CRUSHING WEIGHT: Several vehicles breached bylaws on Saturday by driving over mudflats and sand at Ohiwa Harbour to collect pipi. Photo supplied

A VISITOR to the Eastern Bay is upset that vehicles are being driven across mudflats to reach pipi beds at Ohiwa Harbour.

Bridget Richardson, understood to live in Gisborne, posted to Facebook a photo taken on Saturday showing several vehicles on mudflats on the eastern side of the harbour, near Whangakopikopiko Island.

She said she was “appalled to see one, then two more vehicles drive across the wet sands”.

The vehicles drove past an island where birds are nesting … “crushing goodness knows how many shellfish and crustaceans, then once they had their pipis off they drove, only to be replaced by five vehicles and a quad bike,” she said.

“How disappointing when it takes all of two minutes to walk to the pipi bed.

“Mind you, when you see a single person carrying a 10-litre bucket full of pipis, maybe that’s why they drive out there.”

Bay of Plenty Regional Council land management officer Tim Senior said the vehicles in a photo also posted were breaking an Opotiki District Council bylaw and most likely also breaking the law by taking too many pipis.

“You are only allowed 150 pipi per person per day, which is a quarter of a bucket,” he said.

“If they are needing vehicles, it’s likely they are taking more than that.”

Opotiki District Council chief executive Aileen Lawrie said the vehicles in the photo were breaking rules and bylaws set up by three agencies.

“The agencies are the district council, the regional council and the ministry for primary industries,” she said.

“Our dunes and areas like Ohiwa are protected, but we can’t be there to police it 24/7 and it comes down to getting a better community understanding about the rules and why they exist.”

Ms Lawrie said there were many signs up along that stretch so people knew they shouldn’t have their vehicles there.

“We work with the regional council to try and educate people about the damage done when vehicles are driven on our precious dunes and nesting areas,” she said.

The signs were not put up by the councils “for the sake of having rules”.

“The whole community are the caretakers of this area and we need to take care of our precious native areas,” Ms Lawrie said.

The daily pipi limit is 150 per person and only larger pipi should be taken.

WHAKATANE police are warning Ohope residents to beware of a middle-aged Maori woman claiming to have been assaulted.

The woman has been reported approaching members of the public stating she has been assaulted by her partner and wants help, but asks that they not call police.

Police recommend that people should not to allow the woman to enter their property.

The female and a male European associate are driving a white Ford Falcon station wagon, registration HQK126.

“They are not wanted for anything in particular, it is just a general warning to the public about their behaviour,” Whakatane police Senior Sergeant Mark van der Kley said.

Any sightings of the vehicle driving at speed or acting suspiciously in the Ohope area can be reported to the Whakatane Police Station on 07 3085255.

FATALITY SITE: The site of a fatal car accident on Reid Road, Ruatoki, overnight in which one person died. Photo Louis Klaassen

TWO people died on Eastern Bay roads overnight and one more is in a serious condition in hospital.

Two cars collided head-on at 8.20pm on Thursday on State Highway 2, west of Opotiki, near the Waiotahe pipi beds, one of them catching fire.

St John Ambulance support officer Richard Waterson said a person died in the car that caught fire, and a non-English-speaking man was pulled from the other car following what was a head-on collision.

“The airbags had deployed and he was extricated by bystanders,” Mr Waterson said.

“He had suffered moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to Whakatane Hospital.”

A Whakatane Hospital spokesman said the 21-year-old injured man was today transferred to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition.

At 12.30am today Eastern Bay police attended a fatal crash on Reid Road, Ruatoki.

The driver and sole occupant of a 4x4 vehicle had crashed, causing the vehicle to roll.

Both crashes are being investigated by the police serious crash unit.

Police said they were working with next of kin to formally identify the crash victims. Postmortems are scheduled for later today.

Both cases will be referred to the coroner.

BURGLARY: Kawerau’s Emergency Medical Care station manager Rebecca Couchman with a crash bag similar to one stolen in a burglary during the early hours of this morning and the damaged storeroom door. Photo Louis Klaassen D4489-10.

LIFESAVING yet deadly drugs were among items stolen from a Kawerau emergency service building this morning.

At 5.20am the alarm sounded at Emergency Medical Care at Liverpool Street and within 10 minutes police were at the scene but the offenders had fled.

Station manager Rebecca Couchman said a defibrillator, red crash bag, five tubes of adrenalin, 10 cannulas, locks and needles were stolen from the storeroom.

Three doors, including a steel door and a cupboard, were also damaged and attempts were made to enter the safe.

“Whoever did it must know the place, what is on site and the layout of the station to know to go straight to the storeroom and not be put off by the alarm.

“To do that in a space of 10 minutes shows they knew what they were doing,” she said.

EMC director Graeme Erickson said the theft of lifesaving equipment put the community at risk.

“Adrenalin in the wrong hands will kill someone if you don’t know what you are doing with it. You will be dead in seconds.”

Chief executive officer Craig McLaren said over $40,000 worth of stolen property and damage was caused.

He said he was devastated and couldn’t comprehend why someone would want to take from a charity organisation who gave to the community.

“We spend time helping people and this is what we get.

“I have been holding back tears all day, and I am not a man who cries.”

