Two a penny

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Global backlash hits Israeli-ban cafe

By KAREN ARNOLD – Sunday, 18 January 2009

BIG CALL: Cafe owner Mustafa Tekinkaya has been inundated with calls from around the world.

An Invercargill cafe owner has had to unplug several phones and answering machines after being inundated with calls from around the world protesting his decision not to serve Israeli customers while the war in Gaza continues.
Mustafa Tekinkaya, a Turkish Muslim, asked two women to leave his Invercargill cafe last Wednesday after hearing them speak Hebrew and establishing they were Israeli.
Tekinkaya's tearful wife Joanne told the Sunday Star-Times yesterday she couldn't believe the negative reaction had gone global.
He said his actions were a protest over the current conflict in Gaza where 1000 people have died, half of them women and children. They were also sending emails.
People were leaving up to 25 messages a day on the couple's two business phones and were telephoning them at home and on their cellphones.
In the United States Vos Iz Neias (Yiddish, meaning "what's news") an online US news site for orthodox religious Jews posted a story about Tekinkaya's stance.
At least three subscribers posted the phone number of the Mevlana cafe on the website with one saying: "Have fun everyone!!!"
One person said they had phoned: "I just called, a woman answered and got to hear the beginning of 'Hatikva. I
t was read by subscribers throughout Canada, Israel, England, Australia and Belgium."
Another caller said they had got an answerphone: "Didn't leave a message, though, couldn't think of anything pithy yet not obscene to say.' She hung up after about two seconds, though. That'll do it!!"
On Friday, a person claiming to be a friend of Tekinkaya's daughter wrote: "This is disgusting to hand out the cafe number on the internet and now she is receiving phone calls day and night of people from all around the world. I'll phone back tomorrow and have my grandchildren sing Am Yisrael Chai."
Joanne Tekinkaya said, in hindsight, her husband's action hadn't been the best."
Joanne Tekinkaya said, in hindsight, her husband's action hadn't been the best."
She said she was proud of Tekinkaya's stance against the war and the killing of hundreds of innocent children. But it has been twisted."
She said a mediation letter had arrived from the Human Rights Commission and the couple were discussing its contents with their lawyer. .
"But we are not sorry for taking a stand against the war. It was possible they would apologise for taking the action they did."

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Broken vertebra missed

– Friday, 16 January 2009

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LAID UP: Glenn Daniels was discharged from Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.

A man has been discharged from Christchurch Hospital's emergency department with an undiagnosed broken vertebra.
He was taken to the emergency department by ambulance and discharged with a diagnosis of "back strain and sprain".
Electrical engineer Glenn Daniels hurt his back on Sunday when he fell about three metres from a ladder on to a concrete floor.
"The physio said, `Man, I can't touch you while you are in so much pain; you need an X-ray'," Daniels said.
A few days later, Daniels had a pre-arranged appointment with his physiotherapist.
The Canterbury District Health Board has defended its treatment of Daniels, saying everything was done "by the book" and that there would always be some misdiagnoses.
The X-ray showed a broken vertebra in his lower back. .
Daniels said he was grateful he did not suffer worse injuries. "You would have thought it would be a pretty obvious test to do for someone who had fallen 3m on to a concrete floor.
"I'm really disappointed they didn't give me an X-ray," he said. He spends the day either lying on the couch or standing."
Because of his injury, Daniels cannot sit down and cannot go back to work for at least two weeks.
Daniels was seen by a "very senior doctor" who made a judgment on whether to do an X-ray.
Christchurch Hospital emergency medicine specialist Professor Mike Ardagh said he had reviewed Daniels' file and had no problem with his treatment.
Daniels was checked and told to visit his doctor if the pain increased, Ardagh said. Doctors had to weigh up the cost and potential damage exposure to radiation could cause, he said. Internationally, there was about a 1 per cent to 2 per cent rate of misdiagnosis, but Christchurch tended to be better. Emergency departments would always miss some cases, he said. Ongoing pain would cause patients to see their GP or return to the emergency department. Ardagh said L2 fractures, which Daniels had, could be severe but would not typically cause long-term damage.
A report by the Health and Disability Commissioner said the health board failed in its duty of care for Carroll.
The department was criticised for its misdiagnosis of Canterbury man Dean Carroll, who died in April 2007 of acute blood poisoning a day after being discharged.

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Killed photojournalist’s family seeks justice

By LYN HUMPHREYS – Monday, 05 January 2009

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SEEKING ANSWERS: Nikki McKinnon, sister of New Plymouth photographer Trent Keegan, has returned home to be with her parents in the wake of her only sibling’s brutal death in Kenya last May.

TRENT KEEGAN: Found in a ditch with severe head injuries.

