, Tuesday, January 1, 2013 NEWS A5 Murder, mayhem, marches mark city news

RACHEL YOUNG takes a look back at the attention-grabbing stories of 2012.

Where’s the happy news in 2012? calling for midterm elections and The year seemed to be marked the removal of Marryatt. by protests, education shake-ups, Several chanted for the removal council infighting, murders, sen- of Christchurch Mayor sational court hearings, job losses, as well. The Government appoin- name calling, rezoning and build- ted an observer to oversee the ing reports. workings of the council in an In writing this, I racked my attempt to get the troubled brain and my colleagues’ brains organisation back on track. for the happy news of the year. But it was not over for the It was there but maybe not in embattled council as, in one of the the traditional front-page style of more colourful moments of the news. year, Canterbury Earthquake There was the police officer Recovery Minister Gerry Brown- reunited with his lost dog, the lee called Parker a ‘‘clown’’. painters who found and returned It was later revealed that an $56,000 worth of coins, many apology from Brownlee stopped animals born at Willowbank, and a Parker from resigning. The coun- couple who found their wedding cil continued to make headlines, photos that they had lost in the including over a proposed 7.47 per February 2011 earthquake. cent rates rise. There were stories on people Big news hit in September. helping others, community spirit, Christchurch’s education sec- businesses tor was thrown reopening, There were stories on into turmoil on Cantabrians September 13 excelling in people helping others, when Edu- their fields community spirit, cation Minis- and citizens ter Hekia banding businesses reopening, Parata announ- together for Cantabrians excelling in ced the propo- what they sed closure of believed in. their fields and citizens 13 schools and The year banding together for plans to put started grimly another 26 with the dis- what they believed in. through some covery of a form of woman’s body merger. in a car on the outskirts of Schools were caught off guard, Christchurch. Later in the year, and Parata and the Ministry of Keith Donald Bonner, 53, was Education were criticised for the Hello baby: Ring-tailed lemur Rose with her twin jailed for life for the murder of his way they announced the propos- babies. Rose was one of several animals that gave friend, Tracey Lee Morris, 46. als. Two weeks later, a 10-week birth in October during a baby ‘‘explosion’’ at Things then started turning consultation programme was laun- Council hotpoint: Thousands gather to protest against Christchurch City Council chief executive Tony Marryatt’s pay rise and the council’s performance on Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. political, with the words ‘‘rates ched and Parata spent almost February 1. Photo: DEAN KOZANIC/FAIRFAX NZ Photo: CARYS MONTEATH/FAIRFAX NZ revolt’’ being uttered for the first, three weeks visiting more than 30 but definitely not the last, time. schools proposed for closure or $100,000 each business day. a former Zimbabwean veterin- worker with intent to cause a professional engineer and faked prevent the collapse. It started after Christchurch merger. Student numbers dropped by arian, not guilty of sexually grievous bodily harm and injuring an engineering degree. The report concluded the build- City Council chief executive Tony The proposals led to protest about 2200, resulting in a $16m violating and murdering his the woman with intent to cause Gerald Shirtcliff supervised the ing had serious deficiencies in its Marryatt defended his $68,000 pay marches through Christchurch drop in tuition fees collected. 10-year-old niece, Charlene grievous bodily harm. construction of the building, design and construction. rise, saying he had never worked and an 11,000-signature petition The university is also facing Makaza, in January 2007. This was after his 90-minute which was finished about October The design flaws were missed harder and calling criticism calling on the Government to halt increased insurance costs and it It ended years of speculation as path of violence across the city was 1987. by those building the CTV ‘‘unfair’’. Ultimately, Marryatt the shake-up was given to Parlia- has to find an estimated $150m, Gwaze was first tried on the ended by two gunshots as he It collapsed on February 22, structure and added to some non- rejected the controversial pay rise ment. above insurance proceeds, to charges in 2008, when a jury continued to approach police in 2011, taking the lives of 115 people, conforming construction practices but held on to more than $34,000 he Parata will advise schools of repair its damaged buildings. acquitted him. Hoon Hay in March. when Christchurch was hit by a not picked up by the absentee had already been paid. her decision on February 18 and The courts provided several In 2010, the Supreme Court In a moment of heroism, magnitude-6.3 earthquake. construction manager, Shirtcliff. He said he would return the will make her final formal stories that gripped the public’s ordered a new trial. construction worker Jade Lynn, The Canterbury earthquakes It is virtually impossible to money he had received to date announcements on April 5, after attention. In another case that rocked 22, confronted the knife-wielding royal commission released its final wrap an entire year’s worth of only if councillors worked more consultation. Christchurch man Gavin Clif- Christchurch, Zakariye Moham- man with a crowbar to stop him report into the CTV building, the news into 1000 words, so for every together. By the end of 2012 it was Canterbury University also had ford Bennett was jailed after med Hussein, 27, admitted charges stabbing more people. result of an eight-week hearing by story that is here there are still unclear what had happened to a troubled year after chewing admitting $23m in frauds against of unlawful possession of a In one of last year’s major the commissioners, which hundreds of others: Environment this money. By February, unhappi- through a big chunk of its $100 South Canterbury Finance. weapon, a knife, at Redwood stories, a Press investigation undoubtedly was difficult reading Canterbury commissioners’ terms ness was rife, which culminated in million reserves and in August After a four-week trial and 14 School and in Hoon Hay, kidnap- revealed the construction manager for the families of those who died extended, , Earth- about 4000 people protesting vice-chancellor Rod Carr said the hours of deliberation, a Christ- ping a council worker and a of the Canterbury Television as it exposed just how many times quake Commission woes – the list outside the council offices and university was haemorrhaging church jury found George Gwaze, woman, wounding the council building had stolen the identity of something could have been done to goes on.