Mr Erickson, who lived above the property, said he heard banging and two voices before the alarm sounded.

Following protocol, when the alarm sounded Mr Erikson called police and waited for back up before entering the building.

He said four police officers and a dog handler attended and a search for the offenders took place, however, the tracking dog lost their scent.

The team’s next focus was to repair the damage, install cameras and replace equipment, he said.

If you have information about the burglary or stolen property, call the Kawerau Police Station on 07 3231400.

GRAND: The Sybton homestead, right, which was once home to George and Mary Hill and their 10 children. Photo Matt LoweOpen2View

THE prospective sale of a coastal farm at Waiotahe has attracted a lot of interest – and sparked contact from a descendant of an early owner.

Bayleys agent Rhys Mischefski, who is marketing the 260 hectare Sybton farm on State Highway 2, recently received a surprise email from London, via the nzfarms website, from a woman whose grandparents farmed the property in the early 1900s.

Alerted to the sale by a friend, Sue Hill wrote to say she loved the photos (taken by Matt Lowe from Open2View) and had been “looking under the sofa for the several million I think this would go for.”

She explained that her grandparents, George and Mary Hill, had come from Huntly to Sybton around 1912 and although none of their children were born there, several had been married there.

“It is a beautiful farm and I was so happy to see the amazing photos of it today,” she said. “I come home often and drive around that bend but never really twigged that it was there.  I always focused on Paerata Ridge as I remembered visiting there as a child.”

The following extract by the late Alison B Heath (nee Hill), written in 1997, was provided by the family and contains an interesting background to this unique property, for which tenders close on November 10.

GEORGE HILL AND MARY ALLEN SYBTON
Waiotahe, Bay of Plenty

The Hill family shifted from Waiotahe to Taneatua during the Great War after the eldest son George Allen Hill had been killed at Gallipoli and the second son Alf was due to go overseas.

Prior to moving to Taneatua, the Hill family home was Sybton, above Waiotahe Beach on the top of the hill, near the sea. It was a total of 961 acres, which stretched from the coast to the range of hills in the south as far as the confiscation line and was of a curious shape, made up of 25 parcels of land with separate titles. This is quite common in the Opotiki district, as the land was surveyed into small lots after the Maori Wars of the 1860s.

The original owner of Sybton was Mr Frank Hayward who owned the newspaper The East Coast Guardian, which he published in Opotiki about the turn of the century. He was later editor of the New Zealand Farmers Weekly and the Opotiki Herald.

The township at this time was thriving. The vicar of St Stephen’s Anglican Church was the Reverend Cato – a big man who sported an auburn beard and had a fine singing voice – while the Presbyterians were looked after by the Reverend John Gow at St John’s.

Mr Hayward built a very substantial house on this Sybton property, which had a magnificent view of the whole of the Bay of Plenty and the active volcano, White Island. It looked towards Cape Runaway in the east and Whakatane and Tauranga in the west.

The house was 1.9 kilometres from the main East Coast highway, Waiotahe area, which was then little more than a cart track through the pohutukawa trees, which grew at the base of the cliffs along the sea-front, and was situated on a very desirable site.

The Haywards later moved to Auckland and David and Christina Martin were the next owners of the property, having bought it on July 7, 1906 where they lived for five-and-a-half years.

On November 8, 1911, the transfer was registered to the new owners, George and Mary Hill. The home was well set up and was large and comfortable and very suitable for the large Hill family who had moved from an equally large home in the Waikato with their 10 children.

However, George later added a further two rooms to it – a dining room and a small bedroom.

This made it more comfortable for everyone when visitors arrived, for Susannah Allen, his mother-in-law, paid frequent visits to the Bay of

Plenty to stay with them, just as she had done in the Waikato, and other relatives came to stay in the sunny Bay of Plenty.

There were adequate farm buildings on the property – stables for the horses and sheds for housing carts and buggies and other farm implements. The cattle were well catered for, with large grazing paddocks with adequate water, but the pigs were obviously the favourites.

Their sties were very luxurious – had French doors and mirrored walls. No one knows the reason for this, but they certainly lived in style – no such thing as a dirty pig-sty on this farm.

With their son Alf heading off to war, reluctantly, after many discussions, Sybton was put on the market, and much to Mary’s regret, sold. To replace it they bought a 175-acre hilly farm in the Opouriao Valley, south of the township of Taneatua and moved at the beginning of June 1917. They named it Te Waiu and in 1997 it is still in the Hill family name.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Third degree burns have led Jeremy Austin to take up real estate, alongside his brother Hayden, left, and father Earl. Photo Louis Klaassen D4423-5

JEREMY Austin always thought he’d end up in the real estate industry one day but assumed it would be his pre-retirement job, when he was no longer capable of more physical work.

That time has come years earlier than expected thanks to the person who stupidly threw an accelerant into a fire, leaving the 25-year-old with third-degree burns to his legs.

That was three-and-a-half months ago. Jeremy had only been back in the Eastern Bay a few weeks after years living in Whangarei, and was settling into his new job with Industrial Site Services in Kawerau.

On July 15 he was catching up with a mate who had just returned from Australia and ended up at a property in Edgecumbe where, after a few drinks, he fell asleep outside beside a steel drum fire.

