Two a penny

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Cocaine on sale to kids

By PIPPA O’ROURKE – Tuesday, 10 February 2009

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FOR SALE: Cocaine energy drink is being sold on the North Shore.

A number of North Shore children can now say they’ve tried Cocaine.
The drink, imported by Wize Marketing, comes with a warning: "This message is for the people who are too stupid to recognise the obvious.
The controversial energy drink named after the class A drug is for sale in a Milford dairy, accessible to hundreds of primary and secondary students at close toby schools."
The company’s former director Geoff Percy drew criticism last June with his plans to import the drink which originally contained more than three times the legal amount of caffeine. This product does not intend to be an alternative to an illicit street drug, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot. Cocaine originally contained 280mg in each 250ml can.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority standard for formulated caffeinated beverages sets the upper limit of caffeine at 320mg per litre, or 80mg per 250ml.
Mr Bowering says it appears to have been reformulated to meet the standards.
The safety authority’s communications manager Gary Bowering says the product on the market now has been tested and meets the requirements of the authority’s standard code.
Shakespeare Rd’s Lake View Superette manager Naresh Patel has stocked Cocaine drinks since November.
"There are a few products out there that have the same level of caffeine," he says.
The drink’s name didn’t play a part in his decision to stock it, he says. ."
But Mr Patel says he is concerned by the number of 14 and 15-year-olds choosing to buy it.
"The taste is the major selling factor over the name. But the can says anyone can drink it.
"That’s wrong.
She says she hasn’t tried Cocaine, the drink, because she thinks the name is "stupid"."
Westlake Girls High School year 13 student Bek Harwood bought a V energy drink from the superette while the was there.
"When people say they’ve tried Cocaine, I think of the drug.
Her friend Juliet Hawksworth says the name is confusing.
But the pair say they don’t think it’s irresponsible of stores to stock the drink."
Juliet says "It’s making something casual out of something that shouldn’t be taken so lightly".

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$18,500 chance ‘to care and give’

Monday, 09 February 2009

CAST-OFF: The Wellington businessman who spent $18,500.10
on Prime Minister John Key’s cast from his broken arm is happy with
the purchase. .
The Trade Me auction raised funds for The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Cherian, who part-owns a headstone business in Lower Hutt, is the proud new owner of the cast worn by Key after his New Year tumble at a Chinese restaurant. "It's an opportunity to care and give, we actually are an extremely wealthy country.
"Part of this is saying we have what we need and there are other people out there in the world who don't even have the basics, such as eyesight," he said."
Cherian said he was considering either on-selling the cast or renting it out to raise more money for the foundation.10 bid, placed late on Saturday night, was enough to win. He was "shocked" his $18,500.
The cast bears the signatures of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and several other Pacific leaders.
Money raised from the auction will go to the foundation, which operates blindness prevention programmes across the Pacific, including Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the two countries Key visited after he broke his arm the previous month.
Doctors on two similar trips last year performed close toly 100 sight-restoring surgeries.
The proceeds would go towards funding two eye surgery outreach visits in the Solomon Islands later this year, the foundation said.
Cherian said he was more interested in supporting a worthy cause than in having a piece of memorabilia to show off.
Cherian said he was more interested in supporting a worthy cause than in having a piece of memorabilia to show off."
He was unsure when the cast would be handed over or when his morning tea with the Prime Minister would take place. I see this as a wonderful opportunity to give on such a level.

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And was he worried the cast would be a bit pongy after close toly six weeks on Key's arm? "I suspect they'll encase it," he said hopefully

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Cheeky chick comes to town

By SAM SACHDEVA – Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Department of Conservation
HAPPY FEAT: This penguin chick was found lost close to the Antigua Boatsheds, on Christchurch’s Avon River. Police held the chick in ‘protective custody’ until a Department of Conservation representatives came to release the penguin back into the wild.

