DCC contractor Black Power president Albert Epere and his crew all in jail

News came from ‘associates’ last week that all members of Mauri Kohatu Incorporated – contracted by Dunedin City Council to maintain some city greenspaces – were now in jail, including Black Power president Albert Epere.

FAIL.

The mayor and his council acolytes had previously put themselves on the record saying “the council supported social contracting”. Meaning Dunedin ratepayers were paying the gang members to continue their usual nefarious lifestyles.

Epere made at least four court appearances during the contract(s) period.

We note there has been no public statement from the city council since the jailings.

FAIL.

█ For more, enter the term *albert epere* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Regional state of emergency lifted in Otago (incl Dunedin & Waitaki)

Otago’s state of emergency has been lifted.
Emergency Management Otago this morning lifted the state of emergency which existed since deluges and heavy wind battered Otago’s eastern coast over the weekend. The region has now officially entered a recovery phase with teams moving on to assessing the damage and checking on the needs of those affected by the devastating floods. Emergency Management Otago group controller Chris Hawker, in Dunedin, said the move towards recovery did not signal any reduction in effort.

● Dunedin City Council (03) 477-4000
● Federated Farmers 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646)
● Otago Rural Support Trust 0800 787 254
● http://www.rural-support.org.nz

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DUNEDIN CITY COUNCIL

Dunedin July Severe Weather update
10.45am Monday 24 July 2017

State of Emergency lifted

The Dunedin State of Emergency was lifted at 9am today. Under the Civil Defence Emergency Act 2002 we are now operating under a Notice of Local Transition Period as we move into the recovery phase.
The transition period is in force for 28 days (expires 9am 21 August) unless extended or ended earlier. The notice still gives the local authority powers to carry out essential emergency-related work.
More information about the work happening as part of the recovery phase will be provided today. The work will be led by Dunedin City Council Recovery Manager Simon Pickford.

Evacuation map – Upper Taieri Pond (PDF, 3.3 MB)
Mill Creek ponding area (PDF, 2.3 MB)

██████ DCC TWITTER FEED AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING

Tweets by DnCityCouncil

Rainy Day reading —The Spinoff : Ministry of Transport fraud case

The ever-deepening storm centred on the Joanne Harrison fraud case just became a hurricane. Yesterday’s State Services Commission investigation report is likely to trigger a new chain of events that could extend well beyond embattled Auditor General Martin Matthews, writes Peter Newport

### thespinoff.co.nz July 21, 2017
Politics
The Ministry of Transport fraud case: Why the rot goes deeper than Joanne Harrison
By Peter Newport | Contributing writer
The State Services Commission investigation, published yesterday, makes one thing very clear: Joanne Harrison influenced the exit of four fellow Ministry of Transport employees who tried to tell their bosses that she was a fraudster. She managed to hire friends and steal over $700,000 from the ministry despite numerous staff attempting to call attention to her actions. This all happened while she was reporting directly to then-chief executive Martin Matthews, who is now our auditor general – albeit on temporary leave. The Commission has now apologised and is offering compensation to those former staff members. Its report also highlights many other issues at the Ministry, arguing that the 17-year-old legislation that covers whistleblowers needs to be changed and improved.

A second investigation, into whether Martin Matthews is a suitable person to continue as auditor general, is due from Sir Maarten Wevers in the coming days. Matthews is currently constructing his response to the unpublished, but complete, Wevers investigation. He has been given until the end of this week to complete it.

The Harrison case has some similar dynamics to the Todd Barclay drama. It’s become less about the initial problem than how it was handled. Who told the truth and who tried to obscure or even bury the truth. The difference with the Harrison situation is that she is now in jail and the truth is coming out – fast.

The Spinoff has been looking at exactly who did what, and when. That job has been made easier by a new, recent MOT whistle-blower who has produced and provided to us a detailed timeline noting all the evidence, which we publish here, utilising material released by the Ministry of Transport and available to view here. The same whistle-blower has shared a bizarre insight into Martin Matthews’ statements during his time at the Ministry of Transport.

But first, a quick tour of the jigsaw puzzle of documents that reveal a picture of Martin Matthews being given not clues, or hints, but what appear to be multiple solid facts that highlighted Joanne Harrison as a Grade A con artist and thief.
Read more

Founded in 2014, The Spinoff is New Zealand’s fastest growing media startup, amassing a monthly New Zealand audience of over 500,000 in less than three years.
We’ve assembled a team of agenda-setting journalists and critics, working across text, audio and video to create a true 21st century media brand. In just two years, The Spinoff has been nominated for 24 Canon awards, winning six. Our growth has been driven by a creative editorial style and innovative business model, emphasising long-term relationships with like-minded brands and a close connection with a young, educated and urban audience. Duncan Greive won both NZ Marketing Magazine‘s Editor of the Year as well as the People’s Choice title for Editor and Media Visionary in their media issue, July 2017. The Spinoff also claimed the title for Digital Media Brand of the Year as well as the People’s Choice title for the same award.

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Comment received from russandbev
2017/07/21 at 10:52 am

The recent revelations about what happened to the whistleblowers in the Ministry of Transport have, I’d suggest, application in Dunedin. Think of the parallels. In the MoT case a manipulative person with a barely-hidden track record of fraud and vindictiveness as well as a well developed sense of entitlement goes about systematically defrauding a government department of close on 3/4 million dollars. Not through some incredibly complex fraud, but one of simply creating business that didn’t exist and creating invoices from them for services that were never provided. Not exactly something that would take a lot to investigate.

Whistleblowers blow the alarm whistles to their managers and nothing happens and the further up the chain the questions were asked, the more dismissive the denials became. Meantime the fraudster moves against the whistleblowers. The Head of the Ministry moves on to even more wondrous things as Auditor General (is that ironic or is that ironic?) and the Minister dismisses all suggestions of wrong-doing. Even the Speaker of the House who employs the Auditor General doesn’t want to get involved.

