I am all for games for young people but the lot that came into town Saturday and Sunday to play in junior games were an embarrassment to residents of Port Macquarie.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The games should never have happened without some detailed planning from council and help from police.
The traffic from the roundabout at Park and Hastings River Drive to the turn off to the airport at Boundary Road was bumper to bumper going at a snail’s pace – less than 10km/h.
This was because of people trying to find places to park, then walking in the middle of the road endangering everyone with no concern for oncoming cars.
My 90-year-old mother and I were taking my 70-year-old sister to the airport to catch a flight Sunday morning about 8.30am. It took 35 minutes from Park Street to get to Boundary Road.
Once you got to the airport road starting at the first turn past the bowling club, it was impossible to get past all the people walking in the middle of the street not paying attention to anything around them like cars trying to get through the mob.
As I approached them from behind, I did not want to scare them, but to let them know I was there I gave a toot-toot. However when I did, kids and adults both turned around and gave me the finger.
As I passed through them, I was called a c*#t and a bitch so loud that my mother in the back seat heard.
I was truly afraid they were going to kick my car.
It made me sad to think that these unruly and abusive people were in Port and no police were anywhere for crowd control.
I do not blame the police. I blame council for not planning ahead since this was the second year this event has been on that I know. They could have used one of those fields near the airport for parking and have a professional parking control company to direct cars where to park. There needed to be police to keep the kids and adults off the road and quiet.
Maybe this letter will encourage the council to do something in advance of next time since, as I understand, this will now be a twice yearly event.
Jane Lyon, Port Macquarie
Editor’s note: There were several large areas allocated for parking around the airport and Tuffins Lane precinct for the Junior State Cup event manned by parking officials.
