TE NUPEPA O TE TAIRAWHITI WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2020 HOME-DELIVERED $1.90, RETAIL $2.20 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 COLONIAL PAGES 2, 5-14 COMMUNITY PAST COVID-19NEW RALLIES ENSHRINED •PBL National MP set to be axed over privacy breach AROUND • Doctors fear Kiwis becoming too complacent IN STREET PAGE• Brazil’s 3 president tests positive for Covid-19 FIRE • Metropolitan Melbourne to go into lockdown VICTIMS NAMES • United States confirms withdrawal from WHO ONLY A MATTER OF TIME: An old landfill by Awatere River near Te Araroa has breached, resulting in rubbish flowing into the river. Residents have consistently raised concerns about such an event, including as recently as three weeks ago. They hold fears of a similar outcome to the Fox River disaster in Westland. Picture supplied ANOTHER FOX RIVER? THE opening up of an old of the ancestral river Awatere at For years residents had been dumpsite at the mouth of the Te Araroa. asking through hui, letters and Awatere River is a heartbreaking The dump has been closed for emails to have the dumpsite Local fears and frustrating issue that has about 15 years. opened up and taken away in a been decades in the making, say The river and coastline is a controlled manner, “otherwise the Te Araroa residents. food source for local whanau and sea would do it for us — and now Storm surges have been the river mouth is also a sacred it is”, Ms Irwin said. breaching the site for years and site for the hapu — it is where GDC staff were on site on realised as every year residents have raised chief Tuwhakairiora trained his Monday and yesterday and concerns with Gisborne District warriors for battle. members of the community have Council— as recently as three “The community never wanted been providing them with regular weeks ago — in fear of this very this to be the location of the site updates. scenario occurring. in the first place but concerns “It appears the site’s face storm reopens On Monday, the council were ignored by the council of has been eroded by the river, urgently investigated the old the day,” Te Araroa resident exposing rubbish on the council landfill site disturbed by Ripeka Irwin said in a statement. riverbank,” said council director the river, which is swollen due to “Then when it was retired the of liveable communities Andrew old landfill recent heavy rain. community wanted it taken away White. The dumpsite is located 170km but again GDC didn’t listen and north of Gisborne on the mouth instead just filled it in.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Your journey to ENROL NOW! eit.ac.nz success starts here START JULY 2020 Check out FEES-FREE STUDY* PRIMARY INDUSTRIES feesfree.govt.nz * conditions apply Agriculture | Apiculture | Forestry | Horticulture | Commercial Transport 33337-01 GISBORNE RUATORIA WAIROA Local News ...... 1-5 Business ............10 Television ...........15 Farming..............20 Births & Deaths ...4 Opinion ..............11 Racing ................16 Sport ............ 21-24 9 771170 043005 TOMORROW National ............ 6-9 World............ 12-14 Classifieds ... 17-19 Weather .............23 > 2 NEWS The Gisborne Herald • Wednesday, July 8, 2020 GRATEFUL: Having escaped a house fire that destroyed their belongings, Julian Vera Gil and partner Feeling the Dafny Tirado Sommella are thanking the Gisborne community for helping out with love in wake accommodation and supplies for them and their children Maya of disaster (left) and Nicko. Picture by Paul Rickard by Mark Peters Maya and Nicko with tables, beds, a “I put her out the window,” said brought us hot food every day. microwave oven and other essentials, Julian. “We’re pretty sure something good THE community has rallied around including an espresso machine. He went back into the burning will come out of this.” a South American family who lost A givealittle page has also been set house but the smoke was so black he Friends of the family set up a all their belongings in a house fire at up to help the Chilean family. was forced to run back outside. givealittle page and as of this morning Okitu on Saturday morning. The fire started at about 8am on The family lost all their belongings, over $4800 had been donated. “We’re still dealing with it,” Julian Saturday. including Dafny’s glasses. None of “The community’s support has been Vera Gil said of the inferno that turned “Dafny saw the smoke,” said Julian. their belongings were insured. breathtaking,” page creator Claudio his family’s rental home into a charred “I saw a little flame on the couch and However, when she visited Gomez wrote on the page. ruin. tried to throw it out of the house but Specsavers to replace the glasses, “Dafny and Julian can definitely feel By the time Julian returned a few the flames tripled in size.” staff gave her a pair for free. the love that has been given to them hours later from hospital where he had Dafny grabbed the smallest of their Julian and Dafny could not be more and they are feeling really grateful. been treated for smoke