Two a penny

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A sharp-eyed prison officer foiled an attempt to have cannabis delivered to an inmate at Tongariro/Rangipo prison on the weekend.

“One of our guys was on his way into work when he spotted what looked like a Tupperware container tucked into the grass by the prison entrance,” acting assistant regional manager Diane Brophy said.

“Inside he found approximately an ounce of cannabis leaf – enough for several tinnies and considered a valuable commodity by some prisoners.

“The way the container was placed aroused suspicion so the Corrections officer stopped to investigate further.

“Unfortunately, there are people in the community that are willing to help prisoners access drugs by trying various devious methods to get them into Corrections Facilities. .

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Anyone caught trying to smuggle drugs or other banned products into the prison would be prosecuted, Ms Brophy said

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Fellow bikies performed a haka chant as the coffin of Rebels motorcycle club life member Richard Roberts was lifted from a motorcycle sidecar at a crematorium in Canberra.

About 300 bikies attended Roberts’ funeral on Monday, remembering the man they called ”Rebel Rick” as a ‘’superstar” of drinking who ”loved the chicks and they loved him”.

”He was feared by those who didn’t know him, but loved by those who did,” a fellow bikie, known as Pappa, said of Roberts in a eulogy.

The 57-year-old New Zealand-born father of three was fatally shot last Tuesday at a suburban Canberra home.

”He was a hard worker.

Another Rebel said the slain man had ”loved his club and loved to ride”.

Roberts was a New Zealander who shifted to Australia in 1973.”

Roberts was also remembered as a man with a ”heart of gold” who ”could make you laugh”.

Engelbert Humperdinck’s cover version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, with the poignant lyrics ”Regrets? I’ve a had few”, was played after the eulogies. .

Earlier, a procession of more than 300 bikies and an empty hearse moved through the northern suburbs of Canberra from a Rebels clubhouse in Queanbeyan to the Norwood Park Crematorium under police escort.

Bikies from Rebels chapters as far away as southeastern Victoria, the NSW central coast, Gundagai and Sydney attended the funeral.

A police car stood by as the bikies, most of them wearing helmets, ran a red light at the entrance to the crematorium.

The coffin containing Roberts’ body was carried on a sidecar. Police have charged 20-year-old Russell Field with their murders.

Roberts and Gregory Carrigan, 48, were shot dead outside a southern Canberra house last week.

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A spokeswoman for ACT police said the funeral and the procession through Canberra on Monday morning were incident-free.

The slayings were initially thought to be an explosion of violence between outlaw bikie gangs, but a long-time Rebels member has said they resulted from a bitter ”love triangle”.

The proposed laws would allow police to apply to the Supreme Court for an order to prohibit members identified in an outlaw motorcycle gang from associating with each other.

The funeral was held as the NSW government is considering introducing tough new laws aimed at stamping out violent bikie gangs.

The night before Monday’s funeral, a Hells Angel member, believed to be Peter Zervas, 32, was gunned down outside his Sydney home.

One bikie at the funeral wore a provocative t-shirt which read, ”Love us or hate us, you’d better get used to us”.

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The man, who survived the shooting, is the brother of Anthony Zervas, 29, who last week was bludgeoned to death at Sydney airport during a brawl between members of the Hells Angels and the rival bikie gang Comancheros

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Fellow bikies performed a haka chant as the coffin of Rebels motorcycle club life member Richard Roberts was lifted from a motorcycle sidecar at a crematorium in Canberra.

About 300 bikies attended Roberts’ funeral on Monday, remembering the man they called “Rebel Rick” as a “superstar” of drinking who “loved the chicks and they loved him”.

The 57-year-old New Zealand-born father of three was fatally shot last Tuesday at a suburban Canberra home.

Another Rebel said the slain man had “loved his club and loved to ride”.

“He was feared by those who didn’t know him, but loved by those who did,” a fellow bikie, known as Pappa, said of Roberts in a eulogy.”

Roberts was also remembered as a man with a “heart of gold” who “could make you laugh”.

“He was a hard worker.

Roberts was a New Zealander who shifted to Australia in 1973.