Now found that the whistleblowers were entirely vindicated by their concerns and they get private and public apologies and a confidential settlement to, in part, recompense them for their treatment by both a fraudster and by management and governance failures. The Protected Disclosures Act [2000] is supposed to protect whistleblowers in BOTH public and private sectors.

Now, I don’t think anyone is suggesting fraud in the case of Aurora/Delta and that should be made plain. However look at the track record of these companies. A fearful record of stupid property speculation costing many many millions which is still going on thanks to Yaldhurst. A willingness to go along with borrowing to supply dividends to the DCHL and the DCC. Decades of ignoring maintenance on the Aurora network closely linked to the governance requirements to minimise costs, maximise profits and supply dividends to build vanity projects by the owners and now the spendup of northwards of 3/4 billion dollars on urgent maintenance bought about these years of neglect.

And then think of the years and layers of denials that these things happened over. When Richard Healey found he could no longer keep working in the company because of all that was being hidden, he gets vilified by EVERYONE that should have listened. EVERYONE is in denial including his past Managers who continued to receive their grossly inflated salaries and those in governance – many of whom refused to even sit down with him and discuss his concerns.

Am I the only one to see the parallels in how a Ministry or a City company deals with whistleblowers? I wonder if we will ever see similar end results in the case of Richard Healey?

{Link added. -Eds}

—

Reply from Elizabeth
2017/07/21 at 1:02 pm

Not involving Aurora:

Charges of Constructive Fraud have been brought, by joinder, against Delta Utility Services Ltd in the Christchurch High Court by the caveators (original property owners of the Noble Subdivision) at Yaldhurst. The case proceeds.

****

[decisionmaker.co.nz] formatted by whatifdunedin

█ Transparency International New Zealand
http://www.transparency.org.nz/

—

Related Posts and Comments:
19.7.17 Southern Police : Nothing changed since Tom Lewis wrote Coverups & Copouts
18.7.17 Delta | Infinity | CCC staff collude to defeat Yaldhurst residents (again)
23.5.17 Topical debates on Corruption in New Zealand
22.2.17 Some Councils/CCOs get cleanup from FRAUD and CORRUPTION #NotAll
9.12.16 Auckland corruption charges proved —ring any bells? #South
28.1.16 New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption
20.9.15 Corruption serious threat to New Zealand #CAANZ
14.9.15 Screening tonight: Paradigm Episode 2! Local Government Corruption in NZ #Sky #YouTube
23.7.15 Publicise: laudafinem.org
13.5.14 Stuff: Colin Espiner usefully defines Corruption

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Southern Police : Nothing changed since Tom Lewis wrote Coverups & Copouts

Remember when Police bought up all the copies they could, and ‘disappeared’ public library lending copies….

Nothing has changed. No-one is policing the Police.
This is the New old news….

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C L O S E ● T O ● H O M E

A 25-year-old woman says she filmed a police officer minutes before he attacked her.

### ODT Online Wed, 19 Jul 2017
Police assault allegation
By Rob Kidd
Police are investigating allegations an experienced Otago police officer subjected a woman to a vicious attack while he was off-duty. The 25-year-old complainant said she was at a fancy-dress birthday party on Saturday night when the alleged assault took place. She said the man, who was wearing a wig at the time, smashed her face into the bonnet of a car before dragging her down a driveway on her front. The pair had never previously met, she said. “He just lost it.” The Otago Daily Times has chosen not to identify the officer involved, the woman or the town where the alleged incident took place. A police spokesman said police were aware of a complaint about an off-duty officer early on Sunday. Police would not confirm whether the man remained at work.
Read more

****

Speaking of cover-ups….

After reading the Otago Daily Times (page 3) yesterday, it was interesting to google the name *Kallam Croudis* —there’s a name for Conflicts of Interest, past and present.

NZ Police should sack Croudis. What a corrupting and observable liability—

Det Snr Sgt Kallum Croudis has been criticised over his handling of a case which resulted in a woman’s confession being thrown out by the court.

### ODT Online Mon, 17 Jul 2017
Judge critical of senior officer
By Rob Kidd
A senior Dunedin police officer has been slammed by the court over his involvement in a case in which he had a conflict of interest. Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis spoke to a suspect at least three times without being part of the investigation team. Judge Michael Crosbie also criticised the officer’s record-keeping and his “casual approach”, which resulted in police obtaining an unlawful confession from the woman regarding the death of a Dunedin man. In his judgement ruling the confession inadmissible [Judge Crosbie] noted Det Snr Sgt Croudis was a friend of the dead man’s father. Southern district commander Superintendent Paul Basham said the comments of the court would be taken very seriously and “the issues raised in the judgement are of concern”. A spokeswoman later confirmed police would not pursue the prosecution against the woman. […] At the May hearing, [Croudis] said he spoke to the female defendant at least three more times before she had a “voluntary” interview at the station.
Read more

Back when, the same, the same….
ONE BAD COP AMONGST MANY

### Stuff.co.nz 01:43, Jan 31 2009
Judge lambasts top cops in damning report
via Sunday Star-Times
The actions of some of the country’s highest-ranking police have been criticised in a damning Independent Police Conduct Authority report due out later today. The report – released after a two-year investigation – makes adverse comments about 10 Dunedin police, including four inspectors, a detective senior sergeant and two detective sergeants. Justice Lowell Goddard is understood to criticise police for their involvement in private investigations of ACC clients – and for how they handled their subsequent inquiries into complaints. The inquiry was launched after conflict of interest allegations that Peter Gibbons – a former Dunedin CIB head who became a private investigator working for ACC’s fraud unit – used his police constable son-in-law to improperly obtain search warrants and seize property from ACC clients. The clients alleged that when they complained, senior police – including three of Gibbons’ former CIB colleagues – failed to act. […] Gibbons, who was a detective senior sergeant in the CIB in the 1990s, supervised three of the police criticised in the Goddard report Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis, Detective Sergeant Malcolm Inglis and Detective Sergeant Brett Roberts. A previous internal police inquiry showed Croudis assigned Henderson ACC-related cases knowing about his conflict of interest as Gibbons’ son-in-law. Inglis and Roberts conducted the initial inquiries into Van Essen’s complaints. Croudis, Inglis and Roberts have been involved in both the original inquiry and reinvestigation of the David Bain mass murder case. Croudis arrested Bain in 1995.
Read more

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Peanut-brain danger man Jeremy Buis of Dunedin Police….

