News blog, March 31: Helicopter crash near Wallan, greater support for vulnerable families

We’re racing towards a top of 26 degrees today, and the boffins at the Bureau are telling me (well, telling everyone) that Shepparton’s not due for a drop of rain until the weekend.

UPDATE, 4.50pm: Man smashed door at McDonald’s because he was mad another customer got their order first

I’m signing off today with the most outlandish story I’ve read in a little while.

Monique Preston sat in court as a man was bailed despite breaking down a door at McDonalds because someone else got his order first.

Let those who haven’t wanted to break the door at a fast food restaurant because their order is taking too long cast the first stone, but to actually do the deed is what landed this fellow in hot water.

Get it into you with the full story here, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

UPDATE, 4.30pm: Greater support for vulnerable Shepparton families through new justice program

Anna McGuinness has this story, where Shepparton has been picked for a pilot program providing greater support for vulnerable families.

Putting Families First involves a single case worker for a family to access services, taking away the confusion of dealing with multiple people and organisations.

It will initially be rolled out to up to 200 families in the Goulburn and Brimbank-Melton areas, targeting mothers leaving custody and young people who have had contact with the justice system.

Read more about it here.

UPDATE, 3.10pm: Fears for passengers as crash site found

The Herald Sun is reporting five people were aboard a helicopter which is believed to have crashed at Mount Disappointment near Wallan.

Emergency services are struggling to reach the scene due to rugged terrain, and it’s unclear if there are any survivors.

UPDATE, 2.30pm: Maude St Mall (stage one) to reopen next month

Greater Shepparton City Council says stage one of the Maude St Mall redevelopment will reopen in the next two to three weeks.

Phase one is the Fraser St end of the Mall redevelopment, and will allow the playground to open.

A council spokesperson said a celebration would be held to mark the opening, with some of the plywood and hoardings to be removed as it opens.

UPDATE, 1.45pm: Footy and netty kicking back off this weekend!

Hold onto your hats, everyone — the major winter codes are BACK this weekend. While the Goulburn Valley League is still a week away, the Kyabram District League, Picola District League and the Murray Valley League will all have their first games this weekend.

We’ve still got mountains of team previews coming from the football and netball mag which was released last week, check out footy previews of Shepp United’s rebuild, Murch-Toolamba’s hunt for the top four and Tally’s hunt to improve.

On the netball side of the ledger, Waaia is aiming to fly higher in 2022, Tallygaroopna is set on a top six finish and Longwood is hoping to capitalise on a ripping summer on the track.

Also, emergency services are still hunting for a downed chopper around Mount Disappointment.

UPDATE, 11.45am: Police responding to incident

Victoria Police has released a statement about the incident this morning in Wallan.

“Police are responding to reports of an aircraft incident in the Mount Disappointment area,” a spokesperson said.

“It’s understood two helicopters were travelling north in convoy from Melbourne’s CBD over Mount Disappointment when one aircraft disappeared just after 9.30am.

“At this stage the second helicopter is yet to be located. Emergency services are in the area searching.”

I’ll bring you some more when we know more.

UPDATE, 11.20am: Echuca headspace now open, Mount Disappointment incident

Some news from around the region — headspace in Echuca is now up and running. It’s wonderful news for an area which has struggled with travelling to mental health services for some time.

headspace is at 451 High Street and is open weekdays from 9am to 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 12pm-6pm on Wednesdays and 9am to 4pm on Fridays.

Meanwhile, down near Whittlesea, Ambulance Victoria was called to reports of an aviation incident at Mt Disappointment around 9.35am.

Crews are making their way to the scene and the air ambulance has been dispatched.

No further details are available at this stage.

UPDATE, 10.50am: The Churches sold

Orrvale property The Churches, which has been a holiday destination for years, has been sold at auction.

If you’re wondering what the price tag for a pretty snazzy-looking church — at least from what I can tell while driving past to and from footy training — you’ll have to check out this article by Gianni Francis.

UPDATE, 10.00am: GVL coaches react to broadcast changes

Community radio station 98.5 ONE FM made headlines last week when it announced the GVL had ended their 30-year broadcasting partnership.

Following this, the league issued a release stating that Geelong-based multimedia company Red Onion Creative would take over — committing to live-streaming one game of senior football and one game of A-grade netball a weekend.

It’s shocked coaches across the league. Zac Standish has been all across this story, and has the full wrap-up here.

UPDATE, 9.00am: All your budget wrap-up, spotlight on endometriosis

There was a lil Federal Budget announced earlier in the week, and today’s paper and the Shepp News website has the local angle well and truly covered thanks to Darren Linton.

At a glance, there’s some stuff in there for everyone — a $420 cost-of-living tax offset, fuel prices to go down, some help for people on pescription medicine.

But you dig down a bit deeper and there’s nothing really for Shepparton — or for regional Victoria in general.

National and Liberal candidates Sam Birrell and Steve Brooks both backed the budget, which was delivered by their parties, while Independent candidate Rob Priestly called it “bitterly disappointing”.

But the story you do need to read today is Caitlyn Grant’s account of endometriosis, which has made me immeasurably more grateful to have been born male, because for something one in nine women go through to have no funding and research is shocking enough, especially when it has this much of an impact.

“Debilitating pain reverberating down your legs so you can barely stand, agonising bloating, bleeding that would make even the strongest of hearts weak — a lot of the time it is those symptoms and more, but you wouldn’t know,” she said.

“The real face of endo is the person sitting quietly at their desk practising breathing exercises to get through the pain, it’s the person going about everyday life with a smile on their face while their world is shattering inside them.”

Read her full account here, and Endo warrior Sarah Pearson’s piece here.