inhalation, the children, Nicko, and escaped from the thankful to the people of Gisborne. “Eleven years living in Gisborne and community had already stepped up to house. “The community has been they have never seen such a reaction help out. “I thought my daughter was amazing,” he said. from the community.” An Okitu resident provided following me but she was still inside,” “We are so grateful and feel so temporary accommodation while she said. “Julian checked two rooms blessed with the amount of help we ■ Donations can be made via this others supplied Julian’s partner and found her in the last room. She have had. The landlord of the burnt shortcut to the givealittle page — Dafny Tirado Sommella and children was frozen.” house has been kind. The community tinyurl.com/y85x5vfw Nearly 50 organisations benefit from Sport NZ funding by Murray Robertson Sport New Zealand to help sports clubs region had one of the highest, if not the “We will work with them to help them and organisation around the country highest, distributions in the country. navigate through those challenges.” SPORT Gisborne Tairawhiti allocated with their costs from the impact of the “We were really pleased that a good The funds not allocated locally will $136,141 of the $211,000 available Covid-19 lockdown. portion of applicants, 37 percent, were be returned to Sport New Zealand for locally through the Community “It was a privilege to be able to give from the East Coast and our rural redistribution. Resilience Fund — an exercise SGT chief some immediate financial relief to many communities, who sometimes can “The $15 million for the Community executive Stefan Pishief described as a of our hard-working codes and clubs miss out on opportunities due to their Resilience Fund is from Sport New privilege. through this fund,” Mr Pishief said. isolation.” Zealand, part of $26 million that Sport A total of 47 sports clubs and “Although we didn’t distribute all Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti knew many NZ quickly pulled together from its own organisations received funding. of the available money due to the set of the region’s codes and clubs still faced reserves and the reallocation of other The money was made available from criteria in place, proportionally our significant challenges, he said. planned project/programme funding.” Get your Gisborne Herald home-delivered • Watercolourist Adrian Cave talks about his lifetime of work with landscapes and scenes from overseas, some of which will feature in an exhibition at Miharo Gallery. • Relive the Gisborne disco nights of the ‘80s with Doug Walsh’s upcoming Sounds of the Sandown. • A new music festival — The Longline Classic — has been created by two Gisborne men to coincide with the food and wine weekend. TOMORROW PLUS: MUSIC GUIDE • FILM REVIEWS • GUIDE GOSSIP The Gisborne Herald, 64 Gladstone Road, P.O. Box 1143, Gisborne • Phone (06) 869 0600 • Fax (Editorial) (06) 869 0643 (Advertising) (06) 869 0644 Editor: Jeremy Muir • Chief Reporter: Andrew Ashton • Circulation: Cara Haines • Sports: John Gillies To nd out more call 869 0620 e-mail: [email protected] • [email protected] • [email protected] • web site: www.gisborneherald.co.nz The Gisborne Herald • Wednesday, July 8, 2020 NEWS 3 Urgent work under way Joint effort to deal FROM PAGE 1 with Tolaga Bay “We are urgently assessing what we can do to prevent rubbish from entering the river in the short beach debris issue term and stabilising the site for the longer term.” GDC started urgent work at the mouth of Awatere River yesterday afternoon. TOLAGA Bay residents, was positive. Community caretakers were on site yesterday forestry companies and Eastland “The forestry companies morning to collect disturbed rubbish from the river Wood Council are working that were there were very well and the beach, and the council has formulated a together to fix issues with slash represented and they want to do detailed two-stage plan to shore up the site, prevent further erosion and find a more permanent solution. and wood debris. something — more than what “Our interim plan includes placing river rock to The beach was last week happened in 2018. cover the exposed refuse along a 70-metre stretch inundated with wood for the “So they are all on board and of the river,” said council director of lifelines David second time in two years actually set the tone for the whole Wilson. following heavy rain and strong hui.” Contractors were to start piling material against winds. EWC chief executive Kim the riverbank upstream of the site this afternoon, he A hui was held on Monday, Holland told The Gisborne Herald said.“We will build a temporary groyne upstream as at the Uawa fire station, with the meeting was a positive one well as place gravel to form a bar to protect the area representatives of Te Aitanga- as the kaupapa was a shared one, from the tidal cycle.” a-Hauiti, the Uawa community, with forest companies sharing Contractors will deliver larger rocks to the site to Eastland Wood Council, and information on what they are form a rock wall.