V Lismore: 1. Eddie Solomona, 2. Stephen Prosser, 3. Matt Collins, 4. Gavin Tulk, 5. Ben Briggs, 6. Tyler Green, 7. Vaughan Nilsson, 8. Jay Onslow, 9. Dean Matthews, 10. Matt Bermingham, 11. Robbie Collings, 12. Nigel Marshall, 13. Stephen Hughes, 14. Jonathon Little, 15. Ben Felicioni Coach: Will Cotterill Referee: Graham Cook

Southern Cross University: 1. Pat Kelly, 2. Alex Roffey, 3. Daniel Wade, 4. Patrick Wilton, 5. Keith Morris, 6. Rhys McNaughton (C.), 7. Harry Witt, 8. Ben Prozinski, 9. Sam McPherson, 10. Luke Neal, 11. Dallas Abel, 12. Brendan Brooke, 13. Bob White, 14. Harry Vivers, 15. Murray Wade Coach: Matt Barlow

V Casino: 1. Reece Manning, 2. Blake Birmingham, 3. Craig Connolly, 4. Cal McLennan, 5. Ben Osborne,  6. Pat Herman, 7. Carl Tahatu (C.), 8. Jarrad Newton, 9. Tim Cameron, 10. Lachlan Winkler, 11. Jake Lyons, 12. Stephen Murchie, 13. Tom Farr, 14. Cale Berry, 15. Michael Sherry Coach: Darren Winkler Referee: Mick Melino

Lennox Head: 1. Rob Roberts, 2. Connor Blair, 3. Jack Bungate, 4. Mick Muir, 5. Isaac Foley, 6. Kyle Gilmour, 7. Harry Bungate, 8. Rob Fish (C.), 9. Paul Jeffrey, 10. Mathew Barnes, 11. Lachlan Creagh, 12, Scott Stapleton, 13. Sam Croke, 14. Brett Horne, 15. Paul Crozier Coach: Tony Bundock

V Grafton: 1. Luke Deleiuen, 2.  Chris Owen, 3. Beau Brotherson, 4. Nick Collie, 5. Ben Robertson, 6. Scott Lloyd, 7. Simon Hampshire, 8. Jono Speechley, 9. Adam Smidt, 10. Kyle Hancock, 11. Luke Butler, 12. Paul Cameron, 13. Keeton Ingram, 14. Adam Crawley, 15. Ben Stone Coach:  Brad Lloyd Referee: Karl Lupton

Wollongbar Alstonville – Bye

Police will allege a 38-year-old man and his 68-year-old father were involved in a scuffle with the officer on Fingal Street, Brunswick Heads, about 9.30am yesterday (17 May), after he stopped to speak with the men following a minor traffic incident.

It’s alleged the younger man, who was a passenger in a Toyota Lexcen sedan, got out of the car and assaulted the officer.

It will be further alleged the driver also became involved in a scuffle during which the officer sustained cuts to his mouth, bruising to his left eye and cheek, grazing on his neck, and cuts to his left hand.

Assistance was called for and the men were arrested at the scene. They were taken to Byron Bay Police Station where the younger man was charged with:

• Assault police officer;

• Assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company;

• Assault occasioning actual bodily harm;

• Resist officer in execution of duty; and,

• Use offensive language.

He was refused bail to appear at Byron Bay Local Court today.

The older man was charged with:

• Assault police officer;

• Assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company;

• Assault occasioning actual bodily harm; and,

• Resist officer in execution of duty.

He was granted conditional bail to appear in Mullumbimby Local Court on 14 June. Both men are from Byron Bay.

The officer, a detective sergeant from Byron Bay, was treated at Mullumbimby Hospital.

Police were called to the home in Margaret Crescent about 2.30am today (18 May) by NSW Fire and Rescue officers.

Entry was forced to the home and the body of a woman was found.

The house sustained extensive internal damage. The woman is yet to be formally identified.

Detectives and crime scene officers are at the house but the cause of the fire is unknown.

Anyone with information in asked to contact Grafton police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Casino and South Tweed also ranked highly in figures posted for this week. By analysing weekly data on average unleaded petrol prices, the new Bowser Buster at www.mynrma.com.au/bowserbuster will list from cheapest to most expensive each town’s average price and how the towns have moved along the rankings from their previous week’s price.

