of the things we did. So they could be during the conflict in southern Africa, which Lake Terrace commemorates five soldiers But Mr Sandow said the public services here’.” took place from October 11, 1899 to May 31, from the region who took part in the conflict. held a special place in the community, in- The Catafalque Party will move into posi- 1902. “I call them the fathers of our Anzacs, and cluding with veterans, sharing a moving con- tion around the war monument at 10.30am. “We lost 600 men fighting in the Boer War they are the fathers of our Anzacs.” ‘Medal man’ key to family search BRETT KENNEDY Coast police have been able to see these lost medals returned to the family of the veter- [email protected] an,” Snr Sgt Elliott said. LIMESTONE Coast Police and the Mount A third set of medals is now under inves- Gambier Community RSL have ended a tigation by the Mount Gambier Community 14-month quest to return four Australian war RSL after being purchased in a second-hand medals to their rightful owner, thanks largely shop and handed in to the branch. to the involvement of a mystery Canberra- Mr Sandow urged the community to be based “medal man”. on the look out for war medals being sold or An Australian Defence Medal, Australian given away, with genuine items featuring the Active Service Medal 1945-75, Australian veteran’s surname and service number on Service Medal 1945-75 and a Pingat Jasa Ma- the side. laysia Medal will be returned to the son of “If you see any medals, buy them, we will Hector Donald McKaskill. refund them and get them back to where It is the second set of medals in recent they belong because you can’t earn them weeks Mount Gambier Community RSL again,” Mr Sandow said. president Bob Sandow has helped return to “Someone earned them, they had to fight their rightful families after being brought to for them in most cases, some died for them.” the branch’s attention. Mr Sandow touched on the deep con- The latest medal collection was first hand- nection many families had with war medals, ed in to Limestone Coast Police in August last some of which have been handed down sev- year by a member of public but subsequent eral generations. enquiries proved unsuccessful. “It’s all I’ve got of my brother, I’ve got After recent success engaging the “medal nothing else of him,” Mr Sandow said, re- man” – a Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian membering his younger brother Richard Army with almost four decades of service – who was killed in action while serving in Mr Sandow sent off details of the medals, in- Vietnam. cluding the recipient’s surname and service number – a feature on all genuine awards. “When we were young we didn’t have cameras so his medals are all I’ve got, other “His hobby is reuniting lost medals and at than the odd photo his mates sent me from that stage he had helped return 2560 medals FAMILY FOUND: Mount Gambier Community RSL president Bob Sandow and Limestone Coast Vietnam. to families – he has a Medal of the Order of Police senior sergeant Natasha Elliott with the four medals, which will be returned to the family Australia and I’m not sure if it’s for that work of the late Hector Donald McKaskill. “That must be similar to a lot of families or not, but he deserves it for that,” Mr San- I suspect.” dow said. Not only was the “medal man” famil- notice of Hector’s wife Ruth, which included Mr Sandow said war medals were a link Unfortunately, a typo meant the wrong iar with the surname, he had served in the David, going on to learn Hector died in West- that spanned generations, connecting peo- service number crossed the Lt Col’s desk, but Australian Army with his son David “Spike” ern Australia in 1995.