September 1st, 2010 by admin
MEET Kate Neil, the glamorous young bingo winner who brought down a NSW health minister and unleashed one of the biggest political tragicomedies the state has seen.
Ms Neil, a 26-year-old student who lives in Sydney’s Newtown, once appeared under the name Harmony with the comedians Flacco and Sandman on the ABC.
Senior NSW Labor MPs expressed anger at Ms Neil yesterday and the fact she had not put her name to a story when she made the accusations about her affair with John Della Bosca that ended his time as health minister.
But Ms Neil has now been outed. She has been identified by Mr Della Bosca, according to senior Government sources, as a woman appearing under the name Harmony in an episode of The Sideshow featuring Flacco and Sandman in 2007. She is also understood to go by the name of Harmony O’Neal.
When she came up to collect her prize, Sandman asked if she wanted to know what it was.
When she said yes, he said: ”You’ve won a very, very short-term relationship with me.” He added: ”Have you got a spare 45 seconds?”
She replied: ”What about him?” gesturing to Flacco, real name Paul Livingston.
It is understood she once dated Livingston.
Ms Neil’s apartment was visited yesterday by a News Ltd secretary who dropped off a book by Bill Bryson and left with a laptop-sized package wrapped in black cloth.
The editor of The Daily Telegraph, Garry Linnell, denied Ms Neil was being put up by the newspaper or paid for her story.
Yesterday a friend and upstairs neighbour was at the run-down terrace where Ms Neil lives, but refused to comment.
”[Ms Neil is] a friend and a neighbour so there’s nothing I can say,” she told Fairfax.
It was also confirmed yesterday Ms Neil is enrolled in a postgraduate research course at Sydney University’s economics and business faculty.
Several senior ALP figures criticised Ms Neil for being ”gutless” and refusing to reveal her identity despite her determination to destroy Mr Della Bosca’s personal and political life.
”How does she get away saying all these things anonymously? She’s not a kid, for God’s sake. She is a 26-year-old consenting woman,” said one senior minister.
Another senior Government source said: ”She is kidding herself if she thinks this won’t come back to haunt her. She is just bitter because she was dumped by the man she thought would be premier.”
The former NSW premier, Bob Carr, yesterday told Radio 2UE that Mr Della Bosca’s affair should not have brought him down. ”I think a lot of people think this was not a hanging offence, not remotely.
”This bloke has a lot to be very, very proud of.”
One of Mr Della Bosca’s closest allies, the state’s Police Minister, Tony Kelly, said it would be a big loss if he did not make a comeback.
”John Della Bosca is by far the most talented, strategic political person in this state, and possibly in Australia,” Mr Kelly said.
Meanwhile, a senior Labor source said Mr Rees would reveal a new frontbench early next week.
It is understood the NSW Attorney-General and acting Health Minister, John Hatzistergos, does not want the health portfolio.
Although there is some talk that the Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, could be promoted to the role, several sources said she was considered too junior for such a tough portfolio.
The Prisons Minister, John Robertson, is also seen as too inexperienced, leaving Mr Rees to consider senior frontbenchers such as the Deputy Premier, Carmel Tebbutt, or the Transport Minister, David Campbell.
Last night, a motion of no confidence in the Government brought on by the Opposition Leader, Barry O’Farrell, was lost on party lines.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
September 1st, 2010 by admin
PORT RICHEY – In days of yore, bingo reigned at thriving, neighborhood clubhouses throughout west Pasco.
But now even bingo halls are falling silent as civic associations struggle to financially stay afloat.
In a sign of the times, changing demographics forced associations such as Beacon Square in Holiday and Orchid Lake Village in Port Richey to resort to the unthinkable: Quit holding bingo games.
In the 1970s, the ranks of some civic associations swelled above 500 members. Unlike homeowner associations, which can require residents to join, civic associations rely on voluntary memberships.
Members began melting away as more families moved into homes once occupied by retirees.
Some associations already had closed during the past five years, even before the recession put the economy into a stranglehold in 2008.
Orchid Lake Village and Beacon Square are exploring different paths to remain relevant.
By 2006, the roof of the aging, cavernous Orchid Lake Village Civic Association clubhouse was in bad shape. Other potential expenses or repairs were piling up even as membership dipped to about 90 out of some 900 homes in the area.
Then association leaders got an offer from Trinity Family Church a few years ago.
The association had plenty of land with several acres at its clubhouse site at Orchid Lake Drive and Lemon Road.
The nondenominational church, which had formed as a fellowship group meeting in homes in late 2002, was looking for a permanent home.
So the association gave much of the land in exchange for the church promising to build by 2012 a smaller clubhouse facility and new pool of the same size, said Renee Patrick, president of the Orchid Lake Village association.
Down came the Orchid Lake Village sign on the existing clubhouse, now about 25 years old. The church fixed up the building, which now bears the name of the church.
The association still has limited use of the existing building and exclusive use of the pool. The association jettisoned its bingo games and hall rentals.
“Times have gotten tough for everybody,” Patrick said. “I don’t know where we’d be if they hadn’t come to our rescue.”
The Beacon Square Civic Association board intends to fill vacancies and discuss options to attract new members to the facility on Bradford Drive, off Moog Road. The association counts some 140 members these days. The organization is trying discounts or special offers.
The association is striving to adapt to changing tastes, said Patricia Brevoort, a past president of the group. She was urged to serve as an interim president for the board.
“It’s definitely taking a turn in a different direction,” Brevoort said.
Retirees now represent about four out of 10 members of the association, while the majority is made up of working families.
“We’re trying to direct our attention to their needs,” Brevoort said. On Aug. 14, the association threw a back-to-school pool party.
“We also found bingo is not something appealing to younger generations,” Brevoort said.
The association would like to remodel the cavernous clubhouse built in the late 1960s.
“It’s a rebuilding process,” Brevoort said. “We are doing everything we can” not to shut down.
By CARL ORTH
The Suncoast News
September 1st, 2010 by admin
The Paris News
AUSTIN — The City of Paris has received a Charitable Bingo allocation for the second quarter of 2009, totaling $17,392.
During the second quarter of 2009, 140 cities and counties across Texas received a total of $3.2 million in quarterly allocations, as required by law, for allowing the conduct of charitable bingo games in their communities.
The Charitable Bingo Operations Division also allocated $3.5 million to the state’s General Revenue Fund.
The second quarter allocation is up 0.9 percent from the first quarter of 2009 and 5.3 percent above the same quarter in 2008.
Allocations are the result of prize fees collected from players who won bingo prizes in April, May and June in games conducted by non-profit organizations. As required by law, five percent of a prize awarded is withheld from the winner and deposited in a non-dedicated account in the General Revenue Fund.
Cities and counties that imposed the gross receipt tax on a local-option basis on or before Jan. 1, 1993, receive quarterly payments of up to 2.5 percent of the prizes won by bingo players in their jurisdictions.
Bexar County received the single largest allocation, $227,472.36. The remaining top counties are: Dallas County, $170,570.31; Harris County, $144,518.22; Tarrant County, $143,720.97 and Bell County, $119,593.60.
The City of San Angelo received the highest allocation for a municipality, $221,158.44. Corpus Christi was next with $80, 106.49, followed by Fort Worth, $77,408.22; Lubbock, $73,477.13; and Austin, $70,964.65.
There are 1,135 non-profits that conduct charitable bingo games.
For more information about charitable bingo, visit www.txbingo.org.