Engelbert Humperdinck’s cover version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, with the poignant lyrics “Regrets? I’ve a had few”, was played after the eulogies. He had strong Maori connections.

Earlier, a procession of more than 300 bikies and an empty hearse moved through the northern suburbs of Canberra from a Rebels clubhouse in Queanbeyan to the Norwood Park Crematorium under police escort.

Bikies from Rebels chapters as far away as southeastern Victoria, the NSW central coast, Gundagai and Sydney attended the funeral.

A police car stood by as the bikies, most of them wearing helmets, ran a red light at the entrance to the crematorium.

The coffin containing Roberts’ body was carried on a sidecar.

Roberts and Gregory Carrigan, 48, were shot dead outside a southern Canberra house last week.

Roberts and Gregory Carrigan, 48, were shot dead outside a southern Canberra house last week.

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A spokeswoman for ACT police said the funeral and the procession through Canberra on Monday morning were incident-free.

The slayings were initially thought to be an explosion of violence between outlaw bikie gangs, but a long-time Rebels member has said they resulted from a bitter “love triangle”.

The proposed laws would allow police to apply to the Supreme Court for an order to prohibit members identified in an outlaw motorcycle gang from associating with each other.

The funeral was held as the NSW government is considering introducing tough new laws aimed at stamping out violent bikie gangs.

The night before Monday’s funeral, a Hells Angel member, believed to be Peter Zervas, 32, was gunned down outside his Sydney home. .

- AAP

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The man, who survived the shooting, is the brother of Anthony Zervas, 29, who last week was bludgeoned to death at Sydney airport during a brawl between members of the Hells Angels and the rival bikie gang Comancheros

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Teacher undergoing surgery after bus crash

and Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Eight pupils from a Gisborne high school were discharged from hospital in Hastings today after a bus crash on the Napier-Wairoa road.
The group's teacher, who was driving their mini bus back to Gisborne, was undergoing surgery as pupils waited for their parents to arrive from Gisborne to collect them.
The Lytton High School group was travelling on State Highway 2 near Putorino about 6.
Police said it appeared a car came around a corner towards the northbound mini bus and may have crossed the centre line.30pm when the crash happened.
The car driver received facial injuries and broken bones.
The pupils suffered moderate injuries ranging from broken bones to bruising.
The Lowe Walker rescue helicopter tried to land at the crash scene, but had to turn back because of bad weather.
Both vehicles were extensively damaged. .

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Police said they were continuing their investigation into the accident and hoped to speak to both drivers today

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Police clean up boy racers in Hamilton?

- Saturday, 21 February 2009

Thousands of tickets have been issued and hundreds of cars have been impounded as Hamilton police's Brat Pack rained on the boy racers' parade along Te Rapa Straight.
Figures obtained by the show in the 12 months to June 2008, police performed 9837 compulsory and mobile breath tests and took 97 positive readings; 3359 infringement and traffic notices were issued; 166 people were arrested for various offences; 143 vehicles were seized; and 362 vehicles were either green or pink stickered.
At the time, police labelled the work "very productive".
"Te Rapa Rd used to be a bloody nightmare because they used Scotsman Grandstands along the service lane which has since been shut down.
Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman said the five-officer-strong Brat Pack had made significant progress with the boy racer problem in Hamilton. Now it's really as soon as we see them starting to congregate you go and move them on. Then the liquor ban came in. .
When contacted, owner Jeff Olsen said not a lot had changed.
Washworld has been a popular congregating site for boy racers over the years, with varying amounts of broken bottles, spew and urine left decorating the premises."
Mr Olsen said there were occasional nights where it was worse than normal, but there were "very occasional" nights when nothing happened at all.
"It (happens) fairly regularly; lots of broken bottles, even though there's a liquor ban.
He was disappointed there had not been as much presence of police in Te Rapa as had been promised.
He said his staff would spend, on average, an hour cleaning up the mess left behind by boy racers.
"There's a liquor ban but it doesn't seem to have any affect.
"There's a liquor ban but it doesn't seem to have any affect."
He had noticed several congregation areas including Bunnings, Westpac and Fairview Motors and Shell Pukete car parks. If it was enforced and there was enough of a police presence then we wouldn't be picking all the RTD bottles and other junk up. It flares up and police do a bit of extra activity, something like the liquor ban; it hasn't solved the issue, it still carries on.
"It's gone on for a lot of years and a lot of talk on what's going to happen."
Shell Pukete manager Pierre Erasmus said staff spent every Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning picking up rubbish, broken bottles and McDonald's wrappers along with cleaning urine and graffiti off parts of the building. It's just something that we pretty much deal with."
Waikato police spokesperson Andrew McAlley said for a city the size of Hamilton police would never be able to remove all boy racers, but confirmed police were pleased there were no longer congregations of up to 2000 at a time as was the case about two years ago.
"If they weren't so messy it wouldn't be a problem.

