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| 30 November 2005 |
| More trees chopped |
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By Dalene Robus
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The municipality is not the only party that fells trees in Barberton. After last week’s article in the Barberton Times, some residents lodged further complaints at the municipality regarding tree cutting that is taking place in and around Barberton.
According to Esau Mashamba, assistant-director: community services, his department is not the guilty party this time. Eskom is busy with a tree-cutting programme in the area.
According to Ian de Wet, technical service officer Eskom Barberton, it is clearing areas along the power line from the Princeton substation to the Fairview 22kV feeder.
This is done to improve the quality of power supply to customers and for safety reasons. In an Eskom advertisement published recently in the Lowvelder it stated that one of the biggest problems the company experiences was trees touching power lines and causing voltage dips and outages.
In the past, Eskom felled the trees that were directly underneath the lines and cleared a strip four metres wide. This was not sufficient since the wind could still cause trees or branches to touch the lines.
Eskom is now clearing an area of four metres on either side of the line and trim trees for and additional five metres.
This has angered many local residents as areas resembling aircraft runways, have now being created in pristine bushveld.
Protected tree species such as marula have been affected in the programme.
All trees including fully grown shrubs with no potential to affect the electricity have been cut and poisoned. Questions were also raised whether Eskom did an environmental impact study before the cutting commenced.
The scarred landscape will impact negatively on an area renowned for tourism.
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| Eskom has chopped of branches of trees closest to the power lines. The original four metres that had to be cleared, can clearly be seen here. This distance has now been increased to eight metres. |
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| Farmers hit by mini-tornado |
| By Dalene Robus |
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A heavy thunderstorm, described by some as a mini-tornado thrashed through the valley on Tuesday afternoon November 22, causing major havoc and severe damage to property and crops.
A path of destruction was visible outside Barberton in the vicinity of the Badplaas-turnoff. The storm, accompanied by strong wind, estimated to be over 100 km/h, uprooted large trees, lifted corrugated roofs from buildings and destroyed vegetable and nursery greenhouse tunnels. More than 65mm rain poured down within 30 minutes in the area, compared to the 24mm that was measured in town.
Vegetable tunnels at various farms were damaged when the plastic and shade cloth coverings were ripped to pieces. The strong, gusting wind that accompanied the rain twisted four-inch pipes used for the water tank stands and flattened road signs.
All the belongings of Warrick Robinson and his fiancée Cindy Pringle, who occupied a cottage at Sunrise Estate, were soaked within minutes when the storm caused their roof to collapse.
“You only see such storms in movies,” Warrick said. Cindy was alone when it happened and she said that it was a frightening experience. The damage to property at Sunrise Estate is estimated to exceed R250 000.
Two homes at the St. John’s Mission were also damaged.
Ann Thorne, owner of Fernatic Nursery told Barberton Times that more than 20 trees on her property were either uprooted or damaged. She said, however, that the hail-damaged plants would soon recover.
A fallen tree near the nursery flattened the roof of a Toyota Condor. Sylvaine Robertson said she visited the Waterwheel Coffee Shop adjacent to the nursery when the storm started. She parked the Condor under a tree for protection against hail. Minutes later the strong wind uprooted the same tree, flattening her vehicle.
While farmers started the arduous clearing task, Eskom battled through the night to restore electricity to the affected areas. According to Ian de Wet, technical service officer at Eskom Barberton, the strong winds damaged power line masts in the vicinity of the Badplaas road.
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Sister Denise Olshausky in front of one of the storm damaged homes.
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| Speaker leaves for Canada |
| By Richard Nkosi |
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Umjindi Municipality Speaker Derrick Ndlovu, is flying to Montreal, Canada tonight where he will attend the fourth municipal leaders’ summit on climate changes.
It started on Monday November 28 and is expected to end on December 9 and will seek means to reduce greenhouse gas emission and take a sustainable development approach to the management of cities.
In a letter addressed to Ndlovu from Gerald Tremblay, mayor of Montreal, states that the summit will provide the opportunity to share experiences and demonstrate the will of local governments to be considered equal partners in addressing the global problem of gas emissions. |
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| Painting is her life |
Meeting Trudie du Plessis was like a breath of fresh, spring air. Just talking to her, hearing her express her love for painting and her pets, makes you want to hug the first person you see after you leave her little house in Davis Street.
I met Trudie some years ago when I did a story about her for Lowvelder but wondered how many people in Barberton knew about this talented woman. Her paintings were sold to a number of tourists that went back to their destinations across the world.
Born and bred in the United Kingdom, Trudie knew from an early age that all she wanted to do was paint. She told the tale of being chased out of the mathematics class because she would rather draw pictures than do boring maths.
At the age of 11 she was offered a scholarship at the Wimbledon College of Art but had to finish school first before she could go there to study. Her family emigrated to South Africa and here she met and married Doepie du Plessis and eventually moved to Barberton 16 years ago.
Life for Trudie involved around her paintings, her husband and her pets. Unfortunately Doepie past away over a year ago which left her with her paintings as her main income.
She loves to paint animals especially elephants, scenes from nature and also buildings. Another love is writing. She has written some poetry and is presently busy writing a children’s book. “I would love to publish it but am not sure how to go about in doing so,” she said.
She gives private painting lessons to adults and if anybody is interested in this she can be contacted on 013-712-6310.
Presently Trudie’s paintings can be seen at Bye Apart Ate.
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