It seems as though being recognised as Australia’s greyhound racing capital is not good enough anymore for the new set of latte sippers which has apparently infiltrated the NSW South Coast town of Dapto.

A national institution, the weekly Thursday Night Dapto Dogs may have run their last solo race as the town’s major attraction. Next month, with the help of three lawyers, Dapto will host a film festival: Home Brewed 2003.

That’s right, it’s sponsored by a beer company. And although there are no plans to include the dogs in official proceedings, ‘greys’ of a different persuasion will be on hand. One of the festival’s ’Special Features‘ includes a Granny’s Choice Award, to be judged by a panel of three specially convened grandmothers.

On top of all this, the ceremony will be held at the local leagues club — home of many a famous foam party — so attendees can rest assured the best Dapto has to offer will be on display during the evening.

But beware, for the organising committee, which includes an un-named legal trio from Bakers, KPMG and IMB, has thrown down the following gauntlet: “Home Brewed 2003 looks set to bring the glitz, glamour and most of all the high-quality film making quality of Cannes, all the way to Dapto.”

In true dish-licking style, the doggies decided to roll over in the face of such stiff competition. As Folklaw discovered, the club is one of the event’s sponsors.

Judicial sense not genetic

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Folklaw last week caught wind of a bit of extra-judicial campaigning undertaken by one of Australia’s top judges. It was rumoured that one of Australia’s highest-ranked members of the bench went in to bat for his down-trodden niece, who had completed a non-award course at UNSW without realising she would be liable for the fees outside of the HECS scheme. Despite hailing from a legally-strong gene pool, the young lass failed in her attempts to convince convenors to let her pay for the course under the scheme.

Insiders say the situation was hastily resolved in a single phone call involving Uncle Justice and what we assume to be a rather unprepared member of staff. Rather than pull out his wallet and offer to pay for the course upfront, the story goes that his honour gave the poor soul on the other end an absolute ear-bashing.

Needless to say, payment has now been deferred, but some onlookers remain unconvinced about the girl’s prospects in the law. After all, they say, you’d be entitled to think the niece of one of Australia’s most prominent judges would know to read the fine print.