Bellingen has a what?!

A Current Affair aired a “Special Investigation” segment last week entitled “Hoodlum Vigilantes”. The segment targeted youth in Bellingen after incidents in town of break-ins and theft. How the whole story was presented was anything but informative, but rather something that will now stain and taint the image of youth from the town.


Hoodlum vigilantes

Normally I would not even give the show attention, but last Tuesday it was the talk of the school when I went to tutor. Students were talking about A Current Affair arriving in Bellingen to do a story on “truants” in the town. At that stage I was wondering if, perhaps, the reporters were a bit far south and needed to travel north to Yamba after an incident occurred of arguably more dire consequences. Nope, they were here for a story in Bellingen. Unfortunately they weren’t going for one of the more positive stories that has started to become a common occurrence in recent times, they wanted the drama and to stereotype the youth as thugs with booze and drugs. Maybe instead of a shotgun visit some of the reporters should visit the town to see the more positive activities, initiatives, and pro-active creativity that the youth are actually involved with.

I had to laugh, and several other people did as well, when at the beginning of the story a “gang of youths” were described as calling themselves the “Underbelly of Bellingen”. A lot of people I was asking in the high school today had completely no idea that there was an “underworld” in the town (oh, maybe that’s what they intended to say on ACA!). Come on ACA, in a town with a population of 2200? Was this fact or just a subliminal plug for the new upcoming season of your show on your station? Or perhaps it was falling to the creative prowess of the youth? Who knows...

Apparently some of the youth were “so brazen they bragged about their break-in on the internet”. There’s a quote on the internet these days known as “Screenshot, or it didn’t happen”. This was the quote that the ACA supplied.



They didn’t say which social network site it was from, but have a “Facebook” profile in the background. Even though it is possible to have security that prevents people, not listed as your friend, from being able to see your profile. ACA presented a quote, that could have easily been typed up by one of their staff, rather than highlighting the portion or showing the page in its original state with the quote. This piece of evidence lacks integrity, but could still sufficiently tarnish the image of youth of the town. Then again, there is that other quote... “It must be true! The internet said so!”

It became a “journalistic hero” story, with the investigator stating the police only turned up to patrol Bellingen that night because ACA was in town.

I won’t harp on too much more about the story, because it really was poorly done, but you do have to ask this. Why is it that the youth and police were targeted but questions were never raised about the parents of these “hoodlum vigilantes”?

Are ACA even aware of the creative culture of the town? Arguably Bellingen has established itself as one of the creative and artistic centres of the mid-north coast. A lot of students have been brought through and have established themselves in the areas of music, arts and drama. Now it seems the intent is to drag them through the mud with the few that decided to misbehave.

By no means am I defending the youth, listed in the report, for conducting themselves with criminal acts but is it hardly any different from other towns that have these issues? Especially the much bigger towns with a population greater than 2200 that have a police presence? Yamba anyone? As one of the many tutors that provides opportunities for the youth of this town in an area whether it is the arts, sports, and academics, this “special investigation” was a real kick in the teeth.

Something to think about... (H.S. Concert Band)

So I had a meeting with a high school music teacher today about running their school concert band. As it stands, we're not sure if it will be a concert band for the time being.

To be honest I was feeling very nervous at the time, and rightly so for a few reasons.

*This high school, in the past, was basically "the man" (or "the ensemble") when it came to music and large ensembles in the late 80s all the way through the 90s. Come the new millenium the music program essentially folded and has almost been non-existant since then. With a new music teacher and principal at the helm, a revival of the music program and its ensembles will be attempted.

*We have a lot of inexperienced students and new ones starting out on instruments. While this may appear to be a negative, it is actually a massive positive because they are very keen to be playing music and to take part in an ensemble. All up we have about fourteen at the moment.

*The music resources, in terms of charts, is slightly limited. We found some teriffic charts, but we are still fairly limited in ability. At the same time, we don't want to be spoon-feeding easy music but to be able to challenge and develop the students as the group progresses.

*Some of the current primary band programs in schools, that have kids move on to this high school, are discouraging children from taking further part and are making them quite cautious.

When I arrived home after teaching some students this afternoon, I reflected on the first ensemble that I played in when I moved to a new school. The school orchestra I played in was established in 1996. The music program was essentially the same; fairly new coming almost from non-existance. The first rehearsal we had saw an attendance of 12 students, playing a fairly diverse range of instruments. From there I stayed with the ensemble all the way up to Year 11 in 2000 and witnessed its development from those 12 students to an ensemble of 60+ students. What was even more remarkable was that students from other schools would join in, after school, at rehearsals.

You would normally expect a miniature ensemble, based in a high school, to fall flat on its face. Some of the best ensembles that have come out of schools have started out as these small groups through persistance, determination, and hard work from everyone.

Next week I will start meeting several of the students, the majority being in year seven. I am very keen to be a part of this project and hopefully rejuvenate this intergral part of the music program in the high school.

Fingers crossed.