The NRMA says tor families embarking on long journeys or businesses running fleets, the NRMA’s new Bowser Buster rankings could help them make considerable savings at the bowser by alerting them to the towns that historically sell petrol at a cheaper price.

Bowser Buster also identifies those towns that consistently sell petrol at a higher average price.

NRMA Director Graham Blight said this sort of information could help drivers plan their petrol stops.

“Looking at the 5-week historical ranking data for a town could provide motorists with a good understanding of where the consistently cheaper and more expensive places are to fill up,” Mr Blight said.

“Surprisingly, some of these places are only a short drive from each other.

“For example, a family taking a trip from Gilgandra to Sydney last month could have filled up at 50th-ranked Mudgee for $1.55.2 per litre or almost 13 cents per litre cheaper just over an hour down the road at Lithgow.

“Albury consistently ranks in the top five cheapest prices, while just 130km up the road, Wagga has rarely ranked higher than 25th since the NRMA has been keeping data. In monetary terms, we’re talking about a difference of 5-10 cents per litre on average between the two towns.

“Albury has strong competition and independent retailers present, and it’s these towns that are consistently less expensive.

“The centres that consistently appear in the top 10 cheapest places to purchase unleaded include Albury, Ballina, Bulahdelah, Canberra, Lismore and Moama.”

Centres that consistently ranked worse than 40th of the 52 centres monitored include Bega, Cooma, Cootamundra, Hay, Moree, Moruya, Mudgee, Temora, West Wyalong and Yass.

Bowser Buster prices are not ‘real time’, rather an average for the week ending Sunday. However, there is strong evidence that regional prices don’t have the volatile price movements experienced in the Sydney price cycle.

Mr Blight said that occasionally there could be an inexplicable rise or fall in a town’s average unleaded price from week to week and it was purely pot luck for drivers filling up in those towns whether they scored a good or bad deal at the bowser.

“For example, Forster ranked eighth, dropped to 33rd then jumped back up to 14th,” Mr Blight said.

“Over the same period, Singleton ranked 48th, and within two weeks was up to fourth. Motorists were then stung two weeks later when the price rose 11 cents per litre and the town dropped 46 places and slumped to 50th in the rankings.

“A number of factors could explain such rare volatile rises and falls in regional prices.

“Aggressive competition, old petrol stock bought at a higher or lower price and transport costs all play a factor in price setting.

“These bigger rises and falls are quite perplexing and fortunately they’re few and far between, which is some relief for motorists who should see smaller fluctuations in regional petrol prices.”

The Bowser Buster will be updated each Monday morning and is located at www.mynrma.com.au/bowserbuster

Anthony Baxter-Tomkins (pictured), who will graduate with a PhD this month from the Southern Cross Business School, focused his thesis on volunteers in the SES and RFS from NSW.

“While Australia’s population continues to grow, membership rates are steady in both organisations,” Mr Baxter-Tomkins said.

“I specifically wanted to know why people volunteered in these organisations; what they got out of volunteering; how were they recruited and what made them either stay or leave.”

According to Dr Baxter-Tomkins, who is an active RFS member, the bonds of the local SES and RFS volunteers are more akin to soldiers who have seen action together. Indeed, volunteers feel more loyalty to their individual unit than the organisation they represent.

“Most volunteers are recruited by word of mouth and the reason for that is that members like to recruit like-minded people. Actually, more than 80 per cent of those recruited are either a friend or relative of a member,” the researcher said.

“The motivation as to why people wanted to volunteer was interesting. I expected most of the responses to say they did so to serve the community or help the community.

“And while that may have been partially the case, volunteers also said they got a lot of rewards through things such as skills development, respect from the community, acceptance within the primary volunteer unit and positive media portrayal.

“They were also very specific about what they considered their community. Community to the volunteers meant local area, meaning, the area from where the unit is based. A nearby brigade was considered part of the family but beyond that other volunteers were considered somewhat like cousins. Volunteers identified with their own unit rather than the organisation as long as their primary ideals were upheld within that unit.

“The volunteers of both organisations are happy to continue doing their service for their local community but believe they should be compensated if they are tasked to jobs outside of their own community.

