2006 in review

It's been a big year in the East Kimberley and here are some of the top stories that made Page 1 of The Kimberley Echo in chronological order.

January 19: Cr Keith Wright survives a bout of Legionnaire's disease whilst travelling through the Riverland and the initial results of drilling near the Kununurra bore field are released.

January 26: Will and Celia Burrell receive an Australia Day honour for their services to tourism in the Kimberley and a squabble breaks out over proposals to extend trading hours at the Hotel Kununurra.

February 2: Kununurra man Steve Cook hits out at increased insurance premiums in Kununurra because of a perceived cyclone threat, when it is actually zoned in the same risk area as Perth. Lee Scott-Virtue is named Kununurra's Citizen of the Year for her toad busting efforts.

February 9: Nationals leader Brendon Grylls calls for State-based rent subsidies for lower paid workers in the East Kimberley and the debate over higher insurance premiums continues as insurance companies dig in.

February 16: The jaws of life are used to free a young woman from the wreckage of a vehicle that has rolled near the intersection of Valentine Springs Road and the Victoria Highway and St John Ambulance calls for more Kununurra volunteers.

February 23: A former Kununurra woman is ripped off by a notorious conman in the NT and suggests he could be heading for Kununurra and the Kimberley Echo continues its fight to dispel the smokescreen set up by the Department of Environment over development of the area adjacent to the Kununurra bore field.

March 2: Cr Julie Nelson resigns from the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley and Cr George Hamilton is sacked for failing to attend meetings.

March 9: The Balmoral Beach Club plans a marathon swim across Lake Argyle and Skywest adds two jet flights per week.

March 16: Aboriginal leaders call for children to be taken away from drunken parents in Halls Creek and flooding causes some people to take unnecessary risks.

March 23: Despite an investigation that was at best superficial, the Department of Water refuses to budge on use of the Priority 1 area near Kununurra's bore field.

March 30: The tropical low pressure system that later becomes Cyclone Glenda breaks monthly rainfall figures for Wyndham and Kununurra.

April 6: A public meeting is held to discuss flooding of properties on Weaber Plain Road.

April 13: Kununurra's most successful youth program Police Rangers folds because of a lack of volunteers to help police run it.

April 20: Five candidates put up their hands for the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley by-election.

April 27: Children under 10 years of age vandalise Kununurra, setting alight spray cans to damage buildings.

May 4: The idea of piping water to Perth is knocked on the head because it is too expensive.

May 11: In a radical move to stop Aboriginal feuding in Kununurra, police standby as some people slug it out at a 'law ground'.

May 18: The Muster flourishes and a plan is revealed for a new bridge over the Dunham River near Kingston Rest.

May 25: Graham Green and Di Ausburn win the two councillor spots on the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley and there is a killing at the base of Kelly's Knob.

June 1: Charlie Barbagallo finally opens his Argyle Kimberley Resort after battling bureaucracy for years.

June 8: Kununurra police get the non-lethal Taser gun and Const. Andy Bedwell shows it off.

June 15: Former Kununurra resident Warren Johnson is named in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and Wyndham is without an ambulance service.

June 22: Fast flowing water is blamed for freshwater crocodile deaths in Spillway Creek.

June 29: Alarming figures for sexually transmitted diseases in the Kimberley are released and the fight starts to save Wyndham Hospital.

July 6: The State Government announces it will seek expressions of interest to develop Ord Stage II.

July 13: GM cotton trials in the Ord Valley produce promising results.

July 20: A Warmun woman faces numerous charges after a man dies of stab wounds and two other people are clubbed with a baseball bat.

July 27: Fishing guru Hairy Dog Harman says a shark-killed barramundi from the Lower Ord is the biggest he has ever seen.

August 3: Aboriginal tour operator Richard Downs calls for Aboriginal people to become more self-reliant and Shire executive manager of engineering and development services Steven Chadwick faces 28 rape charges.

August 10: A large iron ore project looks likely to go ahead 170 kilometres by road south of Wyndham.

August 17: Dirty campers leave a disgraceful load of litter behind at Sandy Beach on Lake Kununurra.

August 24: Coroner Alastair Hope finds an accident was probably responsible for a helicopter accident on Carlton Hill Station that claimed four lives.

August 31: QANTAS pulls the pin on its jet service between Kununurra and Perth and the hydro fails.

September 7: Emergency diesel generation of power for Wyndham and Kununurra is 'so far so good'.

September 14: A tidal power proposal is put forward for Wyndham and Flo Kelly dies.

September 21: A leaked document shows East Kimberley lives are being put in danger by Royal Darwin Hospital's reticence to accept patients from over the Border.

September 28: The Argyle Kimberley Resort closes amid controversy and Kununurra St Joseph's students take out the Wakakirri National Story Festival WA finals.

October 5: Marcia Hines is announced as the major talent for next year's Airnorth Kimberley Moon Experience.

October 12: The hydro looks ready to go back on line.

October 19: Threats to enforce load limits on the Gibb River Road outrage station owners and Kalumburu community.

October 26: Pilbara-Central Kimberley Member Tom Stephens suggests moving all WA into the Central Standard Time Zone.

November 2: Perth-based Stop The Toad Foundation is exposed as an expensive and inefficient bureaucracy.

November 9: A Halls Creek man has his nose ripped off by a dog that was set on him by another man.

November 16: Kimberley Toad Busters and the Argyle Diamonds Ord Valley Muster win community awards in Perth.

November 23: Weaber Plain Road residents are worried that not enough has been done to alleviate potential flooding of their properties.

November 30: Kununurra footballer Carl Peterson (McNeill) is drafted to the AFL side Richmond.

December 7: Fiona Kuiper and Margaret Woodland are recognised for their volunteering efforts in the East Kimberley.

December 14: A coroner's inquest reveals serious problems within the Kununurra branch of the Department for Community Development.

December 21: Well, you're reading it right now.