A MISCARRIAGE in the waiting room toilet at Casey Hospital in Berwick devastated would-be parents Rachel Murray and Shane Simons.
The young couple visited the emergency department twice on the same day, and waited patiently for medical care before Rachel, who was six weeks pregnant, endured a miscarriage in a toilet cubicle.
Shane said the incident had left his partner an emotional wreck.
A WOMAN was kicked and robbed by three youths in the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre car park.
The 45-year-old victim was attacked in broad daylight after she parked her car outside the Coles supermarket last Friday.
Police said the woman was at her car boot when the three boys, who were riding bicycles, approached her.
One of the boys kicked the woman, who fell to the ground and dropped her handbag.
Her handbag was then stolen by one of the youths.
THERE would only have been modest expectations for Berwick Springs Sports Club in its debut season in the Dandenong District Cricket Association.
But fast-forward to season finals and the club’s under-13, division-four side was celebrating premiership success in one of the most unlikely sporting triumphs for some time.
Only one player – captain Scott Brown – had played cricket previously and Berwick Springs won just once in the first four rounds of competition before a six match winning streak vaulted them into title favouritism.
AN AROMATIC candle caused a fatal blaze that destroyed a house and killed one of its elderly occupants in Clyde.
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the Manks Road inferno, which killed a woman in her eighties.
CASEY residents were not spared from the wild winds that lashed most of Melbourne.
Narre Warren State Emergency Service crews received more than 70 requests for help in a 12-hour period, mostly as a result of fallen trees damaging property.
A DEMANDING training schedule reaped rich rewards for Endeavour Hills cyclist Jack Cummings at the Australian Junior Track Championships in Sydney.
Cummings, 14, picked up three medals at the national showcase.
The Carnegie-Caulfield Cycling Club rider’s medal haul began with a bronze in the 500-metre time trial on the first day of the championships before scoring a pair of silvers in the 2000-metre individual pursuit and five-kilometre scratch race.
MOSSGIEL Park Junior Football Club was shattered after a memorial football dedicated to a young player who died was stolen.
The thief smashed the Ryan Smith Memorial cabinet and stole the last football Ryan had played with before his death from a brain tumour in 2001.
The football was handed into Endeavour Hills police two weeks later.
POLICE seized 15,000 ecstasy tablets, 50 grams of amphetamines, steroids and a pistol from an Endeavour Hills house.
A 36-year-old Endeavour Hills man was arrested and charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence and firearm offences.
MOTORCYCLISTS riding illegally risked having their bikes crushed under planned new laws in the City of Casey.
The harsh new penalties were proposed as part of a major review into stopping hoon riders who were breaking several local laws by riding on public land.
IN FOOTBALL, Devon Meadows’ first victory in almost two years sparked an outpouring of raw emotion that engulfed the Glover Reserve.
There were cheers and tears from men, women and children as they swarmed onto the ground to congratulate the equally thrilled Panther players who came from behind to down traditional rivals Cranbourne by 14 points.
ILLEGAL motorbike riders were fast becoming the number one public nuisance in the City of Casey.
Several riders were captured on camera by a News reader as they sped up and down parkland near Waratah Reserve in Doveton.
Witnesses said the riders were travelling as fast as 65kmh with little respect towards fellow park users or themselves.
A BERWICK pelican hooked by a stray fishing lure was set on the path to recovery by renowned animal rescuer Nigel Williamson.
The bird was found at the Berwick Springs lake with a 10cm fishing lure hooked to the side of its body.
The pelican was rehabilitated at Mr Williamson’s Devon Meadows property and released back into the wild a month later.
THE WEEK’S soccer action saw Berwick City’s youth-led resurgence gain further momentum as the City boys claimed an unlikely road win against the Morwell Pegasus in Football Federation Victoria’s State League Division Three South-East.
POLICE were hunting thieves who broke into stores in Narre Warren South, Lynbrook and Berwick.
Two newsagencies and a supermarket were raided, with cigarettes a target on each occasion.
Police believed one group, using the same stolen car during each raid, committed all three crimes.
NARRE WARREN SOUTH MP Judith Graley detailed her battle with breast cancer while reassuring local residents that they were still being represented.
NARRE Warren North’s scouts cooked damper and danced the night away as they celebrated their 75th anniversary on Anzac Day.
2008 marked the 100th year of scouts in Australia.
DOVETON embraced the spirit of Anzac and obliterated their Devon Meadows rivals on the field of battle.
The one-sided, 99-point result was a shattering reality check for the good public holiday crowd that came to the Meadows in the hope that the home side’s recent recruiting would help it challenge the Casey Cardinia league powerhouse.
FORD fan Steve Ditoro spent 14 years restoring his 1967 prestige car, but it took callous thieves minutes to steal it.
Police said the $30,000 red 1967 Ford XT station wagon was stolen after entry was gained to Mr Ditoro’s Endeavor Hills garage.
A NARRE Warren North house was destroyed after a fire ripped through it.
A seven-year-old girl woke her mother as the fire took hold.
The woman grabbed her daughter and a one-year-old sibling and fled the blazing house.
No-one was injured.
A NARRE Warren mother struck it lucky three times in a row with the birth of her third daughter.
Kate Nagle accomplished the unthinkable, giving birth to all three girls on their predicted due dates.
Doctors at Berwick’s St John of God hospital said there was a just a three per cent chance of giving birth on the due date once, let alone three times consecutively.
CASEY councillor Paul Richardson was embroiled in yet another controversy after inviting Cr Colin Butler’s estranged wife to the Mayoral Civic Dinner. The invitation of Cynthia Butler, who had been separated from her husband for 12 months, came days after Cr Richardson accused Cr Butler of assault during an incident at last week’s Casey Council meeting.
A MAN suffered a fractured leg and was trapped down a four-metre hole for more than two hours after an industrial accident in Narre Warren. The 37-year-old Mulgrave resident was retrieved with the help of six CFA crews as well as Metropolitan Ambulance Service paramedics.
MORE than 200 women packed into the Cranbourne Golf Club for the first ever MPNFL Celebrating Women in Sport luncheon. The National Breast Cancer Foundation was the official partner of the event, which was designed to coincide with the Women in Sport round of local football and netball.
CASEY Kidz Klub was to continue keeping disabled teenagers active and entertained after securing funding from all three tiers of government. Victoria’s only after-school program for intellectually disabled kids aged 12 and over was set to receive $120,000 a year, split between local, state and federal funds.