Trent Keegan's family is calling for the New Zealand Government to honour its promise and fully investigate his unsolved murder in Nairobi, Kenya.
But two men charged with assaulting and robbing the 33-year-old have recently been acquitted on the charges.
The Taranaki photographer was found bashed to death in a ditch in Nairobi in May.
Trent's sister, Nikki McKinnon, has just returned with her Australian cameraman husband from London, England, to live in New Zealand.
No one has been charged with his murder.
Her says her mission is now to support her parents – her mother lives in New Plymouth and her father in Auckland – and to fight to get the Government to assist in unravelling the mystery of his death.
"We're wanting to hear from the New Zealand Government on their promise to investigate further pending the outcome of the Kenyan inquiry," she said yesterday.
To date, the family was deeply disappointed that any government assistance had been totally absent and that their friends, working in Africa on their behalf, had been treated badly, she said.
"They issued a press release and we never heard from them again," Ms McKinnon said.
Shortly after Trent's death, former Prime Minister Helen Clark had called for a thorough investigation, she said.
Foreign Affairs is seeking further information from the Kenyan authorities in regard to the court case and whether an appeal or further investigations are being undertaken. .
The minister declined to comment on the verdict or Kenyan justice system saying it would be inappropriate at this time, his spokesperson said.
The minister declined to comment on the verdict or Kenyan justice system saying it would be inappropriate at this time, his spokesperson said.
"We (New Zealand) have only one representative for the east coast of Africa and they are based in Pretoria. New Zealand's closest embassy is in Pretoria, South Africa.
"To date they have been pretty uninterested.
"You wouldn't want to find yourself in a position that you wanted help from the New Zealand Government in Africa, that's for sure," Ms McKinnon said.
Ms McKinnon believed it was unlikely now that anyone would continue with his work." Trent, who was working on a Tanzanian story, documenting local people's lives, had been concerned that his life was in danger. There's a lot of very powerful people affected and they have a lot of interests at stake.
"It's almost too big a story for some people. The arrested men recently acquitted had been in possession of Trent's cellphone.''She believes that Trent was probably the victim of muggers. Certainly, did you have to kill the guy? It's very final. Certainly, did you have to kill the guy? It's very final.''
Several friends in Africa had continued to follow the case through on behalf of the family. One, Brian MacCormaic, was concerned enough for his own safety to leave Nairobi, she said.
Mr MacCormaic had been treated "pretty poorly'' when he tried to contact New Zealand's representatives in Pretoria, Ms McKinnon said.
Mr MacCormaic told a weekend paper, "it very much looks like the police in Nairobi and the New Zealand High Commission in Pretoria are not interested in putting any more effort into finding the true killers of Trent''.
Ms McKinnon said she and her husband had been in New Zealand for just two weeks. "My first focus had been my family.''
They realised that bringing anyone to justice would not bring Trent back. While Christmas had been hard for them, "it's tough every day,'' she said. Ms McKinnon said she and her husband were yet to decide where in New Zealand they would live and work. "Certainly New Plymouth is on the list.''
She has worked as Walt Disney's director in London for nine years.

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Swedish cop killed in camper crash

Holiday road toll now 15

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Police to target speedsters this year

One of the first people to die on the roads this year was a Swedish police inspector, who was killed when the campervan in which he and his family were travelling crashed this morning.
About 10.
He appeared to have been unable to make a left hand turn at the intersection, and skidded across SH 47 before rolling down a 20m bank into a small creek, said Sergeant Marc Clausen.15am today, the campervan driven by 50-year-old Goran Oskarsson left the road at the intersection of state highways 47 and 48, near the central North Island settlement of National Park. His wife was flown to Waikato Hospital with broken bones and head injuries, and his three teenage children were taken by ambulance to hospital with minor injuries.
Mr Oskarsson died at the scene.
Next of kin had been advised.
Identification on Mr Oskarsson indicated that he was a police inspector in Sweden, Mr Clausen said.
That involved the death of a motorcyclist found dead just outside Queenstown.
The new year has started badly with four road deaths, though the time one of those was killed is yet to be clarified.
About 1. The accident may have happened either side of midnight.
Around the same time, a 51-year-old Balclutha man failed to negotiate a moderate right hand bend on Cannibal Bay Road near Owaka, 27km southwest of Balclutha.30am, a 33-year-old Levin man was hit by a northbound car in the town centre while walking along the middle of State Highway 57, police said.
Emergency services were called about 10am after passing motorists saw the vehicle, but the accident was believed to have happened one or two hours after midnight.
His vehicle went down a steep incline, rolling a number of times before stopping about 50m from the road, police said.
Local police, the coroner and a serious crash investigator were investigating the cause of the crash.
The man was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
She was 28-year-old Lauren Leigh Stoneley of Hornby, Christchurch.
Meanwhile, police have named the woman killed in Canterbury on Tuesday.30pm.
Ms Stoneley was the passenger in a car being driven by her boyfriend when it left the road and hit a tree on Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Rd, near Alford Forest, about 8.
The Christmas-New Year road toll now stands at 15, with three and a half days of the period remaining.
The man suffered minor injuries.
The road toll for the whole of 2008 was estimated at 359, the lowest in 49 years, but may change when the timing of the Otago fatality is confirmed. .
The road toll was a decrease on the 421 deaths in 2007, and 393 in 2006, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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Eye in sky spots ‘smart-arse’ overtaker

