online

Updated

January 23, 2012 14:22:38

Photo:
Storms caused black outs in parts of the Flinders Ranges (Nicolas Hoyle: user submitted)

Power has been restored to about 300 properties in the Flinders Ranges after a 20 hour blackout.

Lighting strikes during a heavy storm on Sunday damaged electricity wires, cutting power to homes at Cradock and Hawker.

Electricity distributor ETSA originally estimated the power would be restored on Sunday afternoon.

But flooding in the area prevented workers from accessing the area, with one truck becoming bogged overnight.

Company spokesman Paul Roberts says a helicopter was sent in this morning.

“The creeks have been in flood so we’ve actually been unable to access our equipment to be able to restore power overnight,” he said.

Local business owners were worried about a lack of air-conditioning and food being spoilt in forecast hot temperatures.

Hawker publican Julia Nicholls says power cuts after storms are becoming a common occurrence.

“I don’t really want to have to throw out a heap of food,” she said.

“It’s probably our fifth or so time in the last eight weeks this has happened so not happy but it’s becoming the norm, we can’t do anything. They’re doing what they can and it is storm activity that does it.”

Still burning

The Country Fire Service has called in water bombers to help control a grass fire that started in the southern Flinders Ranges this morning.

Firefighters are having difficulty accessing the blaze, which is burning in difficult terrain in Mount Remarkable National Park near the Battery Ridge Track.

In a separate fire, about a thousand hectares have been burnt at Todmorden Station, north of Oodnadatta.

‘Mini Tornado’

Freeling in South Australia’s lower north was also hit by strong winds on Sunday that some residents likened to a ‘mini tornado’.

Tiles were ripped off the roof of a house on Fiddlewood Drive.

No-one was injured in the severe weather which clipped the edge of the town.

Lightning strikes started three fires near the Billiatt Conservation Park in the Murray Mallee on Sunday evening.

Water bombers were also called in to help contain a grass fire near Millicent in the south-east.

Eight CFS trucks and 35 firefighters volunteers attended the fire near Agricultural Bureau Drive.

And in Adelaide, the mercury only dipped to 27.6 degrees Celsius overnight.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Brett Gage says wind caused the temperature to dip about 1:10am.

“We’ve had an east to north-east breeze stay up overnight which has kept the minimum temperatures up,” he said.

“Normally it’s either wind or cloud which keeps the temperatures up and it’s been relatively clear overnight so it’s been mainly the wind.”

Topics:
weather,
bushfire,
hawker-5434,
millicent-5280,
mount-gambier-5290,
adelaide-5000,
sa,
port-pirie-5540,
renmark-5341

First posted

January 23, 2012 10:39:00

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Koelfontein’s main farmhouse. Picture: Myrtle Ryan

Three horsemen set the tone, as they trotted briskly down the gravel road leading to Commando Drift Nature Reserve near Cradock. They were the only people we encountered as we took the loop road between Tarkastad and Cradock, and they waved in friendly fashion.

We could have taken the shorter, tarred route, but that would have been ordinary, and why choose that option when you can do the extraordinary?

Commando Drift was named after the farm owned by Voortrekker leader Hendrik Potgieter, before he set off on the 1836 Great Trek, and I could easily imagine creaking ox wagons trundling down the same road we were taking.

For that matter, it could also have been called Meerkat Alley. Dozens of these inquisitive creatures diced with death as they raced across the road in front of our vehicle. Fleet of foot, luckily, they always escaped.

A cabin located on the shores of the Commando Drift dam sounded like a good spot to spend the night, but we decided to head for Koelfontein, a working sheep farm.

There our comfortable, self-catering cottage was located under giant bluegum trees, and one window overlooked farm lands, ploughed to the edge of the cottage. Being this close to the agricultural side of things gave a real feeling of being on a farm.

The blaze of aloes everywhere in the area. Picture: Myrtle Ryan

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Another reminder was a huge, belligerent rooster which sometimes flew at my feet as though reminding me this was his home turf and I should tread lightly. Apparently his days are numbered as, said the owner’s wife, his recalcitrance has him marked for the pot.