Someone – he still doesn’t know who – poured an accelerant on the fire causing the flames to blow out of the drum, catching his jeans, and legs, on fire.

His father Earl Austin says the ambulance report names cooking oil but the doctors who treated Jeremy believed it was more likely to be some other accelerant.

A fire extinguisher was used to douse the flames but that did not stop the burning and, unfortunately, no-one thought to put his legs under water. Jeremy doesn’t remember anything between sitting outside waiting for the ambulance and being placed in a freezing cold shower at the hospital. It was only the less severe burns on his right leg that he says he could feel; his left leg, which suffered the brunt of the fire, was burned so deep the nerves were destroyed.

It was 4am by the time he arrived at Whakatane Hospital where he was put under a shower, wrapped in plastic cling wrap and put on an ambulance to the burns unit at Waikato Hospital. With the hospital extremely busy with life-and-death cases and the operating theatres full, the chief plastic surgeon performed Jeremy’s first surgery on the ward. Earl says they couldn’t leave his leg overnight because the foot was starting to die and was ice cold. This surgery, the first of five, was to relieve the skin tension in the burned leg and allow blood flow to the foot.

The next day he underwent further surgery to remove the dead skin, followed by surgery to graft skin from the top of his thighs and buttocks over the burns. Jeremy says the donor graft sites have been the most painful because they still contain nerves.

He spent three weeks at Waikato and was walking with crutches by the time he left. Since then he has weaned himself off all pain killers, choosing the cold turkey option, which he says was “not much fun”. However, he still takes a daily concoction of other medication and vitamins to stimulate regrowth of his damaged skin.

A sixth operation may still be required to improve the flexibility of his knee but he is working hard on physical exercises to try and avoid this.

Unable to continue in his previous job, which included gas cutting and welding, Jeremy has been forced to reassess his career options. It was

Chris Timmins from Harcourts that first suggested to Earl that he bring him into the X Realty business. ACC is helping to pay for him to do his sales certificate to become a real estate agent but, in the meantime, he’s providing sales support to his younger brother Hayden – although who’s in charge may seem questionable at times.

He’s still resting in the afternoons but by the end of January is expecting to be working full time. As for his legs, they will not be at their “optimum” in terms of the maturity of the skin for another 18 months.

If he bumps his leg, as he has, it can pull off a graft. If he blisters, which he has, there’s no skin beneath, just raw flesh. He wears a leg splint in bed at night, compression bandages and if he’s swimming or going out in the sun this summer it will not be in boardshorts but silicone-lined 50UV pants.

He says a friend recently referred to his “Freddie Kruger leg” and he has no problem with this. “Some people don’t like seeing it but I’m okay with it. It will slowly change and go to normal scar colour. “It’s better than it could be, and it’s just my leg. It could have been my face.”

TIRELESS WORKER: Reverend Robert Bruere is leaving the role he has held for the past 11 years. Photo Louis Klaassen D4445-19

THE “6.30 nerves on a Sunday morning” are one thing Reverend Robert Bruere won’t be missing when he retires from his Whakatane parish this month.

After more than 11 years in his role as reverend of Whakatane’s Church of St George and St John and more than 35 years since he was first ordained, Robert says his anxiety of public speaking has never left him. “I’d be alright by the start of service, but I never really did get over it,” he says.

You’d never know though, talking with the softly-spoken man whose passionate views on pastoral and community care have led to some colourful protest activities over the years.

Robert will be remembered by many as the man who led the charge against the Whakatane District Council’s proposal to sell off community housing units in the town. With particular regard to the move to sell the Alice Stone Flats in 2008, a street march was led by the reverend in protest at what he believed was a heartless and ill-conceived concept.

Robert also staged a mock public auction of the district council building, making his point that if the council so needed to free up some funds, then the sale of their building, then known as the “Pink Palace” due to its paintwork, might be a solution.

“Someone offered a dozen chooks,” chuckles Robert, recalling the protest didn’t go down well with the council of the time. Another action he says wasn’t well received was his appearing at a district council meeting adorned with a mayoral chain made out of tin lids.

“The mayor at the time never wore his mayoral chain” says Robert. “We used to joke that he’d lost it, but he lost the plot a bit when I turned up in mine.”

Over the years, and under succeeding councils, Robert says sales of the units have eventually needed to be made. “The council really is unable now to carry out the upgrading needed on the housing,” he says, adding however, that these sales have been carried out by an “altogether more collaborative and caring” council, with the best possible future outcomes put in place.

Leaving his home of the past 11 years, Robert and his wife Yvonne are moving to a small country property outside of Whakatane. “I’m a country boy at heart,” he says, having hailed from a small, rural town before going on to complete a degree in mechanical engineering at Auckland University, then moving to Tokoroa to work as an engineer at Kinleith.

Robert was ordained in 1978, and has gone on to continue studying over the years, earning a post graduate diploma in theology.

Former vicar’s warden at the Whakatane Parish, Ilene Burt, says the reverend is going to be missed. “He is a deeply caring person and a very deep thinker,” says Ilene. With his passion and drive for providing “excellent pastoral and community care” Ilene says Robert is sometimes misunderstood, and the extent of his abilities not always seen.

“He is a tireless worker” she says adding that his passionate interest in history, particularly regarding early mission history is a characteristic that is going to be missed in the parish.

