Two thumbs up for the Clutha community from then mayor Juno Hayes. The car savings became business capital, and Mr Hayes ploughed every hour he had into making the business a success. It was hard physical work but Mr Hayes never complained as he believed in what they were doing. In 1986, when council amalgamation led to the creation of the Bruce District Council, Mr Hayes successfully ran for the mayoralty. For the final eight years of his life, Mr Hayes was afflicted by Alzheimer’s.
Stewart family members Dan (left), Shane, Matt and Grant Stewart and Alyse Mansell (nee Stewart) and dog Lulu. Not that Grant and Loryn Stewart ever pushed their offspring into joining Stewart Logging, but as their three children reached the appropriate age, they headed for the forest. At 64, Grant Stewart is still the boss, working with his wife Loryn, their three children Matt (34), Dan (31) and Alyse (30), and nephew Shane Stewart. He was with him for two years before Loryn’s step-brother Peter Saunders asked if he wanted a job logging and sent him to Frank Carran for training. Stewart Logging has a mechanised hauler crew of about 10, meaning everyone is in a machine; it is Wenita’s only pole hauler crew.
Police received multiple calls about a large disorder event involving young people on Phyllis St about 9.50pm, Senior Sergeant John Nicol said this morning. “Early information suggests that a vehicle was driven towards a group of partygoers, injuring two people – one with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries. Police are continuing to investigate and work to establish exactly what occurred.”Police and ambulance crews dealt with multiple injured youths after a party in Mt Albert last night got out of control. The party was taking place at a Phyllis St house but disorder spread to neighbouring Springleigh Ave, they said. It was believed a teen injured at the Mt Albert incident had been dropped off there.
The vehicle Tiger Woods was driving clipped a truck and flipped over while trying to overtake on a residential street near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida. Photo / WPTVHowever, under Florida law, Budensiek said, Woods was entitled to refuse a urine test. “We will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash,” Budensiek told reporters. Photo / Getty ImagesAsked to estimate how fast Woods had been driving in the moments before the crash, Budensiek said: “The answer is I can’t. Friday’s incident comes five years after he was involved in a serious car crash in California that left him with severe right leg injuries.
Concerns are growing among health providers and whānau about the governments proposed alcohol reforms, with warnings they could increase harm in vulnerable communities. She said alcohol harm was not just about individual choice. Witika-Hawke pointed to the impact of alcohol harm on future generations, including FASD, a lifelong condition caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. He said alcohol harm extended beyond just the individual. ADVERTISEMENTGalloway said the direction of the reforms contradicted other government strategies, including suicide prevention efforts that put an emphasis on reducing alcohol harm.
Photo: ODT filesA serial firebug who set fire to Dunedin’s biggest police station said he did it to get back to jail. This week at the Dunedin District Court, 32–year-old Andrew Downs was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to a charge of arson. It burned out after a minute — after causing nearly $1000 of damage — and Downs promptly handed himself in. The offence resulted in over $40,000 worth of damage and Downs was jailed for two and a-half years. But the judge said the defendant had no control over the extent of the damage once the fire was lit.
Neil Cockburn (left) receives a health and safety award from Wenita Forest Products chief executive David Cormack earlier this year. PHOTO: WENITAIt looks likely a third generation of the Cockburn family will be continuing an involvement in the forestry industry. Neil Cockburn works for Forestry Roading Services and manages a quarry for Wenita Forest Products. He started in forestry when he was 20, working with his uncle Ronnie Pearce who established South West Roading Ltd, later renamed Forestry Roading Services. They all looked out for each other and he enjoyed working with his father and being outdoors in the fresh air.
PHOTO: SUPPLIEDA patient given a dural graft from a cadaver at Dunedin Hospital as a child in the 1980s has recently been diagnosed as having iatrogenic cerebral amyloid angiopathy (iCAA). The rare and potentially transmissable condition is caused by medical procedures involving exposure to pathological amyloid-beta protein ‘‘seeds’’, which travel to the brain. Given the appearance of cortical micro-bleeds, and the history of exposure to cadaveric dural tissue, the researchers tested for iCAA. There have been about 50 cases of iCAA reported in literature, and the onset of clinical symptoms can be reported between 25 and 46 years after exposure to cadaveric dural tissue. The researchers said this case highlighted the importance of considering iCAA in younger patients with a history of dural graft use.
