I’d just like to mention the fact that your publication has been a stalwart in the background of my life for at least 25 years, and that I appreciate the effort your staff and the people who write genuine letters from the heart go to.
I’ve written to you on quite a few occasions, from a hand-written note during a flood following my brother’s suicide in 1999, to repeated pleas to treat ‘asylum seekers’ as one would one’s neighbour. It is always fascinating to read your readers’ thoughts on the state of the world. Community building in action!
I can’t sign off without noting that Byron (with Mullum close behind) is one giant construction zone at the moment… with people still homeless following the February floods. I guess that means the fly-in schoolies won’t get a sleep-in. They are lucky to have a bed – many ‘locals’ don’t. Many locals can’t afford food. It’s a shame all the construction going on is based on a chase for tourism money, rather than a reconstruction of ‘community’ (the most overused word of the century).
Always interesting and only very rarely boring. Thanks so much to all of the contributors.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
