The Press back issues from April 2008:
Man allegedly admitted killing 'the deaf girl'
Apr 01, 2008; ... The man charged with sexually violating and murdering deafChristchurch woman Emma Agnew allegedly admitted his crimes to histhen girlfriend, a depositions hearing has been told. Liam James Reid, 35, unemployed, sat impassively in the dock inthe Christchurch District Court as the ...
Golden end to dark times
Apr 01, 2008; ... A cycling journey that started in Hokitika and came close to apremature ending has been marked by gold for new world championHayden Godfrey. The Christchurch cyclist won the omnium title in Manchester,England, yesterday to become New Zealand's latest world cyclingtrack champion ....
Woman finds her son trapped in car on cliff edge
Apr 01, 2008; ... A West Coast man who spent the night trapped upside down in hiscar as it teetered on the edge of a cliff has his mother to thankfor his rescue. Danny Milne, 39, of Kumara, spent Sunday night upside down in hiscar with a broken hip and ribs after driving off the road near ...
BZP headache for retailers; PARTY PILLS
Apr 01, 2008; ... A Christchurch party-pill shop owner says she has lost "millionsof dollars" worth of stock now that pills containingbenzylpiperazine (BZP) are illegal. Lynley Foster, the owner of Christchurch's Herbal Heaven stores,handed some of her pills over to police last night. From ...
Telecom split welcomed
Apr 01, 2008; ... Broadband internet and phone lines will get cheaper as Telecomopens the door to increased competition from today. But do not expect prices to drop immediately. Telecom today splits into three businesses -- retail, wholesaleand network -- as part of a programme of sweeping ...
Fire destroys house
Apr 01, 2008 ... A huge fire in Tai Tapu, on the outskirts of Christchurch, lastnight burnt a family home to the ground and at one stage threatenedto spread to a shelter belt of nearby trees. At its peak, the blaze on Old Tai Tapu Road was visible fromLincoln and as far away as Redcliffs. A ...
Telecom split welcomed
Apr 01, 2008; ... Broadband internet and phone lines will get cheaper as Telecomopens the door to increased competition from today. But do not expect prices to drop immediately. Telecom today splits into three businesses -- retail, wholesaleand network -- as part of a programme of sweeping ...
Family loses all in blaze; FIRE DAMAGE
Apr 01, 2008; ... A huge fire in Tai Tapu, on the outskirts of Christchurch, burneda family home and business to the ground last night. At one stage, the blaze threatened to spread to a shelter belt ofnearby trees. The fire at Brailsford's Tree Crops and Forestry on Old Tai TapuRoad was ...
Canty leads decline in building consents; [ed 1: Canty permits lead decline]
Apr 01, 2008 ... The number of new building consents is continuing to decline,with Canterbury showing one of the biggest falls. Figures from Statistics New Zealand show that nationally 1874 newhousing units were authorised in February 2008 -- 219 fewer than theprevious February. Consents ...
Toddler bitten
Apr 01, 2008 ... A Kaiapoi toddler is recovering from bites to his head afterbeing attacked by his family's pet dog yesterday. The 20-month-oldboy was bitten by the family's american pitbull at his home at 2pm.Sergeant Graeme Crosson, of the Kaiapoi police, said the boy wastaken to ...
Witness sought
Apr 01, 2008 ... Police want to speak to witnesses to a fatal car crash inChristchurch on Friday. Nathan Raymond King, 28, of Kaiapoi, died inthe crash at 8.28pm on ...
Airport parking
Apr 01, 2008 ... Christchurch International Airport's 60-minute parking area isclosed to make way for the construction of the new combined domesticand ...
Zimbabweans hopeful that Mugabe ousted
Apr 01, 2008 ... Zimbabweans in Christchurch are keeping their fingers crossedthat Robert Mugabe's iron grip on their country may finally bebroken. Elections were held in Zimbabwe on Saturday, but by last nightonly half a dozen results had been announced. (ed 1: Elections were held in ...
Mum's testosterone key to boys
Apr 01, 2008; ... Women with high testosterone levels are not only likely to haveboys but also to display certain personality characteristics,increasing evidence suggests. University of Auckland Medical and Health Sciences researcher DrValerie Grant has already found a mammal's testosterone level ...
High pass marks in city schools; NCEA RESULTS
Apr 01, 2008 ... Christchurch's independent schools have again done well in thelatest round of National Certificate of Educational Achievement(NCEA). Rangi Ruru Girls' School and St Andrew's College were among theschools with the highest pass rates, school-by- school statisticsreleased by the ...
National plans $50 tax on criminal offenders
Apr 01, 2008 ... Crime victims will be reimbursed from a compensation schemefunded by a $50 crime tax paid by all offenders if National becomesthe Government this year. Unveiling the party's new law and order policy in Aucklandyesterday, party leader John Key said the $50 charge would beimposed ...