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Police puzzled by escape motive

- Thursday, 22 January 2009

Police are baffled as to why a long-term prisoner has done a runner when he was close to parole eligibility, calling his actions "bizarre and of concern".
Arai Hema, 30, disappeared from a work party at Auckland Prison yesterday. Police dogs tracked his scent to a close toby road where they believe he was picked up by a waiting vehicle.
"The decision by any long-term inmate to escape from custody and thereby jeopardise the prospect of achieving parole is a rare occurrence.
Detective Inspector Steve Wood, of Waitemata police, said Hema, a long-term inmate, had reached the point where he was under consideration for parole.
He was due to be eligible for parole in September next year. This inmate's behaviour indicates a degree of instability," he said.
Hema is serving an 11 year sentence for the rape of a 16-year-old Napier girl and the attempted murder of 76-year-old Bruce Butler, who attempted to intervene.
He was also serving a further six years for attacking prison guards in 2004. The Crown requested preventative detention, calling Hema a "smouldering keg of powder waiting to blow".
Police were now speaking with Hema's family and known associates throughout the North Island to try and track him down.
However, he was regarded as a minimum security prisoner prior to his escape.
Police warned the public not to approach Hema and to contact them with any information on his whereabouts.
Mr Wood urged Hema to contact police, saying the longer he was on the run, the longer his released date would be extended. .
Hema's escape is the third by prisoners this week

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Asbestos alert after destructive Dargaville fire

Dargaville News Thursday, 08 January 2009

HEALTH RISK: Sprinklers are set up to prevent airborne asbestos spreading.

REDUCED TO RUBBLE: The aftermath of the Dargaville fire.
Kaipara District Council infrastructural assets manager Fiona Vessey told the Dargaville and Districts News today that a specialised asbestos crew is due to arrive at the scene later in the day.

The Dargaville public is being kept at bay from the site where asbestos has been found after a major fire consumed four shops and extensively damaged another one in the biggest fire the town has seen in over 40 years.
Ms Vessey says the asbestos group would be supervising clean up contractors GHK Piling from Whangarei.
She says the crew had been held up at a fire in Southdown Auckland that occurred on Tuesday.
The Kaipara District Council issued a statement on Wednesday saying the asbestos discovery in the debris had delayed clearance of the site and the public was required to keep away from the area.
Northland Health health protection officer Paul Reid says the asbestos would be removed and placed in covered trucks to be transported to the Redvale special rubbish disposal facility north of Auckland.
Council, Fire Service, Northland Health and police officials, with insurers, building owners and the Department of Labour met to collaboratively minimise any potential health risk in the meantime. . The area will remain cordoned to protect the public and a section of Victoria St will stay closed.
The site is being kept continually dampened to eliminate any risk of breathable asbestos fibres becoming airborne.
"It is a concern and I apologise for any extra inconvenience but I am confident that the situation is being handled correctly and council's understanding is that the risk posed is minimal.
Kaipara mayor Neil Tiller says the discovery of asbestos is disappointing and hopes it will not significantly delay reinstatement of the area."

