We love to delve into our archives to look back on what made news in previous years.

Today we look at October 16, 2006 which was a Monday.

Our back page featured a controversial finish to the Maitland triathlon and inside there was plenty of cricket results.

Our street poll that day was on climate change.

Read some of the stories below.

Scores of angry Telarah residents and business leaders have vowed to defeat a Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) "safety plan'' they believe will "gut'' their suburb.

They fear that cars will be stopped from accessing South Street from the New England Highway.

A public protest meeting will be held at Telarah Bowling Club at 6pm on Wednesday aiming to gather support to keep open the main arterial road from the highway. Irate residents and business chiefs plan to petition the authority to have its controversial plan scrapped - on the main grounds of safety and worry that motorists will no longer shop locally if they are denied access to South Street.

The RTA scheme first came to light when leaflets were distributed two weeks ago. The RTA said it was planning "safety and traffic improvements'' on the New England Highway between Johnson Street in Telarah and Wollombi Road in Rutherford. By taking the right turning lane into South Street, the RTA would give a longer turning lane to motorists turning right into Aberglasslyn Road on the other side. It was only later that residents noticed the "hidden bombshell'' - the removal of the right turn movement of cars into South Street from the highway.

"We are all amazed that the RTA didn't discuss the plan with anyone here - the community that will suffer enormously from what they want to do,'' Telarah Bowling Club manager Marc Eisenhauer said. "I have no doubt about it. If cars can no longer come down South Street into Telarah, this community will be badly hurt,'' he said.

"Both business people and residents will suffer.

"Already, access to South Street from the highway is not that easy. "There are also many elderly people who live in Telarah, nearly all of whom shop locally. "If shops close here because of the South Street decision, where will these elderly people go? "If we lose our butcher and the IGA store closes, what will happen to the Telarah community?'' Mr Eisenhauer urged everyone in the area to attend Wednesday's meeting.

The butcher, IGA manager, take-away shop, hairdresser, the doctor and pharmacist have all voiced their worries about the RTA plan.

Chris Taaffe, who lives near Telarah on the highway at Rutherford, said the RTA needed to realise that the particular section of road was not a "fast flow through area.''

"This section of road should be respected as a residential zone, with houses and residents on both sides of the highway,'' Mr Taaffe said.

"This RTA proposal is nothing but a 'cop out' as cars, trucks and wide loads will be on everyone's front doors.'' He also warned the RTA plan could see a drop in property values. "I say 'yes' to resurfacing the road - without a doubt it needs it,'' Mr Taaffe said.

"The current surface is in a deplorable state and it has only ever had piecemeal repairs done on it. "But I say 'no' to turning the road into a fast flow through area.

A prominent clergyman has called on Maitland's Christian women to photograph men arriving or leaving brothels.

The Reverend Gordon Moyes MLC, of the Christian Democratic Party, also said Maitland was a top priority for the party to field a candidate in the March election. Rev Moyes made his plea to the Hunter Valley Christian Life Centre yesterday.

His call came after concerns were raised over an application to set up a brothel in the Thornton area.

"The issue of sex shops and brothels is best fought in the front line by women - not men,'' Rev Moyes told the congregation.

"Mums and grandmums know best about the problems of brothels,'' he said.

"I would suggest that if a brothel is ever set up in (Thornton), that local women place themselves outside - with cameras.

"They could let clients know their pictures will be posted on a website." He also suggested that Maitland women could play a lead role in buttonholing councillors debating the issue of a brothel or a sex shop.

"We must all stand up for our Christian values - we must be prepared to reason with everybody we meet about what is happening in our community,'' he said. "Maitland people have a right to take a stand against plans to bring in a brothel.''

"We are not trying to decide that everybody in our city has our moral standards. "But we are trying to make our city a better place.''

"We are looking for someone to stand in Maitland now,'' he said.

"This will be a great opportunity for the Christian Church to begin to affect many issues.

"I believe Maitland women would be the best front line soldiers - the city is under-presented by women.

"And it has a deficiency of good women leaders in power.'' The Rev Moyes said many churches had been "struck dumb'' over recent controversial issues. And he called on Christian churches to unite.

"We should not just be looking at morals - but also at the rights of workers in all areas,'' he said. "It is all about justice rather than moral issues.''

He said Maitland had always been a great Christian centre, with its early communities of Welsh and Cornish miners. "These people were great defenders of Christian values and now we must stand up for these values today.''

Maitland's 13th annual triathlon ended in controversy yesterday after the top-three placegetters in the men's open long distance event missed a turn, failed to complete the 55km bike course and were disqualified from the race.

Waratah's Nathan Campbell thought he'd made back-to-back wins at the Maitland triathlon before a protest more than half an hour after he crossed the finish line was upheld. Campbell, Redhead's Boyd Conrick and Paul Ambrose were ruled to have missed an estimated seven kilometres of the 55km bike course after confusion over an intersection, which they were supposed to turn at but instead rode through.

The trio took out the top-three places in the event's new long course race but were later issued a Did Not Finish (DNF) beside their names following the misunderstanding. Campbell, who had earlier pumped his fists and raised his arms in relief at what he thought was a back-to-back win, was disappointed at the decision and said the trio were directed by a number of race marshals to go through the said intersection.

The World Championship silver medallist said the trio, who were part of a break-away pack at the time, slowed as they came to the "confusing" intersection after they could not come to an agreement between themselves whether to turn or to go straight.

"We asked the race marshals if we go straight or turn left and told them 'we're on the second lap and we're doing the long course, which way do we go?' and they said go straight ahead," Campbell said.

The 23-year-old, like all competitors had gone over the course on Saturday and said the intersection had caused him concern. Event and race director Paul Humphreys said a protest was lodged by the fourth-placed competitor in the open men's event.