Still ironing out the finer points of his imminent retirement, Reverent Bruere says he may relinquish his long-held positions as chairman of the Whakatane Hospital Chaplaincy, and as chaplain at James Street School.

“I need to make way for my successor,” he says, adding that the time is right to retire. “Tenure at the church is generally around 10 years. I am past that, and anyway, I’m ready for the change of pace.”

The one thing he won’t be giving up is his continued interest and historical research of early Christian beginnings, both within the Eastern Bay and further afield. He aims to continue and develop his tours to significant sites.

Come Christmas time though, a new experience is in store for the couple. “It’s a busy time of the year for any reverend,” he says, and he is no exception. Robert says it’s many years since he and his wife have celebrated Christmas with their family, actually on Christmas Day. “We’re off to Perth to have Christmas with our twins this year,” he says. “We are really looking forward to that.”

The Bishop of Waiapu will be in Whakatane on November 27 for Robert’s final service. A social event will also be held for parishioners and friends the week prior. Dates will be advertised in the Beacon and in the Church News.

Historic bus tour

BISHOP AND FAMILY: Bishop Frederick Bennett with his first wife Hana Te Unuhi Mere Paaka and their first child, circa 1900. Photo supplied

HOT Lake Districts in Mr Bennett’s Motor Vehicle – a quaint name for a bus tour, but fitting, perhaps, for Reverend Robert Bruere’s latest proposed endeavour.

Robert’s enduring interest in early missionary history has seen him take full buses of history buffs to explore significant historical sites in the region over recent years, an activity he plans to continue following his retirement from the Church of St George and St John this month.

Previous tours have included a commemoration tour of Tarore, the daughter of Ngakuku, an early Anglican Church missionary known as the Missionary of Mataatua. Ruatoki and Ruatahuna have been the focus areas of other tours.

This month Reverend Bruere is leading a tour to Lake Tarawera to look at significant early missionary sites. The tour will explore the life of New Zealand’s first Maori bishop, Bishop Frederick Bennett, who was born in Rotorua and attended Te Wairoa School, before being taken by the Bishop of Nelson to attend Nelson College.

He is believed to be one of the first clergy in the district to own a motor car. The tour will also visit the Spencer Mausoleum on Lake Tarawera, and the graves of others killed in the Tarawera eruption.

Reverend Seymour Spencer and his wife Ellen arrived in New Zealand from America in 1842. The couple developed the first missionary post at Lake Tarawera in 1844.

The tour takes places on Saturday, November 19. Further details are available by phoning the parish office.

by Lorraine Wilson

MARCI'S STASH: 72-year-old Marci sits trimming marijuana stalks at her kitchen table, as American-born Whakatane man Barry Rosenberg looks on, an activity that is legal in Oregon. Photo’s supplied

I COULDN'T resist. Having sworn never again to return to the land of my birth, that lunatic asylum known as America, the comedic insanity of the 2016 presidential election pulled me like a cork from the bottle of southern comfort known as Ohope.

Instead of going to the East Coast, from which I originally hail, however, I headed to a small West Coast university town where I had lived for a year in the late 1970s, just before I meandered southwest and, ultimately, was washed up on a strange island somewhere in the South Pacific.

Eugene, Oregon, is no longer a quiet burg of 50,000 surrounding a medium-size university. The place is now a full-grown city of 150,000 breast-fed by a megaversity. Still, it is not without its charms. I’ve heard it said there are more hippies per capita in Eugene than anywhere on planet Earth, and indeed it appears as though a 1960s experiment in frozen cryological storage in San Francisco has been thawed out here 50 years later.

Most live peacefully homeless on the streets, but, as well, a number teach at the uni, and, while still sporting long beards or granny glasses, drive Beamers and are adorned with the more pricey commodities of an LL Bean catalogue.

As I pound the keyboard here in the kitchen of a friend’s home, just across the table his 72-year-old sister, Marci, sits trimming a huge shopping bag of marijuana stalks and decanting the buds into plastic containers. Oh, there’s no worry the local gendarmerie will suddenly bust in and drag us into a waiting van with winking rooftop jellybeans.

The stuff is legal in Oregon.

Purveying outlets abound and most every household has the maximum four plants blooming in the garden, some grown tall enough to climb.

The same segment of humanity that, in New Zealand, titter and coo, volunteer at the Hospice shop and brandish smartphone pics of look-alike grandkids, hereabouts can be found toking Narnia Shatter and BlackBerry Kush and White Widow, swearing the label-stated contents of THC, CBD, MMD and other brain-bending chemicals are vastly exaggerated.

This being America, you’ve got giant stars and stripes hanging from every second house, in whose driveways sit humongous vehicles with great ‘O’ decals on the rear window connoting heartfelt support for the University of Oregon football team despite their current pathetic performance, and, as goes without saying, guns guns guns galore. Plus endless supersize supermarkets stocked with every top-tier organic product imaginable, and at prices as low as a scant third of our own ripoff foodstuff emporia.

But wait. Comparing United States and New Zealand food prices, as well as Dawgwalker (26.69 percent THC) with Tui Light, is not what I’m here for. It’s days – days – before the prez election, and the topic ought to be on every soul’s lips. There no longer seems concern who will win, though. Rather, how cute and clever citizens can be poking fun at the most poke-worthy candidate in American election history.

