Two a penny

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Suspicious blazes strike Invercargill

Police investigations begin as rash of call-outs stretches fire crews

By JARED MORGAN – Wednesday, 28 January 2009

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FIGHTING TO GET IN: Firefighters struggled to get into a shed on Bluff Rd during a large fire at 3.30am yesterday.

Invercargill police are investigating four suspicious blazes, including a home targeted as a family slept inside, after a rash of call-outs stretched city fire crews yesterday.
The question of whether a firebug was responsible for the suspicious blazes was something police and Fire Safety investigators would not be drawn on last night.
Between midnight and 7pm firefighters received 11 call-outs to six structure fires, including the four being investigated, one callback to the scene of an earlier fire, one car crash and three false alarms.
Firefighters were called to the first fire in a hayshed on Severn St about midnight.
Detective Fred Shandley, of Invercargill CIB, said joint investigations were continuing on whether the fires were connected. .30am destroyed a storage shed on Bluff Rd.
The second fire about 3.
In the fourth blaze, which broke out between 6am and 9am, an uninsured business premises in the South City Mall on Elles Rd was damaged after a refrigeration unit on the roof of the building was set alight, he said.
A home in Bain St was the third property hit after wood against an exterior wall was set alight.
"If you look at the time and location there is more similarity between the (first three) fires.
It was unclear whether the fourth fire was linked to the first three, Mr Shandley said."
Gary Rodgers, the owner of the Bluff Rd shed, was yesterday counting the cost of the blaze."
Gary Rodgers, the owner of the Bluff Rd shed, was yesterday counting the cost of the blaze."
His tenant, who rented half the shed from him and lost a $90,000 street sweeper and personal effects, alerted him to the fire about 5.
"It's more than $100,000 worth of gear without the cost of the shed.
"My son passed me the phone and he said `I've got some bad news for you.30am, Mr Rogers said.
"He said `it's worse than that it's gone'.' I said `the bastards have broken into Bluff Rd haven't they?'," Mr Rogers said. "It's not a life it hasn't got a pulse."
While insurance had yet to assess the extent of losses, he was remaining positive, he said.49am."
In Bain St, Glenys Williamson, her 26-year-old son Manawa and three grandchildren Joshua Kerr, 16, Marcus Kerr, 14, and Tyler Kerr, 9, were all woken by a neighbour thumping on the door at 6. I said `what?"'
Her son and eldest grandson rushed outside with buckets of water to douse the flames while she called 111, she said. I said `what?"'
Her son and eldest grandson rushed outside with buckets of water to douse the flames while she called 111, she said.
The fire, which scorched the eave of the house but caused little damage, had rattled her and her family, Ms Williamson said.
"It's scary I've got to get young Tyler to bed tonight and say it's going to be all right."
At Impuls-d, a South City Mall bag retailer, owner Warren Skill said he was aware youths sometimes hung out on the roof. and believed they were responsible for the blaze.
He was uninsured.
Invercargill Fire Service chief fire officer Brendan Nally said the volume of call-outs had taxed firefighting resources.
Rostered fire crews, one at the Kingswell station in south Invercargill and two at the fire service's central city headquarters, had to be supplemented by volunteers and off-duty firefighters to deal with the blazes particularly those that happened yesterday morning, which tied up firefighters for hours, he said.
"We activated Invercargill volunteers we've got 17 (people) available and had to call in staff who were off duty."
Many of the additional staff mobilised to fight the fires were rostered to begin work at 8am and were beginning to feel jaded by yesterday afternoon, Mr Nally said.
"We are having to manage a fair bit of fatigue."
SUSPICIOUS FIRES Midnight: Firefighters are called to a hayshed in Severn St, an excavator is used to bury burning hay and fire crews maintain vigil at the scene until 6am. 3.25am: Fire crews called to a large shed on Bluff Rd opposite the intersection with Hyde St to find it well ablaze. Tight security on fences and the structure itself hamper efforts to douse the blaze. An explosion and the sound of gas cylinders venting in the heat mean firefighters build an improvised dam around intact cylinders to hold water and keep them cool. They remain on the scene until 8am. 6.53am: Firefighters douse the remnants of a deliberately lit fire against the exterior wall of a house. 10am: A fire in the housing for a refrigeration unit on the roof of a Elles Rd business goes up in smoke. Firefighters are forced to dismantle the housing and break into the roof cavity to reach the seat of the blaze.

