Sunday Star-Times back issues from February 2008:
Boy survives harbour tragedy
Feb 03, 2008; ... A mother and daughter are dead after being caught by a risingtide while flounder fishing on Manukau Harbour. Esther Harward, EmmaPage and Alex Bremner report. -------------------- A NINE-YEAR-OLD BOY survived a fishing tragedy by clinging to a branch as hismother and sister drowned in ...
Outrage as Dr Death helps healthy NZ woman die
Feb 03, 2008; ... A NEW Zealand woman who was not terminally ill killed herselfwith lethal drugs she smuggled home from Mexico after seeking advicefrom Australian euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke, known asDr Death. Details of the Wellington woman's death - believed to be thefirst such ...
FOCUS ON POLITICS
Feb 03, 2008 ... LAST WEEK John Key finally began to unveil the policies he hopeswill persuade New Zealanders he is ready to be prime minister. Butfor many, important questions remain about the National Partyleader. What are Key's core values? What does he believe in? Andcrucially, how will his former ...
Road fatalities
Feb 03, 2008 ... TWO PEOPLE died in a three-car smash in Manukau City at about7.20pm on Friday, in which one vehicle burst into flames. A Levinman died earlier that day when his motorcycle collided with anothervehicle on the Kapiti Coast ....
Museum review
Feb 03, 2008 ... AUCKLAND WAR Memorial Museum is holding meetings with staff aspart of a review of services by new director Vanda Vitali. Vitali,who became director in ...
On the ball
Feb 03, 2008 ... THE CRICKET ball bowled by Australian Trevor Chappell to NewZealand's Brian McKechnie in 1981's infamous underarm bowlingincident goes on display today. The ...
Speedway injuries
Feb 03, 2008 ... A MAN was taken to hospital with extensive burns after a crash atWhangarei Speedway ...
Facebook fraud
Feb 03, 2008 ... FORMER TV host Mary Lambie has been caught out by an impostor whocreated a Facebook account in her name and duped other localcelebrities, including Dancing with ...
Clarification
Feb 03, 2008 ... WAYNE GUPPY is mayor of Upper Hutt City, not Lower Hutt, ...
Blanchett on TV3
Feb 03, 2008 ... CATE BLANCHETT is brilliant, beautiful and brainy. An Australianwith the world at her feet, the 38-year-old Oscar winner hasreturned to her homeland to take the reins at the Sydney TheatreCompany, not as an actor but as their artistic director. Her firstproduction as director is ...
SUNDAY STAR-TIMES February 3, 2008
Feb 03, 2008; ... NEW ZEALAND has strict and restrictive laws around what the mediacan and can't report about suicide cases. These are designed to prevent copycat deaths, and to protect theprivacy of families who lose a loved one so tragically. This means that when suicides are reported at ...
Bus-crash death
Feb 03, 2008 ... A WOMAN was killed and another was seriously injured when a buscarrying tourists rolled down a steep bank off State Highway 6 onthe West Coast yesterday afternoon, about 6km south of Charleston.The deceased is ...
Nats call in secret donations
Feb 03, 2008; ... THE NATIONAL Party pulled in 11th- hour funding from its secrettrusts and anonymous donors in a bid to escape new election campaignfinance rules, the Sunday Star-Times has been told. A former major anonymous donor to the National Party told theStar- Times that party president ...
SEND MY SON TO BOOT CAMP
Feb 03, 2008; ... A mother in the front line backs National's call, writes TimHume . -------------------- THE MOTHER of one of the teenagerscharged with brutally bashing two couples on Auckland's North Shorebelieves boot camp could have sorted out her son. Roma Wilson, mother of 18-year- old ...
Ropatis considering prosecution of rape accuser
Feb 03, 2008; ... TEA ROPATI'S family are considering private prosecutions againstthe woman who accused the former rugby league star of rape and herfriends who gave evidence against him at trial. During Ropati's week-long sex trial at the Auckland DistrictCourt, the woman and her friends admitted ...
Teachers rated: the good, the bad, 'the psycho'
Feb 03, 2008; ... A CONTROVERSIAL website which lets pupils rank their teachers'performance has named Palmerston North Boys' High as the country'stop school. Academically high achieving schools, such as Auckland Grammar andDiocesan School for Girls, were well down the list of studentrankings at ...
Class crisis looms at primary schools
Feb 03, 2008; ... PRIMARY SCHOOLS are so desperate for teachers that they areconsidering people who don't speak adequate English. The teacher crisis was highlighted in a survey released last weekby the Auckland Primary Principals Association to the EducationMinistry as a plea for help. The crisis ...
Parents 'don't want to smack'
Feb 03, 2008 ... HUNDREDS OF thousands of New Zealanders are clamouring to regainthe right to hit their children, but a leading child psychologistsays he is yet to meet a parent who actually wants to. Last week pressure group Family First said it was 27,000 petitionsignatures short of the 300,000 ...