Another man then hit the victim from behind and a second victim approached before he was surrounded by the defendants. After the assault, Reuben was granted parole to a residential rehabilitation facility, but he was exited after testing positive for medication not prescribed to him. Judge Robinson sentenced Reuben to 17 months’ imprisonment to be served on top of his existing sentence. Region Duncan was sentenced to 10 and a-half months’ imprisonment, while Laymen Renata Pere received nine and a-half months’ jail. Donald Noel Collins-Roberts will serve an extra nine months on his current sentence for the attack and Marcus Paul Panapa had eight months added to his jail term.
While on his way to school yesterday, Logan Park High School year 13 student Charlie Milne, 17, was stopped in his tracks by a weka walking around the path. He stopped to admire it, and soon after to his surprise, a second weka popped out of the bushes — the pair then attempted to make themselves a third bird near the secondary school’s boiler shed. Two weka, thought to be a male and female, spotted wandering, and trying to mate, outside Logan Park High School yesterday. PHOTO: CHARLIE MILNEIn January 2025, another weka was reported wandering around people’s properties in North East Valley. Since then, there had been reported sightings all over North East Valley, and three broods of chicks seen last spring.
Heinz Wattie’s is closing the Gregg’s factory in Dunedin. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERYClosure of the Gregg’s coffee factory in Dunedin will cost more than 30 people their jobs. Confirmation of the closure had been expected, but was hard to take, the delegate from Etū said. City councillor Andrew Simms said the city would do all it could to turn the situation into a positive outcome for Gregg’s staff. In Christchurch, the Wattie’s frozen vegetable factory will shut.
A Mini was damaged after gale-force winds blew a tree on to it, in Balmacewen Rd, yesterday. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERYAfter powerful winds, reaching 146kmh, brought down trees and powerlines in parts of Dunedin yesterday, today’s weather is expected to become far more sedate. Four roads — Canongate, Castlewood Rd, Butts Rd and Glen Rd — were closed due to damaged and fallen trees and tree limbs. A large tree splintered and fell across Canongate, near the intersection with Serpentine Ave, yesterday. Those strong winds were likely to continue this morning, but were expected to gradually weaken as the day progressed.
Lucy BlakisonA powerhouse line-up of inspiring women’s been confirmed for this year’s Westpac Queenstown Women in Business Conference. Tickets for the June 5 event, being held at QT Queenstown’s brand-new Bloom Conference Rooms, go on sale at noon today. This year’s conference, themed ‘Inspiring Confidence’, features newly-crowned 2026 Kiwibank Young New Zealander of the Year Lucy Blakison, the founder and CEO of Shit You Should Care About, a media organisation aimed at empowering young people. Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Sharon Fifield says the conference is a chance to be inspired by women, many of whom ‘‘haven’t had the easiest path to success’’. Tickets are available via queenstownchamber.org.nz
New look coming: A redesign of Arrowtown’s The Hills private golf course is due to start next week. An Aussie golf course architect redesigning Arrowtown’s The Hills has taken a gentle swing at the championship course’s original layout — however, the original designer’s relatively unfazed. An initiative of The Hills’ new American partners, the reworking of the 18-hole private course, due to start next week, is the work of OCM Golf Design director Mike Cocking. In a recent podcast, he praises the playing experience, ‘‘but we felt the [golf course] architecture didn’t necessarily match the experience or the setting, so our aim is to try and elevate the architecture to something approaching the surrounding landscape’’. As to making The Hills’ bunkers more reflective of the rugged mountainscape, Darby says he did that at a similar time when designing Queenstown’s Jack’s Point course beneath the Remarkables mountain range.
It is feared cost-cutting by Tourism New Zealand quality assurance organisation Qualmark will reduce the quality of NZ’s tourism product. In response to increasing costs to deliver its service, Qualmark, from April 1, will only conduct an initial in-person assessment for new business members — from then on, they’ll be online each year. Till Covid, Queenstowner Amanda Cushen was a Qualmark assessor for 12 years, looking after 220 accommodation properties from Mount Cook south. If Qualmark’s funding’s an issue, he suggests it receive a share of the international visitor levy that’s targeted for tourism. ‘‘What I would say is it depends on how good the online system is.’’scoop@scene.co.nz
