Two a penny

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Fifteen years after bringing to life one of the most memorable characters of New Zealand film, Temuera Morrison says he is still haunted by the “demon” of Jake the Muss – and worries Jake’s anger and torment will be with him for life.

In a memoir to be published tomorrow, Morrison, who lost his entertainer uncle Sir Howard on Thursday, touches on how the wife-beating Jake character from 1994′s Once Were Warriors took him to a dark place from which he has not fully emerged.

“There’s a lot of torment left in there.

“I had to work hardest on Jake’s anger, and now I think it’s probably with me for life,” says Morrison in From Haka to Hollywood, ghost- ritten by journalist Paul Little. Maybe I need to go through some spiritual cleansing process to get rid of that guy. When you go to these dark places inside you, for some reason things linger on. “Uncle Howard gave us so much, we’re going to miss him very much.”

Morrison told the Sunday Star-Times a dark cloud had come over his family with the death of Sir Howard.

In 1999, Morrison chased a group of teenagers who had set fire to a real estate sign outside his house on Auckland’s North Shore.”

He said the anger he unleashed to create Jake may have been responsible for two high-profile incidents, including his bashing of a teenager and an argument with his former partner, to which police were called. It turned out the boy was not even involved in the arson.

He grabbed a 17-year-old boy by the shirt, punched him twice in the face, dragged him by the hair down a drive and bashed his head against a fencepost. Morrison said of the incident: “I think he [Jake] might have popped out there for a brief moment.

Morrison was not convicted for the assault, instead being dealt with under the police diversion scheme.”

In December 2007, concerned neighbours called police to a domestic dispute between Morrison and then partner Peata Melbourne. Poor kid, it’s a regret.

Morrison said of that incident: “Jake had to quickly run out of the house and disappear and hide in the trees and cool down a bit. She later told a women’s magazine how frightened she felt as the argument spiralled out of control. “Show me the man who’s very calm in those situations.”

He had only just returned from making a film in Bulgaria and was going through a stressful separation from Melbourne. “I created that character, it comes from me really.”

Morrison said filming Warriors was an emotional rollercoaster. . I created this demon of this character, all that kind of stuff I had to draw on. Sometimes I can twitch into an aggressive mode, just like that. Sometimes I can twitch into an aggressive mode, just like that. It’s not there every day, just every now and again.”

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The Australian “kaumatua” behind a recent civil disobedience campaign by Maori elders was arrested last week, delaying his trial on $4.7 million of mortgage fraud charges.

Bankrupt “life coach” Shane Wenzel, who uses the name Tane Rakau, was arrested on Tuesday for breaching the peace, by police overseeing the demolition of an illegally built soundstage at his South Auckland compound.

The group claims to be a sovereign hapu, exempt from New Zealand laws, and Wenzel, a white Australian, claims tangata whenua status by virtue of having been “adopted” into the hapu.

Wenzel is the leader of a group of protesters who disrupted the high court trial of former MP Taito Phillip Field the previous month and threatened to target the homes of Prime Minister John Key and senior judges to draw attention to injustices against Maori. It’s genocide against the Maori.

He told police officers overseeing the demolition at his property on Tuesday: “You guys are practising apartheid. There’s one set of rules for Pakeha and a different set for us.

Wenzel, who is representing himself in court, said the charges would not slow the group’s protest activities.”

He was held in custody until Thursday because he refused to submit to fingerprinting, resulting in the adjournment of his 10-week trial on Serious Fraud Office charges until tomorrow.co. The hapu was preparing a campaign of “arresting” MPs and judges, and making moves to acquire the maori.

Vincent Eastwood, a Wenzel supporter who films the group’s activities and uploads the footage online, told the Sunday Star-Times the arresting officers had “committed treason” and “made a declaration of war on a nation state”.nz internet domain name. Footage of the arrests was posted on the group’s YouTube channel, headlined “Maori raped and arrested by police”. Footage of the arrests was posted on the group’s YouTube channel, headlined “Maori raped and arrested by police”. He ain’t.

“This Womble character undermines the legitimacy of the tino rangatiratanga cause by duping Maori who are in the main uneducated, poor and gullible, into believing he is some kind of saviour. Former followers have described Wenzel’s group as cult-like, and paint the 48-year-old as having an unhealthy sway over his adherents.”