Protest plan
Apr 01, 2008 ... CHRISTCHURCH -- A group of activists plans to protest for actionover climate change in Christchurch today. Fossil Fools Day will seeprotests in cities around the world, ...
Retailers fed up
Apr 01, 2008 ... ASHBURTON -- Retailers have had enough of the offensive behaviourof late-night drinkers. Members of the Ashburton BusinessAssociation will meet today to discuss the problem ....
Lodge to close
Apr 01, 2008 ... NELSON -- One of New Zealand's most luxurious resorts, in theUpper Moutere area, shut its doors yesterday after a buyer could notbe found. The Lodge at Paratiho Farms, owned by ...
Remands on bail
Apr 01, 2008 ... BLENHEIM -- Two men involved in a confrontation outside the LoneLegion Motorcycle Club in Blenheim last September were remanded onbail to May 5 for a pre- depositions hearing when they appeared ...
Rates to rise
Apr 01, 2008 ... GERALDINE -- Slight rates increases are forecast across theMackenzie. The Mackenzie District Council will meet today to approvebudgets. . The highest rises forecast are just over 4 per cent.Rates for a mid- value Fairlie house ($180,000) may rise from ...
Eyes on the ball for Pleasant Point pupils; EYE PROTECTION AWARENESS
Apr 01, 2008; ... Little Billy Millar strode purposefully to the wicket, Kiwicricket bat in hand. And when Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori sent down a ball,Billy, five, knew just what to do -- hit it away through the off-side. To add insult to injury, he reverse-hit another. Millar, like ...
Date set for debt case
Apr 01, 2008; ... The Christchurch businessman at the centre of a wrangle overpensioner flats in Riccarton is fighting another big debt. Yesterday, Mutual Credit Finance appeared before Master TonyChristiansen to pursue an alleged $300,000 debt owed by GaryCampbell and a business partner, Malcolm ...
Hunter's family wait as body found
Apr 01, 2008; ... The parents of a missing Ashburton hunter were last nightawaiting news of whether a body found in Mid- Canterbury was theirson's. A man's body was recovered from an avalanche chute in MoraineFlat, near the Avoca Valley, on Saturday. In June last year, searchers scoured the ...
3.89% rates rise in Timaru draft budget
Apr 01, 2008 ... Timaru's preliminary draft budget shows a 3.89 per cent ratesrise. The district council will today begin two days of debate onthe budget. The uniform sewerage charge was to rise to $293 in the comingyear, but, because of the delay in the construction programme, theincrease has ...
Record stands
Apr 01, 2008 ... RANGIORA -- An attempt to gain a Guinness Book of Records worldrecord by staging the largest haka foundered in Rangiora on Saturdaywhen only 600 of an expected 3000-plus crowd turned up. This hasleft the world record with 2200 ...
PM 'shares protesters' concerns'; FREE-TRADE AGREEMENT
Apr 01, 2008; ... Prime Minister Helen Clark says she shares the concerns ofprotesters against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet, but it will notstop her signing a free-trade agreement with China. Clark left New Zealand last night for Europe, where she willreturn Sir Edmund Hillary's Order of the ...
Law change headache for retailer; PARTY PILLSs
Apr 01, 2008; ... A Christchurch party-pill shop owner says she has lost "millionsof dollars" worth of stock now that pills containingbenzylpiperazine (BZP) are illegal. Lynley Foster, the owner of Christchurch's Herbal Heaven stores,handed some of her pills over to police last night. From ...
Hunter's family wait as body found
Apr 01, 2008; ... The parents of a missing Ashburton hunter were last nightawaiting news of whether a body found in Mid-Canterbury was theirson's. A man's body was recovered from an avalanche chute in MoraineFlat, near the Avoca Valley, on Saturday. In June last year, searchers scoured the ...
Businessman fights debt battle
Apr 01, 2008 ... The Christchurch businessman at the centre of a wrangle overpensioner flats in Riccarton is fighting another big debt. Yesterday, Mutual Credit Finance appeared before Master TonyChristiansen to pursue an alleged $300,000 debt owed by GaryCampbell and a business partner Malcolm ...
Pay gap hurts Maori women; EARNINGS
Apr 01, 2008 ... Maori women are among the most disadvantaged workers in thelabour market, a new report shows. The Human Rights Commission's Census of Women's Participation2008, launched yesterday, includes information on Maori women forthe first time. The report said the difficulty in ...
Big telescope project may include NZ; ASTRONOMY
Apr 01, 2008; ... Australia wants New Zealand's help in bidding to build theworld's largest radio telescope -- a $2.6 billion instrument 50times more sensitive than present technology. Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday confirmed New Zealand was indiscussions with Australia over a joint bid to ...