With even wingnut evangelical Christian climate-change-denier Republicans coming out for Hillary now that the Donald has performed a Mexican hat dance on his tongue, and with estimates awarding her a 90 percent chance of copping the crown, I am somewhat loathe to express aloud the opinion that Trump has done more for America, yea, the entire world, than any individual in recent times.

He has personally heaped ruin upon the odious Republican party; brought to the surface, where it can hopefully be lanced, the pustule of the ugliest element of American society, the white male yobbo; and singlehandedly catapulted the stupid-statement T-shirt industry to an all-time high. Alas, I fear the man will not get the credit due him.

I find as I take my hour-long morning walks around a neighbourhood sparkling with majestic autumn colours surprisingly few political lawn signs. Where, just a month back, full-scale wars were being fought within families and people were chewing their nails to the quick with the dread he might actually win, those on both sides seem now to have wholly lost interest in the actual battle. Instead, it’s a matter of, “I despise her, but boy, I really hate him.’

Which is America, 2016 in a nutshell: the glass no longer is half empty in regards to caring for its elderly, its sick, its poor and returned military personnel and blacks and Latinos and environment and infastructure. It is completely barren. But saying that, where else can you get a 12oz coffee and delicious bagel with cream cheese at a local cafe for four bucks?

By Barry Rosenberg

CRIME SCENE: Year 9 science students from Whakatane High School visit the crime scene where science technician Julie Collins died last week. Photos Louis Klaassen D4480-05

ONE of Whakatane High School’s science laboratories became a crime scene last week following the death of science technician Julie Collins.

The 53-year-old’s body was discovered by school caretaker David Marshall as he did his morning rounds and the area was soon taped off, with all the evidence labelled ready for the school’s year 9 students to begin their annual whodunit investigation.

With a set of master keys to every classroom, no alibi, and plans to demolish the labs and build a new open-plan structure, principal Chris Nielsen was the number one suspect.

Other suspects included science teacher Lena Cassidy-Clark, who owned a rifle and enjoyed hunting; deputy principal Carole Hughes, who has a black belt in karate; science head Karen Asquith, a qualified chemist in charge of Mrs Collins’ day-to-day routine; and Mr Marshall.

After visiting the scene and collecting evidence the students use science and their powers of deduction to analyse the evidence and come up with a cause of death.

The crime scene investigation was the brainchild of Miss Cassidy-Clark, who thought it would be a great way to end the year and make science interesting. It was done for the first time last year and proved very successful with students.

neryda.mcnabb@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

David Marshall, Harcourts Whakatane real estate agent

DAVID Marshall is a $300 million man.

The Harcourts Whakatane real estate agent has become the second person in the Bay of Plenty, and the only one in the Eastern Bay, to sell more than $300 million worth of property for the company.

Mr Marshall started out in farming and then did a bit of contracting before he became a real estate agent in 1992. He said he was persuaded to join the real estate industry by Sue Overington, after she sold his house. At the time, Mr Marshall had recently hurt his back and was unable to continue the physical work he had previously undertaken and was looking for a different career.

And it turned out, real estate was a good fit for Mr Marshall.

For the past 24 years his speciality has been selling Ohope property. He said growing up in Ohope – initially in the house on Harbour Road that his mother still owns – meant he was passionate about New Zealand’s most-loved beach, so talking to people about buying in the area just came naturally.

“I love selling my beach, I am very proud of my beach.”

And over those years that passion has helped Mr Marshall to consistently rank as one of the top 20 best-performing real estate agents in the country.

“And that was when Mike Pero and others were all competing too.”

His best result was number four nationally.

“For a town like this to be ranked number four that is just phenomenal.”

Mr Marshall said the key to his success was his good networks and never under-estimating the power of repeat business.

He said even if people did not intend selling again, he made their experience an enjoyable one so they would be sure to recommend him to their friends and family.

Mr Marshall was meant to attend a ceremony in Tauranga on October 25 to receive his gold pin, with a diamond inset, to mark the achievement, but true to form he was too busy working to make it.

Harcourts principal Chris Timmins said it was this dedication that made Mr Marshall one of Whakatane’s best real estate agents.

“When I first made director, the hours he puts into it was just awesome and his [former] wife was a great support staff. They were a successful team.

“As a real estate agent, the hours that you put in are outside usual [work] hours, so at the time that everyone is sitting down to put their feet up you are busy working.”

Mr Timmins said his star sales agent “used to do quite a bit of diving, so he would just go around giving people crayfish and of course they would remember him when it came to listing their houses”.

“It is all about the listing, not selling, and that’s what Dave has been good at – getting the listings.

“If you haven’t got listings then you haven’t got anything. And that has become more important in the current market because of the shortage of housing stock.”

karla.akuhata@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

RIDING IN SUPPORT: Wharenui Tuna and his daughter Opepe Tuna, 10, will ride to the American embassy in Auckland on Saturday to show their support for the Sioux tribe. D4507-06

IT was emblazoned on Kane Hames’ wrist when he played for New Zealand Maori in Chicago, Taika Waititi showed his when he appeared with Thor actor Chris Hemsworth in an Instagram photo and thousands showed theirs online by checking into the reservation on Facebook.