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Serial disqualified-driver back in court

Friday, 16 January 2009

A motorist who was banned indefinitely from getting behind the wheel 14 years ago appeared in Tauranga District Court today on his 11th charge of driving while disqualified.
"What is the problem with you getting a driver's licence?" Judge Christopher Harding asked Eugene Thomas, 46, of Papamoa.
"Nothing really, your honour," Thomas replied. Police seized his vehicle.
He had been stopped at Mt Maunganui last October 25 for speeding.
Judge Harding said: "You know what happens: You come back (to court) and you get disqualified for another year.
Thomas told the judge he had "done the drug tests" needed before he could apply to re-sit his licence, but added that the process for gaining a current licence costs money.
"All I am able to do is disqualify you again for 12 months – and that is all I will do. ."
He urged Thomas to do something about it."

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Thomas said: "Aw, that's not nice

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Gay sex-seekers ruin it for Rabbit Island nudists

The Thursday, 08 January 2009

MARTIN DE RUYTER/
NUDE, NOT RUDE: This man who agreed to be photographed on Nelson’s Rabbit Island says he is part of a community of genuine nudists there, but said there was a group of men who ‘disappear into the bushes’ and he found their behavour offensive.

Men meeting for sexual encounters and spying on others at Nelson's Rabbit Island run the risk of bringing stigma on the gay community, says the president of the Nelson gay group Spectrum. .
Wayne Bartram said the eastern end of the island was so well known as a meeting place for gay men that he would tell visitors examining to contact others to "go to the beach and turn right".
"We don't need animosity because we are not all dirty people, we are just gay," he said.
He had many gay friends who visited Rabbit Island to play cards, swim, read or talk, with or without clothes.
There was enough space at the beach to enjoy a nudist lifestyle, he said.
A nudist who agreed to be photographed but not named said he had been practising nudity there for about five years and was part of a group of "genuine folk who don't want to make a scene".
They often hid behind bushes to stare at other beach users, he said.
But there was a group of "hide and seek guys who disappear into the bushes" and he found their behaviour offensive.
A woman who oftenly rides her horse on the beach said she often saw naked people and had been told by other beach users that "all sorts" went on under the pine trees.
Wellington labourer Josh Scott told The that he wasn't too bothered when he glimpsed a nudist while walking back from a swim at the eastern end of the beach, but "wondered what was going on" when he walked past a group of five naked men.
A number of people had been issued trespass notices over the years, he said.
Sergeant Craig Barker of Richmond police said there were one or two complaints about nudity at Rabbit Island each year and an occasional report of offensive behaviour.
If it receives any, it is ready to put up signs reminding people that the beach is not clothes optional.
The Tasman District Council has not had any complaints about nudity this summer.
Members of the public should contact the police if they saw anything objectionable occuring in the area, he said.
Mayor Richard Kempthorne said he was aware the eastern end of the beach was used as a gathering place by the gay community, but not of any complaints.

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Drunk teen mob terrifies campers

By RICHARD WOODD – Thursday, 08 January 2009

CAMERON BURNELL/
GET OUT: Constable Danny Giles with a youth after a mob rampaged through a campground terrorising and abusing other campers.

