And the Resurrected Graveyard
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Section:GDN BE PaGe:25 Edition Date:170623 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 22/6/2017 17:20 cYanmaGentaYellowblack The Guardian | Friday 23 June 2017 * 25 International The good, New Zealand paper shames the bad, drink-drivers the ugly … E l e a n o r A i n g e R o y Dunedin A newspaper in New Zealand has printed and the the names of 100 drink-drivers on its front page in response to what it describes as an epidemic of the crime . The Mountain Scene is a weekly news- resurrected paper for the small but booming South Island town of Queenstown, which has about 30,000 permanent residents and graveyard up to 2 million tourists every year. Yesterday it f lled its front page with the names of 100 people convicted of drink-driving in the first six months of S a m J o n e s Madrid the year, in the hope that naming and shaming of enders would help to reduce After more than 50 years, several f st- the problem. fuls of euros and countless wheel barrow “Around New Zealand drink-driving journeys, one of the most famous rates have been declining, but in Queens- graveyards in cinema history has been town they are still going up,” said Moun- rescued from oblivion and is to be tain Scene’s editor, David Williams . honoured in a new documentary. “There are horrendous levels of drink- Sad Hill cemetery is the setting for the climax of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, when Clint Eastwood, Lee Van ‘If the front page deters Cleef and Eli Wallach face of against one drunk person from each other to the strains of Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack. getting in their car then Having dispatched the Bad and left the Ugly defenceless and furious, the we have had a win’ Good lays out his simple credo : “You see, in this world, there’s two kinds of Above, Eli the f lm wanting to bring it back to the David Alba, one of the local driving here and it is something that has people, my friend. Those with loaded Wallach and Clint way it was … It may have been a beauti- volunteers, said that when Eastwood’s always been in the background. We need guns and those who dig. You dig.” Eastwood at Sad fully crazy idea, but it was still a crazy message was played, “no one was to talk about this problem, so our paper Inspired by Eastwood’s words, a Hill cemetery one. It was a dream.” He was also taken really taking in what he was saying has said ‘enough is enough’ and decided group of f lm fans have spent two years in a scene from with their ingenious, if morbid, crowd- because we were so surprised. I had to to take a stand.” restoring the cemetery to its former the f lm; below, a funding strategy for restoring the grave- watch it afterwards to f nd out what he Williams plans to publish the names of glory. The set, which was built by sol- volunteer at work yard’s 5,000 wooden crosses: for €15, actually said.” convicted drunk-drivers on the front page diers in the northern Spanish province Main photograph: anyone can have their name, nickname Today Sad Hill is a popular draw and for the rest of the year, even though he has of Burgos for Sergio Leone’s classic 1966 Everett/Rex or initials inscribed on a cross. a boon to the local economy, said Alba, had irate phone calls and there is a mixed spaghetti western, had been forgotten He and his team also interviewed 36, who owns a bar that is named in response on the paper’s Facebook page. and reclaimed by nature until the Sad Morricone and famous fans of the f lm, Leone’s honour. “We have been lambasted as thought- Hill Cultural Association stepped in. including the director of Gremlins, Joe Oliveira has f nished his documen- less and arrogant, that we should be With the help of crowdfunding and Dante, and James Hetf eld, the lead tary and is trying to raise the money to thinking about the children of these peo- volunteers from France, Germany, singer of Metallica. pay for the rights to the clips and music ple … on the other side there have been Turkey, Italy and the US, its members One particular interviewee proved it uses, so that he can show the f lm a lot of strong comments in favour,” said slowly, and backbreakingly, cleared the elusive. But after 10 months of phone at festivals. the editor. site to reveal the famous stone circle calls, emails and faxes, the f lm-makers He said the f lm was both a test- “ If it deters one drunk person from get- and its hidden graves. f nally got to Eastwood himself. The ament to the enduring appeal of Leone’s ting in their car because they don’t want Their labours have been recorded in actor and director sent a message of masterpiece and an attempt to explain to be on the front page then we have had Sad Hill Unearthed, a documentary by thanks to all those who had worked to the motivations of the many people who a win,” he said. the Spanish f lm-maker Guillermo de recover Sad Hill. laboured to bring a dilapidated f lm set Williams said multiple issues fed into Oliveira, who was told about restoration Just before the f lm was screened back from the dead. Queenstown’s high rate of drink-drinking by a friend. at the site last year, Oliveira played “There’s something almost religious but signif cant factors included the grow- Although he hadn’t originally the audience Eastwood’s video. “He about all this. Why would someone ing population (with a high proportion planned to shoot a documentary, suddenly appeared on the screen to say who’s been working all week spend of young people), expensive taxis - it Oliveira was moved by the volunteers’ thanks and some people started crying,” eight hours in a cemetery at the week- costs between NZ$50-100 ( £29-£57 ) for dedication and perseverance. “I was just said Oliveira. “It was a very emotional end for nothing in return? It’s altruism a 15-minute trip – and the perception of struck by the beautiful notion of fans of moment.” in its purest form.” Queenstown as a hedonistic party town. Concern grows over ‘toothpick crossbow’ toys Agence France-Presse Handheld mini-crossbows that can f re needles and nails are the latest must-have toy in China, but anxious parents want them banned before a child gets blinded or worse. Selling online and in shops for as lit- tle as seven yuan ( about 80p), so-called toothpick crossbows were originally designed to shoot just that – toothpicks. But if they are loaded with needles, they are potent enough to crack glass, said the Shanghai Daily newspaper, quoting shop owners as saying they were selling out of the gadgets fast . Other Chinese state media said the mini-crossbows could f re projectiles more than 20 metres and shoot iron nails as well as toothpicks. The Shanghai Daily said: “The tooth- pick crossbow toy has spread across China like wildf re among the nation’s primary and middle school children. “The unusual shooting toy may be very small but it is powerful enough to punc- ture a balloon and pierce cardboard. And when the toothpick is swapped for a metal needle it becomes a dangerous weapon.” Police in Chengdu, in south-west China , have reportedly stopped sales of the prod- uct, and concerned parents across the country want the government to intro- duce a nationwide ban. Parents in China are worried that the weapons can be used to shoot needles.