“Many volunteers lose wages when they go outside of their own area for extended periods, which is an important growing trend. Fifty-eight per cent of the volunteers interviewed believed that they should be reimbursed for out-of-area responses.

“They said that they should be paid an honorarium, have a superannuation scheme established or their wages reimbursed for extended out-of-area work because their loss of wages are considered to be out-of-pocket expenses.

“All of the participants of this study flatly refused to entertain the idea of any form of payment for work within their local area, however.

“While they do get out-of-pocket expenses, they could lose two weeks pay. To get around this, most of them take holiday pay to keep the money coming in to the family but then that means they don’t have holidays with their family.

“This could lead to burnout and a strain in family relationships. There also seems to be a growing number of emergencies in the past few years and members have found themselves deployed all over eastern Australia.”

Dr Baxter-Tomkins, who is a community development manager at Moree Plains Shire Council, also found friction within the unit was more likely to cause the SES or RFS to lose volunteers. However, volunteers interviewed by the researcher also listed second-hand equipment and issues with career officers as causing friction.

“The human resource management of both organisations must realise they are dealing with volunteers and volunteers are not like career officers,” he said.

“I think they need human resource management focused on volunteers and possibly mediators who are volunteers. There must be recognition that if there is a fight or friction within a unit of the SES or RFS, then it is like a fight in the family and one big blue could see multiple members leaving the service.

“Volunteers also want to be heard when they are dealing with career officers. They are the locals on the ground and often have more experience in certain situations than the officer who could be in charge.”

Dr Baxter-Tomkins compiled his findings from interviewing 72 members from 38 different SES and RFS units across the State.

  KYOGLE

SCORE – EVANS HEAD

SCORE – FORFEITED

New Park

Kyogle

Saturday 12/05/12

2.30

  KYOGLE

SCORE – 44 EVANS HEAD

SCORE – 4

New Park

Kyogle

Saturday 12/05/12

4.00

  KYOGLE

SCORE – 8 EVANS HEAD

SCORE – 10

New Park

Kyogle

Saturday 12/05/12

5.30

  NO GAME

  NO GAME

NO GAME

NO GAME

RESERVES

  LOWER CLARENCE

SCORE – 4 GRAFTON GHOSTS

SCORE – 36

Maclean Showground

Maclean

Sunday 13/05/12

1.20

  LOWER CLARENCE

SCORE  - 10 GRAFTON GHOSTS

SCORE – 44

Maclean Showground

Maclean

Sunday 13/05/12

2.45

  NORTHERN UNITED

SCORE -32 BYRON BAY

SCORE – 28

Oaks Oval

Lismore

Sunday 13/05/12

12.00

  NORTHERN UNITED

SCORE – 28 BYRON BAY

SCORE – 30

Oaks Oval

Lismore

Sunday 13/05/12

1.20

  NORTHERN UNITED

SCORE – 21 BYRON BAY

SCORE – 26

Oaks Oval

Lismore

Sunday 13/05/12

2.45

  GRAFTON RHINOS

SCORE – 28 CASINO

SCORE -18

McKittrick Park

South Grafton

Sunday 13/05/12

12.00

  GRAFTON RHINOS

SCORE – 24 CASINO

SCORE – 22

McKittrick Park

South Grafton

Sunday 13/05/12

1.20

  NO GAME

  NO GAME

NO   GAME

NO GAME

UNDER 18s

  MULLUMBIMBY

SCORE – 26 MARIST BROTHERS

SCORE – 6

Les Donnelly Field

Mullumbimby

Sunday 13/05/12

12.00

  MULLUMBIMBY

SCORE – 22 MARIST BROTHERS

SCORE – 16

Les Donnelly Field

Mullumbimby

Sunday 13/05/12

1.20

  MULLUMBIMBY

SCORE – 24 MARIST BROTHERS

SCORE – 26

Les Donnelly Field

Mullumbimby

Sunday 13/05/12

2.45

  BALLINA

SCORE – 28 MURWILLUMBAH

SCORE – 16

Kingsford Smith Park

Ballina

Sunday 13/05/12

12.00

  BALLINA

SCORE – 30 MURWILLUMBAH

SCORE – 24

Kingsford Smith Park

Ballina

Sunday 13/05/12

1.20

  BALLINA

SCORE – 14 MURWILLMBA

SCORE – 30

Kingsford Smith Park

Ballina

Sunday 13/05/12

2.45

GRADE            HOME TEAM  SCORE  V  AWAY TEAM SCORE                VENUE                          DAY / DATE                  TIME

