Two a penny

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‘I’m just so pleased to have them back’

Mother tries hard not to get angry

– Saturday, 10 January 2009

Taua Evile

Mia Evile

Helen Adams is trying hard not to get angry about the death of her two daughters in a house fire in a crowded South Auckland house.
For Adams, focusing on her "beautiful" daughters and the joy they brought her is more important now than casting blame.
Her daughters, Taua Evile, 11, and Mia Evile, 8, perished in a blaze on Tuesday caused by a late-night fry-up of hot chips at the home of their father, Misi Sau.
"I can't get angry.
At the time of the fire there was believed to be at least nine children and several adults sleeping in the four-bedroomed Mangere home. I just have to keep saying it was a horrible accident and it was nobody's fault," she said. I have no anger.
"This time, the funeral, is about us. This (Canterbury) was their home. Me and the girls and our family."
Adams returned to Christchurch with her daughters' bodies on Thursday night and was planning a funeral service and cremation for them on Monday. I'm just so pleased to have them back with me.
They left Christchurch on December 9 to visit their father and holiday in Samoa, where their paternal family comes from, Adams said.
The girls lived in Avondale with their mother and spent holidays with their father in Auckland. In Canterbury, they spent every weekend at their grandparents' leafy Tai Tapu house. In Canterbury, they spent every weekend at their grandparents' leafy Tai Tapu house. She had recently started a paper round and was going to spend her first few pay packets onHavaiana jandals, her mother said.
Adams said her eldest daughter was a real "mother hen" who was always "examining out for her little sister"..
"I was so, so proud of her . she organised the round all by herself, all off her own bat..
Mia was the shyer of the two, but she had a definite sense of mischief, Adams said."
Taua was an advanced student at her Avondale intermediate school and was a popular girl with a cheeky sense of humour, her mother said.
She recently discovered raw eggs and carrots and was broadening not only her tastes but becoming bolder in life, Adams said.
Mia was very definite about what she liked to eat and went through a phase of only wanting chicken nuggets.
"They were such warm, loving girls and they were my whole life.
"They were such warm, loving girls and they were my whole life.
"I'm just going to get through the next few days and then try and take things from there."

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Racing the ‘greatest buzz in the world’

Saturday, 03 January 2009

/The
TWO STAYERS: Mates Allen Donald, left, and John Jury in front of the old stand at Tauherenikau racecourse.

For Allen Donald, racing is a bug that he caught early on. Once you have got into it, it's like an itch you can't get rid of," he said. "It's like a disease.
"I was 5 or 6 the first time I came, I had my first bet when I was 7 or 8.
The veteran trainer, owner and former amateur jockey has been going to the New Year races at Tauherenikau since the late 1940s, with the Wairarapa course the scene of his first triumph.40 which was big money then," he said.
"Four of us put 10 shillings on for a place, it got second, so we got 2. He then went on to train racehorses on the track, before moving in the 1970s to Cambridge, where he still lives.
Mr Donald grew up in the area, with much of the farmland surrounding Tauherenikau, close to Featherston, owned by his family. "I normally chuck $10 or $20 on a race, I usually put about $50 in my pocket and don't really worry about it.
However, Mr Donald said he liked to make it down to his old stomping ground to catch up with friends and have a small flutter.
For jockey Jonathan Riddell, who rode in five races yesterday, it was a return to the track where his racing career started two years of his apprenticeship was spent at Tauherenikau."
About 14,000 people flocked to Tauherenikau yesterday, betting about $470,000 on the meeting's 12 races, which featured both harness racing and gallops.. "It's a good place to race . I love the track," he said.. Mr Jury, a former steward at the club, said the relaxed nature of the meeting made it an enjoyable day out.
Also in attendance was John Jury, owner of star galloper Fritzy Boy, who made an exhibition appearance yesterday. . "The atmosphere is marvellous, you could not run many meetings like this elsewhere, with people able to sit round under the trees. It's the greatest buzz in the world, it doesn't matter if it's a race here at Tauherenikau or a big cup race.
"A lot of people get interested in racing from coming here."

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Nanny review under attack

– Wednesday, 24 December 2008

A government review will prevent teenage nannies working in homes and also force thousands of children into daycare centres, an early-childhood educator warns.
Porse, an in-home childcare training and employment organisation, yesterday raised several concerns over the review.
Managing director Jenny Yule said the proposal was discriminatory and restricted younger nannies.
Education Minister Anne Tolley announced the previous month that she would review all new regulations for the early-childhood education sector put in place by the previous government.
She said parents wanted their children cared for at home rather than in daycare centres, and the move would overcrowd centres and accentuate staff shortages.
Yule has called for an urgent meeting with Tolley over the issue. These were effective from December 1.
However, an Education Ministry spokeswoman said the concerns had been raised too soon.
Yesterday, Porse released a letter from Tolley, dated December 22, in which the minister said that in the meantime she was removing some of the provisions that were going to be reviewed, effective from early next year.She said childcare regulations were still under consultation, with a decision six months away.
However, a spokeswoman for the minister, Helene Ambler, said Porse would be included in consultations.
One of the provisions that is going to be removed allows nannies under 20 to provide home-based services.
"No decisions have been made around any of the regulations.
"Decisions have been suspended for six months while we consult with the sector," she said."
Mother-of-two Kate Gardner has employed nannies aged between 18 and 25."
Mother-of-two Kate Gardner has employed nannies aged between 18 and 25. .
"In some ways, younger nannies are more flexible and able to get on a level with the kids more easily," she said.
She said it was the individual's maturity levels were more important than age."
Christchurch mother Hayley Marsh has had the help of nannies, aged 18 to 25, through the New Zealand College of Early Childhood Education work placement programme.

