Coober Pedy Regional Times
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•Mechanic on duty •Tyres ISSN 1833-1831 •Tyre repairs •Fuel •Parts •Opening hours 7.30am-5pm Phone: 86725036 Tel: 08 8672 5920 http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com Thursday 24 April 2014 THE GREAT OPAL HEIST OF 2014 The Opal Room at Coober Pedy’s Comfort Inn Experience Motel was open for business on the Easter Opal Festival weekend after thieves made of with the Clee family’s rare opal collection and other merchandise totalling around $400,000. Owner Manager of the Comfort Inn Motel Debby Clee discovered on Friday 11 April that thieves had entered the motel the night before and stolen a large quantity of valuable opal and jewellery. The Coober Pedy Police immediately sent out the alert to Media outlets to help them spread the word on the robbery together with descriptions of the jewellery and opal.. Debby sent photographs of all of the stolen pieces to local retailers in case something turned up at one of their shops. The stunning 120-million-year-old opalised fossil sea shells known as the Desert Sea Collection was found during the excavation of the motel and is valued locally at about $280,000. Other items that were stolen were solid opal gold pendants, solid opal rings, doublet and inlay gold rings and earrings. Debby appealed through the media, “If anyone sees anything or is offered anything please let us or the police know”. Above: Debby Clee shows motel visitors some of the lovely jewellery at the Debby believes that the opal theft was a ‘crime of Comfort Inn during Easter. Pictured right is a 31ct crystal fossil shell “The opportunity’. Turtle” that was returned after the robbery. “Because guests have a security key to get in and out, I ‘Opal Room’, and saw the shinier, bigger gold items, they Following assistance from the local community, Coober suspect that somebody didn’t close the door properly and dropped the cheaper items on the floor,.” she said. Pedy Police arrested two youths after they allegedly it was opportune that someone else came past and saw attempted to sell some of the stolen opal in Coober Pedy the front door open. Once inside, the security cameras on Sunday afternoon. had been turned away to obscure vision”, said Debby. “The Opal Room where the valuable opal was actually stored was locked but the thieves broke through the door Police then searched a number of premises resulting in “Heavy rains throughout the week meant that we were to get inside. Unfortunately the collection hadn’t been the arrest of three Coober Pedy men aged 28, 26 and 24- still cleaning up water and mud on Friday morning and put into the safe the previous night, but it was in a locked years, who were all arrested and charged with aggravated because of this, the usual procedures weren’t being room.” serious criminal trespass and theft. followed”. “The thieves were on foot because we followed the trail Two of the men were remanded in custody to appear in “Rain had come into three of the guest rooms and flooded of dropped price tags, through the Motel car park, across the Port Augusta Magistrates Court on Thursday 24 April. another part of the property giving us a great deal of the Old Timer’s Mine car park next door and out behind unscheduled work to do. We had been stock-taking prior Coober Pedy Village (the IMX mining camp), and that’s Debby said that 70% of all the gold pendants have been to the rains and wanted to get back to it. I said, we’ll where we found all of the packaging and display trays,” returned and 20% of the rings have been returned with lock doors and the finish the stocktaking.” Debby said. 80% still missing. “The police have been incredible”, she said “It was when we moved into the opal area that we noticed Ben Manning Assistant Manager of the Comfort Inn said, “I’m now looking forward to a busy tourist season. We the missing jewellery. The cheaper items which had been “The thieves also stole the cash register, which is a dated are full up over Easter and have plenty of forward bookings taken first but as the thieves moved through towards the cream-coloured register with the old push down keys.” for the months to come, said Debby. SERVING THE OPAL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD SINCE 1982 7 DAYS WEATHER - mid - high 20s - Coober Pedy - Editor - Margaret Mackay Coober Pedy Oodnadatta Tarcoola Andamooka an underground town, built PO Box 275 Coober Pedy SA 5723 on the back of opal mining Ph: (08) 8672 5920 333 days sunshine Email: [email protected] Coober Pedy is Australia’s real ‘Down Under’, famous for its fabulous opals and bizarre Next Newspapers subterranean homes. For generations, miners Thursday 08 May 2014 have dug into the white and orange rock to extract the valuable, sparkling stone. The tunnels and Thursday 22 May 2014 chambers were converted