Tuesday, July 23, 2019 Since Sept 27, 1879 Retail $2 Home delivered from $1.25 THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY Getting back to basics FULL STORY P3 www.guardianonline.co.nz ?????? Dead babies stashed P7 P? PHOTO HEATHER MACKENZIE 209719-HM-0038 No prosecutions in suspicious fires BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY tion,” he said. stolen vehicle near Christchurch Inter- [email protected] Jenkins said police would always be in- national Airport, where he was able to Two suspicious fires in Ashburton in May terested to receive any relevant informa- avoid police road spikes. have reached different outcomes, with tion on the matters. Police followed the vehicle for a short one resulting in a number of juveniles Later that month a crime spree weaved time, however, they abandoned the being spoken to by police, while there its way through the Ashburton District, chase due to the manner of the driving. is a lack of evidence to prosecute in the beginning with an attempted burglary at The vehicle was later found alight in Bry- other case. the Z Station in Tinwald by an offender ndwr. The two fires occurred in the middle of in a stolen vehicle, followed by the ram- A third vehicle was later pulled over by May, with the Cambridge Street fire tak- ming of a private security firm vehicle. police on Gloucester Street and one man ing place on May 16, and the Peter Street The vehicle then travelled to Mayfield was taken into custody on other matters. fire on May 21. where another burglary was attempted. He is also assisting police with their en- Senior Sergeant Leigh Jenkins said It was interrupted by police, resulting in quiries into the Mid Canterbury matters. Some things there where a number of juveniles spo- the ramming of a police car. There were no injuries during any of ken to and requests for other people to The stolen vehicle was next seen in Mt the incidents. be spoken to in other police districts in Somers, where it appears to have been Jenkins said the investigations into don’t change regards to the Peter Street fire. set alight. That fire then set a building on these matters were ongoing and no fur- “The Cambridge Street investigation fire. ther arrests had been made and that po- P14 uncovered a suspect, but there is insuf- The offender was not sighted again lice would always be interested in receiv- ficient evidence to proceed to prosecu- until he was spotted by police in another ing any relevant information. Ph 03 307 7900 Make your money count. to subscribe! Literally. Earn 2.15% p.a. with Heartland’s Direct Call Account. Direct call account terms and conditions apply. News 2 Ashburton Guardian Tuesday, July 23, 2019 www.guardianonline.co.nz Rewarding experience serving lunch BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY ing,”he said. [email protected] “We always have soup as we Nearly four years of serving up started out as a soup kitchen free lunches to the community and we generally have hamburg- has been a rewarding time for ers and chips and a dessert, or the team at the Ashburton Bap- we might change it up and have tist Church, and they are hoping spaghetti bolognese or toasties.” to see it continue to grow. Kleinschmidt said the free Initially starting out as a soup lunch was not just for those off kitchen, serving every Monday, the street, but anyone. the community lunch has now “We do get quite a lot of lonely grown to regularly serve more people, widows and widowers,” than 30 patrons every week. he said. “We started out with just a few “We also get mothers who coming along and now it has come in with their kids and grown to 30 or 40 nearly every there are people that now come week,” organiser Kevin Klein- along to visit friends. schmidt said. “It has been a good experience “When we have a special event and is very rewarding. like Christmas, it grows to about “There are several people that 60.” come that have had a tough time Kleinschmidt said they host and are often belittled by people a small session of bible study but they have a small group here from 10.30am onwards, with that they can come and talk to lunch being served between 12 about things.” noon and 1pm. Doors open for the commu- “It is all supplied from the nity lunch at the Ashburton workers and the church, and Baptist Church every Monday New World donate the buns from 10.30am, with lunch being every week, which is amaz- served at 12 noon till 1pm. Right – Ashburton Baptist Church community lunch volunteers, Kevin Kleinschmidt (rear) and Owen Hawkes, prepare the soup for the free lunch yesterday, as