At sunset, the only sound was of guinea fowl calls and, strangely, chattering monkeys. Somehow, I had never associated bluegum trees with monkeys, but clearly they spent contented nights in the branches.

Koelfontein lies in a giant bowl of koppies. The sunset was muted, but each of the rocky outcrops had its turn to have the golden spotlight of the setting sun shine on them, before purple shadows crept up to make them prisoners of the night.

I took a long walk in the veld in the evening and very early the next morning. My companions were a grizzled old border collie and a young pointer. The collie limped gamely beside me, but every so often forgot about its age, and raced ahead with its young companion, reliving, if only briefly, the days of its youth as the two raced through tall, waving lucerne.

As to the pointer, it was driven to barking distraction by cheeky monkeys who deliberately taunted it, then jumped into the safety of a tree, from where they reminded him he was unable to climb.

Wild flowers bloomed everywhere, aloes provided bright splashes of colour, and in some places the thorn bushes had so many white flowers, it looked like snow had fallen on their branches.

Koelfontein is also known by the locals as Dadelik… because a previous owner had always wanted everything done “dadelik” (instantly).

The owners organise night drives for guests, on request, and at the right time of year concentrate on trying to find the secretive aardvark and aardwolf.

l Contact: 078 559 7828; 048 881 3825 or 048 881 1133; or e-mail: koelfontein@eastcape.net – Weekend Argus

Get our new, free Travel newsletter – subscribe here…

WITH three Grammy award winners in as many months, the winter season at Eric’s launched the re-opened venue in style.

Now, we can exclusively reveal the Mathew Street venue’s spring schedule, which offers a packed programme of bands from around the world.

Kevin Montgomery brings his laidback singer-songwriting to the city on Monday, February 13. He’s country music royalty (his dad was an early songwriting partner of Buddy Holly, who went on to work with Bobby Goldsboro and Patsy Cline, while his mum was a Nashville session vocalist, singing on Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds and Robert Knight’s Everlasting Love), and one not to miss.

Steve Cradock (familiar from Ocean Colour Scene and as the long-serving guitarist in Paul Weller’s band) brings his own band to Eric’s on Sunday, February 26, while the James Taylor Quartet has been announced for March 16.

Radio 2 favourite Jake Morley plays on Sunday, March 18, and Glen Matlock, the man they say was thrown out of The Sex Pistols for saying he liked The Beatles, will play Eric’s on Friday, March 30.

Finally, mellow singer songwriter (and another Radio 2 favourite) Ben Montague joins the line up on Saturday, April 7.

The new shows join the already announced events – Dan Reed, Dodgy, Beth Jeans Houghton, Altered Images, Henning When, InMe, King Pleasure The Biscuit Boys, Richard Herring, The Selecter feat. Pauline Black Gaps Hendricks.

Music director Ethan Allen says: “I think we had an incredible three months last year bringing the likes of OMD, Trombone Shorty and Jon Allen to the venue. We’ve delivered exactly what we promised.

“This year will see more of the same, including a diverse mix including Beth Jeans Houghton and Dodgy, as well as former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock.”

When the ECHO broke the story that Eric’s was to reopen, some people voiced concerns that it might become a cabaret venue filled with tribute bands. The first acts to play the venue shows that this hasn’t been the case.

The venue’s owner John Lynch says: “For a new venue, to bring three Grammy winners to the city has been a real positive for us and in 2012 we are confident that we will deliver whether that be a blues, rock or country artist or comedy show it’s important for us to take that risk and offer something to suit all tastes.”

See Ticketmaster or the box office 0151 236 9994 – www.ericslive.com

‘);

tm.siteLife.daapi.getArticle(
“21-100252-30160565”,
function(article){
tm.siteLife.display.displayCommentCount(
article,
‘sitelife-commentsWidget-middle’,
false,
‘Comments’,
true,
false
);
}
);
})();//call anonymous function
//]]

NORFOLK

A one-time member of the Portsmouth Bounty Hunter Bloods street gang was sentenced Monday to life in prison for gunning down two brothers in a Cradock home invasion robbery.