Stuff.co.nz Last updated 22:36, July 17 2017
Police officer convicted for harassing Dunedin businessman for years
By Jack Fletcher
Dunedin policeman Jeremy Buis was responsible for the more than two-year campaign of harassment of local businessman Daniel Pryde. Jeremy Fraser Buis, 39, was convicted on a raft of charges relating to the harassment of Daniel Pryde after a June 2012 parking dispute escalated. Suppression of his occupation was lifted in the High Court at Dunedin on Monday. [17 July 2017] …. In April, Buis was found guilty of criminal harassment, threatening to do grievous bodily harm and intentional damage. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community work and order to pay emotional harm reparation of $15,000. Buis’ name suppression was lifted on April 21, but his occupation remained suppressed until Monday.
Read more

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Southern Police have a dreadful history including participation in the crimes and events described in Coverups & Copouts, for which no prosecutions have issued. Few street-wise people in Dunedin trust the thin blue line to do their job. Is it any wonder Buis, Croudis and their ilk exist, and what of the off-duty police thug who attacked the 25-year-old female complainant on the weekend?

For these men, Louise Nicholas doesn’t exist.

****

### ODT Online Wed, 19 July 2017
Integrity of police threatened
OPINION New Zealanders need to have faith in the police force, a belief that when bad things happen to them, someone will be on their side, helping to right a wrong. That faith has been sorely tested in past years when police officers themselves have decided they are above the law. At the extreme end of the spectrum, in the United States, there has been ongoing debate about the role of the police in the shootings of young black men, in particular. Now, a white Australian woman has been shot in a Minnesota alley after calling the police about a possible assault in the alley behind her home. Most New Zealanders will surmise those sorts of incidents will never happen in this country. But the line between upholding the law by men and women in uniform and them taking the law into their own hands is becoming increasingly blurred. This week, the Otago Daily Times has reported on two incidents which have shaken public confidence in the police to the core.
Read more

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[previously]

Comment by Elizabeth
2017/03/31 at 2:24 am

Calls for a Royal Commission of inquiry into historic child abuse have been rife these last weeks, inflaming social media and mainstream media (MSM) around New Zealand.

Bless their hearts, Lauda Finem, based offshore, banged out a post at their website yesterday that easily sums up the New Zealand ‘scene’. This is a must read.

LF’s introductory comments are provided here, with excerpts of relevance to Dunedin.

[begins]

March 30, 2017 1:14 am • Lauda Finem
Why Bill English & Nasty Nats find Child Abuse Royal Commissions Terrifying
For the past month or so Kiwi newspapers and other media outlets have been slowly publishing stories relating to the growing chorus of voices calling for a Royal Commission into historic child abuse.
The latest trigger seems to have been an open letter calling for the same, although, in our view, a very narrow, much less desirable version of the ‘Royal Commission Into The Institutional Responses to Historic Child Sexual Abuse’ that our Australian PM Julia Gillard was forced to initiate in 2013; which is only now beginning to release various stats and reports on some of the findings and the evidence that has been heard.
Bill English, the halfwit that National decided to replace John Key with, has of course avoided mentioning the apparent success of the Australian commission, noting only that it might come in handy for New Zealand’s state sector when it comes to lessons that might be learned.

[photo caption] Just how much sway has Police Commissioner Mike Bush had on a government that is clearly terrified of any inquiry

English is in fact completely out of touch with reality in almost everything he has said publicly on the subject; going so far as to claim that there is nothing to be gained or learned by New Zealand establishing a similar inquiry.
This is despite the success of the Australian model and the fact that both Ireland and the UK have also conducted national inquiries.
Not only is the National party Government determined NOT to hold such an inquiry, they are also, seemingly, equally determined not to even entertain the notion that the victims of historic child abuse, sexual, physical and emotional deserve an unreserved apology from the crown. They also deserve to see, where at all possible, their abusers convicted and serving prison sentences.
This fact alone should have every right thinking New Zealander appalled. More especially given the likely scale of the criminal offending, if the Australian Royal Commissions findings are anything to go by; there being absolutely no reason to believe that New Zealand’s statistics would be any different to those of Australia.
In fact, if one is to take the figures recently released by the Australian Commission, and then compare them with the suggested 1100 children that the Kiwis say have been sexually abused whilst in care historically, clearly, New Zealand has had a far more significant problem than Australia per capita.
In fact, New Zealand’s problem does not seem to have abated, the country is still in the grip of almost daily reports of contemporary offending; the only conclusion being that the problem is not only systemic but there may be continuing cultural or institutional causes for its existence.

Read more at http://www.laudafinem.org/2017/03/30/why-bill-english-nasty-nats-find-child-abuse-royal-commissions-terrifying/

● To view the open letter and petition go to http://www.neveragain.co.nz/

****

[excerpts – Lauda Finem]

The first thing that has to be said is that those who have only just arrived at this cause are only calling for an inquiry into children in State care. This is significantly less than the Australian model which has left absolutely no rock un-turned in its pursuit of perpetrators, cover-ups and the truth.