Everyone wants to show their support for the Sioux tribe protesting against the North Dakota pipeline construction at Standing Rock Indian reservation in the United States.

And Eastern Bay residents are no different.

Seasoned protest organiser Wharenui Tuna has put the call out to motorcyclists to show their support for the Sioux by riding from Taneatua to the United States Consulate in Auckland on Saturday.

Leaving from the Tuhoe headquarters, Te Kura Whare, at 9am, Mr Tuna said he expected the group to reach the consulate just after 2pm.

With a schedule of stops along the way, Mr Tuna said he had been in touch with many of his contacts and expected to be joined by many others.

“Through my email and social media, there has been a huge response back to the kaupapa (idea).

“I have said to people who have messaged me, including those from Gisborne, East Coast, Taranaki and Rotorua, to organise their riders and join us.”

Mr Tuna said others were showing their support through haka or in other ways but he wanted to be able to do so using his Harley.

He said he empathised with the Sioux tribe and would carry the Mana Motuhake flag with him.

“It is the same thing around the world with indigenous nations … they’re exercising mana motuhake (autonomy) on their lands.”

Meanwhile, Keita Wharewera has created a Facebook event calling for all those who want to show their support through haka to gather near “the Whakatane River mouth” on Friday at 11am.

The haka will be filmed and placed on social media to show support for those in Dakota.

Ms Wharewera said all were welcome to join in and she encouraged those who couldn’t make it to create their own video and post it to Facebook.

“Of course, the haka will be recorded and shared to all.

“Please encourage your family to participate, thanks,” she said.

karla.akuhata@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

PRETTY PEST: Authorities are asking bird watchers to keep a watch out for the pest bird. Photo supplied

A $1000 reward is on offer to Bay of Plenty residents who report sightings of an aggressive pest bird, the red-vented bulbul.

The ministry for primary industries is working in partnership with the Department of

Conservation and local authorities to eradicate the bulbul, an introduced pest native to Asia that has spread into Australia and the Pacific.

MPI response manager Brad Chandler said the bird was renowned for the damage it inflicted on fruit and vegetable crops.

“It’s not a bird we want in the Bay, with its extensive kiwifruit industry and other horticultural crops. In addition, it competes aggressively with native birds for food and is known to chase and attack them,” he said.

Mr Chandler said a single red-vented bulbul was found and removed near Te Puke earlier in the year. Since then the ministry had received an as-yet unverified report of a single bird near Katikati.

“We are very keen to hear from anyone who believes they have seen one of these birds. We’re taking this seriously and there’s a $1000 reward on offer for information that leads directly to a successful removal by a member of our response team,” he said.

Red-vented bulbuls were a medium-sized bird the size of a starling (20 centimetres in length), generally dark brown/grey with a lighter chest and rump, a small crest on their head and a crimson-red patch of feathers beneath the tail.

In recent years MPI had eliminated small populations of the bird from areas in Auckland, Mr Chandler said.

Although red-vented bulbuls were established in Australia and on some Pacific islands, they were not likely to have flown to New Zealand, but it was possible they had stowed away on large ships.

Red vented bulbuls caused significant damage to fruit and vegetable crops and aggressively chased and attacked other birds. They will feed on native fruits, berries, insects, flower nectar, seeds and buds, displacing species such as kereru with their aggressive, competitive nature.

In the 1950s a small population of about 50 red vented bulbuls established between Takapuna and Mt Eden after some were released from a ship. It took until 1955 for them to be completely eradicated, and since the late 1960s it has been illegal to import them.

TYSON Kingi pleaded guilty to a charge of male assaults female and was sentenced to 60 hours community work and nine months supervision.

Lawyer Mark McGhie said the Taneatua 25-year-old had not had a violence conviction since 2010, when he was sentenced to prison for injuring with intent, and there had been no previous incidents with this victim.

Judge Peter Rollo said the assault occurred in Ruatoki and Kingi was intoxicated when an argument between him and the victim developed.

“This isn’t the way you should be behaving in your family and this is not the example you should be setting for your children,” he said.

Stolen meat from supermarket

Whakatane man Selwyn Roy Potae accidently punched a New World Whakatane employee who followed him after he stole two meat packs.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to a joint charge of shoplifting related to the theft of $44.85 of meat from the supermarket. He was also charged with common assault.

Judge Rollo said Potae was with another person when he took two trays of meat from the store and was followed by staff.

“You have punched the young staff member by accident as you tried to knock the cellphone from him while he was calling police.”

Potae was sentenced to 100 hours community work and ordered to pay $22.43 reparation to New World for the meat that was not returned.

He must also pay $250 emotional harm reparation to the victim.

DOUBLE-GOLD: United Fire Brigades’ Association past president Brian Stanley congratulates Matata chief fire officer Brian Dobson after Mr Dobson received his 50-year service double-gold star. Photo supplied

MATATA Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Brian Dobson’s 50 years of service has been recognised with a double-gold star.

After 50-years of service to the Matata community Mr Dobson, 66, was provided a fitting tribute ceremony at the Awakaponga Hall on Saturday, October 22.

The event was attended by 150 people including dignitaries, Mr Dobson’s family, Matata Volunteer Fire Brigade members past and present, and friends from all over New Zealand in the service.