NORTHERN RIVERS REGIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE GAME DAY SCORES

First Grade Wollongbar Alstonville 39 (Kirk Taylor-Brown, Craig Zietsman, Vincent Chee, Reece Brown, Matt Scott, Shaun Ellis tries, Jake McIntyre 3 conversions, drop goal) d Southern Cross University 10 (Harry Witt try, Matt Anderson conversion, penalty goal) Half Time: Wollongbar 15 – SCU 10

Ballina 25 (Rick Randall, Luke Watling, Ollie Kirk tries, Luke Watling 2 conversions, 2 penalty goals) d Lennox Head 20 (Jamie Tredinnick 3 tries, Mathew Barnes conversion, penalty goal) Half Time: Ballina 19 – Lennox 8

Lismore 22 (Ben Felicioni, Jay Onslow, Stephen Hughes tries, Ben Felicioni 2 conversions, Matt Bermingham drop goal) d Casino 14 (Carl Tahatu, Craig Connolly tries, Tom Farr, Jayden Torrens conversions) Half Time: Lismore 14 – Casino 14

Grafton – Bye

Pointscore – Lennox Head 16, Wollongbar Alstonville 15, Ballina 12, Southern Cross University 5, Casino 5, Lismore 4, Grafton 4

Reserve Grade Ballina 30 d Lennox Head 14 Wollongbar Alstonville 29 d Southern Cross University 0 Lismore 17 d Casino 5

Under 19 Lismore 24 d Casino 19

President’s Cup Bangalow 54 d Mullumbimby 0 Kyogle 19 d Evans River 5 Yamba 36 d Iluka 10 Byron Bay 25 d Grafton 15 Murwillumbah – Bye

V Casino: 1. Reece Manning, 2. Blake Birmingham, 3. Craig Connolly, 4. Cal McLennan,  5. Ben Osborne, 6. Pat Herman, 7. Carl Tahatu (C.), 8. Jarred Newton, 9. Tim Cameron, 10. Lachlan Winkler, 11. Jake Lyons, 12. Stephen Murchie, 13. Tom Farr, 14. Brad Wenzel, 15. Jayden Torrens Coach: Darren Winkler Referee: Aaron Reid

Ballina: 1. Adam Thomas, 2. Aidan Cubis, 3. Nathan Groves, 4. Josh Lupton, 5. Josh Hickey,  6. Sean Grace, 7. Chris Wilkinson, 8. Liam Preston (C.), 9. Troy Nichols, 10. Grant Knight, 11. Ollie Kirk, 12. Dan Cotes, 13. Luke Watling, 14. Trent Gasnier, 15. Rick Randall Coach: Craig Beare

V Lennox Head: 1. Rob Roberts, 2. Jamie Tredinnick, 3. Jack Bungate, 4. Isaac Foley, 5. Mick Muir, 6. Damien Ferris, 7. Harry Bungate, 8. Rob Fish (C.), 9. Paul Jeffrey, 10. Mathew Barnes, 11. Brett Horne, 12. Paul Crozier, 13. Scott Stapleton, 14. Martin Kelsall, 15. Matt Bindon Coach:  Tony Bundock Referee: Steve Williamson

Grafton – Bye

Emergency services were called to the Pacific Highway Tyagarah, about 500 metres north of the Byron Bay turn-off, following a B Double rolling and colliding with a tree.

Officers attached to Tweed/Byron Local Area Command attended and found the B Double on its side. To facilitate a recovery, all south-bound lanes of the Pacific Highway are closed.

The driver, a 38-year-old man, has minor injuries to his shoulder and has been taken to The Tweed Head Hospital.

Pacific Highway is closed south-bound until at least midday today in order to remove the heavy vehicle.

So as a result, significant delays are expected and motorists are urged to avoid the area by taking alternate routes, like the New England Highway.

Diversions are in place onto Woodford Road.