—

The beauty of the Australian model is that it has captured everything, the words “Institutional Response” powerful in who it captured. Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Religious orders, schools, Teachers; state and private, police, social workers, the scope has been enormous….and rewarding, if the sheer volume of the Commissions results are anything to go by.

—

There is some anecdotal evidence that the New Zealand police have in fact been one of the primary reasons for the National Party Government, to date, being loathed to even consider a Royal Commission. First and foremost the absence of the religious organisations stands out like balls on a short haired dog. Second, the absence of the New Zealand police.

—

Does Bill English seriously believe that New Zealand Govt agencies, including the country’s systemically corrupt police force will learn anything from the published results of the Australian Royal Commission? Does any New Zealand politician seriously believe that for one minute? If they do then they should be pointed in the direction of a clinical psychologist for evaluation and treatment.

—

For both the New Zealand police and the country’s government it’s always been about harm minimisation, not for the unfortunate victims you understand, but rather for themselves.
Until recently, Police Association president for life, Greg O’Connor, was living breathing evidence that the New Zealand police force had gained absolutely nothing from either of the two Australian State crackdowns on police corruption. In fact, many of the gang rapes committed by New Zealand police remained concealed for years after both of those inquiries, some that we are aware of, indeed probably many more, remaining outside the public’s knowledge, the Police Commissioner and Prime Ministers dirty little secret.

—

Just how many of these men and woman suffered serious abuse at the hands of paedophiles and psychopaths working for New Zealand Govt agencies, including its police force?

—

In short, Bill English knows that once the scale of historic sexual physical and emotional harm to Kiwi children is known to the public the government will no longer be in control of the inquiry. Growing public anger will inevitably ensure that any Royal Commission gets what it needs, whether initially proposed and sanctioned or not, to aid in the job of ascertaining the enormous scale of the problem in New Zealand.

—

Evidence of these police and Government cover-ups is to be found here on Lauda Finem, it’s also to be found in a variety other places, libraries and online.
The work of Kiwi investigative journo Ian Wishart, in particular a special investigation Wishart conducted over a two year period, culminating in his 2007 accusations of New Zealand Police involvement in organised child sexual exploitation rings in both Christchurch and Dunedin. Accusations that were never properly investigated by police or the IPCA for quite obvious reasons.
Police behaviour that was at the time of the offending known to John Jamieson, then Christchurch District Commander and subsequently, as Commissioner of police (1984 – 1994), a man who the Catholic Church, following Jamieson’s brief and unremarkable political career, hired with the obvious intention of insuring that all accusations of historic child sexual abuse were mustered smoothly out the back door, much to the Arch Bishop’s benefit.

—

Prior to joining the Catholic Church John Jamieson, as Commissioner of Police, himself assisted in concealing, from the media and the public, allegations of rape, violence and corruption against serving police officers, one of whom escaped to South Africa with the aid of at least nine other serving Gisborne police officers.
In short, Bill English, without a shadow of a doubt, is fully cognisant of the scale of the historic problem in New Zealand, in particular the police involvement. He also likely knows that the scale of Historic child abuse in New Zealand is far greater than what has historically occurred in Australia, if only on a per capita basis.

—

New Zealand police have in the past used all sorts of skulduggery in efforts to thwart official inquiries into their unlawful practices and conduct, including sexual and physical abuses.

—

[photo caption] Two dirty cops: ex New Zealand police commissioners John Jamieson (L) and Howard Broad (R) Jamieson was certainly, without a shred of doubt, a master of the dark art of police corruption and cover-up

—

Lauda Finem have in the past written extensively on the existence of these practices and a secret police network, comprising ex police, some turned corrupt private investigators and others turned corrupt politicians, from local bodies right up to New Zealand’s Parliament.

See: New Zealand Police, ODESSA and just how they look after their own

See: New Zealand’s most powerful political force is?

—

We would also recommend that readers check out Ian Wishart’s article “To Serve and Protect”, also published in 2007, it’s an eye opener and gives readers some idea of what could be investigated had the New Zealand Government followed an identical path to that of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

See: Ex police commissioner Howard Broad to head CYF inquiry

Like ex Commissioner Jamieson, Police Commissioner Howard Broad was implicated by Wishart in sordid events which had been exposed by ex Christchurch cop turned whistle-blower and author Tom Lewis.

[ends]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Quick references:

August 14, 2007
Ian Wishart: To Serve & Protect: June 07
http://www.investigatemagazine.co.nz/Investigate/13956/to-serve-protect-june-07/

Tom Lewis: Coverups & Copouts (Hodder Moa Beckett, 20 March 1998)
The book written by ex senior police officer Tom Lewis traverses the seedy side of Dunedin during the eighties, including the infamous ‘Dunedin Sex Ring’ case.

[promo]
“There have been police enquiries in New Zealand and there has even been the odd exposé but there has never been a book like Tom Lewis’ COVERUPS AND COPOUTS. His story will shock the average New Zealander and shake the New Zealand police to the very core. Not only does the former detective sergeant describe in methodical detail some of the worst coverups in NZ police history, but he punctuates his story in the most compelling fashion. Tom Lewis actually dares to name names. From commissioners to constables, the truncheon isn’t spared. This book will not have won Tom Lewis any friends in the New Zealand Police, but it will finally lay bare to New Zealanders what most had never thought possible of our Police:
* Christopher John Lewis – the truth behind the royal assassination attempt
* Ron Jorgensen – alive and well – and living in Australia
* Dunedin sex ring – why the police copped out
and much more.”

