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Arapiles new toilets vandalised |
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4-Apr-2012 7:43:50 PM
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On 4/04/2012 STEALTH wrote:
>Yes! Next time the dunny will be blocked by the perpetrator's head :-)
Still attached to their body, I hope. We don't want to be unreasonable about this... Whether the body is pointing up or down is open to negotiation, of course.
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12-Apr-2012 11:31:25 AM
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On 3/04/2012 STEALTH wrote:
>The new toilets in The Gums were vandalised within 48 hours of being installed.
>All the door locks were smashed and bowls filled with full dunny rolls.
>The Ranger had to spend half a day cleaning them.
>
I think there may have been some loosely reported details in this post.
I was one of the early 'customers' of these new toilets after Peter Hawker declared them open. And yes, by the second day some of the door latches (not including the Disabled Toilet) were broken. BROKEN, not necessarily smashed, and perhaps this may have been due to the use of 'domestic quality' hardware rather than items designed for heavy public usage.
The new toilets are of the 'long-drop, pit-style' and have a large opening directly to the holding tank below. There is NO toilet bowl and it's hard to imagine a toilet roll large enough to fill this opening. I suspect the reference to this sort of thing happening relates to the 'old' flush toilets below The Pines and I recall, years ago, Ranger Max talking about having to deal with such behaviour.
And in respect of some other posts on this topic, yes, there were school groups based in the North Campground/Gums area at the time (last full week prior to Easter) but it seemed to me that they were mostly using the old toilets (because of night time illumination?).
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13-Apr-2012 2:49:29 PM
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I was directly opposite the new toilets when they opened, was one of the first customers. They smelt so fresh. The next day the locks were broken and one was locked shut with no way of getting in apart from sliding under or climbing over the walls. Think it was just crappy locks that broke easily, seemed very flimsy psuedo steel from memory. And yes it would be a tough one to block the hole with paper..
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13-Apr-2012 2:56:14 PM
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so... what do we do with all the pitchforks, torches and hastily formed internet lynch mob now? maybe there an unsubstantiated retro-bolt or chipping we can get worked up over
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13-Apr-2012 3:32:19 PM
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Ah say weez go right inta Horesham an lynch us some of them spotty teenageries. Either that or cram their mouths full of the worst Big Macs I've ever seen that Horesham Maccas seems to produce (maybe that's what was crammed into the toilets, it's hard to tell the difference).
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13-Apr-2012 4:16:58 PM
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I only reported what I was told directly by PV staff.
The locks I saw were standard hardware in most public toilets, and tend to be able to tolerate more than 24 hours of use.
Keep that lynch mob on standby.
There's bound to be someone somewhere up to something.
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13-Apr-2012 4:33:41 PM
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On 13/04/2012 STEALTH wrote:
>I only reported what I was told directly by PV staff.
With respect, were you talking with PV staff actually working at Arapiles?
>The locks I saw were standard hardware in most public toilets, and tend
>to be able to tolerate more than 24 hours of use
Well, these didn't. But not necessarily due to vandalism. It would be nice to hear what Peter Hawker has to say about this matter but I suspect he's constrained by Parks Victoria protocol. Maybe Tracey will be able to add something to this dialogue at a future time.
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>Keep that lynch mob on standby.
>There's bound to be someone somewhere up to something.
Yes, keep the Kuu Klux Klan in readiness (Joke!) But climbers can't automatically expect to be protected from lynching.
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13-Apr-2012 4:52:48 PM
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Was told by Acting Ranger in Charge of big piles of rock in the Wimmera, who told me what was reported to him by field staff.
Don't know if we need a race based lynch mob.
Everyone is fair game.
And if you see a road gang, see if they have some spare tar.
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13-Apr-2012 5:21:27 PM
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On 13/04/2012 STEALTH wrote:
>Was told by Acting Ranger in Charge of big piles of rock in the Wimmera,
>who told me what was reported to him by field staff.
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Well, that's pretty definitive!
An unnamed Acting Ranger, in charge of big piles of crap somewhere in western Victoria.
Sorry STEALTH, I hadn't intended to question your reliability as a reporter in respect of this matter but it seems that both Dick Lodge (see post earlier in this thread) and I have a different recollection of events from that told to you by someone who recounted (to you) information told to them by yet another party. Chinese whispers?
I was there, staying in the North Campground, during the period these "incidents" took place and had a long conversation with Peter Hawker about the facility on the morning he subsequently "declared" them open. Another person in my group subsequently talked to Peter about the broken door latches. I don't believe that he (Peter) at that time expressed the belief that vandalism was the cause of failure.
The other assertion (in the original post) about toilet rolls being stuffed into the bowls of the new toilets is demonstrably questionable and consequently weakens the reliability of that post.
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13-Apr-2012 6:53:00 PM
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On 4/04/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>Are you starting up the Chockstone Special Investigations Unit? For christ's
>sake, you think you're going to find the perp by just sitting behind the
>computer and asking "did anyone see who did it?"
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>Really top notch work so far, Columbo!
>
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I try my best. Thanks for the great encouragement ODH.
All the people who say mean things about you are wrong, you're a sweetie really.
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13-Apr-2012 7:34:21 PM
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On 4/04/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>Really top notch work so far, Columbo!
>
You must have just been a little tacker when Columbo was on, ODH! ;-)
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13-Apr-2012 9:45:25 PM
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On 4/04/2012 nmonteith wrote:
>I really can't see why anyone would have a political issue with a toilet,
>but I do remember Baxter's beat-up in Rock mag when the original pit toilets
>were installed in the Gums! Ohhhh the controversy....
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Well Neil, I don't think I was ever seen as an apologist for Chris Baxter's views, but sadly he's gone now and so can't explain why he had a problem with those toilets in the Gums.
However, I suspect his objections were more to do with their elevated prominence rather than with their intended function.
And the enduring myth is that they were intended to function as 'composting toilets' NOT as pit toilets. But apparently due to the design, or the environment, or the level of patronage, they failed to live up to expectations. So the result was that the 'containers' underneath that elevated edifice needed to be emptied more frequently than expected -- a process that by it's nature inevitably raised Occupational Health and Safety concerns.
The new Gums toilets are neither a composting system nor a septic system (as in the "old" flush toilets serving The Pines campground) but instead utilise a holding tank that's designed to be more simply pumped out as necessary and the contents carted away for treatment and disposal.
But to anyone who thinks that climbers' shit doesn't stink, I'd suggest they volunteer to give a helping hand when the guy come to pump out the holding tank! ;-)
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