A mob of drunken youths went on the rampage, terrifying campers at Opunake Beach early yesterday morning.
Camp lessee Craig Russell was punched in the head when he asked them to leave.
Police yesterday arrested one 16-year-old and charged him with assault and disorderly behaviour.
He and three campers held off the mob of up to 20 youths until the police arrived.
The youths, who had been at a party in Eltham Rd, were text-called to the beach by their mates after Mr Russell asked a noisy carload to leave about 1am.
Three others are being interviewed and are likely to be charged also.
They scattered into the hills and scrub when two carloads of police arrived.
More than 500 people have been staying at the camp this summer and most were still there when mayhem erupted yesterday.
The South Taranaki District Council, which owns the camp, is supplying night security patrols for the next week.
"We know who these guys are and we will catch them all.
Opunake police officer in charge Constable Danny Giles played down the confrontation, calling it an isolated incident and not typical of Opunake. We do not expect any further problems. There has been talk around the camp of possible retribution but that will not happen."
Mr Russell said that just after 1am a black Subaru wagon with a noisy exhaust roared up with four males and three females
"They were all drunk and had come from a party on Eltham Rd."
Mr Russell said that just after 1am a black Subaru wagon with a noisy exhaust roared up with four males and three females
"They were all drunk and had come from a party on Eltham Rd. I said my campers wanted a quiet night," he said. I went out with a torch and suggested they go to the next bay and have their fun there.
"I took one around the corner to try and talk some sense in to him and next thing I'm hit in the forehead.
The Subaru drove off, but they left two guys behind and others arrived from the party. They were examining for trouble, they were well fonged up. I looked up and saw another dozen guys walking down the road towards us. They started throwing bottles everywhere.
"They kicked a couple of wheelie bins over, full of bottles.
"There was no further assault on anyone and they didn't try to go into the camping area. One guy picked up a big rock and threatened to smash my head in. There was a lot of smashed glass around. There was a lot of smashed glass around.
"My main concern was to stop them getting into the camp. We have some very good people staying here, a lot of kids, and I didn't want their holidays ruined."
He said the incidents were caused by a minority local group fired up by too much liquor and testosterone and he was concerned the publicity might discourage campers and affect his business.
"This is a fantastic camping ground and we want people to come back. This sort of incident is not going to help our bookings for next season. I don't want to see it blown up as a major event."
Lars Mathiasen, of Wellington, was camping with his wife and two small children.
"Last night we thought it was all too scary and maybe we shouldn't come back but then we thought if we didn't then these bastards are dictating where we can go. .
"This was our first visit. We love the place and we love the kind of people who camp here. A lot of them are local farmers."
His wife Marnie, who is seven months' pregnant, said it was a terrifying hour for campers.
"It just suddenly erupted, but it had been brewing for a while. There had been incidents of swearing and shouting from visitors on a couple of other nights.
"They were screaming abuse, they said they'd kill him. They said things like: `We'll bring the shotgun and f…… kill you, we'll bring our pit bulls. We'll put you in a coma.'
"They abused the campers as well. We could hear everything.
"They made haka-like challenges at the manager.
"It was a very personal attack on him."

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Fire ban looms for Hawke’s Bay

The Wednesday, 24 December 2008

A total fire ban looms in Hawke's Bay as the region struggles to cope with very dry conditions.
However, a meeting of the former Hawke's Bay drought committee in Hastings yesterday concluded the region is not yet in the grip of another drought.
"Many areas on the Heretaunga Plains and near the coast are verging on extreme fire conditions," he said.
Hastings District Council deputy principal rural fire officer Paul Hawke said soaring temperatures had made the district which covers a large part of Hawke's Bay one of the driest in the country.
Fire permits were now being issued only for barbecues and traditional cooking fires such as hangi. Maraekakaho, Crownthorpe, Waimarama, Ocean Beach and Putorino were the areas worst affected.
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule, who chaired the drought meeting, said parts of Hawke's Bay were very dry but others were doing well. A total ban would follow if the hot, dry conditions continued, Mr Hawke said.
Farmers were making use of their experience of recent droughts and selling off stock if they were short of feed.
"The worst areas are Mahia and parts of Central Hawke's Bay," he said.
Last year had been financially bad but recent price rises had helped, he said. "If they haven't got green grass then surplus lambs should go," Mr Yule said.
"You have to go back to 1914 to find a drier spring," Mr Wyn-Harris said.
Takapau farmer Steve Wyn-Harris, who keeps comprehensive rain records, said his area had received a total of 78 millimetres of rain over September, October and November. . "But it's patchy there were some thunderstorms in Central Hawke's Bay and some people got the rain, some didn't

