I must say that Frank Brown’s  letter “Sick and tired of traitors” (Illawarra Mercury, January 1, 2019), has left me dazed, confused and rather worried.

His message is not only disjointed and paranoid, it's also 'fake news'.

Certainly calling for the execution of  illegal immigrants and their children would not be viewed kindly by the world order.

I'm pretty sure that would make us a greater pariah than the Saudis or North Korea..

I hope Frank is not a gun owner, as his view that " the only good human is a dead human!" is rather concerning.

And just what " plastic earrings and schoolie mates" have to do with global warming is beyond me.

The Mercury already has its abundance of alt-righters demeaning us  "Yank lefty/vegetarians" (I am an ex-yank but not a vego), but at least they write coherently  about their subject of choice.

My New Years motto will be " Peace not Paranoia".

I hope Donald Trump adopts it for the rest of his term.

Fat chance.

William Bielefeldt, Kembla Grange

The Left side of politics - federal, state and local - are a conga line of hypocrites.

They go way beyond the limits of exaggeration to preach about how nasty and toxic carbon dioxide is for the environment.

They pillory anyone that has the temerity to oppose their cause celeb - climate change.

Yet, these tricksters endorse the  enormous contribution of gunpowder used in the annual fireworks display, which is made of 75 percent potassium nitrate (also called saltpeter) mixed with 15 percent charcoal and 10 percent sulfur - modern fireworks sometimes use other mixtures such as sulfurless powder with extra potassium nitrate.

None of these compounds are considered good by the Left as being ‘toxic-friendly to the environment for the balance (364 days) of a calendar year.

So, what does one make of the Left’s hypocritical crusade that continues to lose meaning and purposes on the turn-over to the following year?

D J Preece, North Wollongong

The tanker fire which occurred on the M1 on Friday (January 4, 2019) set the scene for extreme acts of heroism by all those charged with the responsibility of removing the threat of what could have easily been one of our major peace-time disasters.

It was very clear from the video and photographs of the incident that many in the battle could have lost their lives or become hideously injured at any time.

Everyone involved in the coal-face activity should be publicly acknowledged and appropriately recognised for their bravery.

H & R Burnett, Wollongong

​​​EDITOR’S NOTE: Reader contributed images of our beautiful region you are used to seeing here now run with the letters to the editor online on our website  at illawarramercury.com.au.  

​Send us your photos via email to letters@illawarramercury.com.au.