Jamyia Rashad Brothers, 24, and his lawyers pleaded for a sentence of 35 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson, calling the killings “one of the most heinous crimes a man can commit in American society,” gave him life.

Brothers and another Blood went to the home of Ronnie Trollinger on Gillis Road one night in December 2007 with the intention of robbing him. Upon entering, Brothers almost immediately began shooting.

Trollinger, 51, was shot in the chest and died. His brother, John Trollinger, 49, was shot in the chest and head and died. A third man was shot in the abdomen and survived.

Brothers read a rambling letter to the court stating that the crimes have led him to find Christ. He apologized to the Trollinger family, the court and to Jesus.

He said he wished he “could have listened to the voice of my dear grandmother.” Brothers was raised by his grandparents but was expelled from high school and had numerous arrests before this case.

John Trollinger’s widow testified that she continues to suffer physically and emotionally.

“I live with fear, loneliness and emptiness,” she said.

The high school sweethearts were married for 31 years and had two children and two grandchildren.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Muhr said Brothers fired his gun for no good reason.

“It was just cold-blooded murder,” he said. “They did nothing to him.”

He said the Bloods gang terrorized Cradock and other neighborhoods in Portsmouth, Suffolk and Chesapeake.

“They are a scourge on society,” he said.

In calling for a life prison term, Muhr cited Brothers’ arrest record, which includes convictions for assault, drug dealing near a school, escape, firearm possession and drunken driving.

Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle C. Mobley, who sat through the sentencing, said the case never could have been prosecuted without the joint federal-state effort. The initial case in state court fell apart because of witness problems.

James Theuer, one of Brothers’ attorneys, argued for a 35-year prison term, telling the judge his client “is a different man today.”

“Where was that individual,” Judge Jackson wondered aloud, “when you walked in that house?”

Jackson also denied a request that Brothers be housed in a prison close to his family.

“It’s unfortunate,” the judge said. “It’s a tragedy on all sides.”

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com

Description:

Follow @G2Bristol

 

Here at Guide2 Bristol we love Christmas, and if there’s one person who knew how to create a proper Bristol Christmas recipe, that person would be Fanny Cradock.

 

Fanny Cradock was a celebrated chef in the sixties and seventies, and her recipes were staples for anyone who considered themselves members of the dinner party set – or at least aspired to be.

 

For our Guide2Bristol Christmas dinner we will be tucking into a turkey cooked in the traditional Fanny Cradock way – plenty of ham, and mushrooms! If you fancy doing something similar, take a look at these two videos from Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas, a BBC series of ten minute cooking tips from 1975. Fanny’s turkey recipe apparently ‘does nothing for the bird’s figure, but it does keep the bird moist.’ For anyone in Bristol who has ever had a dry turkey disaster (and we’ve had a few), that will be music to your ears.

 

Fanny also shows you how to carve a turkey properly in part two, as well as goose. The quality isn’t great, but they are all on BBC iPlayer at the moment too, watch them there if Youtube isn’t your thing.

 

So that’s the way we are going to be cooking our Christmas turkey, and if you want a whole heap of recipes for Christmas party foods, check out the other videos in Fanny’s series, they may look a little dated but they are certainly a lot of fun! You’ll also get to see Fanny’s famous assistant Sarah, but sadly no appearance by her ever faithful Johnnie.

 

Whatever you do for Christmas, everyone here at Guide2Bristol wishes you all the best, and see you on the other side!

 

Click here for Bristol Restaurants

 

 

Advertisement

Dave Forbes shooting The Cradock Four

The award-winning feature documentary, The Cradock Four, has been selected for official competition in the Long Films section of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), to be held in the historical city of Luxor, in Egypt, from 21 to 28 February.

The Cradock Four was made independently by South African filmmaker David Forbes over seven years and won Best South African Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (2010) and was shortlisted for the Amnesty International (Durban) Human Rights Award at the same festival.

Last year The Cradock Four was invited to the Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival in Doha, Qatar, and a number of minor festivals.

It is being distributed internationally by Forbes’s media company, Shadow Films.