Ros Luther in the firing line

Carenne School's infamous child abuser, liar and trouble-making Assistant Principal Ros Luther is in the firing line with the Serious Misconduct Investigation Team of EPAC taking an interest in her conduct. Carenne Gate can reveal that SMIT investigators are starting an investigation into the assistant principal.


According to senior departmental staff, Neil Moon has requested that Luther be investigated following her leaking of information about a meeting between staff and a bus driver to this blog. As a result of that request, complaints made to Bathurst SEA about Luther recently will also be investigated.

One complaint about Luther was made by a member of staff at the school after she attempted to harass a bus driver by making her look as though she wasn't properly carrying out her job. According to the whistleblower, Luther told the bus driver that a student had gone home early and that he wouldn't be on the bus in the afternoon. When the bus driver drove off, Luther was heard saying "I fooled that bitch, now to tell Neil" to Michael Auld. During this time, the student was locked in the school hall unsupervised until the bus driver returned.

The second complaint concerns allegations of Luther and her aide Jasmine Ryan locking a student in a store room and teasing him when he became upset. The parent spoke to Neil Moon and Ros Luther about the incident but was told that the student was lying and that they wouldn't look into complaints which had come from a student via a parent. Ros Luther is reported to have said that the student is a "known liar" and that he would "say or do anything to get out of trouble".

It is hoped that the investigation will also look at Luther's past conduct which involves locking students in a pig pen, locking students in a store room, encouraging students to look at pornography and leaving students unsupervised.

Capebase caught out on cheap modifications, unlicenced driver

Capebase was caught out on it's cheap and illegal vehicle modifications today after Police discovered that  the bus used for Capebase's Blayney run had seats removed without being checked by an engineer and updating it's seating capacity. Inquires by Police discovered that the vehicle was listed as having 14 seats with the RTA.

Due to Les Ross' incompetence in having the vehicle modified without an engineering certificate it can not be driven on a car licence legally. Unfortunately Steve Minshull found out the hard way when he was told by Police he can't drive the vehicle on his licence. This afternoon Minshull was forced to use a hire vehicle while Ross made arrangements to have the vehicle re-certified.

It is yet another blotch on Capebase's record which the department will do nothing about.

Assistant Principal Ros Luther leaks school information

Carenne Special School's incompetent assistant principal, Ros Luther has once again attempted to provide information to this blog to further her own Agenda. Luther, who has a history of leaking confidential information, encouraging students to look at pornography, neglect of students and torture contacted Carenne Gate to inform us of allegations made against her by Cheryl Chaplin.

In her email, Luther details an incident at the school on Monday involving a student being left behind and the response by the driver and a complaint made about her by the bus driver.

It shows how Ros Luther will side with whoever she can to gain an advantage. It's time this evil woman is sacked.

Neil Moon defrauds the public

In years to come when people look at the history of Carenne Special School in Bathurst, Neil Moon's principalship will be remembered as being one of cover-ups, lies, incompetence and stupidity. Neil Moon showed his tendancy for the last during his interview with Radio 2BS today.

During the interview, Mr Moon mentioned the upcoming Variety Club Bash and how the school owes them a debt of gratitude because Variety gave the school financial support  to purchase two buses. What Moon didn't realise is that his slip has quite significant ramifications for Carenne Support. Here you have yet another principal claiming that the funds raised for the Carenne bus appeal were actually raised for the school.

If Variety donated to the school (which is what the rest of the Bathurst community did, as they were led to believe the buses were for the school), why did the school give the money to Carenne Support? Why does Carenne Support own the buses and use them for business?

The issue raises very serious concerns about Terry Mahony, the school's principal at the time. Why did he allow the money to be siphoned to Carenne Support? Why did he lie to the community? 

It's time the Bathurst Detectives actually do their job and charge every director of Carenne Support at the time with fraud.

Dick Spears breaches ASTP guidelines further

Carenne Gate has been alerted to breaches of the Assisted School Travel Program guidelines by parents and staff at the maligned Carenne Special School. Mr Spears has a past history of breaching departmental guidelines - having transported Geoff Salmon's son to an unapproved address making his run much shorter than claimed for a number of years.

