A Seaham pin-up girl, Port Stephens amidst an all round boom and questions about whether the council should write off a loan to a sporting club was making news in the Examiner in 2002.
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For this week’s From the Archives, we go back to the May 9, 2002 edition of the Examiner.
On the front page was a story about then 19 year old Seaham model Jessica Edser appearing in international men’s magazine Ralph as the “girl next door”.
Also making news in 2002 was Port Stephens being amidst a “mini-boom” in construction, tourism and jobs.
Building activity was on the rise, the employment rate was almost half of the Hunter average and tourism was thriving.
Port Stephens had an employment rate of 6.6 per cent compared to 12 per cent for Newcastle and 13.1 per cent for Cessnock.
The council had approved 441 development applications worth $78 million in the first quarter of 2002.
This was compared to 526 DA approvals worth $67 million in the final quarter of 2001.
Additionally, tourism, which had injected $200 million into the economy in 2000, was showing no signs of slowing down.
In the May 9 edition, the Examiner published answers given by five people when asked in a street poll: Should council write off $10,000 of the $19,000 loan to Northern Blues for the Shoal Bay New Year’s Eve street party?
The rugby league club asked the council for a $10,000 discount on a loan used to run a New Year’s street party because the event did not produce the expected profit in which to pay back the sum owed.
The answers in the street poll were split, but in another story in the May 9 edition of the Examiner then Nelson Bay Rotary Club president Peter Cowling weighed in saying the loan should be written off.