into undergrounds Thursday 05 June 2014 homes in order to escape from the desert heat. Thursday 19 June 2014 Coober Pedy ‘evolved’ as the result of Space booked by Wed (week prior) a massive post war Opal Rush where hardy Material must be in Fri prior pioneers developed a make or break precious gem industry in the desert terrain. Advertising Rates Black & White Display $6.50 per cm/col Temperatures in Coober Classified $8.00 per cm/col Pedy - past 5 days Colour on Application Inserts on Application DISTRIBUTING 4,500 + to SA : ADELAIDE CENTRAL How to send articles . Also Cavan, Bute, Pt. Pirie, Dublin, Minlaton, Pt. Broughton, PT. AUGUSTA, Snowtown, Pt. Wakefield, to CPRT * Bute IGA 9 High St, Bute, SA Opal miners at work in Coober Pedy * Snowtown IGA 36 Railway Tce, The Coober Pedy Regional Times - “Your Outback Communities Newspaper”, became * Port Broughton IGA 27 Harvey St a FREE Newspaper in 2006, increasing its distribution to 4,500 hard copies + digital * Dublin BP Lot 7 Port Wakefield Rd, online download, promoting news, events and distributing advertising to our regional See the extravagantly built UNDER- * Port Wakefield BP Truckstop towns. The CPRT is a small business and receives NO external funding. GROUND SERBIAN CHURCH with it’s 22 Snowtown Rd Port Wakefield magnificent stained glass windows and A feature of the newspaper’s long history is that it maintains its prominence in the carvings. Ceduna/Thevenard, Pt. Lincoln, Penong, Fowlers Bay, region as a voice for the people; a regular form of communicating opinions for those Coorabie, Nundroo, Yalata, Jacinth Ambrosia, Nullabor, in remote areas who may otherwise be overlooked or underestimated. Visitors can stay overnight and Eucla and Border Village experience underground life as the locals do! Woomera, Roxby Downs, Hawker, Leigh Creek, Arkaroola, Letters to Editor should be sent by email where possible and be relevent to the Marree, Copley, Parachilna, Nepabunna, Lyndhurst Quorn community. Enjoy LAWN BOWLS, TENNIS and and Stations, Innamincka, Andamooka, Pimba, Glendambo, Kingoonya, Tarcoola, Cook, Prominent Hill Village, TABLE TENNIS in the friendly atmosphere COOBER PEDY, Cadney Park and Stations, Marla, 1.) Aim for a 300 word story in plain text, if you are sending a News of the United Club Sporting Centre. Mintabie, Oodnadatta, William Creek and Stations, Witjira - Article after an event. Dalhousie All Communities: APY Lands, 2. If seeking an Editorial - “Advertorial” or “Special Feature”, please Spend a day on the most challenging GOLF COURSE in the world. NT : Kulgera, Erldunda, Yulara Stuart Well, ALICE enquire about the cost first. SPRINGS, Aileron, Kings Canyon, Tennant Creek, 3.) Advertisers may be entitled to editorials Watch the local footy team play 4.) Sponsorship for material from clubs or community programs is by AUSSIE RULES FOOTBALL & SRI http://cooberpedyregionaltimes.wordpress.com arrangement LANKAN CRICKET Copyright Notice 5.) Names and Captions must accompany photos + DO NOT During Easter Coober Pedy holds its All of the content published by CPRT, including REDUCE PHOTOS articles, photos, images, graphics, advertising, annual OPAL FESTIVAL & GEM TRADE layout, printing plate content and related material, is 6.) DO NOT attach photos to MICROSOFT WORD documents. SHOW owned by CPRT, or by other information providers 7.) Letters to Editor need to be signed and also may be edited. who have licensed their content for use in this 8) WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY is the LATEST material can be accepted Coming soon - The COOBER PEDY publication. Additionally, the entire content of the GLIDING CLUB Coober Pedy Regional Times past and present is 9.) Deadline dates are on the LHS of this page (check b4 sending) copyrighted as a collective work under Australian Visit the OPAL FIELDS - you’ll copyright laws and may not be reproduced without SUBMISSIONS not received by Friday, prior to written authorisation. The owner of the collective believe you’re on Mars. Join tours to local work is the Coober Pedy Regional Times Newspaper. printing are not likely to appear mines to see how they work and get the chance to noodle (fossick) for your own opal CROSSWORD Take a tour to the natural landscapes outside the town (see film locations like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Red Planet) including the PAINTED DESERT, the colourful BREAKAWAYS and the MOON PLAIN Join the MAIL RUN out of Coober Pedy to deliver outback mail! Take a leisurely flight over the spectacular LAKE EYRE Be part of the last frontier mining town and its living history 100 years on. Disclaimer: Opinions and letters published in The Coober Pedy Regional Times are not necessarily the views of the Editor, or Publisher. The Coober Pedy Regional Times reserves the right to edit or omit copy, in accordance with newspaper policies.