More on police officer Tom Lewis and the Dunedin Sex Ring:
http://www.presscouncil.org.nz/display_ruling.php?case_number=2015
Case Number: 2015 Tom and Teresa Lewis Against Otago Daily Times | Press Council Meeting December 2007

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Posts by the New Zealand Police Conduct Association (NZPCA):

July 27, 2014
INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.TV publish allegations
http://nzpca.co.nz/investigatemagazine-tv-publish-allegations/

July 27, 2014
Tom Lewis
https://nzpca.co.nz/tom-lewis/

July 27, 2014
“Cover ups and Cop outs” the book
https://nzpca.co.nz/cover-ups-and-cop-outs-the-book/

August 1, 2014
Police respond to allegations and possible publication
https://nzpca.co.nz/police-respond-to-allegations-and-possible-publication/

****

Other references:

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/04/the_bazley_report.html

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/05/pca_refuses_to_investigate_dunedin_police_claims.html

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: deviantart.net – Behind my eyelids are islands of violence by feebeelu

Vogel Street parking on a quiet Sunday afternoon #petroltheft

A colleague and I decided to go to the ‘street’ kitchen on Sunday afternoon. We parked in front of the back doors to Sammy’s. At the kitchen we ordered tea and coffee and talked for a couple of hours. In that time someone unseen by us siphoned off about half of what remained in the petrol tank of my companion’s specially modified vehicle. Whoever did the job didn’t put the fuel flap down carefully before exit.

Naturally, some dusting to do…. was it an opportunistic one-off, or ?

We shall see. A few weird things going on lately. The driver and owner of the vehicle has only had it for about 6 days; they’re monitoring fuel consumption as well as other things in their daily life quite carefully just now.

Then too, there’s someone acting weirdly about town, who has an expired licence (not talking driver’s licence). Check this out at the Justice website. They coffee at Marbecks (Wall Street mall) despite protestations they do not.

Just putting it out there.

Small world.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

ODT updates mayoral vehicle serious injury crash information

### ODT Online Sat, 3 June 2017
Mayoress recovering
By Margot Taylor
The wife of Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull is slowly recovering after being seriously injured in a crash which wrecked a new mayoral car. Joan Wilson was driving a 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe when she crashed near Roxburgh in late December. Documents obtained under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) by blog “What if? Dunedin” reveal the $55,659 vehicle had been in use for just five days before the crash. In a statement to the Otago Daily Times Mr Cull said his wife sustained “serious injuries” in the crash. “Joan was the sole occupant in the vehicle. Fortunately, she is making a gradual recovery and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the emergency services and members of the public who provided assistance at the scene,” Mr Cull said. The accident was a “private matter” and no further comment would be made, Mr Cull said. […] Mrs Wilson was an authorised driver. Insurers had not identified the cause of the accident, and no other vehicles were involved.
Read more

Comment at ODT:
Dakota Sat, 03/06/2017 – 9:34am #
If this has cost ratepayers three grand, how is it a private matter?

****

New Zealand Transport Agency
NZTA manages the Crash Analysis System (CAS) – New Zealand’s primary tool for capturing information on where, when and how road crashes occur. The system provides tools to analyse and map crashes and enables users to identify high-risk locations and monitor trends and crash sites. This information helps inform transport policy, design and prioritise road safety improvements and monitor their effectiveness. CAS is used by a range of organisations all with the broad aim of improving road safety. It is an essential tool in supporting Safer Journeys and its vision of a ‘safe road system increasingly free of death and serious injury’. It enables the transport sector, over the long term, to improve road safety through knowledge, research and the measurements of the effects of changes to the network and network user behaviour.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/safety-resources/crash-analysis-system/

Ministry of Transport
Motor vehicle crashes in New Zealand is an annual statistical statement on road crashes in New Zealand. The crash data are derived from Traffic Crash reports completed by Police who attend fatal and injury crashes. As well as road crash statistics, motor vehicle crashes in New Zealand includes national hospital, breath and blood alcohol, road user behaviour and comparative international statistics which relate to road crashes.
http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/roadcrashstatistics/motorvehiclecrashesinnewzealand/

NZTA road death statistics
New Zealand road death toll statistics covering road fatalities and fatal crashes, updated daily. Road fatalities update | Fatal crashes update | Update road deaths by local government region | More detailed data
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/road-deaths/toll.html

****

Postscript
The driver of the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe is understood to have fallen asleep at the wheel resulting in the serious injury road crash as reported; their spouse was said to have been following in another vehicle at the time of the crash.

Related Post and Comments:
24.4.17 LGOIMA vehicle (DCC) : Hyundai Santa Fe (2016) written off Jan 2017

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Hyundai NZ Published on Apr 8, 2016
Five seats, or seven? | Hyundai NZ

Pike River realities surface . . .

At Twitter:

New Pike River mine footage 'extraordinary and alarming' https://t.co/znH2ARoJWt'

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) April 30, 2017

****

Video at ODT Online:

The father of one of the men killed in the Pike River mining disaster says the families have always believed the Government wasn’t telling the truth about mine safety.

Mon, 1 May 2017
ODT: Pike video shows men in mine after blast
The Government has long said high concentrations of methane inside the mine make it too risky to re-enter to retrieve the bodies of the 29 men killed in the November 2010 blast, because the gas could explode. But footage leaked to Newshub yesterday showed two Mines Rescue workers inside the mine three months after the explosion, with no gloves, apparently relaxed as they fashioned a makeshift cover for a robot out of cardboard and tape. The robot is seen to be steaming or smoking well inside the mine, but the workers do not panic – and nothing explodes. Bernie Monk, whose son Michael was killed in the November 2010 explosion in the West Coast coal mine, said the newly leaked footage did not come as a surprise. Cont/

****

At Twitter:

Never-before-seen footage from a robot inside Pike River shows men working, smoke or steam emitting from the robot https://t.co/4ST8LcktZc pic.twitter.com/cjo5rLWgxo