LICENCED AGENT Author unearths rare historical REAA 2008 www.naiharcourts.co.nz Commercial Real Estate Services, Worldwide. gems from national archives

A new book has revealed rare historical gems buried in New Zealand’s national archives, including a bizarre World War II plan to create a ‘‘tsunami bomb’’ and military files detailing supposed UFO sightings. Author Ray Waru said he wrote Secrets and Treasures to highlight the material publicly available at Archives New Zealand in Wellington where almost 100 kilometres of shelf space is crammed with historical artefacts. ‘‘It was totally overwhelming at the beginning,’’ Waru said. ‘‘I knew I wanted to get in the important things — the Treaty of Waitangi, the Declaration of Independence, the women’s suffrage petition, and a few other things. ‘‘But once you start digging, one story leads on to another and I’d just follow my nose.’’ The suffrage petition Waru refers to contains 36,000 signatures and was unfurled on the floor of the New Zealand Parliament in 1893 by supporters of women’s right to vote. Stretching for almost 300 metres, the petition, currently undergoing restoration, proved successful and led New Zealand, then a British colony, to become the first country in the world to Strange encounter: In late grant women the vote later that year. December 1978 the crew of a Alongside notable historical Safe Air Argosy observed documents, such as a letter written by strange lights above Little River Kinloch Road Captain James Cook before his final Kaikoura. The lights tracked Lake Forsyth Vineyard voyage, are curiosities like ‘‘Project the plane for several minutes Seal’’, a top-secret US-New Zealand and were also seen by Located just 30 minutes from Christchurch city, Lake Forsyth vineyard is planted exclusively in award winning Pinot Gris varietal. Both the attempt to create a doomsday device to hundreds of people on the 2009 and 2010 vintage have received wide reviews and awards by prestigious magazines and international reviewers including Winestate, rival the nuclear bomb. ground. The ‘‘UFO’’ sightings Romeo Bragato, WineOrbit and prestigious French reviewer, 1001 Degustations. The project was launched in June were front-page news over 1944 after a US naval officer noticed that New Year 1979, left. The property is set over 5.2457 hectares of gently sloping north-west facing land and boasts stunning views overlooking Lake Forsyth and blasting operations to clear coral reefs Little River. The rear slopes are planted in forestry, comprising approximately 4,000 Macrocarpa and 3,000 Gum trees, providing future around Pacific islands sometimes was sitting on somebody’s desk (in the However, the military concluded the income options. produced a large wave, raising the archives).’’ lights could be explained by natural possibility of creating a ‘‘tsunami Waru said the project was shelved in phenomena such as lights from boats This represents excellent value for a wine maker or enthusiast alike to invest in an established vineyard, with exceptional business upside bomb’’. early 1945, despite the success of initial being reflected off clouds or an unusual opportunity and scope for future restaurant/cafe, function venue or other complementary business in this popular and accessible tourism Explosive tests carried out in waters small-scale tests. view of the planet Venus. location (subject to appropriate consents). north of Auckland led scientists to Among the other oddities in the Waru said it was documents like conclude that the weapon was feasible archives are Defence Department school magazines from the early 1900s The time has come for the current owners to relinquish this project to allow a new purchaser to continue the development of this superb and a series of 10 massive blasts offshore records of hundreds of UFO sightings by extolling the virtues of the British property. The vineyard and associated real estate is to be sold as a freehold going concern, including existing bottled stock on hand. could create a 10m tsunami capable of members of the public, military Empire, that provided a window into the Enquire today for further information. inundating a small coastal city. personnel and commercial pilots, mostly attitudes of the past. ‘‘It was absolutely astonishing,’’ Waru involving moving lights in the sky. ‘‘There’s masses of records and View www.naiharcourts.co.nz/HHC3628 said. Some of the accounts include kilometres of important files but you Open View by appointment ‘‘First that anyone would come up drawings of flying saucers, descriptions realise pretty quickly that every piece of with the idea of developing a weapon of of aliens wearing ‘‘pharaoh masks’’ and paper is related to an individual at some Rosa Carter-Holt mass destruction based on a tsunami . . . alleged examples of extra-terrestrial point in time,’’ he said. P 03 378 0020 M 0275 330 319 and also that New Zealand seems to have writing. ‘‘So it gives the modern researcher a E [email protected] successfully developed it to the degree New Zealand’s most famous close peek into the private lives of individuals, NAI Harcourts – Holmwood Real Estate Ltd Licensed Agent REAA 2008 5067900AA that it might have worked. encounter was when a television crew which I found interesting — divorce files ‘‘I only came across it because they recorded strange lights off the South from Dunedin, letters a young soldier Build on the power of our network.TM were still vetting the report, so there it Island town of Kaikoura in 1978. wrote home.’’ AFP