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Joust a bit of good, clean medieval fun

The Thursday, 08 January 2009

/The
JOUST GOOD CLEAN FUN: Caroline Egemalm of Sweden battles to maintain her balance on her mount after taking a hit during a jousting practice session, ahead of a world invitational jousting tournament in Upper Hutt this weekend. .
"You just feel a big impact.
Although it all seemed like a bit of fun, there was nothing pretend about the horses, armour, or the lance blows that jousters aimed to inflict, organiser Callum Forbes said."
While serious injuries nowadays were rare, jousters who fought in medieval times when the head was considered a fair target were more likely to feel pain. If it's off-target it can hurt you.
Competitors were not the only ones examining forward to the tournament, Mr Forbes said.
The 12 competitors taking part in the tournament will all face one another during the weekend, with the person with the highest total points score crowned the winner..
"The horses . really love it..45am on Saturday and Sunday."
Re-enactment clubs The Company of the Dragon, based in Brooklyn, and the Order of the Boar, based in Upper Hutt, will take part in foot combat and archery displays during the tournament, which kicks off at 9.

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Kiwi undaunted by Mumbai terror attack

Friday, 28 November 2008

Most people would run for the hills, but Neil Ambikar is flying into the Mumbai chaos.
The 25-year-old Wellington public servant had long planned a six-week holiday to visit his brother in India and not even terrorist attacks were going to stop him.
"Maybe I'm a little bit nervous," he said in Wellington before packing, "but I'm not the kind of guy who changes his life plans because of incidents like these.
After following news of the attacks all day yesterday, Mr Ambikar was set to board a plane to Singapore earlier today before landing in Mumbai about 8pm (NZ time).
Mr Ambikar, a New Zealand citizen who arrived here 10 years ago, said he had first thought little of the headlines because bombings were not unusual in India."
After landing in Mumbai, he plans to drive 90 minutes to the nearby city of Pune, where he spent part of his childhood and where his brother now works in IT.
"It's the largest attack I've ever felt, personally. But as more details filtered out, he was struck by the size and toll. It's the extent of it: the Taj hotel is a big landmark, Bombay's the financial capital. Maybe the largest in Bombay. However, he had many friends working in Mumbai and hoped they had been nowhere near the violence."
He had held off calling his brother because the attack happened late at night, but thought he would be safe because of Pune's distance from Mumbai.

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Plea to take it easy on tenants

- Thursday, 27 November 2008

Landlords are being urged by their national body to show more compassion as the recession starts to bite.
Property Investors' Federation president Martin Evans said the difficult economic times meant some tenants were getting into problems through no fault of their own, and landlords needed to understand that.
Department of Building and Housing figures show Tenancy Tribunal applications have increased 16 per cent in recent months, with most relating to rent arrears.
"We're seeing it across all types of tenancies having problems with rent arrears; it's not just low-income people and beneficiaries," he said.
Evans said the number of properties available to let had increased 13% in the past three weeks, creating a soft rental market where it was hard to find tenants, so it was better to work with existing ones to resolve any problems. They need to talk to them and point them in the direction of people who can help them people like the Tenants Protection Association (TPA) and Work and Income.
"A lot of it is beyond their control, with people losing their jobs, so landlords need to have some leniency."
Evans said landlords needed to contact tenants immediately if they fell behind in rent.
"This is a time when everybody has to help everyone out and be a bit more compassionate, although I'm not saying to put the rent arrears to one side.
"Landlords need to remember they will go through hard times in the next 12 months everyone will be affected," he said."
Christchurch TPA manager Helen Gatonyi urged tenants to contact landlords as soon as they got into difficulty to explain the problem.
"If they've got a good record, don't just jump on them the first time they get behind. "Then there are contacts for people where they can get help to avoid getting into difficulties.
"Our message is very simple: pay your rent first," she said."
Gatonyi said the association had had a big increase in the number of tenants approaching it for help in the past few months and it was important tenants did not leave it too late to ask for help."
Gatonyi said the association had had a big increase in the number of tenants approaching it for help in the past few months and it was important tenants did not leave it too late to ask for help.
"We're seeing what they can do and whether they can just pay some, and giving them advice about what sort of supplements they're entitled to and telling them where they can get help.
Evans, the managing director of A1 Property Managers, said the company had seen more problems than usual with tenants getting behind in rent. ."
Despite the difficulty of finding tenants, Evans advised landlords to tighten their letting criteria. Maybe they just need to drop the rent a little bit.
"But an empty property is better than bad tenants."