— Newshub Breaking (@NewshubBreaking) April 30, 2017

Incredible footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel from March 2011 showing two men inside + a smokey robot https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/8yKQKhvS51

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

This is the loader Russell Smith was driving when Pike River exploded. He was 1570m up mine's access tunnel https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/V7wIvAWHVe

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

Here's the raw new footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel, which shows two Mines Rescue staff calmly working https://t.co/RUw0tWuZ4o

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

.@pmbillenglish says he didn't know about the existence of Pike River footage released by Newshub https://t.co/zQnuN02Szd

— Newshub (@NewshubNZ) April 30, 2017

.@RadioLIVENZ's @SAINSO: PM Bill English needs to grow a pair over Pike River https://t.co/dh88rP5DtZ pic.twitter.com/6QoQV6LHLK

— Newshub Features (@NewshubFeatures) April 30, 2017

****

nzherald.co.nz Uploaded on Nov 23, 2010
Raw video: Robot camera inside Pike River mine
First pictures from inside the Pike River mine which show the miner’s helmet and mine damage.

Business Leaders’ Health & Safety Forum Published on Oct 21, 2013
Case Study: Pike River
View the full case study here:
http://www.zeroharm.org.nz/leadership/case-studies/pike-river/

Graeme Axford Published on Oct 31, 2014
Pike River families believe photos show bodies
Friday 31 Oct 2014 8:06 p.m.
It is understood that a decision from Solid Energy on whether it will allow recovery teams to re-enter the drift of the Pike River mine is imminent. The drift is not the mine itself, but the two-kilometre tunnel that leads to the mine.
Families of the victims are desperate for a mission to collect evidence and to see if there are any bodies in the drift.
They say if Solid Energy won’t do it, they will. They say they know there are bodies in the mine, and tonight, with their blessing and for the first time, we can show you their evidence. Dean Dunbar, the father of lost miner Joseph Dunbar, spoke with Campbell Live producer Kate McCallum. Watch the full interview with Dean Dunbar.

Division of Humanities, University of Otago Published on Jul 4, 2016
███ Pike River – How could this happen in this day and age?
Colin Smith, Chairman on the Pike River Families Group Committee and the Pike River 29 Legacy Trust, talks about the Pike River disaster and asks ‘how could this happen in this day and age’? Find out why the Pike River Families have fought so hard and for so long. Colin Smith is a law graduate from the University of Otago and is a partner with the Greymouth Law Firm Hannan & Seddon.

RNZ Published on Jan 23, 2017
Pike River survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes it’s safe to enter: RNZ Checkpoint
Pike River mine survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes the mine’s drift is safe to enter, and is willing to be among the first party that goes in.

****

davedobbynmusic Published on Dec 15, 2014
Dave Dobbyn – This Love (Live Perfomance)
‘This Love’ by Dave Dobbyn with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington is a moving tribute to the 29 men who died in the Pike River Mine explosion.
The piece was first performed at a concert attended by members of the miners’ bereaved families and was recorded by Radio NZ Concert. The choral arrangement is by Mark Dorrell. Also performing are Wellington Young Voices, Mark Vanilau (piano), Jo Barus (bass), Ross Burge (drums) and Chris Clark (cornet). With special thanks to TVNZ and Satellite Media – taken from the TVNZ documentary ‘Dreams Lie Deeper’.

—

Related Post and Comments:
24.1.13 Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Moron Drivers stay off Otago Southland roads….

….this long Easter Weekend.

[ends]

****

The warm fuzzy more genial (guinea pig?!) message:

At Facebook:

****

At Facebook:

Fri, 14 Apr 2017
ODT: On the buses over Easter weekend
Heritage buses will be back on the road over Easter weekend, providing public transport over the public holiday. Otago Heritage Bus Society treasurer/secretary Jacqui Hellyer said Dunedinites could ride the buses, which serviced St Kilda, St Clair, the Octagon, Brockville, Halfway Bush and Normanby, for a gold coin donation on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The services would run hourly and the timetable would be available on the Otago Heritage Bus Society’s Facebook page, Ms Hellyer said. Passengers could take service dogs or pet dogs on a leash.
The St Kilda service had stayed like its former route – to Brockville then Halfway Bush – and the other services took the routes used on non-public holidays, she said.

The Otago Regional Council, in a statement published on its website, said there would be no bus services on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. However, the standard Saturday timetable would apply on Saturday, and Easter Monday would run on the public holiday timetable. Normal services would resume on Tuesday.

****

Cool image at Twitter:

Looking forward to hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll at the @WhiteHouse on Monday! pic.twitter.com/nz7vucugx9

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 14, 2017

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the NZ public and foreign interest.

Ihaka Stokes case #Christchurch #NZ

A B U S E D ● M U R D E R E D

Toddler Ihaka Stokes was 14-months old when he died after suffering 59 injuries in the days leading up to his death on July 3, 2015

File photo [via Newshub]

30/03/2017
Newshub: Jury retires to make decision on Christchurch toddler murder trial
The jury in the trial of Troy Taylor, who is accused of murdering toddler Ihaka Stokes, has retired to consider their decision …. Taylor pleaded not guilty to assaulting Ihaka on July 2, 2015 and not guilty to the toddler’s murder. Throughout his trial in the High Court at Christchurch he has continued to plead his innocence. Ihaka’s mother, Mikala, was the only other person who was in the house that night, and the defence argues it was she who inflicted the fatal blows. Cont/

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At Facebook:

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Stuff News includes video segments:

Murder-accused Troy Taylor says his ‘conscience kicked in’ too late to save Ihaka Stokes’ life
Last updated 17:38, March 28 2017

Troy Taylor found guilty of murdering 14-month-old Ihaka Stokes
Last updated 18:45, March 30 2017

Father of murdered toddler Ihaka Stokes ‘pretty happy’ at Troy Taylor guilty verdict
Last updated 22:13, March 30 2017

Blood on the wall: How toddler murderer Troy Taylor tried to pretend he hadn’t killed Ihaka Stokes
Last updated 16:44, March 31 2017

Lead detective had ‘terrible dreams’ during Ihaka Stokes murder investigation
Last updated 19:37, March 31 2017

Mikala Stokes seemed younger than her 21 years in the witness stand.
Photo: Iain McGregor/Faifax NZ

Ihaka’s mother Mikala Stokes leaves the High Court at Christchurch.
Photo: Iain McGregor/Fairfax NZ

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Ihaka Stokes’ mother posted pictures on him online.