Six-week retreat for obese children; HEALTH CAMP
Apr 01, 2008; ... A camp for obese children is being run in Christchurch. The six-week programme is being run by Te Puna Whaiora GlenelgChildren's Health Camp in St Martins and the Canterbury DistrictHealth Board, in response to worrying numbers of children identifiedas obese by doctors, public ...
Risk of outdoors highlighted
Apr 01, 2008; ... International visitors need to be taught more about the dangersof New Zealand's great outdoors, a large rescue operation believes. Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) said yesterday that touristsaccounted for 35 per cent of callouts this summer. LandSAR warned that international ...
Chch ahead of Aust cities in power saving
Apr 01, 2008 ... Christchurch got one over the Aussies during Earth Hour, trumpingall four of the cities that recorded energy savings during lastSaturday's event. Christchurch residents switched off en masse for the hour,recording a 12.8 per cent dip in energy use for a typical Saturdayevening ....
Hundreds queue for discount petrol
Apr 01, 2008; ... A 20c petrol discount had hundreds of motorists queuing at aBlenheim service station yesterday. Caltex Grove Road service station owner-manager Grant Stubbsoffered regular 91 at 157.9c in a closing-down sale. Word of the cheap fuel quickly spread and cars were queued ...
Ban on pointers wanted; PILOTS DAZZLED
Apr 01, 2008; ... Laser pointers should carry compulsory warnings and be restrictedfor sale to adults only, says an aviation security expert for theNew Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association (NZALPA). New South Wales authorities appear set to ban the pointers afterone was used on Friday night to ...
Groyne first step in lake clean-up
Apr 01, 2008; ... Diggers have shifted 1000 tonnes of basalt boulders in the firststep of an ambitious plan to use the tides to scour clean heavilypolluted Lake Forsyth on Banks Peninsula. Work began last week to build a stone barrier extending into thesea as part of a scheme to excavate a new ...
Artists help Linwood go to China
Apr 01, 2008 ... Works by established artists like Ralph Hotere and up-and- comingtalents like James Robinson will be auctioned to raise money for aschool trip by Christchurch students. The money will help fund a visit to China by a group of LinwoodCollege students next year. As well as ...
IN A FEW WORDS
Apr 01, 2008 ... I. J. McKay is right to charge Mayor Bob Parker with a lack ofconscience (March 31). Parker and some councillors don't care aboutimposing a huge rent increase on the tenants of Christchurch CityCouncil flats. I hope his trip to China, which we are paying for, isone way. PETER ...
Cavalier, reprehensible
Apr 01, 2008 ... I feel ashamed that I voted for the current Christchurch CityCouncil -- well, nine of them anyway. To raise the council rents insuch a cavalier manner is reprehensible. I note that Cr Barry Corbett is proud that ...
Get gumption
Apr 01, 2008 ... So Sideshow Bob now becomes Appeasement Bob. Not content withwhacking Christchurch City Council tenants with hefty rentalincreases, he will now travel to China at a cost to ratepayers andsubsidised by the rental increases ....
Tibet is China's
Apr 01, 2008 ... If we must cite history for China's right to occupy Tibet, as W.R. Sykes did (March 22), then we must look further, beyond the 20thcentury, since Chinese-Tibetan links extend all the way back to the17th century. Yes, Tibet was conquered by the Chinese, but not in the 1950s asso ...
Driver to blame
Apr 01, 2008 ... Horst Niclaus needs a reality check (March 27). The driver choseto steal the car and drive dangerously without regard for his lifeor the lives of the two girls in the car. The girls chose to be inthe car. Who is to say how this would have ended, even if the police hadnot been ...
One bin would do
Apr 01, 2008 ... While I applaud the proposed change from plastic bags to wheeliebins, I am surprised that the Christchurch City Council has notadopted the New South Wales system. There, the large bin is divided into two compartments, about two-thirds for waste and one-third for recyclables, thus ...
Protest at coalface
Apr 01, 2008 ... In response to Greenpeace campaign manager Carmen Gravatt'sletter (March 29), perhaps she would tell us whether her self-appointed ...
Earth hour showed we can change if we want to
Apr 01, 2008 ... The success of Saturday's Earth Hour gives me a glimmer of hopethat there is enough public will to embrace change. Gwynne Dyer'sarticle, "World's farmland diverted to feed cars, not people" (March29), was shocking and timely. It reinforced John Beddington'sstatement (March 8) that ...
Point missed
Apr 01, 2008 ... Earth Hour was all very noble, and I certainly believe inreducing our carbon footprint, but how does not using carbon-neutral, hydro- generated electricity for an hour help, especiallywhen all I saw on the news was people lighting or burning candles,using head torches, which use some of ...
