Come Friday I get an email from the Dragons announcing the Wollongong draw at WIN Stadium looks unreal Panthers, Cowboys, Storm and Brisbane.

All excited I tell the the other half I got to renew my season tickets for this great looking draw. The wife has a look at the email studies it like the loyal person she is and says this draw is garbage.

Why I ask?

She replies: ``Cowboys Origin week so no Thurston and the rest of the Cowboys, Origin stars for the second year in a row; Storm Origin week so no Slater, Smith, Cronk and other Storm Origin players and both games without the Dragons rep players’’.

To rub salt into the wounds the wife suggests knowing your luck they will play the Broncos at 7.50 pm on a Thursday night which is after a lot  school children fans bedtime so they will not go to the match.

Frank Tecza, Dapto

Q: When is a disabled parking space not a disabled parking space?

A: When it is located in the Gwynneville/Keiraville area.

In support of the above I give two examples.  The first is the marked disabled space in the Keiraville shopping centre which is sometimes used by commercial vehicles and more often by adults waiting to pick up children coming from the school.

Unless this disabled space is intended for Keiraville Public School it is inappropriately placed.  Apart from being on the opposite side of the road to the shops it couldn’t be further away from the pedestrian crossing necessary to cross the road.  

It is also secluded and clearly too tempting for some conscienceless, able-bodied drivers.

The second example is the two disabled parking places within the Botanic Garden’s heavily trafficked car park.  

This problem is exacerbated when weddings take place within the gardens and it is not unusual to see a white limousine illegally parked somewhere inside the gate.

Don’t the self-centred individuals realise that one day they or one of their loved-ones might become disabled?

Richard Burnett, Wollongong

Ben Morris is correct when he says “freedom is not cheap” and that so many Australians are unwilling to pay the price that it requires.

Freedom confers rights on every citizen of a country, it also requires responsibilities back from them.

We have freedom of religion, freedom to dress as we please, freedom to worship as we please in a church shrine temple or mosque built for that purpose, the only restrictions on these freedoms are building regulations that all of us are required to comply with.

We all have a responsibility to defend these freedoms from those who would remove them from us.  As an atheist I have no time for any religion but as a citizen of this free country it is my duty to defend the rights of others to worship as they please so long as they obey Australian law.

Sadly we have far too many craven cowards in our nation at the moment, people who are far to cowardly to put on boots and fight an real enemy like religious terrorists or fanatical extremists.

They instead take the same cowards options of these vile extremists and prefer to attack soft targets who are no threat and who cannot fight back.

If you are a true Australian you will stand with our Muslim allies in the fight against terror.

Stop and ask yourself, do I want a peaceful Australia or do I want to spread fear and hate?

​Doug Steley, Heyfield