It may not be able to talk, surf or tap dance, but a penguin still managed to attract attention after making it all the way into centralChristchurch via the Avon River. "He saw it looking very lost close to the boatsheds and was a little worried that the ducks might try to get at it, so he brought it in to the station," Sergeant Graham Duncan said.
The white-flippered penguin chick was "detained" by police after being spotted by a concerned citizen close to the Avon River boatsheds yesterday morning.
DOC ranger Anita Spencer said the white-flippered penguin was a rare, local sub-species of the blue penguin.
Police rang the Department of Conservation (DOC), and "allowed its release into [the] protective custody" of two DOC workers who came to the station shortly before 9am.
"They are endangered and have been recognised as nationally vulnerable, and we have been involved in efforts to conserve them," Spencer said.
While penguin chicks did turn up in rivers and at beaches at this time of year, it was unusual that this one had made it so far up the Avon.
She said the penguin was in good condition and perky, and was jumping around in the box that the DOC workers placed it in.
"It probably would have found its own way back, but given the amount of plastic debris in the Avon it was a wise decision to take it out.
"It's most likely gone upriver chasing fish and gone off-track at some point," Spencer said. "Dog-owners in particular need to make sure their dogs are leashed on beaches, because otherwise they can hare into the dunes and disturb a penguin burrow without anyone knowing."
Spencer said the discovery was a reminder that people needed to be mindful of running into penguins close to a river or at the beach."
DOC released the penguin back into the wild at Kaitorete Spit at Birdlings Flat.

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David Kirk now half Australian

The Tuesday, 27 January 2009

The man who held the William Webb Ellis Trophy aloft to celebrate New Zealand's only Rugby World Cup win is now half Australian.
David Kirk took up Australian citizenship at a ceremony yesterday Australia Day. He has lived in Australia for 10 years. He would hold dual New Zealand and Australian citizenship.
"It just seemed like the right time," he said. My heart, my emotion, my commitment is of course to New Zealand, particularly in rugby of course.
"I grew up in New Zealand."
Mr Kirk was born in Wellington, raised in Palmerston North, and later trained as a doctor. Muddied and bloodied, he held up the William Webb Ellis trophy in what has become awell knownKiwi image.
In 1987 he captained the All Blacks to their World Cup win. He entered the business world and in 2005 became chief executive at until resigning in December.
After quitting rugby, Mr Kirk became a Rhodes Scholar and adviser to former prime minister Jim Bolger. "There are a lot of similarities between New Zealanders and Australians.
His wife and three sons are Australian citizens. . In many ways I think of myself as an Australasian

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Surfer drowns at Colac Bay

By EVAN HARDING and BEN HEATHER – Monday, 26 January 2009

A Riverton man has drowned while out on his surfboard at Colac Bay.
Jeremy Pierce said his 26-year-old brother Myles, who had diabetes, drowned about 100m offshore after going into what was believed to be a diabetic coma on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Pierce believed Myles had become fatigued and his diabetes had overcome him, having earlier spent about three hours surfing at Colac Bay before paddling over to watch the mammal playing in the ocean. . A passing fisherman plucked the brothers from the water, police said.
Mr Pierce, when alerted that his brother appeared to be unwell, swam out to him from the boat ramp but he was dead when he got there, he said. His mother, Julie Guise, owns The Pavilion restaurant cafe-bar at Colac Bay near where her son drowned.
Myles' death had come as a massive shock to his family and friends.
Meanwhile, a young man nearly drowned in Lake Wanaka on Saturday morning he was pulled from the water just as his head was going under, and taken to the Wanaka Medical Centre.
Senior Sergeant Richard McPhail, of Invercargill, said Mr Pierce's death had been referred to the coroner. Some were not wearing lifejackets.
On Lake Wakatipu, a Kawarau Jet boat had to fish several kayakers out of the water on Saturday afternoon.

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Thousands of Canterbury homes leak