Courts boss suspended
Feb 03, 2008; ... A SENIOR justice official has been suspended after he wasarrested for allegedly assaulting his partner before Christmas. District courts' general manager Tony Fisher appeared in theWellington District Court twice last month on a charge of maleassaults female. He was arrested on ...
HARD LABOUR FOR DUMPED MP
Feb 03, 2008; ... David Benson-Pope's political career is over, says Karen Arnold .-------------------- CONTROVERSIAL LABOUR MP David Benson-Pope hasbeen dumped by his Dunedin South electorate in favour of publicrelations consultant Clare Curran - a decision one disgruntled partysupporter described as ...
ART FOR ANT'S SAKE
Feb 03, 2008; ... Famous friends auction works in aid of designer's family. By KimKnight . . -------------------- THERE IS a giant Buddha at thebottom of the Grey Lynn garden. A wooden hut in the fig tree.Vegetable plants in neat, raised beds and children's drawings on thefridge. This is the ...
Inmates 'looking after' man accused of killing tagger
Feb 03, 2008; ... THE SOUTH Auckland businessman accused of fatally stabbing ateenage tagger has established inmates looking after him while hevoluntarily remains in prison. Lawyer Chris Comesky said some hardened prisoners had sympathywith his client Bruce Emery, 50, and would "make sure he was ...
Thousands dying of work-related cancers
Feb 03, 2008; ... TENS OF thousands of New Zealanders are in jobs that put them atincreased risk of cancer - but neither they nor their doctors knowit. Investigators from Massey University's Centre for Public HealthResearch are calling on family GPs and cancer specialists to bebetter informed ...
Housing market 'screeches to a halt'
Feb 03, 2008; ... HOUSE SALES are down 30% compared with a year ago, with pricesexpected to fall 5% this year and remain flat for the next fiveyears. That's the grim prediction from Westpac's economists who sayresidential property prices have "screeched to a halt, withessentially zero price ...
Old man who had throat slit was abuser, say defendants
Feb 03, 2008; ... TWO TEENAGE brothers have been arrested for slitting the throatof a 72-year-old Auckland man they say sexually abused boys in theircommunity. It was alleged the teenagers sought retribution after the man wascaught with pornographic pictures of young boys and asked to fondlethe ...
A WRITE GOOD PRIZE
Feb 03, 2008; ... KIWI AUTHORS Brigid Lowry and Paula Morris are the winners ofthis year's coveted Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship. The two women will be awarded a stipend of $20,000 and spend fivemonths each at the Sargeson flat overlooking Auckland's Albert Park -following in the footsteps of ...
Red light train driver wins $90k stress case
Feb 03, 2008; ... A SEASONED train driver who suffered work-place stress beforebeing fired has won a $90,000 payout after the Employment Courtruled he was unjustifiably dismissed after he failed to reportdriving his train through a red light. Experts say the payout - including $22,500 for injured ...
Dancing, with a dame
Feb 03, 2008 ... DAME KIRI Te Kanawa is making an appearance in the new season ofDancing With The Stars. TVNZ has confirmed that one of New Zealand's most celebratedopera singers will sing during the much-anticipated first episode,scheduled for late February. The series will again be hosted ...
Family First and petitions
Feb 03, 2008 ... YOUR EDITORIAL regarding Family First (January 27) was factuallyincorrect on a number of counts. First, Family First was not an active player at the lastelection. We did not even exist. Family First was launched in April2006. Second, the two petitions, which have ...
Safer highways
Feb 03, 2008 ... ACCORDING TO the statistics that Land Transport NZ inherited fromthe LTSA, the South Island's highways should be safer than the NorthIsland's (January 27). South Island regions have higher seatbelt-wearing rates, less drink driving and the same average speeds. But the statistics ...
Past was safer
Feb 03, 2008 ... MILES LACEY'S letter (January 27) is clearly a spoof. If not,then in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, he is "hard of thinking''. Lambasting the elderly for "bleating on about a golden paradise thatnever existed'' is juvenilia writ large. What is remembered are thetimes it was safe to walk ...
Safety in the air
Feb 03, 2008 ... THE "ONE size fits all'' approach of the anti- terrorism industrycontinues to spiral into the realms of fantasy (Focus, January 27).When returning to New Zealand from our last trip to the UK, my wifewas subjected to all manner of indignities at Heathrow. She is ...
FEATURES - AVIATION SAFETY
Feb 03, 2008 ... I THOUGHT your article on international airline security waspretty scary, though I notice that it never touched on localworries. Recently, someone I know checked in his luggage inWellington and flew straight through to London with Air New Zealand.His suitcase was opened and robbed long ...