they have been doing for nearly four years. PHOTO JAIME PITT-MACKAY 220719-JPM-0001 ‘Too busy’ to feel quake on building site BY SUSAN SANDYS ton’s tallest building, the shake was up scaffolding and starting on the in- [email protected] felt as a slight tremble lasting a few terior. As pre-cast panels were strung high seconds. Yesterday Burnett Street was closed above the ground and lowered into Others in Ashburton reported feel- in the morning as the 70-tonne crane place at the construction site of Ash- ing the tremor, with one on the Guard- lifted panels into place. burton’s tallest building yesterday, the ian’s Facebook page describing it as Leslie said it was about the twen- earth shook. feeling like “a long truck going past”. tieth visit by a large crane, and there A 3.9 magnitude earthquake, cen- It was more strongly felt in were about another 20 visits to go. tred at a depth of seven kilometres Christchurch and more than 4000 Being located in the central busi- at 8.43am, within five kilometres of people altogether lodged Felt It re- ness district created its own challeng- Christchurch, was felt by some in Ash- ports with GNS, from Timaru to the es, due to being at a compact site and burton. North Island. a busy location. But work on Murney Main was not “Just another reminder that the Concrete pours generally began at disrupted at all, in fact, none of the Christchurch aftershock sequence is 2.30am, and the road was closed when builders even felt the tremor. still ongoing,” GNS said on Twitter. large machinery had to be brought on “The boys were too busy working,” Meanwhile, construction is all go- site. site manager Dave Leslie said. ing according to plan at Murney Main.a Machinery and builders having to “We didn’t know about it until some- The fourth and final floor is the only negotiate the build at high levels often one told us.” one left to be poured, and the struc- attracted onlookers. Burnett Street was closed yesterday as a large Across the road on the top storey of ture should be completed and the “It’s a good build to be involved crane worked on site at Murney Main. Somerset House, which is soon to be roof go on around mid-September. with, it’s something out of the ordi- PHOTO SUSAN SANDYS 220719-SS-0004 outdone by Murney Main as Ashbur- This will be prior to builders putting nary,” Leslie said. School Holiday Special Bernette Sew and Go $199.00 with Free Mettler Thread pack Open 7 Days | P 03 307 6277 | Main South Road, Tinwald | www.anniesquilts.co.nz News www.guardianonline.co.nz Tuesday, July 23, 2019 Ashburton Guardian 3 ■ BACK TO BASICS EXPO Back to basics just gets stronger BY SUSAN SANDYS [email protected] Back to Basics attracted more than 300 people on Saturday. Those wanting to learn about natural living took away many lessons on how to live a more sustainable and healthy life from the annual expo. Organiser Julia Crosson said it was fantastic to see people not only learning skills and picking up tips on the day, but also join- ing up with some of the groups involved, such as Time Bank, SEEDS and Playcentre. “So it was a day of connection as well, and each year it just gets stronger and stronger.” Workshops and talks were held on the day by locals enthusias- tically imparting their skills and knowledge to others, including on how to use food as medicine, how to make beeswax wraps, and how to make the fermented sweetened tea, kombucha. Crosson said it was good to see some of the site holders teach- ing skills they had themselves learned at Back to Basics some years ago. It was the sixth annual Back to Basics expo, and was held at the New Life Church premises inTin- Kasia Chapman (left) and Marine Lefeuvre were among more than 300 people who shared and learned about getting back to wald. basics on Saturday. PHOTO HEATHER MACKENZIE 200719-HM-0021 ■ GAS SAFETY Warnings following Christchurch gas explosion BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY houses in the district following the home-owners that are using gas in the Ashburton District, but that things checked out and a bit of [email protected] incident in Christchurch. appliances in their homes, it’s im- gas explosions have occurred here maintenance can put you in good Homeowners using gas appliances “We are, however, waiting for portant to know that natural gas is before and that it was a good re- stead.” are being urged to be careful fol- further information following on tasteless and odourless. minder for people to ensure their Burgess said a number of years lowing a gas explosion in a house from the investigation,” she said.