In mid-April, an audit carried out by the Assisted School Travel unit discovered that Mr Spears had been overdeclaring the distance of his run by 10 kilometres per day, resulting in significant overpayments. Spears is now being forced to repay the department for his fraudulent claims.

Carenne Gate can reveal a possible student safety breach by Mr Spears involving the escort on his vehicle. Under ASTP guidelines, the escort is required to travel in the rear of the vehicle with the students being supported. Parents and staff claim that Spears' escort travels in the front of the vehicle.

When questioned by one parent, Spears said that he couldn't have his escort in the back of the vehicle because there wasn't enough room. Spears told the parent that an escort wasn't really needed on the bus and that he only wanted it so he could claim the 15% escort bonus on top of his normal pay.

The parent reported their concern to Neil Moon who told them that he was aware of the issue and that it was being addressed.

If Mr Spears is using a vehicle that isn't up to the task then the department should require that he supply one that is or assign his run to another contractor.

Peter Williams protected by Police

Last month, Peter Williams was involved in an accident in his Nissan Civilian bus involving a parents car at their home in Windradyne. Williams reversed into the vehicle, causing moderate damage and took off. The parent reported the incident to Carenne School principal Neil Moon and local police.

The parent then contacted Williams who is alleged to have said "I didn't hit your car but if you want to push it I have June as a witness to say I didn't."

Neil Moon interviewed Williams and his travel support officer June Crawford, who denied that the accident even occurred. According to Moon's report, Williams told him that he noticed the car was damaged when he got there and didn't think anything of it and that the marks on the rear of his bus were from reversing into a pole a few weeks ago.

As Williams failed to stop and exchange details, Police commenced an investigation with several people coming forward to say they witnessed the incident. One witness told Police that she had no idea why he did a three-point turn where he did when he only needed to go to the end of the street where there is a turning bay. She claimed that she had seen Williams almost run children over a number of times when he hasn't been watching what he is doing.

Despite there being numerous witnesses to the accident, Williams has not been charged by Police with failing to exchange details after an accident or negligent driving - showing that there is obviously some level of protection for Williams. A source at Bathurst Police told Carenne Gate that Williams was known to investigating officers and they felt sorry for him as he claimed his business would fail if he was charged as the department would revoke his contract. This should have no effect on the matter.

The fact is that Williams damaged another person's car, took off hoping nobody could see, lied to Neil Moon, lied to Police and remains a driver/operator to transport disabled students too and from school. Something is seriously wrong.

Digging deeper into Salmon and Speck's affairs

Carenne Gate can reveal a number of issues with Carenne Support director Geoff Salmon's own company - Salmon and Speck Pty Ltd which is currently in administration after racking up millions of dollars in debt. After digging into the affairs of the company, Carenne Gate can reveal that Salmon may have breached his duty as a director and could be personally liable for debts of the company.

Carenne Gate can reveal that Salmon 'self-dealt' with the company, using it to pay for items for himself and hide them in the company's books, without the knowledge of his business partner Peter Speck.

These debts include:

Alert Monitoring Service for 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$223.95
Atherton Tableland for work done at 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$66,705.64
Clark Tanks for water tank installed at 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$6,544.00
Elgas for LPG service at 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$1,994.10
Integral Energy for electricity service at 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$7,871.59
Optus for mobile telephones used by Salmon	$13,891.68
Telstra for home telephone at 335 Foleys Creek Road, Oberon	$562.64
Wright Express for fuel cards issued to Geoffrey and Gillian Salmon	$13,029.27
Minimum amount misappropriated by Salmon:	$110,822.87

These are the amounts which are easily identifiable to have been self-dealt by Salmon. There may be more.

Of even more concern is that some of these debts have been outstanding since 2008, meaning that since that time Salmon has racked up more debt that he knew he couldn't pay. It's time that ASIC does a full and proper investigation into whether Salmon breached his duty as a director and if the company while insolvent.