The death of children
Feb 03, 2008 ... IN THE midst of a sad week for our troubled nation, I almostlaughed at Joe Queenan's comments (January 27) regarding the deathof Heath Ledger. Almost. "When an actor dies young, it is almost as if one's own child hadpassed away'' is possibly the most moronic, appalling statement ...
Our Pacific hellhole
Feb 03, 2008 ... I WAS very saddened to discover the caricature of my travel bookwhich appeared in last week's edition of your publication. Youpresented a few specific remarks about specific things as myconclusions on the country as a whole and this was terribly unfair,especially as the book has not been ...
Winning Words : We are not doomed to our genetic fates
Feb 03, 2008 ... MICHAEL LAWS weighed in his January 27 column with a screed ongenetics that has to be the biggest pile of ill-informed drivel Ihave ever read. His claim that "winners beget winners and losers losers'' showedan ignorance of basic genetic science staggering in its magnitude.Laws ...
Pressing all the right buttons
Feb 03, 2008 ... JOHN KEY can still smile after swallowing a dead rat. He knewthat National would have to sign up to interest-free student loans.And he was candid about the fact. What had changed since Nationaldenounced Labour's election-bribe for the students in 2005, he wasasked. "We lost the ...
Bennett new Kiwis coach
Feb 03, 2008; ... WAYNE BENNETT has been officially appointed as the new Kiwi coachon a three- year contract, the New Zealand Rugby League willannounce in the next few days. The Sunday Star- Times understands the Brisbane coach agreedterms after a meeting with NZRL chairman Ray Haffenden and ...
Stand-off despite litigation deadline
Feb 03, 2008; ... THE LAWYER bringing a judicial review claim against Surfing NewZealand says the organisation's silence, with a court date less thana fortnight away, is "unusual". Ian Hunt says he has had no contact from SNZ despite serving it,on December 21, with court papers which demand a ...
To the Victor the spoils as tyro steals Sevens show
Feb 03, 2008; ... NEW ZEALAND 22 SAMOA 17 -------------------- YOU HAVE to hand itto Gordon Tietjens. Amid the mayhem and madness at rugby's biggest shindig of theyear Tietjens did it again. The New Zealand Sevens side won theWellington Sevens beating pacific neighbours Samoa in a pulsatingfinal ...
Use the Force
Feb 03, 2008 ... THE CRUSADERS dominated the second half of their Super 14 pre-season trial to beat the Western Force 12-7 in Melbourne last night.Leon MacDonald and Nasi ...
Murali egged on
Feb 03, 2008 ... SRI LANKA cricket team manager Shriyan Samararatne has confirmedan egg was thrown from a moving car at four members of the squad,including Muttiah Muralitharan, in Hobart. He said the egg hit oneof the selectors on Thursday ...
Betting ban
Feb 03, 2008 ... FRENCH OPEN tennis organisers have opened a landmark court caseto ban online gambling companies from offering bets on the GrandSlam tournament. The French filed a complaint before a Liege courtin eastern Belgium and in ...
Normal service
Feb 03, 2008 ... A SANDSTORM proved a great leveller as New Zealand golfer MichaelCampbell and world No 1 Tiger Woods battled the elements on day twoof the Dubai Desert Classic to record an even-par 72 and one-under71 respectively. Unfortunately for Campbell a first- round 76 (Woodsshot ...
In for a Pound
Feb 03, 2008 ... FORMER WORLD Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound has beennominated for president of the highest court in sports. Pound is oneof two candidates put forward ...
Champ out?
Feb 03, 2008 ... TOUR DE FRANCE champion Alberto Contador, who has signed for thedisgraced Astana team, will not be guaranteed a starting place inthe 2008 race. Patrice Clerc, the president of Amaury SportOrganisation that oversees the epic ...
Nun finer
Feb 03, 2008 ... THE NUNS at Our Lady of Guadalupe monastery in Arizona have founda novel way of making money out of the Super Bowl - they're rentingtheir rooms to ...
Kids get help
Feb 03, 2008 ... THE WEET-BIX Tryathlon series is reaching for wider participationbase with the launch of a foundation to assist children wanting toenter. The foundation will provide nominees with a subsidy orcomplete funding of the $35 entry fee or subsidise equipment.Nominations for assistance from ...
Fans boost rolling Breakers into Aussie NBL heaven
Feb 03, 2008; ... HERE COME the New Zealand Breakers. The North Shore-based franchise downed South Melbourne Dragons104-93 last night to all but seal a berth in the top-eight playoffsof the Australian national league for the first time in their five-year history. Led by Kirk Penney (28 ...
Aiken joins Greenway
Feb 03, 2008; ... STAR JAMAICAN shooter Romelda Aiken will play for the QueenslandFirebirds in the ANZ Championship. The 1.91m goal-shoot, 19, will link with England goal-attackTamsin Greenway. Both were scouted by Firebirds coach Vicki Wilsonat last November's world championships, where Aiken was ...