A Triathlon NSW race referee was on hand to ensure all competitors followed the rules and Humphreys said the race referee made the decision to uphold the protest on the grounds that the trio did not complete the whole of the race course. Humphreys said it was unfortunate that the misunderstanding occurred and said after plenty of discussions the trio accepted the decision well.

"In my opinion I still won the race, it's just not on the results page," Campbell said.

"But at the end of the day it is the competitor's responsibility to know the course." Campbell said the Maitland event should look at reverting back to hosting the one distance after the confusion it caused competitors. But the event was the biggest one hosted by the Maitland club, after a field of more than 300 competitors lined up yesterday, almost a 100 more than previous years.

The men's open long course title was eventually awarded to Glen Alpine's Stephen Nicholson with his time of 2 hours 30.20 minutes. Concord's Lisa Marangon took out the women's event with an impressive time of 2.48.34, followed by Aberglasslyn's Tracey Turner and East Maitland's Maria Stoneman. Aberglasslyn teenager Gareth Bannon enjoyed his best finish at the Maitland event after he placed third in the open men's category in the club-distance event. Central Coast's Steve Hackett won the event in 1.43.31 mins and Glenmore's Nick Hornman (1.46.19) was second, with Bannon a further two minutes behind with a time of 1.48.54. Newcastle-based Maitland Triathlon Club member Aaron Royle finished fifth in the open men's category. Carlingford's Alison Coyle was a clear winner in a small field in the women's club distance open event with her time of 1.57.05, with Bolwarra's Karen Webb (2.18.05) runner-up, while Singleton and MTC competitor Grace McPherson won her age category comfortably and was the first across the line out for the Maitland women

A seven-wicket haul to experienced left arm paceman Paul Brownlee has helped spearhead City United to a 32- run victory over Eastern Suburbs at Robins Oval on Saturday.

Brownlee finished with 7-68 and helped put an end to a gallant run chase from the Griffins, who were bowled out for 294 in the 80th over in reply to City's first innings of 326.

Brownlee's 21-over stint included a hat-trick opportunity in his final over, which was eventually staved off , before the Griffins tail buckled under the weight of the overs left and runs still required.

The left armer also had a strong ally in Scott Tuckwell, who helped put the brakes on the Griffins' run chase in the middles stages and picked up the key wickets of Griffins skipper Rick Meehan (99) and Ed Vassie (90).

Tuckwell finished with 2-46 from 21 overs and denied both Meehan and Vassie centuries, after both looked set to guide their team home to victory.

The duo put on 114 runs for the third wicket before Meehan was trapped in front by Tuckwell in the 48th over and left the Griffins at 3-194 at the tea break.

"I would have been disappointed if I got out for 101, it was a bad shot and a bad ball," Meehan said.

"We lost the impetus through the middle of our innings and I thought we let Scott Tuckwell dictate to us - he bowled a number of maidens - rather than us dictating to him and we lost a few soft wickets."

Meehan said his team was confident all week of knocking over the 300-plus total and apart from Josh Trappel's 195 for City, was pleased with his team's efforts in the field on day one.

Unfortunately the Griffins' tail failed to wag with the team's remaining five batsmen able to contribute only 19 runs between them, with number seven Justin Lawrence unbeaten with 10 of them.

Tenambit Morpeth's top order was firing on all cylinders as it cast aside Thornton Park's total of 259 with seven wickets in hand at Morpeth Oval. Mick Eccleston starred for the Bulls with an entertaining 90, while opener Ben Crebert set the innings off to a great start with 81 and first drop Matt Wind was in fine touch with an unbeaten 47.

The Bulls reached 260 inside 67 overs, with Wind proving the mainstay, and enjoyed partnerships of 83 and 82 with Crebert and Eccleston respectively.

Bulls skipper Aaron Wolinski could not have asked for a better first-up performance from his team, which was without four of its premiership winning line-up in round one. Bulls opening bowlers

Danny Johnson and Johnny Carlson are still to come back into the line-up, while Wolinski said the arrival of young opener Ricky Dent provided further balance to the team's top order. Northern Suburbs broke its first round hoodoo with a four-wicket victory over Raymond Terrace at Jack Collins Oval.

Norths have not won their opening round encounter for the past five seasons but cast aside last season's grand finalists comfortably to finish at 6-134 in reply to Terrace's 115.

Norths opener Phil Callinan eyed an early finish for his team and top-scored with 68 and shared in a 71-run stand with Terry Humphreys (29 not out). Norths number eight Tim Prescott was unbeaten on 19.

The visitors were 5-44 overnight but the pair's efforts quickly snuffed out Terrace's hopes of early wickets.

"It all happened pretty quickly," Norths skipper Josh Callinan said.

"He (Phil) was seeing them so well he was confident enough to put the bad ball away and got behind the good balls." The young skipper said the win was a "huge" reversal of the same encounter last season, when the Terrace secured an outright win at Lorn Park, and looked forward to them testing their mettle against last year's premiers Tenambit Morpeth at home next weekend. Weston Workers have also started their season off in winning style after they beat Western Suburbs at Coronation Oval.

Weston batted on after passing the Plovers' first innings total of 160 and were eventually bowled out for 179, with new skipper Nathan Pearson leading the way with 74.

Pearson shared an 111-run partnership with opener Dave Fairfull (55) to lay the platform for the team's first win in six matches, after Weston finished last season with five consecutive losses. While Weston secured first-round points, they were not entirely convincing in doing so, with the middle and lower order struggling to reach double figures.

Plovers first-change bowler Andrew Kealey gave the team hope with impressive figures of 3-12, while Anthony Trappel (3-48) and Jamie Timmins (3-31) also shared in the spoils but to no avail

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