Fri, 31 Mar 2017
ODT: Mum goes clubbing after court
The mother of murdered Christchurch infant Ihaka Stokes went nightclubbing last night just hours after her ex-partner was found guilty of the boy’s brutal killing. Mikala Stokes (21) posted a photo on social media in the early hours of this morning. The selfie caption read: “From court to club”. Earlier in the evening, after Troy Taylor, the man who blamed her for killing her 14-month-old son at their Christchurch home in July 2015, was found guilty, Stokes posted photographs of her playing beer pong. One of Stokes’ friends on Snapchat, Julie Stechmann, screen-grabbed the nightclub photo, which was posted at about 1am. She told the Herald today that she thought it was strange behaviour. Cont/

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At Twitter:

#Dunedin #NZ 'From Court to Club'
Ihaka Stokes Mum parties after guilty verdict https://t.co/GPuxg9dubW @whatifdunedin @IR_Tyler

— Media Man (@TheWarRoomNZ) March 31, 2017

@TheWarRoomNZ @whatifdunedin @IR_Tyler There is story to her life which I bet ain't pretty – that might explain but never excuse her behaviour – we need to change these stories

— Kim Murphy-Stewart (@Kawanatanga1) March 31, 2017

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Cameron Ellen, right, carries his son Ihaka Stokes’s coffin at his funeral in 2015. The 14-month-old was murdered by Troy Taylor (in purple, centre), the then partner of his mother Mikala Stokes (obscured, behind Ellen).
Photo: John Kirk-Anderson/Fairfax NZ

Mikala Stokes and Troy Taylor together at Ihaka’s funeral.
Photo: Fairfax NZ

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At Twitter:

Why Bill English & Nasty Nats find Child Abuse Royal Commissions Terrifying https://t.co/Ows3x258I5 pic.twitter.com/yKgLVNW17t

— Lauda Finem (@Laudafinem) March 29, 2017

pic.twitter.com/uhZHd21zjB

— Malcolm Justice (@MPD_NZ) April 1, 2017

Related Posts and Comments:
28.3.17 New Zealand child abuse
20.12.15 NZ Police family violence campaign #WalkAway
25.8.15 State Care: history of brutal child abuse #NewZealand

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Who needs cheap-brained tourists —ugh #Dunedin

I tried taking the usual bad ‘visitor’ happysnaps

but seriously (no tourists were shoved aside to take these)

Destination Dunedin managing the trade-offs between risk and innovation….

*Enterprise Dunedin, hope you’ve got a section or three about that in your destination plan

****

On Monday I was quickly(!) photographing post-iD architectural details inside Dunedin Railway Station – it was absolutely no more than 3 minutes by smartphone – when an Asian tourist abruptly told me to get out of the way so her male partner could get a shot. Moi ? I was there first, just walking and clicking – there was no crowd – the visitor arrogance was slightly disgusting.

It could happen anywhere. People sheeple.

The following at ODT, however, is much much worse.
Quite frankly the residents of Baldwin St should seek police and legal action.
It’s YOUR homes, YOUR property, YOUR privacy that’s being abused.
The council can help. The ED can help.

[A steep street of No Trespass notices and snarling bullmastiffs has its own photographic charm.]

Good on Sharon Hyndman for speaking out.
I wouldn’t be in her shoes, for all ‘the world’.

At Facebook:

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### ODT Online Wed, 29 Mar 2017
Privacy breaches upset resident
By David Loughrey
A sharp rise in visitor numbers to the world’s steepest street has resulted in one Dunedin resident speaking out about tourists she says are walking on to her property and peering in the windows. Baldwin St resident of 17 years Sharon Hyndman took her cause to a Dunedin City Council public forum yesterday. She said some tourists had “issues with the concept of privacy and private property”. That meant she had people walking down her drive, on to her deck, and peering in her windows, once or twice a week …. Others parked in her driveway, and did “not always co-operate” when asked to leave. One man had even entered her property and stood on an outdoor table to take a photograph.
Read more

—

Related Post:
6.1.17 OPINIONS : Otago Southland regional tourism

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: pinimg.com – bullmastiff tweaked by whatifdunedin

New Zealand child abuse

At Twitter:

James endured four years of life — until he was stomped to death. All preventable, writes Jarrod Gilbert https://t.co/8lMQ2UBuz3

— nzherald (@nzherald) March 27, 2017

****

New Zealanders are more likely to be homicide victims in their first tender years than at any other time in their lives.

### NZ Herald 5:00 AM Tue, 28 Mar 2017
Jarrod Gilbert: We really must stop this cycle of child abuse
By Dr Jarrod Gilbert
Often when I’m doing research I dance a silly jig when I gleefully unearth a gem of information hitherto unknown or long forgotten. In studying the violent deaths of kids that doesn’t happen. There was no dance of joy when I discovered New Zealanders are more likely to be homicide victims in their first tender years than at any other time in their lives. But nothing numbs you like the photographs of dead children. Little bodies lying there limp with little hands and little fingers, covered in scratches and an array of bruises some dark black and some fading, looking as vulnerable dead as they were when they were alive. James Whakaruru’s misery ended when he was killed in 1999. He had endured four years of life and that was all he could take. He was hit with a small hammer, a jug cord and a vacuum cleaner hose. During one beating his mind was so confused he stared blankly ahead. His tormentor responded by poking him in the eyes. It was a stomping that eventually switched out his little light. It was a case that even the Mongrel Mob condemned, calling the cruelty “amongst the lowest of any act”.
Read more

• Dr Jarrod Gilbert is a sociologist at the University of Canterbury and the lead researcher at Independent Research Solutions. He is the author of Patched: The history of gangs in New Zealand and is currently writing a book on murder.