United Fire Brigades’ Association past president Brian Stanley presented Mr Dobson with his 50-year double-gold star medal.

Mr Dobson joined the Matata brigade in September 1966, when he was 16-years-old, and his father, Tom Dobson, was chief.

“Back in ’66 my father and brother were in the brigade and my life revolved around fire brigade.

“I couldn’t wait to join and be a part of it.”

Matata deputy chief officer Gavin Dennis said with a shifting population over the past 50 years Mr Dobson maintained a working brigade, even though people came and went.

Highlights of his career included leading the brigade during the 2005 Matata debris flow event and introducing the medical first response section of the station and the cadet system.

Mr Dobson said the benefits the service offered were also a highlight.

“I’ve enjoyed the social side, the competitions and conferences I have been to that have taken me up and down New Zealand, and the people I have met over and over again and became friends with.

“I have friends right throughout the country and we look forward to meeting up with each other every so often.”

Mr Dobson said retirement was something he would think about in the near future. In the meantime he still felt he could remain a strong leader and serviceman for the Matata brigade and community.

haylee.king@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

A FORESTRY company, Forest Owner Marketing Services, has been fined $33,520 following environmental issues that arose during its forest harvesting operation on land south-east of Opotiki.

Two contractors engaged by FOMS were also fined for their role in the offending. Gaddum Construction Limited was fined $15,000 and Chance Brown $10,500. The charges relate to unlawful sediment discharges to land in circumstances that may have resulted in that sediment entering streams in the forest. The offending occurred between October 2014 and May 2015, when the defendants were carrying out harvesting work and associated earthworks in a pine forest at Tirohanga.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council pollution prevention manager Nick Zaman said the resource consent for the forestry harvesting operation that the defendants were relying on contained a number of conditions intended to manage potentially adverse effects caused by erosion and sedimentation.

“The damage that was caused to the streams in the forest in particular was exactly what the consent conditions were designed to avoid.

“As the principal logging contractor responsible for the operation, FOMS knew better and has been convicted accordingly,” he said.

Mr Zaman said the regional council was first made aware of the compliance issues when a member of the public reported seeing sediment in the stream south of the forestry block. A subsequent council investigation revealed poor environmental management during harvesting had left the site prone to erosion and sediment discharges.

Mr Zaman said the council raised its concerns with FOMS on a number of occasions but the company failed to take adequate steps to address them.

Several months after the council first highlighted the issues, a large landslide of sediment and forestry debris occurred at the forest.

The regional council engaged an independent contractor to carry out remedial work in the forest at the end of 2015 at a cost of $17,000.

Forest Owners Marketing Services had undertaken to reimburse the council for the cost of those remedial works.

FOMS Limited was sentenced by district court and environment Judge Melanie Harland in Hamilton on October 21, 2016.

CADET: Whakatane’s St John cadet Maddison Herdman with her central region cadet of the year trophy and aiguillette over her shoulder that completes her uniform.
Photo Louis Klaassen D4495-08

WHAKATANE St John cadet Maddison Herdman is New Zealand’s central region cadet of the year.

The role was awarded to Maddison in September and involves her representing St John youth over 12 districts in the central North Island.

Whakatane High School year 12 student Maddison was elected Bay of Plenty district cadet of the year last year which enabled her to be in the running for the award.

As part of winning the title, Maddison participated in a selection day to demonstrate her ability as a St John Youth including mock emergency scenarios.

She said there were some other strong contenders that she thought would beat her to regional cadet of the year.

“It was quite competitive and when I got it I was really excited because of the new opportunities it will bring me and working with others around New Zealand.”

At a prizegiving in September, Maddison was awarded a trophy and aiguillette, an ornamental braided cord most often worn on uniforms to denote an honour.

She joined St John Youth two-and-a-half years ago to gain experience in the medical industry as she hoped to become a paramedic or nurse in the future.

“Since I was little I wanted to do something in the medical industry and St John Youth is a head start on that.

“I also wanted to work on my leadership roles and thought it was good to prepare me for public speaking.”

Through St John Youth Maddison has leaned life skills including as the district cadet of the year she created a district newsletter which she had produced five issues of.

She has also participated in a road show to engage with young people in the district on how they saw the St John Youth programme moving into the future.

As central region cadet of the year Maddison looked forward to participating in conferences and engaging with people high up in St John and bringing forward new ideas.

haylee.king@whakatanebeacon.co.nz

Photo Facebook

AS the summer tourist season fast approaches, overflowing bins at Ohope this week have sparked heated discussion on social media.

Katrina Moir posted this photo of a bin at West End, packed full of used fireworks and other rubbish, with a call for Whakatane District Council to sort its bins out.

Bigger bins, more regular emptying and a recycle bin system were all suggested as ways of improving the situation.

Public affairs manager Ross Boreham said bins were emptied twice a day during the busy period and it might well be that this period had started a bit earlier this year.

He agreed it was not a good look to have overflowing bins in high profile areas.

Photos Louis Klaassen D4505-2, -4

WHEELS from a car parked at Mokorua Grove at the bottom of the Bird Walk were stolen last week.

Whakatane police Senior Sergeant Mark van der Kley said leather clothing and a Swanndri jacket were also stolen from the vehicle on Wednesday, November 2.

If you have information regarding the theft, call the Whakatane Police Station on 07 3085255.

