If you wish to have your child believe in a religion, teach it yourself or send them to a religious school you pay for.

By all means teach, history, culture and a broad discussion on where religion may fit in this.

Teach why some people believe in various versions of a god or gods.

But most of all, teach science and the ability to question and ask for verifiable evidence of what is presented to you as fact.

I am very disappointed that there will not be an amalgamation with another council for Dungog. 

We need something to stop this town from dying, to stop the rot. 

I understand that Dungog Council wants to stand alone.

But where is the evidence that it is capable of doing something positive for this shire? 

We don't need people sitting in an office with blinkers on, thinking that they can keep their job just by keeping their heads down. 

We need proactive people working for our ratepayers’ money. 

In my opinion, we have councillors that seem to be more concerned about their image than what will really help the community come alive. 

They are turning Dungog shire into a retirement shire.

Jobs are drying up and the youth are all moving away because there are no jobs available here. 

I understand that a number of businesses have looked into starting up the area and have been knocked back by council. 

We could have had more concerts like the Mumford and Sons concert but, from what I understand, some promoters don't want to deal with Dungog Council.

In my opinion, it is like council wants the place to go the way of the dodo.

There have been many times that I have walked into a council office, sent emails or given copies of photos and the like, and I have not gotten a response.

When I ask for them to clean out the storm water drains, when I show photos, I believe they don't want to know. 

Their response is they can't afford to clean out the drains after it rains and they block up.

They have "Clean drains = clean waterways" stamped into the concrete on the kerbs but they don't seem to follow their own advice.

When we’ve asked why they won't clean out Myall Creek, they’ve tried to explain to us that cleaning up Myall Creek will have negligible benefits in the event of a flood. 

Those of us who live in flood zones think differently and, I believe, know better.

I have a photo taken showing a storm water drain choked with bull rushes. I believe this is evidence that choked water does not flow well. And it is very interesting what gets trapped in the bull rushes. 

Myall Creek is a lot bigger and traps a lot more rubbish. 

I believe that, given that the flood study is being worked out using information that council has provided, the results will come out with an end result that suits council. 

When we have mentioned other incidents and the aftermath of such incidents, we have received comments such as "I didn't know about that". 

Yet council representatives still haven't come around to talk in depth to those who have lived through these incidents. 

If amalgamation is off the table, how about considering an administrator?  

I believe an administrator could come in and maybe spend our ratepayers’ money in a more effective way. 

Put a cleaner through the whole place and bring in some fresh ideas and people.