By ERWIN CHLANDA

In August this year, just three months before his death this week aged 93, Ted Egan was still supporting a life-saving initiative that is blithely ignored by the police: The creation of a panel of trackers who can be deployed at moment's notice when someone gets lost.

Nerys, we are sending our heartfelt condolences.

Erwin Chlanda and Kieran Finnane.

Readers, search for "Ted Egan" in our pages, and celebrate with us Ted's immense knowledge of the Territory and its people, his kindness and humour.

We can beat the buffel weed around the town, including restoring the Todd River as a major asset for Alice Springs, writes hands-on historian and botanist ALEX NELSON.

More police equals less crime? Not in the Northern Territory it doesn't. It has, per capita, nearly three times as many police as the national average and 2.5 times as many victims of personal crimes (see table).

ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

Big, healthy eucalypt trees in Roe Creek are falling victim to sand mining, according to two members of the public who have contacted the Alice Springs News. The mines are either side of the Temple Bar Gap, south of the Ilparpa Road. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

UPDATE November 28, 7.35am: Rod Cramer weighs in to the growing controversy, as a resident for 30 years on the southern bank of the waterway, and a methodical student of it and its majestic gumtrees, many of them now lost. Readers, the sand mining lobby and the government also add to the debate in our Recent Comments column.

The new library will be above the council car park at the Civic Centre "retaining our much-loved green lawns, affording panoramic views of our iconic Lhere Mparntwe Todd River, and protecting our books from risk of flood events," says Mayor Asta Hill.

More than 20 restaurants may be permitted to serve full-strength alcohol only with a full meal between 11.30am and 3pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The Liquor Commission also proposes to require the Todd Tavern, the NT Rock Bar, Bojangles and Uncles Tavern to establish an identification system, similar to the one used in bottle shops, but including scanning the person's face. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

By ERWIN CHLANDA

Pine Gap is enjoying one of its occasional moments in the limelight because of Israel’s genocide in Palestine and the assumption, widely held, that the US military base is involved. Its role as a nuclear target is changing – for better or worse remains to be seen.

Hermann Weber arrived in Alice Springs in January 1957. He bought a residential block in Wallis Street on the old Eastside for £5. Are we heading for cheap housing again? ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

Gough Whitlam: Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say ‘God save the Queen’, because nothing will save the Governor-General. National Museum Australia photo.

By CHARLIE CARTER

As the 50th anniversary looms next week, those of us old enough remember the day. It was one of those "where were you" moments.