Te Awamutu Houses, Farms, Property Management List your property or rental with Ray White and we will advertise your property on TRADE ME rwteawamutu.co.nz CourierPublished Tuesday & Thursday THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 TM YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER FOR OVER 100 YEARS Ph: 871 7149 CIRCULATED FREE TO 12,109 HOMES THROUGHOUT TE AWAMUTU AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS. EXTRA COPIES 40c. BRIEFLY Stop press Pupils track moon Short supply of Te Awamutu Couriers has meant that some readers may have missed out on their Tuesday edition. JOHN BORREN PHOTO We extend our apologies to anyone who didn’t receive their copy. It was an error in supply from the printers in Auckland and was not in any way the fault of our delivery people. Anyone who missed delivery and would like a copy can pick one up from the Te Awamutu Courier office. Guest speaker Olympian and Trans- BY CATHY ASPLIN Atlantic rower Rob Hamill of Te Pahu will be addressing the An eerie twilight Continuing Education Group descended on Te Awa- on Wednesday November 21. mutu during the solar His interesting eclipse yesterday. presentation, which includes The moon started anecdotes, humour and crossing in front of the sun around 9.20am, but perspective, covers some of reached the point of most his lifechanging experiences. coverage (approximately For more information see 87%) at about 10.30am. advertisement inside today’s While Australia got a Courier or phone 871 6434. total eclipse, the partial eclipse seen in New Zea- Annual clash land attacted plenty of A capacity field has entered spectators around the the singles over the opening country. two days of Te Awamutu Amongst the local Croquet Club’s annual ‘gazers’ were St Patrick’s tournament. school pupils who were The singles commences at the stadium for their this morning in A, Int, B and C athletics day. TC151112CA06 grades. When principal Brian DESPITE it being very cold, St Patrick’s pupils intently watch the solar eclipse (from back left): Aylish Waldron, The doubles is contested Belczacki realised the Emma Tervit, Caitlin Jowsey-Bourke, Niamh Cooper, Kaitlyn Gibson and (front left) Abby Mansell, Sophie on Saturday and Sunday. ecplise was occuring on Overdevest, Belinda Chong and Shantel O’Keeffe. the same day as the Spotlight on school’s athletic sports, could safely view the and would want to look at ‘‘We had demonstra- would occur. It was a he tracked down sun phenomenon. what was happening, so tions of an ecplise at little cloudy, but they all BMX meeting vision filters for the ‘‘We realised the chil- we made sure they could school first so that they had a good view at some pupils to wear so they dren would be outisde see it safely. would understand what stage.’’ A film crew will capturing the action at Te Awamutu’s BMX track on Sunday on behalf of the ‘For Everyone Charitable Foundation’. The trust was founded by Operation Persil cleans-up All Blacks Ritchie McCaw, Ali Williams and Dan Carter. The BMX club received Police executed a district wide clean up of ‘‘Operation Persil is a preventative based ‘‘The operation got off to a good start last week $5000 from the trust to dishonesty offenders that resulted in the recov- campaign that has resulted in over 400 arrests when Te Awamutu officers searched a Hamilton purchase lime to lay on the ery of hundreds of cannabis plants and a number since its inception four years ago. It concentrates property and recovered 400 cannabis plants in new track at Castleton Park of firearms they say will prevent millions of on ensuring offenders subject to court imposed various stages of maturity. ready for the new season. dollars worth of potential harm in the commun- sanctions adhere to them be they driving One man was arrested on drugs charges for Footage of the one-day ity. restrictions, curfews or bail conditions.’’ this and for a small number of plants found at a meet (competitors’ entry $5 for Hamilton City tactical coordinator Senior Ms Grace said using staff from across the Kawhia address. A firearm was also recovered in five races) will be used for Sergeant Freda Grace says 21 people are facing District was all part of the One District-One these searches. promotional purposes. charges following the latest phase of Operation Police approach to policing the Waikato which Anyone witnessing suspicious activity should Persil, a Waikato wide dishonesty and violence saw Police moving away from policing towns in contact Police directly or anonymously via focused initiative. isolation. Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. Better bathrooms start here From a minor upgrade to a total revamp - Pratts are experienced in all aspects of bathroom design. From initial plumbing to supplying and installling 8980043AA bathroomwear. Call the team... 07 870 5020 0800 772887 100 ROCHE ST, TE AWAMUTU www.pratts.co.nz 8980029AA 2 TE AWAMUTU COURIER, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Te Awamutu Courier Path to progress CONTACTS How far does $28.5m go? A few years ago, they narrowed the Mr Balme you clearly Does the $28.5 million statement with all the footpaths in Kihikihi and it made it safer MANAGER stated you wanted $4.5 include Fonterra’s waste figures. to open car doors on the main highway. Alan Price million more. You also pipe, roadworks, street As for the banks and Now they are going to widen them clearly stated bank loans lighting, all the consultant underwriters, they knew again, so you will have to be careful e: [email protected] and underwriters had fees and government agency the high risk they were opening your car doors. achieved your target of $28.5 costs (eg NZTA)? taking when they got I suppose in the matter of safety they EDITOR million. Livingstone Build- Or are these extras? involved with the will then have parking of vehicles one Dean Taylor ing has guaranteed the com- If you want the public to Velodrome. side only. e: [email protected] pletion cost at $28.5 million donate amounts of $250 you Let them sweat it out. What progress! maximum. had better make a press MALCOLM HUME KEITH BRAWN REPORTERS Cathy Asplin Petition presented e: [email protected] Walk of Fame not necessary now Colin Thorsen As an observer at last Tuesday’s Council Council is showing no the tough financial times time to be doing this, e: [email protected] Meeting, it was good to see Robin Duncan signs of slowing the spend- we are in. especially in the tough present to Mayor Livingston the remainder ing of ratepayer’s money, Many of Council need to economic times we are in. ADVERTISING of the petitions totalling 4547 from rate- as we only have to look at be sent back to school to be Council needs to listen payers in and around Te Awamutu. the current extension of educated in the art of con- to its people and show Dorinda Courtney The Mayor assured Robin that he had the ‘Walk of Fame’ to see serving/ saving rate- signs of maturity in lead- e: [email protected] taken the ratepayers petitions and that this is so. payers funds. ing by example and con- demands seriously . There is a large body of Don’t get me wrong, I serving funds rather than Julie Jackson Cambridge are yet to present their plonkers in Council that think the ‘Walk of Fame’ is foolishly spending up e: [email protected] petitions. have no concept of basic an excellent idea, however large. BARBARA LINTON economics, especially in now is not the appropriate HAYDEN WOODS Bookings [email protected] CLASSIFIEDS Stars for Pro Am Lakes clean-up project Tania Cortesi-Western, Rhonda Bird Anna-Marie Holmes The NZ Landcare Trust has the lakes. [email protected] A star-studded line-up of mutu connections, former New secured funding from the Wai- This project will build on the New Zealand professional Zealand cricketer Alex Tait, kato River Authority Clean Up excellent work already LETTERS TO THE EDITOR golfers headed by Brad Shilton Mark Purser, Richard Lee, Mar- Trust for a three year project to undertaken by Waikato Regional will tee off at Te Awamutu cus Wheelhouse, Michael help maintain water quality in Council and Department of Con- We welcome letters - preferably via email. course on Saturday. Hendry, Richard Wright, Josh the Rotomanuka Lakes, with the servation (DOC). They should be under 300 words and must The Pro Drive Pro Am Golf Carmichael and Doug aim to improve water quality in The Rotomanuka lakes are have the sender’s name, address and phone Tournament, sponsored by Holloway. the long term. covered by the Waipa Peat Lakes number. No pseudonyms are accepted Qubik and Waikato Milking Anyone holing-in-one on the Community engagement is a and Wetlands AccordAnyone liv- and names will only be withheld in special Systems, will see professionals 11th will claim $10,000 sponsored key aspect to the project so the ing in the Rotomanuka Lakes circumstances at the discretion of the editor. playing alongside local golfers by Gibson Rural. All other par Trust is keen to encourage local catchment and whom would like Letters are not usually acknowledged and in some of the teams of four threes will have goods to the people to get involved. to share their ideas about how may be edited, abridged or discarded. entered in Saturday’s tourna- value of $1000 sponsored by Two The Trust will focus on devel- this project could develop is ment. Degrees for a hole-in-one.