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"Looking after children isn't something you can train; it's a gift, and it comes down to the individual," she said

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Pedestrian pinned as rubbish truck rolls

The Tuesday, 23 December 2008

Awomanon an early morning walk is in hospital with serious injuries after a rubbish truck rolled and flung her into a fence.
The light Owyak Waste recycling truck rolled while coming down Onslow Rd, in the Wellington suburb of Khandallah, about 9.30am yesterday.
"[The truck] came down on one side and pinned at least one leg between the roof of the container and the timber railing," Johnsonville fire officer Mike Dombroski said.
It is believed to have spun across the street, collecting the pedestrian and leaving her wedged between the truck's container and a fence. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. .
Allan Dykstra, whose house is below the bend where the accident happened, went to help."
Accidents were fairly common on the windy road, which links Khandallah with Hutt Rd, Mr Dykstra said. "They asked me to bring up some towels, but she didn't want them, she did not want to be touched. The cause of the crash was still unclear, police said.
Owyak Waste refused to comment as the driver who was unhurt was being investigated by police.

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No sign of missing Auckland fisherman

Saturday, 20 December 2008

High tide has hampered the rescue teams who are scouring the shores of islands in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, for a missing fisherman.
A search and rescue operation began on Friday for the man after his empty fishing boat washed ashore on Kawakawa Bay in the Hauraki Gulf.
The boat was found washed up about 2pm.
A large air, sea and land search so has found no sign of the 58-year-old man who went fishing alone on his six-metre fibreglass boat about 10am yesterday.
They had searched Ponui Island, 1.
Senior Constable Gary Simpson, from the police launch Deodar, told this afternoon said the police search and rescue teams were returning for the day.
"We've been down to Pahiki Island and we've done the eastern side and part of the western side, however it's high tide and it's virtually impossible to get around the shoreline," Mr Simpson said.3km off Waiheke Island, with no luck. .
On Sunday the search teams will be heading back to Kawakawa Bay and will be searching the shoreline.
"But there is always that possibility that he has been swimming around a reef and is sitting under a tree somewhere waiting to be picked up.
Mr Simpson said the chances of finding the man alive were not good."
Police said they knew the identity of the man but would not yet release his name.

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2000 complaints over police

Monday, 15 December 2008

Complaintsto the independent police watchdog have increased to more than 2000 in the past year – thought to be the highest number in its 20-year history – but they are being handled more quickly.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority annual report shows it accepted 1690 complaints for investigation in the past year.
The most common complaints were inadequate investigation or failure to provide medical help, police practice or procedures, bad attitude or language, and use of force. But it sped up the time taken to investigate complaints, reducing the number of cases more than 12 months old by 87 per cent in the year. Five public reports were issued last year.
The highest number of complaints came from Waitemata, Wellington, Auckland and Counties Manukau.
A review of the 1999 protests during a state visit by Chinese president Jiang Zemin found the rights of lawful protesters had been breached, and a review of the shooting of Graeme Burton found police were justified in shooting him but should have done more to return him to prison beforehand. The reviews of the deaths of three Auckland teenagers resulting from a police pursuit, police actions around the prime ministerial motorcade, and the Operation Austin investigation into allegations of sexual offending by police officers all endorsed police actions. .
"Independent oversight of police is part of the lifeblood of any just system of law enforcement," authority chairwoman Justice Lowell Goddard said. It provides public accountability. It exposes misconduct and poor practice or policy. It encourages internal discipline, and it builds public trust and confidence in the nation's system of law enforcement.
"And it is crucial for police themselves."

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Nia very sleepy, says witness

By Saturday, 25 October 2008

A girlwitness in the Nia Glassie murder trial told a court the Rotorua three-year-old was "very sleepy" hours before she became unconscious and was put to bed.
The girl said Nia had wanted to go in the car with her mother, co-accused Lisa Kuka, to her aunty's house.
The witness was cross-examined yesterday, through closed-circuit television, by three defence lawyers for 2 1/2 hours on day five of the High Court trial in Rotorua. She had not been allowed because she was "sleepy, tired and grizzly".
The witness cannot be named for legal reasons. Much of the questioning centred on specific alleged incidents of abuse the Crown says contributed to Nia's death in hospital on August 3.
Nia stayed at home with co-accused Wiremu and Michael Curtis, who were helping prepare for Michael Curtis' 21st birthday party.
Under cross-examination by Craig Horsley, she said Nia had a sore head on Friday, July 20, and was quiet and sleepy that night before she became unconscious.
On the Thursday, Nia had fallen off a spinning clothesline to the ground. Nia slept all the next day and when the party got under way she was taken to her aunty's house. She sat on the top of the pole. Nia had asked to go on it because it was a game.
Earlier that day co-accused Michael and Wiremu Curtis, Oriwa Kemp, and Michael Pearson had talked about whether a child could fit in a dryer. She was not strong enough to hold on and fell when it was spun "medium" speed, the witness said.
"Everyone laughed because it looked funny. The witness said she saw Nia trying to get in head first.
"Sometimes when it got rough she would cry, other times she would giggle and laugh."
The witness said "fun" wrestling games were performed on Nia on a mattress on the floor.
The trial will resume on Tuesday."
Under cross-examination by Johnathan Temm, the witness said Michael Curtis took Nia out of the dryer but she was not sure if Nia's nose was bleeding.