Two a penny

.

Two people have died on New Zealand roads this weekend.

This morning a 78-year-old Hauraki man died at the scene of a crash close to Paeroa.

The driver of the ute was the only other person involved and was unhurt.

Police said the man attempted to do a U-turn in the path of a northbound ute close to the intersection of Rangiora Road, Komata, on State Highway 26.

The dead man was driving west and hit an oncoming car, Sergeant Steve Salton said.

About 1am yesterday (Saturday) a 22-year-old man died at the scene of a two-car collision on Auckland’s Upper Harbour motorway, close to the Greenhithe Bridge.

On Friday morning two teenage girls were killed in a car crash in Whangarei.

He suspected speed to be a factor in the crash.10am.

The pair, who were aged 17 and 18, were killed when the car they were in rolled down a bank on Anzac Rd and into the front yard of a property in suburban Morningside just after 1.

The two were in the back seat of the car and not wearing seatbelts, Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said.

Police said they were locals.

They received minor injuries and did not need hospital treatment.

There were three other women, aged 16 to 19, in the car.

Ms Kennett said the car lost control on a bend and no other vehicles were involved.

The driver was breath-tested at the scene and was found not to have been under the influence of alcohol.

Also on Friday, a woman died after her car and a truck collided close to Dargaville, 58km south west of Whangarei.

She said the road would have been wet as it rained in Whangarei yesterday and overnight.

The woman driver of the car died at the scene. . The three deaths on the road on Friday fell outside of the weekend reporting period.

* The weekend road death toll was earlier incorrectly reported as five.

-

- Next National story: -
Immigration ‘has to be fixed’

- National Homepage -

.

Hundreds of women are paying for new “egg-timer” fertility tests, with experts forecasting increasing numbers will freeze their eggs. .

Since their introduction, hundreds of women each month have paid about $400 for the test and follow-up consultation.

Previously, women had to pay for a less accurate and more costly ultrasound scan to determine fertility.

The Health Minister is considering a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology, which guides the Government on fertility issues, that the use of frozen eggs be allowed for some individuals.

Experts say the tests will see a consequent rise in the freezing of eggs, despite it still being illegal to thaw them.

Collyer said one in four New Zealanders now had infertility issues.

The new egg tests had attracted “a lot of interest from single women”, said Michelle Collyer, chief executive of support group Fertility New Zealand. The egg-timer tests allowed single women and couples to make informed decisions about when and how to have children, she said. This had climbed from about one in five several years ago.

A lot of single women had not met “Mr Right” yet and wanted to know how long they had before they were unable to conceive or could do so only with great difficulty.

Many women in their 30s who called Fertility New Zealand about the tests said they were likely to consider freezing their eggs if they found they had a limited time to conceive. “That means people are often putting their career before embarking on a family.

“We are dealing with a lot of social infertility now rather than biological infertility,” Collyer said.”

Obstetrician and gynaecologist Andrew Murray, the medical director of Fertility Associates in Wellington, said its “egg-check” tests provided important information for single women and couples in deciding when to start a family.

“The egg test gives people more information about what their options are and, as far as I’m concerned, the more information the better.

Few people had eggs frozen at Fertility Associates, and they were predominantly cancer patients.

Having the test, and freezing eggs, were a kind of “fertility insurance”, he said.

Currently, a frozen embryo was far more likely to be successfully thawed than a frozen egg, he said.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

However, it was likely that if the thawing of eggs was allowed and the related technology became more sophisticated, more women might do it, Murray said.

The cost of being inseminated with donor sperm was about $1000.

It cost about $10,000 to freeze either an egg or an embryo, Murray said.

Women produced a finite number of eggs at birth.

Repromed deputy medical director Dr Greg Phillipson said its egg-timer tests assessed levels of the hormone AMH, which related to a woman’s egg supply.

If, for example, a woman scored 10 per cent, it was likely she had a limited window of opportunity to conceive, he said.

If, for example, a woman scored 10 per cent, it was likely she had a limited window of opportunity to conceive, he said.

It was likely that if the moratorium on thawing eggs was lifted, more single women with limited fertility would freeze eggs for when they met their life partner, Phillipson said.

BACK ON FERTILTY TRACK

At 31, Caron Gutovitz believed she had years left to conceive a child.

However, after a new blood test that determines how many eggs a woman has left, Gutovitz has found she is nearing the end of her fertility.

The egg-timer or egg-check blood test was recently introduced to New Zealand.

Since then, hundreds of women have had it.

Gutovitz had her son, Owen, about two years ago, and had been trying to conceive for the past year.

Eventually, she turned to fertility experts, who discovered scarring on her uterus.

This had been removed, but she was still unable to get pregnant.

“I had the egg-check tests and it showed that my fertility was very low,” she said. “It showed my ovaries thought I was far older than I am.

“My body thought I was 40-something instead of 31. The result was pretty unexpected because I wouldn’t have thought I had that problem.”

The egg-check test is done via a blood test.

Results take about 10 days and are plotted on a graph against a person’s age.

Gutovitz said the test results had “radically” changed her outlook on getting pregnant.

She is now starting in vitro fertilisation treatment.

“If I hadn’t done the test, I would have continued to try and get pregnant through less invasive techniques. This way I know what my options are and I’m not going to find myself running out of time.”

- KIM THOMAS,

.

Ron Clark remembers standing in the middle of a fireball, watching as his Nelson fish and chip shop exploded around him.