EASTERN Bay Energy Trust will join other community funders across the Bay of Plenty and focus on two key issues to improve sustainable housing in the region – housing quality and emergency short-term accommodation.

Eastern Bay Energy Trust, along with BayTrust, TECT, the Acorn Foundation and Rotorua Trust, have agreed to work together to tackle these problems after commissioning a research paper to look at housing issues across the Bay and examine what community funders can do to make the most difference.

The high-level report, prepared by the Centre for Social Impact, has just been released and looks at a wide range of housing issues affecting Whakatane, Opotiki, Kawerau, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga city and the Western Bay of Plenty.

Problems such as affordability, availability, suitability and quality were studied and recommendations made on potential roles and opportunities for community funders to make a positive impact in these areas.

BayTrust chief executive Alastair Rhodes said although affordable housing was a critical issue, the key to resolving this largely rested with central and local government policies.

Instead the group would collectively focus on improving housing quality (particularly healthy housing) and providing more assistance for emergency short-term housing issues.

“Poor quality and unhealthy housing is a widespread issue across the Bay. Cold, damp houses create significant health issues and negatively impact the quality of life of families. It also particularly affects children and older people,” Mr Rhodes said.

“Meanwhile, the current pressures on the rental market and a lack of emergency short-term housing has resulted in an increasing number of people being homeless in places like Whakatane, so there is a real need for temporary accommodation, particularly for women and children.

“These are issues where community funders in partnership with key government agencies, NGOs, iwi, councils and the community, can make a real and immediate difference.”

Mr Rhodes said the funding organisations needed to be strategic, intentional and innovative, and invest in the right areas to see change.

“This research really highlights the need to collaborate and work together if we want to make a real difference.

“The issues are complex and different across the region, and there is no one solution.”

In the past five years community funders had already invested nearly $9 million across the region into housing. This has primarily been through insulation programmes, supporting housing developments and providing funding to organisations that work to help people find and stay in sustainable housing.

Eastern Bay Energy Trust manager Rawinia Kamau said the trust was very concerned about the conditions some Eastern Bay families were living in, including those who were sleeping in poor quality and uninsulated homes.

“Commissioning this paper was the start of community funders working more closely together on housing, and will help inform where we go from here so we can make a real, meaningful difference to people’s lives.”

The sustainable housing research paper is now available for download from Eastern Bay Energy Trust’s website and BayTrust’s website at http://www.baytrust.org.nz/research-publications.

Pressing current issues
Pressing current issues

The sustainable housing research paper identifies several pressing current issues in the Whakatane, Opotiki and Kawerau districts:

• Lack of affordable rentals (Whakatane and Opotiki)
• The number of “reluctant”, “amateur” or “absent” investors with insufficient funds to make improvement (Whakatane, Opotiki and Kawerau)
• Overcrowding (Whakatane, Opotiki and Kawerau)
• Lack of 1-2 bedroom dwellings (Whakatane)
• Lack of emergency/short term accommodation for women and children (non-family violence-related), men and young people. (Whakatane)
• Seasonal worker accommodation (Opotiki)

Potential roles and opportunities identified for community funders include:

• Investment in houses and land
• Providing low interest social lending to purchase housing.
• Investment in shared equity schemes
• Acting as a housing loan guarantor.

ONLINE EXAM: Edgecumbe College year-11 students Aidan Wicks and Ben McClure pilot sitting their level one English exam online. Photo supplied

EDGECUMBE College year 11 students ditched the pen and paper method for computers when they sat their level one English exam yesterday.

As part of New Zealand Qualification Authority’s digital transformation journey, Edgecumbe College was the only Eastern Bay secondary school to pilot the computer-based method of assessment.

NZQA is working toward having all examinations, where appropriate, online by 2020.

College deputy principal Anthony Murphy said the school applied to pilot the method this year and was selected by the ministry of education, along with John Paul College at Rotorua, in the Bay of Plenty.

“We thought we would get in there and trial it, to be in the front because by 2020 all exams will be online.”

Dr Murphy said 35 students sat the exam online and eight chose to complete it using a hard copy.

At any time during the assessment students could opt out of the online version in exchange for a hard copy, which Dr Murphy said a couple of students did.

Exam manager Barry Hall, who organised the online assessment with the authority, said the students he followed up were interested in sitting further exams online.

“When it came to reviewing their answers before the exam ended, they found it a lot easier to edit answers online compared with trying to do it with pen and paper.

“It was advantageous for the last-minute review,” Mr Hall said.

Dr Murphy said the main issue the pilot faced was the student remaining logged into the assessment. The scenario involved students logging in, selecting the assessment standard and remaining on the file.

“[The students] would get logged out if they moved away but they ended up getting logged out by accident and the issue was getting them logged back in.”

An extra 10 minutes was allocated to those piloting the online assessment.

“What NZQA are talking about for the future is external exams can be taken anytime, anywhere and students don’t have to wait until the end of the year to sit them in a certain place,” Dr Murphy said.

He said NZQA guaranteed there would not be any disadvantages for students who chose to complete the exam online.

At the end of the exam the students participated in an online review to make comments on their experience and the school would work with NZQA to generate an analysis of the pilot test.

haylee.king@whakatanebeacon.co.nz