For children's sake
Apr 01, 2008 ... All the preparations for Earth Hour consumed much more energythan it would have saved. We have to sit still and take stock formuch longer than that hour, and remember that all the little thingsdo help. The storm of all storms is preparing to hit us, but we are ...
Shows what's wrong
Apr 01, 2008 ... In response to your online article "Christchurch turns it off"(March 29), Tasha and Shannon had this to say: "After taking part inEarth Hour quite considerably by fully lighting the house withcandles and having all lights off, we decided in the last 15 minutesto go for a drive to see if ...
Burn them!
Apr 01, 2008 ... Heretics who doubt global warming and those who refuse to buyindulgences, sold today as ...
One world of food
Apr 01, 2008 ... Food is so fundamental to our survival that concern about itsquality can easily become excessive. That certainly is a mark of thecampaign of Green MP Sue Kedgley for compulsory place-of- originlabels on all food sold in New Zealand. Behind her reasonableassertion that consumers are ...
Unsuitable bedfellow
Apr 01, 2008 ... What's this? A politician with scruples? Well done, Peter Dunne,for standing up for human rights and refusing to go to China. Ifonly our mayor had the same conviction. How can someone who ...
Violence is never OK under any circumstances
Apr 01, 2008; ... Restorative justice provides one means of breaking the cycle ofviolence many New Zealand communities are trapped in, writes MICHAELTHAWLEY. A s 2007 ended, Christchurch was proclaimed the crime capital ofNew Zealand, and 2008 started with 10 homicide investigations in NewZealand ...
Range of nursing services eases load on hospitals
Apr 01, 2008 ... Nursing is at the heart of Nurse Maude. While the principles andvalues remain the same, the delivery of that care has beentransformed by the application of continual advances in nursingpractice, training, research and technology. For Sheree East, director of nursing at Nurse ...
Hospital adheres to highest standards
Apr 01, 2008 ... The development of a wide variety of services offered throughcommunity nursing and homecare has made it possible for many morepeople to have care provided in their own homes, rather than in aresidential facility or a hospital. This ability to provide those services, which result ...
Leading partner in care
Apr 01, 2008 ... For those who work at Nurse Maude, working in partnership withothers is the key to successfully leading the way in community care. That success has led to Nurse Maude developing and implementingnew services to advance community nursing, hospice palliative careand homecare for more ...
Service provides help to navigate health system
Apr 01, 2008 ... An ageing population base and an increased demand for healthservices are not the only issues New Zealanders face when it comesto meeting their health needs. For clients and their families, trying to navigate their waythrough the health system, especially when the care they need ...
Work of volunteers highly valued
Apr 01, 2008 ... There would be few, if any, parts of Nurse Maude that have notbenefited from the work and support of the more than 100 volunteerswho, collectively, donate thousands of hours of their time to NurseMaude each and every year. "Our philosophy is to enhance the quality of patient care ...
Hospice palliative care expanded
Apr 01, 2008 ... Last year, more than 1000 people received specialist hospicepalliative care from Nurse Maude. The specialist hospice palliative- care team, which comprisesdoctors, nurses, allied health professionals, a chaplain,counsellors and Maori support, works closely with patients and ...
Bank predicts cut in interest rates
Apr 01, 2008; ... The Reserve Bank is likely to start big interest rate cuts assoon as September, and the kiwi dollar may fall sharply by as muchas US10c, after a dismal business confidence survey. The economy will be "flat at best" this year, with a long slowpatch expected in coming years, after ...
Telecom plan approved; $1.4b for fast broadband
Apr 01, 2008; ... AT A GLANCE * The Telecommunications Act requires Telecom to split intoseparate retail, wholesale and network businesses, which will workat arm's length. * The aim is to promote competition in the telecommunicationssector, which will bring better and ...
Tait Electronics wins new contract in US
Apr 01, 2008; ... Christchurch radio communications manufacturer Tait Electronicshas won a new contract to supply Minnesota Power as well as securinga place among the companies supplying the US Federal Government withhi- tech equipment. Tait has become an approved supplier and registered on the ...
Payout approved; TRANZ RAIL INSIDER TRADING
Apr 01, 2008; ... Thirty investors are set to split about $17 million within amonth after the High Court approved the first step of the SecuritiesCommission's payout plan in Australasia's biggest insider tradingsettlement. Securities Commission general counsel Liam Mason said yesterdaythe 30 were ...
Kiwi finance companies move to offset industry stress
Apr 01, 2008; ... Most New Zealand finance companies with international creditratings have taken "demonstrable steps" to counterbalance the stressin the industry -- mostly by improving funding and liquidity,ratings agency Standard & Poor's says. S&P said yesterday that it had reaffirmed the ...