This is genuine, I have contacted him Via email today.
Uniform
Woods Point
Div.4
Region 4 (North East)
14 Hurley St.
Woods Point 3723
VIC, Australia
DX:
Telephone: 03 57778235
Facsimile: 03 57778270
Email: kenneth.dwight@police.vic.gov.au
www.police.vic.gov.au
26 September 2005
All Trail Bike Riders and Four Wheel Drivers
Reference
Riding at
Woods Point
Greetings
Please let me introduce myself, my name is Ken DWIGHT, I am a Senior Constable of Police and the Officer in Charge of the
Woods Point Police Response Zone. My area of responsibility covers the townships of ,
Woods Point (my base),
Matlock, Gaffney's
Creek,
A1 Mine Settlement, Enoch's Point and the area from Frenchman's Spur Track to The Eildon Jamieson Road to Flour Bag
Creek across to the
Licola Road, down to South Road, Mt Selma road across through
Matlock back to the Frenchman's Spur Track. This encompasses about 1000 sq. Klms of
State Forest, parks, River Catchments and
Reserves.
I believe on occasions your members and groups visit this area to partake of Trail Bike Riding and Four Wheel Driving etc. The purpose of this letter is to make your members aware of the conditions of DSE controlled Tracks and Roads in my Response Zone. Recent storms in the area over the past two months have reeked havoc over the whole area, with many hundreds of large trees flattened. In some locations between Mt. Terrible,
Matlock and
McAdams Gap areas have been so devastated that tracks are just no longer visible or recognisable.
Over the past three weekends groups of Trail Bike Riders have been stranded overnight in the areas of Ryan's
Creek, Corn
Hill and Mt. Terrible due to exhaustion, lack of fuel and breakdowns with back up crews having great difficulty in locating them. Although the weather is now becoming milder any rider unprepared to
camp overnight could get into serious bother. I am also aware that tracks and roads East of the
Goulburn River are also badly affected by storm damage and it is my understanding that the DSE may not be able to clear any of them substantially in the coming year.
Please advise your members who are planning a trip into these areas to carry adequate clothing, food, fuel and equipment for forced overnight stays in extreme conditions. Due to the difficulties of the tracks Police may not be able to mount any recovery of persons from these situations until daylight unless a dire emergency exists, i.e. evacuation of injured or sick persons.
Communication is of great importance on these trips, an appropriate CB
UHF Radio should be carried by the group, utilising Channel 7 South of Frenchman's Gap and Channel 8 in the North for urgent assistance as required. These are the only Repeaters available in the district. Mobile phones are next to useless and may only work from the highest locations. At least one member should carry an EPERP and a GPS, remembering that an EPERP should only be activated in situations of dire emergency. Back up crews should be prepared with chainsaws, extra fuel and good maps for recoveries.
I would also appreciate it if your group or members could drop me an email at kenneth.dwight@police.vic.gov.au before you intend to do a trip into this area, I can assure you that you are all most welcome here and I hope you all have many
miles of safe riding ahead of you.
Thank you
Kenneth DWIGHT
Senior Constable 26884