It was Ophir County Council’s headquarters until the mid-1990s when the state government took over 25 electricity county councils and amalgamated them into six retailers with the aim of promoting competition.

That didn’t do a thing for our power bills that still went through the roof.

Ophir in Orange had been going along nicely but was amalgamated with Central West Electricity, Southern Mitchell, Ulan Electricity and Western Power to form Advance Energy, later name-changed to Country Energy.

The government also seized all Ophir’s assets, including the Orange headquarters that had been paid for by local electricity consumers, and after moving all the administration to Bathurst, demolished the building because the concrete was supposedly breaking down.

Several years later when Orange City Council wanted the land for a car park it had to use ratepayers’ money to buy it back from the government, so we’ve paid for it twice.

Now the council wants to sell the land to a developer.

A few months ago the government sold Country Energy and Integral Energy to Origin for $3.25 billion, supposedly to pay for upgrades for the run-down power stations but more likely to build new roads in Sydney. Certainly of no benefit to us.

Because the government raked in a huge windfall from the sale, it should give back the original value of Ophir’s assets it stole 16 years ago.

The government should also refund the money Orange City Council had to pay for the Ophir land to develop the car park.

That would square things up.

Crash test dummies

We must be home for some of the state’s worst and most aggressive drivers who are either racing around like maniacs, tailgating, changing lanes indicating late or not at all, or going so slow they become mobile speed bumps.

The forest of traffic lights, give-way and stop signs posted haphazardly all over the place without any regard to proper traffic management doesn’t help.

Neither do drivers who still refuse to indicate properly on roundabouts, especially when exiting.

Pedestrians cop it too. The only reason some drivers slow down for them is they’re afraid they’ll damage their cars if they bowl someone over.

So there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution to our traffic nightmare other than council having a management plan done.

The latest Roads and Maritime Services  figures show Orange had 199 crashes in 12 months.

Of these two people were killed and 112 people were injured in 74 of the crashes. There were no injuries in 123 crashes.

Really it’s a miracle there’s not more.

Driven mad

Some Orange drivers don’t miss a trick.

They’re taking short cuts through petrol station driveways to get around red lights.

The two popular ones are Shell on the corner of Summer and Sale streets and United on Woodward and Byng.

Going east in Summer and copping a red light at Sale, they just duck into the Shell driveway and out again on Sale and keep going merrily on their way.

They’re doing the same in Byng Street after getting a red light at Woodward. They just go into the petrol station driveway and come out again, in front of all the Woodward Street traffic going south, of course, but that doesn’t worry them one bit.

They’ve saved a few seconds by not waiting for a green light.

Idiots.

Ticked off

A bit like the post office clock that’s been on the blink for more than 18 months, some of the green traffic light bulbs, or whatever’s in them, are blown.

Several in Woodward Street have been out for a few weeks while there’s another in Summer St that’s just given up the ghost.

Tricky Dick

Dick Smith flew his jet helicopter to a secluded bush clearing in Kanangra Walls National Park this week to join a ground party to try to find the site where Orange airline founder Max Hazelton crashed in his Auster 60 years ago.  

But just like it was 60 years ago, thick cloud and drizzle hit the area, grounding the helicopter just minutes after it landed.

The weather didn’t clear all day so Dick had to leave it there all night.

How was he going to get home?

“I’ll hitch a ride to Katoomba and catch a train,” he said.

Eating away at health fanatic  

“I never eat any food with additives or preservatives”, a health fanatic boasts to a friend.

“And I never have anything that’s been sprayed with chemicals or anything that’s been fed chemical grain or any processed foods with hidden salt like bread, breakfast cereals, processed meats, cheese, sauces and spreads.”

“That’s great,” the friend says. “How do you feel?”

“I’ve never been hungrier.”

Cuddle up to the Yanks 

City slickers often have a problem mispronouncing country names like Can-o-win-dra, or Canno-bo-lass while an Orange radio station is still calling Lucknow Luck-NOW.

But the other day a woman reading news headlines on TEN called Cudal Cuddle.

And on the other end of the scale the ABC is getting fond of using Yankee words like canyon, which of course we don’t have in Australia.

Others to pop up on TV and radio news services in the past few weeks include curved ball, sidewalk, pick-up (ute), cell phone, candy, gasoline, food to go, trash can and wildfire.

Pretty soon if we’re not careful, we’ll be looked on as the 51st state of America.

Get the jump on locusts

Drivers should get a piece of shade cloth and stick it on the grille of your car because the grasshoppers are coming.

The Plague Locust Commission staff warn they’ll begin swarming within weeks.

A commission report states locust nymphs are now widespread throughout the far west and central west and they’ll begin moving around soon.

That’s when you get them splattered all over your windscreen and clogging up your radiator if the grille’s not covered.