Sky-high UHF bill for Warriors fans
Feb 03, 2008; ... OUTRAGED LEAGUE fans who watch the Warriors on UHF systems face anear 50% hike in their Sky bill or losing live coverage of theclub's NRL fortunes this season. The 47,000 subscribers left on Sky's old UHF system must upgradeto a digital package which could cost them an extra $26 a ...
NZ Football to pay price for financial own goals
Feb 03, 2008; ... THE GOVERNMENT sports funding agency Sparc may step in soon tosave New Zealand Football from its precarious financial position. The scenario would see Sparc provide an immediate cash injectionin return for a major influence on the sport's direction. That possibility emerged ...
BILLIONAIRES THROW CAUTION TO WIND
Feb 03, 2008; ... The America's Cup has been becalmed and believe it or not NewZealand is again to blame. Greg Ford reports. --------------------THE AMERICA'S Cup. What can one say? Farce, anachronism, big bloodymess? Take your pick. For so long the plaything of the world's biggest and ...
QUARTERBACK RECORDS IN SUPER BOWL
Feb 03, 2008 ... Best quarterback performances * Most passes completed: 32 Tom Brady, New England v Carolina, XXXVIII. 31 Jim Kelly, Buffalo v Dallas, XXVIII. 30 Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia v New England, XXXIX. * Most yards gained: 414 Kurt Warner, St ....
CRICKET MAKETH THE YORKSHIREMAN
Feb 03, 2008; ... Eeh by gum, he's not a bad lad. Steve Kilgallon explains how thegame of cricket helped make him a good 'un. -------------------- WHEN I analyse it, cricket has given me many of the worthieraspects of my character. I was a sickly child, all asthma and allergies, almost as bad ...
PADDING UP FOR CRICKET
Feb 03, 2008 ... FOR THE young among us, cricket is one of those sports that'sharder to avoid than play. There's plenty of cricket in schools andclubs around the country. But what about older participants? Your local club is thestarting point. But finding a club isn't necessarily easy. New ...
Walsh hits magic 2000 mark
Feb 03, 2008 ... CENTRAL DISTRICTS rider David Walsh has become only the fourthjockey to ride 2000 winners in New Zealand, joining a select groupcomprising Lance OSullivan (2357), Bill Skelton (2156) and DavidPeake (2093). Noel Harris is currently on 1983 wins. Win number 2000 came on ...
Snap happy
Feb 03, 2008; ... Even in Godzone a few paparrazzi can make money - if only onhobbits and elves. By Kim Knight . -------------------- SO THERE'S the photographer, up a tree, somewhere near Wanaka,staking out the Lord of the Rings film set. A truck pulls upunderneath. There's an oil drum on the ...
THE SOUND OF BLUE
Feb 03, 2008; ... The startling effect that music has on our brains is revealed ina book that marries the musical arts with neuroscience. -------------------- MUSICOPHILIA By Oliver Sacks McMillan, $38 Reviewed by RoyColbert -------------------- MUSIC AND neuroscience have opened upin recent years as the ...
Court sequel to property tactics
Feb 03, 2008; ... Slick sales pitches that raised $500m from investors will comeunder scrutiny this month. Garry Sheeran reports. -------------------- CONTROVERSIAL PROPERTY developer Dan McEwan faces a court battlethis month in a landmark prosecution expected to clarify rulesprotecting mum and dad ...
GROUND RULES; MAXIMISING RETURNS
Feb 03, 2008 ... The best way to maximise the investment in your bach is to use itas frequently as possible. According to Paul Hedwig, syndication - where several groups buya share of the property - is a popular option that makes the bachmore affordable giving more people the opportunity to use ...
SEEING RED
Feb 03, 2008 ... No text, image only ....
MFS shambles as debts pile up
Feb 03, 2008; ... CONFUSION REIGNED on Friday as finance company MFS Pacific, with$289 million of debenture investors' cash at risk, was preparing astock exchange announcement on its bleak future. In a hurriedly organised conference call before the bulletin hitthe stock exchange at 4.37pm, ...
CATCHUP/The week in review
Feb 03, 2008 ... * THE FUTURE ownership of the Warehouse Group was referred to theAppeal Court after the Commerce Commission won leave to challengethe High Court's rejection of its ruling. Last June the commissiondeclined applications by supermarket groups Woolworths andFoodstuffs seeking to buy the ...
Sunshine heats up electricity prices
Feb 03, 2008; ... Power prices spike at 14-times the average price MAKING HAY whilethe sun shines - the saying is as true for our energy companies asit is for farmers. The spot price for electricity briefly soared to $860 a megawatthour last week ($60 is average) - and what a ball for ...