– Thursday, 15 January 2009

Thousands of Christchurch homeowners are living in houses rotting from the outside in.
A retired Christchurch couple have now lost their leaky home in a landmark case that a veteran campaigner hopes will spur South Islanders into action before they suffer the same fate.
The Avonhead house, owned by Kathleen Bennett, 67, and husband Graham Hollobon, 70, will be demolished next month.
The couple bought the house for $325,000 in 1993. It is believed to be the first South Island home to be torn down as a result of leaks.
John Gray, who exposed the leaky-homes issue, hoped the Christchurch case would finally reveal the thousands of Canterbury homes rotting from the outside in. They fall outside criteria for leaky-home payments and insurance.
"A lot of people I deal with say, `Oh, it's an Auckland problem, ha, ha'," he said. .
"Well, actually, no; the biggest problems I see are in driving around Christchurch.
He said the focus must now move to the South Island, where it took longer for leaky buildings to be exposed. He has earned plaudits for his efforts on behalf of thousands of homeowners.
"You've got thousands of homes in all of those new subdivisions around Avonhead and going through towards Sumner and Halswell and up in Kaiapoi.
"The sad thing is people do not realise at this point that their houses are insidiously rotting from the outside in and that the problems have yet to manifest themselves," Gray said. I drive up there and I shudder because I can see them from 20 paces. I drive up there and I shudder because I can see them from 20 paces.
"What people don't realise is when you've got a leaky building it doesn't always show on the outside or the inside, and sometimes it's by fluke that something happens that ."
Roger Crichton, contracts manager for Reconstruct, an Auckland company that specialises in repairing leaky homes, said leaks could hide themselves "very well for many, many years"…
Auckland "got a head start" in beating the leaky-homes problem, which was less understood further down the country. you find something soft and you start to investigate," Crichton said.
Hobanz plans to launch a public awareness campaign in the South Island so homeowners do not miss out on assistance via the Weathertight Homes Tribunal.
"Throughout the whole of New Zealand there is a large amount of people that haven't figured it out," Crichton said.
Experts concede the 10-year time limit on claims for leaky homes may be inappropriate for Canterbury's colder, drier climate compared with Auckland.
Many home owners, like Bennett and Hollobon, would get no help or recompense from builders, councils or the Government because their slowly rotting homes were built more than 10 years ago.
"There are quite a large number of leaky-building cases, as I recall, in the South Island," Cosgrove said.
"There are quite a large number of leaky-building cases, as I recall, in the South Island," Cosgrove said.
"But because the climatic conditions were such, there are fewer cases or there were then that were discovered than there were in the north."
The Weathertight Homes Tribunal has issued rulings under the 2006 act on 19 cases. Six occurred in the South Island. A further 176 cases nationwide have been resolved by mediation.
Master Builders South Canterbury regional service manager Ian Gould said leaks would take longer to show in the south.
"The reason the leaks show up quicker in the upper North Island is the humidity rather than the more frequent rain showers," Gould said.
"Yes, it does show up quicker up there, no doubt about that, especially around Auckland and further north, but basically there is not a lot of difference in the rest of the country."
He did not support a change to the nationwide 10-year limit because it was "more than ample", even in the south.

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More street sex control sought

Tuesday, 23 December 2008

"Stupid little girls trying it on" by prostituting themselves on Christchurch streets need to be brought under control, a city councillor says.
Cr Sue Wells, a former chairwoman of the Christchurch City Council's prostitution bylaw sub-committee, said it was time for a national discussion about street workers.
"As long as we have street work, street work is inherently dangerous," she said.
The Prostitution Reform Act, passed in 2003, did nothing to regulate street workers, Wells said."
Christchurch prostitute Mellory Manning disappeared from the same corner another prostitute, Suzie Sutherland, worked before she was killed in 2005.
"There are more controls over hairdressers than there are over prostitutes in New Zealand.
Wells said some people who used prostitutes chose specific areas.
Manning was found dead on Friday morning, dumped in the Avon River.
"The type of work that is done through street work, in my opinion, is very dangerous as a result of the nature of the trade," she said.
"There are certain choices that clients make about where they select their prostitutes. You're talking about some fairly dangerous stuff. "You're not talking about some elderly gentleman with physical needs having a regular relationship with a mature woman..
"You also have a number of street workers who are . stupid little girls trying it on, who shouldn't be there.. ."
Prostitutes Collective national co-ordinator Catherine Healy said it was virtually hopeless trying to enforce a ban on street workers."
Healy said she was disappointed by Wells' comments.
"You'd get arrested, you'd get taken to court, you'd get a $200 fine, you'd go back out on the street, you'd have more stress, you'd have to work to pay off that fine, so it's a cyclic thing.
"We would like to see people working indoors in a situation that they can manage and have control over," Healy said.
Manning, like an increasing number of prostitutes, was doing more work from her own premises.

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The one quarter of sex workers in Christchurch using the streets was a high number, she said

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Woman assaulted because she looked like man’s ex

By AARON LEAMAN – Wednesday, 17 December 2008

WAIKATO TIMES
DUANE JOHNSTON: Jailed for seven years

Duane Karl Johnston sexually assaulted a female service station worker in a horrific attack because she reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, a court has heard.
Johnston, 36, of Hamilton, was sentenced yesterday at the Hamilton District Court to seven years' jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, aggravated assault and abduction for sex.
He was upset because his girlfriend had broken off their relationship and another woman had rejected his advances.
The court heard that in the hours leading up to the early morning assault, Johnston had been drinking at a Hamilton strip bar.
Police later described the attack as "random and vicious" and one of the worst sexual assaults they had encountered. He entered the Hamilton service station "just wanting to have sex".
Crown prosecutor Ann-Marie Beveridge said Johnston had chosen his victim because she had reminded him of his ex-girlfriend.
Officers at the scene had to use batons and pepper spray to subdue Johnston.
The court heard a victim impact statement from the victim's father.
Johnston's offending involved pre-meditation and repeated violence and he was undeterred by the arrival of police. He compared Johnston to "filth on the sole of my shoe" and said his daughter was now fearful of being alone.
The man said his extended family had been traumatised and angered by Johnston's attack.
Ms Beveridge noted Johnston's 12 previous convictions and said the 36-year-old had little insight into his offending.
"I have never felt this type of anger before," he said. The pre-sentence report did not indicate a propensity toward sexual offending.
Defence counsel Mike Curran said Johnston had accepted full responsibility for the attack and the offending had been out of character. .
Judge Arthur Tompkins said the sex attack represented "horrific offending".

