The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, send us your epistles.

Last week an old friend of mine died. His name was Gary Cook. We met here in Byron Bay, when I was 23. He would have been in his early 30s. He was handsome. And funny. And weird. And self-involved. He used to come to Ringos, where I worked as a waitress. He’d sing to himself, bludge cigarettes, and shine up the serviette holder. He loved looking at himself. He’d laugh and say, ‘God, I’m a handsome man,’ and then he’d laugh this really infectious laugh

Volunteers from Marine Rescue Brunswick battled darkness and deteriorating conditions overnight to save three men stranded on Cocked Hat Rock, part of the Three Sisters south of Byron Bay.

The 2024 Penington Institute’s Annual Overdose Report stated that, ‘in 2022 there were 2,356 drug-induced deaths in Australia, equating to approximately six lives needlessly lost each day’.

Join the Nudge crew this Saturday for the season ten finale of Nudge Nudge Wink Wink (NNWW) in The Shed at the Billinudgel Hotel – bringing another unforgettable night of music, connection and community spirit to the Northern Rivers.

A "new, holistic approach to threatened species conservation" has been introduced by the NSW Labor government, reforming the Saving our Species program.