One second he had been preparing for Easter Weekend, his busiest time of the year; the next, he was engulfed in flames when a gas leak ignited. Just a huge explosion and then the building isn’t there.
“It happened instantaneously.”
Mr Clark, 67, is not sure how he made it out alive. You open up your eyes and it’s just the sky no walls, no roof and a ball of fire. I mean, Jesus, there was no building left.
“You couldn’t say that it was anything less than a miracle, really. The beard he kept for most of his life was burnt off- until the explosion his wife, Carole, had never seen him without it.”
He suffered burns to his arms, legs and face.
He had been standing beside a refrigerator when its motor kicked in and a spark ignited gas that had leaked from a vat.
Mr Clark, who has run the Milton Street Fish and Chip Cafe for eight years, is recovering in Hutt Hospital’s burns unit after last Thursday’s explosion. . The explosion knocked the shop’s roof off and blew out the back and front walls. “I could look down and see the skin falling offmy legs.
“I was just standing there one second, and then a split second later I am in a yellow ball of fire,” he said from his hospital bed.
Neighbours helped him, and firefighters were on the scene within minutes.”
Mr Clark stumbled out of his shop and across the street to a neighbour’s front yard, where he found a hose to douse himself with water.
He was later flown to Hutt Hospital, where his arms and legs were wrapped in man-made skin to protect him from infection.
They put a special cooling mask on his face, then took him to Nelson Hospital.
He is full of praise for the medical staff who treated him at the scene, as well as those in hospital, and is already planning to rebuild his fish and chip shop. Mr Clark believes the mask may have saved his face.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

.

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.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

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”.

.

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

.

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.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

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

.

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

.
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.

.
Board sacked to protect pupils

Friday, 30 January 2009

The Government has sacked a second school board in a fortnight after revelations its teachers were hitting, swearing at and denigrating pupils.
Education Minister Anne Tolley dissolved the board of South Auckland's Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate yesterday and replaced it with a commissioner to safeguard pupils.
The move followed a damning Education Review Office report which raised "serious concerns about student safety and about the quality of teaching" at the school. It is one of 10 South Auckland secondary schools that had police officers posted on the grounds as part of a pilot scheme last year to fight crime, and gather intelligence about youth gangs and drug dealing. The 1280-pupil co-ed state school is decile one, meaning it teaches pupils from the poorest and most deprived communities and homes.
In the latest sacking, ERO said the board had failed to provide a safe environment. .
"The physical and emotional abuse of students by a few teachers is a long-standing issue that has been brought to the board's attention in the past.
Mrs Tolley said the abuse was concerning. This abuse by some teachers includes hitting, swearing at and denigrating students," the report says. Student safety is paramount. "That is totally unacceptable. ERO found a climate of mistrust among the school's three principals and said the board's inadequacy hindered the school's ability to provide quality education."
Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate is effectively three schools - junior, middle and senior.
Given the report's allegations, Mrs Tolley said she had no hesitation appointing a commissioner to replace the board.
Given the report's allegations, Mrs Tolley said she had no hesitation appointing a commissioner to replace the board.
"It was a good school," he said.
Former pupil Charles Makakea, who graduated last year, said he was surprised to hear the board was under fire.
A former teacher said it was a low-decile school and there were a lot of tensions for teachers.
He had heard reports of teachers hitting students, "but I didn't know for sure"."
But though it was a difficult environment, there were no excuses for the behaviour described in the report.
"I understand it's also a hard-to-staff school.
"Maintaining discipline and managing safety in challenging circumstances can be difficult for trained professionals who are working full time.
Post Primary Teachers Association president Kate Gainsford said it was appalling that concerns had reached such serious levels without effective support for the board being put in place earlier."
ERO will return to the school within 12 months. For volunteers devoting their spare time to shoulder such heavy responsibilities, [it] is a tall order.

.
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

.
Police interview 140 prostitutes in Manning murder probe

By JO McKENZIE-McLEAN - Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Police have spoken to about 140 prostitutes and 40 minders in their hunt for the murderer of a Christchurch woman. .
Her body was found in the Avon River in Dallington.
Williams said police had spoken to a man they were seeking. She had been strangled, stabbed in the chest several times and beaten about the head and legs with what appeared to be a piece of reinforcing steel.
"At this stage in the investigation we still believe it is likely that Mellory has been picked up from her corner by a vehicle around 10.
He was in the area the night of Manning's murder, driving a silver Ford Focus.45pm, and the telephone inquiries definitely indicate that all is not well by 11.
"This also seems to fit with her watch stopping at 10.30pm as she failed to reply to the next set of texts that were sent to her," Williams said."
The violent attack would have caused considerable blood loss where she was attacked, in any vehicle that she was in or anything she might have been wrapped in, Williams said.58pm.
Police had still not identified the vehicle or driver of the XR6 or XR8 Ford Falcon that Manning was seen in.
He appealed for information on anyone who might have changed their behaviour since December 18, who were reluctant to use their vehicle, had suddenly sold it, cleaned or altered it, or said they had sold it.
Police had identified about 100 cars and had sent out about 20 inquiries to other towns, Williams said.
Police had identified about 100 cars and had sent out about 20 inquiries to other towns, Williams said.
Also of interest was a man in a blue 4WD possibly a Toyota Hilux who approached a prostitute about 10.
Men had been driving four-wheel-drive vehicles in the Manchester Street-Peterborough Street area in central Christchurch about the time Manning must have been picked up, including a dark-coloured one either black or blue with chrome wheels and tinted windows, he said.
He is described as European, slim, with grey stubble, balding at the front and greying hair at the back.35pm and asked for prices.
Williams asked that person or anyone knowing him to contact the police.
He was described as "rough-looking" and was wearing a blue jersey with holes in it.

.
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."