Recipients of Wenzel’s “re-education” have included Jamie Lockett, one of those charged in the Urewera “terror raids”, and Macsyna King, the mother of the murdered Kahui twins. “I told him I was disappointed that he had let this clown adopt a Maori name, assume a kaumatua status that he had no right to, and lead Tass and co around by the nose like a farmer leads pigs to the slaughter. .”

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Kakapo back to nest after 21 years

– Sunday, 08 February 2009

A Momentous Waitangi Day on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island has seen a male kakapo rediscovered 21 years after vanishing and world-first artificial insemination using the sole surviving Fiordland kakapo.
Rangi's miraculous find by kakapo ranger Chris Birmingham boosts the critically endangered endemic parrot population to 91 and potentially adds important genetic diversity.
The flightless nocturnal bird was one of four male kakapo released on the 1400ha conservation sanctuary, close to Stewart Island, in 1987 without a transmitter.
Birmingham told the Sunday Star-Times he was surprised to hear a male booming, its unique resonant mating call, close to South Bay, where no kakapo had been detected before. He had not been seen since. He bolted so I followed him through the supplejack and ferns.
"I followed the booming sound and eventually spotted him. Finally, when it was safe, I managed to grab him. Incredibly, Rangi survived two aerial poison drops during Codfish Island's rat eradication in 1998."
It was only then that he realised the bird's significance because it wore a numbered metal band on his leg. He vanished within seconds into the island's thick undergrowth, but has now been fitted with a transmitter to ensure his days of anonymity are over.
Once Rangi's vitals were checked, showing he was in top form, sperm was collected from him before he was carefully carried back to home territory and released. DNA research was also planned.
Tests later that day at a makeshift laboratory on the island showed he had high quality sperm.
Rangi's discovery could improve the species chances if he is genetically different to the other birds, the kakapo team's technical officer, Daryl Eason said.
Rangi's discovery could improve the species chances if he is genetically different to the other birds, the kakapo team's technical officer, Daryl Eason said."
Meanwhile on Friday, Richard Henry, the only surviving Fiordland kakapo (the rest were caught on Stewart Island or were their descendants), gave what could be his last shot at fatherhood. Rangi was a founder bird and he could be a very important bird.
Although checks showed it to be poor-quality, it was used to artificially inseminate a female kakapo to try for more offspring with his valuable diverse genes.
For the first time ever, sperm was collected from the bird, which is estimated to be at least 70 years old.
Spanish vet Dr Juan Blanco, a world-renowned expert in assisted reproductive techniques in endangered birds, was also on the island developing artificial insemination of kakapo.
"Anything's worth a try with him but it may be too late," Eason said. The female kakapo had since laid two eggs, raising hopes of success.
He made international history 12 days ago by becoming the first person to artificially inseminate a wild endemic endangered bird. . The insemination of the kakapo with Richard Henry's sperm was only the second effort at using the cutting-edge technique.
Eason said predictions for 40 chicks were on track.
Eason said predictions for 40 chicks were on track. By yesterday, 17 female kakapo had mated, seven had nested and 14 eggs laid, but more nests, eggs and matings were expected daily for weeks to come.

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Stingray puts swimmer in hospital

By TOM HUNT – Sunday, 08 February 2009

Two deep, tearing wounds in a Motueka swimmer's back yesterday were caused by a stingray, not a shark as police first thought.
Yesterday at 3.
French did not see what attacked him but paramedics initially told the Sunday Star-Times the wounds looked more like a shark bite than a stingray puncture.30pm police cleared the beaches around Kina Beach (between Motueka and Nelson), after 46-year-old builder Mike French staggered out of waist-deep water with deep lacerations in his back. .
French was flown by helicopter to Nelson Hospital, where his wounds were found to be caused by a stingray.15pm. Police had reopened the beaches by 5.
He said he was about 100m out when he felt something hit him in the side.
French spoke to the from his hospital bed moments before his surgery began.
Rachid ben Zaoui, who was walking on the beach, heard French cry out in pain as he reached the shallows, and gave him assistance. Then came the pain – hitting 10 on a one-to-10 scale.
This was the fourth stingray attack in two years that ambulance staff in the area have attended, he says.
Paramedic John Leach said the wounds looked up to 8cm deep, and French was treated for shock and blood loss.
-with Sally Kidson and