From the front page of the Toowoomba Chronicle, 11/12/2004


Councillor shapes up for showdown with battlers

11.12.2004


A CLASS war is simmering.

Toowoomba City Council will check if it has the power to pass judgment
on a property based on looks alone.

It may be safe. It may not be unhealthy. But one councillor, in
particular, wants it to be the picture of "style and grace".

Cr Lyle Shelton has taken aim at 8 Stirling Street, saying it is an
unsightly disgrace.

Home owner Alex Law yesterday told The Chronicle that if he had all
the money in the world he would leave Toowoomba because he was tired
of being "harassed" by council.

He is a disabled pensioner who is flat out keeping his family afloat.

Not everyone on council agrees with Cr Shelton.

Cr Sue Englart said people should make their own choices.

"Not everyone is fortunate to live in flash homes...we have poor
people in this city and I won't support you knocking on doors and
telling them what you decide they should be doing with their home,"
she said.

Cr Michele Alroe added: "Besides, who's going to decide what's unsightly?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Song in Lord Farquaad's Kingdom:

Welcome to Dulac such a perfect town,
Here we have some rules let us lay them down:
Don't make waste, stay in line
And we'll get along fine.
Dulac is a perfect place.
Please keep off of the grass
Shine your shoes, wipe your...FACE
Dulac is, Dulac is, Dulac is a perfect place!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Toowoomba Councilor and local Church leader, Lyle Shelton wishes to make Toowoomba a city of "style and grace".

Prominent local Neopagan and objector to the Australian Gospel Music
Festival (in its current form on its current site) Mr Alex Law faces
censor under Cr Sheltons proposed Local Law about "tidy" properties.

Mr Law, like other local Pagans has faced years of harassment from a
small number of Toowoomba City Council Officers over zealously and very selectively applying and enforcing the various nuisance regulations. At time Council Officers have declared flowerbeds to be "dangerously overgrown" on Mr Law's property with ignoring significantly more overgrown bed on adjacent properties. Mr Law has been forbidden to use lawn clippings to mulch his garden beds ("rats can live in them").

Recently, Mr Law, an invalid pensioner sought assistance form a
government agency to remove almost all flowers and shrubbery from his
yard, leaving a desolate wasteland. this has stopped the harassment over "excessive vegetation". Cr Shelton after locking horns with Mr Law at a planning meeting about future use of Queens Park, venue for the Australian gospel Music Festival (which Cr Shelton and his church have links to), has been carrying various complaints to council apparently in an orchestrated campaign to drive Mr Law from his home. According to the Toowoomba Chronicle (11/12/2004 fp & p8), Council engineers have deemed the house sound, blocking this latest avenue of complaint by Cr Shelton.

Thus, in order to drive the Witches and other Fairytale Creatures out of Toowoomba, Cr Shelton has taken a page from the bylaws of Dulac in the movie Shrek. "Toowoomba City Council will check to see if it has the power to pass judgment on a property based on looks alone." (The
Chronicle, fp, Saturday December 11, 2004).

After the positive article in The Chronicle, which avoids the religious controversy and paints the proposed new law in terms of a a class war, Mr Law has received telephone calls and visits from people from all walks of life and faiths offering sympathy and support. This proves that Cr Shelton's desire for a city of grace has already been met.

The Mayor of Toowoomba, Cr Dianne Thorley can be emailed at
   Mayor@toowoomba.qld.gov.au         

The Toowoomba Chronicle is at www.thechronicle.com.au