So Albury City Council has stumped up $50,000 of ratepayers' money for an ugly big log, but they can't stump Gough Whitlam. In August 1973 the Australian government, through the National Gallery of Australia's acting director, James Mollison, bought not a log but just Blue Poles for $1.3 million. According to a new valuation by its keeper, the National Gallery of Australia, those poles are now worth half a billion dollars. I am currently visiting Wangaratta from Tamworth and had the pleasure of seeing the Wangaratta Symphony Orchestra perform at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre. After being informed that the orchestra had not been performing together for very long I attended without expectation. As a musician who has played in quite a few orchestras myself, I left the concert feeling very impressed. From the selection of music to the quality of the playing, every moment was enjoyable. The concert , titled Timeless, was filled with well known classical pieces ranging from Beethoven and Strauss with a quieter, more sobering tone and ending with the gusto of the William Tell Overture which was played with confidence, power and precision. The people of Wangaratta should be so proud to have such incredible talent in their community. I know this orchestra will go far in the future and I look forward to seeing some of their future performances. I would like to congratulate you all on a wonderful concert and on an orchestra that is a credit to not only yourselves, but to your community. Why are private power companies so useless at providing the public what they are paid to do? This never, ever happened with the SEC. They did regular maintenance. We've had four or five interruptions to supply since October this year. Let's hope they do bring back the SEC. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller's letter to the editor points to our blindness or maybe unconcern that many people place on having a community that cares about moral strength and family values. Surely these must be part of any decision made by local, state or federal authorities. The purpose of having a strip club in Olive Street, Albury, will not uphold that intent.