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Safety plea on foreign drivers

Tuesday, 23 December 2008

Acoroner is calling for special road markings and fluorescent warning stickers in rental vehicles to prevent tourists driving on the wrong side of the road.
But the mother of a man killed when an American driver crossed the centre-line says it is the tourists who have to take more responsibility. "And you can't change the habits of a lifetime. "People get off a plane and get straight into a car without even knowing the road rules," Sally Beard said yesterday. ."
Her son, Kylie, 26, was travelling with his partner and his two-year-old daughter in a Subaru Legacy when it was struck by the tourist's Maui rental van near Nelson in November 2005.
In a ruling issued yesterday, coroner Ian Smith reiterated calls from the dead man's family to improve foreign driver education and for fluorescent "Keep left" warning signs to be displayed prominently in all rental vehicles.
American tourist Jess Fronckowiak had already pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving causing injury, was ordered to pay $10,000 and had left New Zealand before Mr Beard died. At present, all cat's eyes are either white or yellow.
Mr Smith said reflector cat's eyes, which glow red when seen by vehicles on the wrong side of the road, should be installed on New Zealand roads.
Figures from 2004 showed that five of the 46 deaths involving overseas drivers, and 91 of the 1193 injuries, were caused by cars being driven on the wrong side of the road, Mr Smith said.
He also called for Parliament to review driving laws after police confirmed that careless driving causing injury carried the same weight as careless driving causing death.
The agency would also be reviewing licensing rules for overseas drivers next year, including tightening rules for gaining a New Zealand licence which is compulsory for people who have stayed in the country for more than a year.
There were no warning stickers in Fronckowiak's rental van, but the Transport Agency said that, since the accident, officials had been working with rental companies to ensure they were used. They need to take more responsibility.
But Mr Beard's mother said that was irrelevant: "Tourists should be more prepared, maybe have to sit a test before they come here.
"He's gone happily on his way and we're the ones with the life sentence."
Mrs Beard said Kylie's death had devastated the family and, even though it was an accident, they still felt Fronckowiak had walked free."
Transport Agency central operations manager Mark Owen said the coroner's recommendations on cat's eyes would be investigated. Nothing will bring Kylie back, but we want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

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Transport Minister Steven Joyce is awaiting a briefing next year on road safety measures and what can be done to improve them

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Wetas’ winning ways fascinate student

By – Tuesday, 16 December 2008

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NOT FUSSY: Victor Kang has won an award for his research into the mating habits of Banks Peninsula tree wetas.

For many students and adults, wetas are best left to their own creepy devices. .
The project last summer, supervised by Lincoln University, meant taking wetas out of their cage twice a day.
Victor's research into the mating preferences of endangered Banks Peninsula tree wetas was not for the faint-hearted.
"If you just handle them slowly and carefully and don't rush, they are OK," he said.
Victor admits to some early nerves, but said he soon realised the wetas were far more scared of him.
Victor's findings showed the Banks Peninsula female tree wetas were not fussy about whether they mated with males from their own species or those from the more common Canterbury tree wetas, which inhabit a similar environment.
Lincoln University entomologist and research co-supervisor Mike Bowie said the findings were valuable for scientists trying to determine whether the species was hybridising and whether the offspring were sterile.
"Interbreeding is bad for them they lose their identity and uniqueness," he said.
Victor, who has just finished his final year at Burnside High School, chose the weta research project from a list of topics provided on the application form.
Victor was one of four participants from last week's Realise the Dream science fair in Wellington who won the chance to present their findings to the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition in March. "Even if I am just walking in the street and I see ants, I stop to look at them and study their behaviour.
His fascination with insects began in a public garden behind his apartment in his native South Korea, where he lived until he was eight."

