Imagine the disruption in Ballarat and Bendigo without electricity including traffic chaos without traffic lights, retail shutdown as cash registers and electric doors failed, people trapped in power-less lifts, factory production stopped without warning mid-stream with ensuing costs and losses, and all banking and business commerce stopped as computers go down. Would level crossing gates be stilled and therefore trains halted?

Lack of communication to the population as TV goes out and mobile phones are caught without recharging facilities, dangerous interruption to home medical treatments such as dialysis and the curtailing of general hospital work, and added to all this, is the risk to our heavily-skewed-to-aged population without means of relief from heat. We are so dependent on the electricity supply. If there is an ongoing power crisis, please politicians, work urgently to control it for the future without penalising our community.

Lorraine Sinclair, Ballarat

Headmasters' decision to re-row Head of the Lake to the "benefit of student's educational interests" is a joke. Whose interests are being served by a decision that will disrupt all of these senior students' studies on Wednesday morning? Furthermore, it will disrupt their preparation for their next regatta this weekend as they are forced to prepare physically and emotionally for a second Head of the Lake race mid-week.

The race has been rowed, all crews prepared for that event and gave it everything on the day. It has been won and lost regardless of the fact that headmasters are unwilling to allow race officials to award a result.

So what's the real lesson here - the educational interest? Clearly we don't need to follow rules and if we don't get our way we only need to find an anomaly to get another result. Rowing is a tough sport, it makes heavy demands of all participants, builds character and resilience; we value it because of these things. Over 100 years many good crews have lost this race, sometimes tragically! And there have never been any re-rows!

Paul Commons, Ballarat North

It was gratifying to read the City Council has been working on a 'Township Plan' for Miners Rest. Miners Rest needs a proper strategic plan that fully addresses the important issues of infrastructure, flooding mitigation, services and appropriately thought-out development planning. Given that the Council gave away a vital and important public asset, the Ballarat saleyards, for an undisclosed sum of money, perhaps the profits from such a transaction if any was received from handing over a public asset to a private commercial entity, should be used to provide for this much-needed infrastructure in Miners Rest.  

Given the Council gave approval for livestock saleyards to be built 900 metres from the Miners Rest township and its primary school, the question must also be asked: What will be the benefits for town? It was said farmers bringing their stock to the saleyards would spend money in the area, and there would be profits for everybody. Without infrastructure or retailers, the farmers are not going to be providing any economic benefits for Miners Rest. Profits will go back to the saleyard operator, who will only be paying Council rates back into the community.  

Eileen McGhee, Miners Rest