– Monday, 29 December 2008

A "smart-arse" who overtook 20 cars lined up to crossa one-laned bridgewas caught in the act by the police spotter plane.
The yesterday joined Waikato Highway Patrol constable Lloyd Smith yesterday as he took to the skies for the first time in a Cesna 172 to patrol traffic travelling on the Waikato's major highways.
The morning kicked off with a smash about 10.
The aircraft part of Operation Rose which is aimed at reducing the summer road toll is costing police about $250 an hour to operate.
Police on the ground were in full control when the Waikato Aero Club plane flew overhead to see south-bound traffic banked up several kilometres from the crash scene.30am when two cars collided on the Waikato Expressway close to Rangiriri one car ended up in a paddock.
"It's no different to a normal Sunday," Mr Smith said of the traffic.
Next was a tour of the newly double-laned SH2 from the Bombay Hills toward Thames.
"Most cars are getting through in one hit.
The one-laned Kopu Bridge, renown for lengthy delays during the summer period, was the same as "any normal day".
The driver of the small black hatchback quickly cut back into the line just a few metres before the bridge infuriating Mr Smith who quickly contacted police on the ground in Thames."
But that didn't stop one "impatient" driver pulling out into the opposite lane and overtaking a line of about 20 cars waiting to pass over the bridge into Kopu. Unfortunately ground police were busy with other jobs and were unable to catch up with the offending car.
The plane tailed the car for some time.

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Man dies after van hits house-movers

By KAREN MANGNALL – Thursday, 06 November 2008

A Papakura man is dead after his van ploughed into convoy of house-movers in south Auckland early earlier today.
Police said Dean John Candler, 30, died at the scene of the crash on Great South Rd, Manurewa close to the intersection with Corin Ave about 1.
Constable Steve Shaskey said six trucks were in a convoy "lit up like a Christmas tree" while moving two houses.15am.
The van passed the first house transporter but clipped the corner of the second house, veering head-on into a truck following with house-moving equipment.
The lead driver "jumped on the radio" to warn the rest of the convoy about a white van driving past erratically in the opposite direction.
The dead man was the only occupant of the van which was extensively damaged along the driver's side.
"The truck had almost skidded to a stop by the time the van hit it," Mr Shaskey said.
Alcohol and driver fatigue are being investigated as causes for the crash, Mr Shaskey said.
No-one else was injured.
"Nobody knows what he was doing out at that time of night.
Police would like to hear from anyone who can tell them what Mr Candler was doing in the hours before the crash.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Counties Manukau serious crash unit on (09) 261-1302. .

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Police bust Hamilton ‘pot’ street

By BELINDA FEEK – Tuesday, 16 September 2008

A raid on a quiet Hillcrest cul-de-sac has shocked police who discovered cannabis cultivation in every house on the street.
Although there are only three homes on the Hamilton street, all were busted for cannabis and two of them were linked. The occupants of that house, three men and one woman, now face cultivating cannabis and possession-for-supply charges.
Acting Detective Sergeant Graham Pitkethley, of the Waikato Crime Control Unit, said "a sophisticated indoor hydroponics operation" was found in the first property, growing more than 40 cannabis plants.
Cannabis seedlings were found growing outside the third property.
One of the men is also connected to the neighbouring property and faces additional charges for 10 cannabis plants found there.
Mr Pitkethley said the cultivation operations in the first two properties were believed to be linked while the third house was operating separately from its neighbours. A woman now faces several charges, including possession of cannabis for supply. "We don't come across that too often .
The crime control unit or drug squad were not easily shocked, but Friday's bust surprised them…"
All five people were expected to appear in Hamilton District Court this week. It is unusual that you get something at every house, so it was a surprise.
A World Health Organisation report this year put New Zealand second only to the US in a survey of illegal cannabis use in 17 countries. Although Hillcrest was a high-student area, Mr Pitkethley confirmed those arrested were not students, but people "that should know better".
"From a policing point of view the increased use of hydroponics-growing operations means cannabis is no longer a seasonal threat," Mr Pitkethley said.
Meanwhile, the availability and strength of cannabis being found by police is causing concern."
The maximum penalty for possession of marijuana (Class C) is three months in prison and/or a $500 fine.
"It is now a drug available year round and there's significant information out there to suggest it is used as a stepping stone to other drug use.
Twelve ounces of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy were allegedly found in the possession of a 25-year-old man earlier this month. The maximum penalty for importing, cultivating and/or supplying cannabis is eight years in jail. Three people appeared in court on Friday on drug charges.
The cannabis was found in his car while a search of a house near Waikato University revealed the LSD and ecstasy and more cannabis.