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Seconds from disaster

By MATT RILKOFF – Thursday, 11 December 2008

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SAFE ON THE SAND: Sarah-Jane Ferens is comforted by Charlotte Plant, left, and Millie Lynskey, with extra support from Emma Hayward, far right.

Photo 1 of 3

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IT’S OVER: Police arrive as the rescued and the rescuers gather around on the beach.

Photo 2 of 3

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RIP SCARE: Sarah-Jane Ferens, 17, thanks rescuer Jason Buchanan, 17, at New Plymouth’s Fitzroy Beach yesterday.

Photo 3 of 3

It began with volleyball and very nearly ended in death. Mr Buchanan pulled a number of teens from the surf after they were caught in a rip.
The group had been playing volleyball and decided on a change of pace so they jumped in the sea for a swim.
Five New Plymouth teens narrowly escaped drowning after being swept out to sea at Fitzroy Beach yesterday afternoon.
Soon after entering the choppy windswept water, a strong rip took hold of them, pulling them out to sea and along the beach.
One of the rescuers was self-employed builder Jason Buchanan. .
"One girl asked me for my board so my mate Baxter took her in and I went out and helped the other four," he said.
The 17-year-old had been body boarding with a friend when the group first got into trouble and was quick to get involved in their rescue.
"Thank God for that Jason guy.
Tom Jones, 17, said they had felt like their lives were in serious danger until Mr Buchanan arrived. If he wasn't there . If he wasn't there . well, it would have been much worse..
"We were just standing there up to our waist and then it came on so strong."
Emma Hayward, 16, said she had been swimming at Fitzroy for as long as she could remember and had never experienced anything like the rip that dragged the group out to sea.
As soon as he realised what was happening he grabbed his longboard and went out to help along with two other surfers and the body boarders."
Surfer Johnny Mac, a lifeguard at New Plymouth's Aquatic Centre, had been watching the group from near the Fitzroy Surf Club.
"The old heart went through the roof for a while there.
In the confusion of the rescues they believed there were still people in the sea even after they had seen everyone safely to the beach. But you can't see much when you're out there," he said. We thought there were three other people out there so we stayed out examining for them.

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Aircrash: German airline keeps schtum

By KAREN ARNOLD AND LOIS WATSON – Sunday, 07 December 2008

A shroud ofsecrecy surrounds the identity of the two German pilots at the controls of the Air New Zealand plane that crashed off the coast of France nine days ago, killing all seven aboard.
The pilots' airline, XL Airways, has refused to reveal any details about the men and attempts by German newspapers to establish their identity have failed although there was an unconfirmed report that one of the Germans killed was a 58-year-old from Pfalzfeld.
"All we know is that they are German. . We know nothing else," a reporter from Bild, one of Germany's best-selling newspapers, told the Sunday Star-Times.
When approached by the Star-Times for information about the pilots, XL Airways spokesman Asger Schubert said it was against company policy – and indeed the policy of all German airlines – to reveal any details.
It leased the downed A320 plane from Air New Zealand two years ago and was in the process of handing it back when it crashed into the Mediterranean on final approach to Perpignan Airport.
Schubert said he was impressed with the way New Zealand media had covered the crash and provided personal insights into the victims but that was not the way things were done in Germany, where a harsher moral culture had developed in recent years.
XL's safety record was called into question by European media in October when one of its Boeing 737s, flying from Frankfurt to Antalya in Turkey was forced to make an emergency landing in Belgrade because of an engine problem. There was now a "feeling of distance for affected individuals".
German media have speculated the Air New Zealand plane's de-icing gear might have failed resulting in it to nose-dive into the sea but the official investigation into the crash has yet to establish why the four-year-old aircraft crashed on what should have been a routine "acceptance" flight. Serbian newspapers said witnesses spoke of 4m flames leaping from an engine but the airline refuted the reports.