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Inquest into six trawler deaths abandoned

By DYLAN THORNE – Wednesday, 10 December 2008

A Southland coroner has decided not to resume an inquest into the deaths of six people in the sinking of Bluff trawler Kotuku in 2006. .
In a decision released yesterday, Mr Savage acknowledges the capsize of the Kotuku, with the loss of six lives, was New Zealand's largest maritime disaster since the sinking of the Wahine and deserved public scrutiny.
The coroner adjourned the inquest in May 2006 after learning independent investigations were being carried out.
However, he says that scrutiny had been applied through inquiries and subsequent reports by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) and Maritime New Zealand and it is not in the public interest that it be relitigated at a resumed inquest.
Mr Savage does clarify that one of those on board, Ian "Shorty" Hayward, 52, died from drowning and hypothermia, consistent with cold-water immersion, rather than just cold water immersion as noted in a pathologist's report.
The TAIC report accepted the Kotuku capsized after being hit by two waves and, while the Maritime report had a different emphasis, the two were consistent and the coroner was satisfied matters such as the identity of those who died and and cause of death had been established, the decision says.
The only real question related to whether the circumstances of the deaths had been adequately established in the reports, the decision says.
Tests carried out to assess the boat's stability after it was recovered were inconclusive but TAIC found the general condition of the hull was substandard and it should not have passed a survey inspection.
Two issues highlighted in the inquiries were the stability of the Kotuku and the condition of its hull and fastenings.
Maritime New Zealand merely stated what the evidence of the surveyor and the skipper was and made no finding of its own.
However, it did not make a finding that that contributed to the accident, the decision says.
Both reports referred to actions already taken as a result of the tragedy and made extensive safety recommendations so there was no reason to hold and inquest for the purposes of making recommendations, the decision says.
Despite this, matters could be deemed to be adequately established if proper consideration was given to all evidence, even if that resulted in a conclusion that it was not possible to make definitive findings, the decision says.
Family members of those who died in the sinking could not be contacted for comment yesterday, but Mr Savage's decision notes they did not want the inquest to be held.
Family members of those who died in the sinking could not be contacted for comment yesterday, but Mr Savage's decision notes they did not want the inquest to be held.

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"You would have been asking a generalised body to review the work of a specialist organisation," he said

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Locals dream of the big stage

By SHANE COWLISHAW – Friday, 31 October 2008

DEAN KOZANIC
Starlight in her eyes: Christchurch musical theatre performer Julia Guthrey, 23, was among those to make a shortlist from the Christchurch hopefuls auditioning for the roller-skating musical Starlight Express.

It was all leotards, nerves and hot dance moves at a Christchurch dance studio during auditions for the roller-skating musical Starlight Express.
Starlight is second to Cats as the longest-running musical in British theatre history, and tells the story of a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber production will be performed in New Zealand for the first time next year with shows in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch, beginning on July 1. Auditions were also held in Auckland and Wellington.
The 34 hopefuls at yesterday's Christchurch audition at the Impact Dance Studios had been whittled down from hundreds of applicants, and they were competing for 29 spots across the country.
After singing two songs to the judging panel, she was asked to learn and sing two more from the musical.
Christchurch musical theatre performer Julia Guthrey, 23, was among those to make a shortlist from the Christchurch hopefuls.
Angela Hegraty, 22, said of her audition: "I just think the nerves got to me a bit and the choreography went out the window, but I think it went all right.
She said a role in Starlight Express would be a huge step up for her career, which has so far included roles in Christchurch productions of Cats, Chicago and Guys and Dolls. He said the audition panel would now make its recommendations to the English director of the show, and the successful candidates would be told before Christmas."
Producer Stewart Macpherson said the Christchurch hopefuls were among the strongest groups to audition.
The cast would be put through a four-week course with a top German roller-skating coach, he said.
Some hopefuls yesterday were nervous about their roller-skating abilities, but Macpherson said "if they can dance, then almost certainly they can skate".