—

Related Post and Comments:
20.12.15 NZ Police family violence campaign #WalkAway
—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Video from America : Street protest —Washington DC #inauguration

Footage direct from a reader on site today….

—

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Obama holds final press conference https://t.co/qqkHu4RSya

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 18, 2017

Trump inauguration boycott escalates https://t.co/mtxwAP5xTc

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 18, 2017

Xero chair resigns after Trump appointment https://t.co/liXBXNHtJW

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 19, 2017

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Basic questions arising for the City, unpublished by the newspaper

Received from John Evans
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 at 7:47 p.m.

—

From: John Evans
Date: Monday, January 16, 2017
Subject: KPI
To: ODT editor

The Editor, ODT

Sir,

We are often regaled by company directors, CEOs and bureaucrats with discourses on the importance of KPIs. KPIs?

Key Performance Indicators – one of many PR corporate speak Buzzwords.

Wikipedia’s definition is pretty broad but basically it means that certain measures designed by the company or board are measured against actual performances.

Recently, the term gained another meaning when KEY performance [was] reassessed in the light of John KEY’s resignation. Unfortunately his stellar career as Prime Minister seemed to be judged poorly by those political pundits doing the assessment.

The key word is Performance, the measure of which is judged in order to provide an increase in salary or measures which might lose the judged their position if they failed to meet the KPIs included as part of the employment contract.

The test is what performance is paramount and who is it paramount to.
These tests are important in worldwide businesses but is there a different reality in New Zealand? It seems to me that either the KPIs are set incorrectly or there is a disconnect because no one seems to fail, to not meet their predetermined KPIs.

[infront.com]

One example is the role of council lawyers. Why would council lawyers write in an employment contract a clause which gave the employee a golden parachute even if they failed to meet their KPIs? Or was it the employees themselves who wrote the KPIs for their own future benefit? Surely if this was so, the lawyers acting for the company or body they represent would refuse to condone the parachute for employees and directors after proven incompetence.

The Dunedin City Council and its management, and the council owned companies, are surely charged with KPIs and, one surmises, about the results of such indicators and the resultant effects on the council and its employees. Can we analyse a few actions of the council and what the KPIs may have been and whether they would meet them and perhaps the consequences of meeting them or not.

The first and most obvious one is the theft of 152+ cars.
What was the measure of acceptable theft? Was it 20 cars, 100 cars or was 150 cars sufficient to tip them over the edge. And as another example, what was the Police’s key indicator on this matter? Do they prosecute for the theft or conversion of 1 car or does it take 160 cars to prosecute somebody for being involved either in the theft or knowing receipt of a car or cars?

The next is the investment in land and development projects by Delta.
Was failure in one, two or three such projects acceptable or is the magic number 5 (Delta will do it again and we have not quite got there yet).

The Dunedin stadium KPIs. Is a running cost of some $20million acceptable as an annual loss to the ratepayers or should the losses be only $15million or shock horror only $5million. Or should the ratepayers be released from the financial burden which was never the choice of the majority?

Sewage Treatment KPI – Is it acceptable to process sewage to a point that it pollutes the ocean two kilometres out or are we entitled to potable water ex site at Tahuna?

Mudtank cleaning KPI – How many mudtanks cleaned would be an acceptable result, would a flood in South Dunedin suggest that measure was incorrect? Contractual performance and payment for same. Would a KPI for the DCC CEO include overall managing payments to contractors? If a contractor did not perform to those KPIs set within the mudtank cleaning contract, should the contractor be still paid?

Wastewater treatment – Is it an acceptable KPI for wastewater treatment that in high rainfall such overflows are discharged into the pristine Otago Harbour?

Delta KPI on pole replacement. Is 100 unreplaced tagged poles acceptable? Is 1000 acceptable? On suspect poles, is a KPI that the company changes so that they did not breach a previous KPI acceptable or should every company and council just change their KPIs to avoid failure, blame or the legal consequences?

Richard Healey, the “whistleblower” on Delta’s failures seems to have personal ‘built-in’ KPIs —including integrity, high quality job performance, peer safety and corporate responsibility. Just why do the CEO and directors’ KPIs apparently differ from these such that Healey has to resign for them to take note?

On Directors of the council owned companies, do their KPIs reflect their responsibility under the law or are they designed to protect the directors from prosecution under the law despite failure by other measures?

And where does the buck stop?

Just what are the KPIs upon which we judge the mayor, based? Is the only measurement his electability?

Are we the ratepayers not entitled to expect a KPI that includes retribution against failings in any DCC departments or DCHL companies? If we do not reward success and prosecute failure in some way are we not missing the whole point of Pavlov and his dogs? Should we not then close our prisons and let the perpetrators of violence, antisocial acts and any injustice roam free, surely this is the logical nett result of such an attitude of no judgement.

The analysis of John Key’s contribution would suggest that electability and performance may well be poles apart. Perhaps that is the greatest lesson we can learn from the errors of judgement of recent times in our city.

John P. Evans
Otakou

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview with Kathryn Ryan #RNZ

Link received 27/12/2016 at 3:21 p.m.
Message: A lesson for some Dunedin ‘luminaries’ perchance?

It’s amazing how resistant, particularly powerful men, are to people coming from outside and giving them advice on how to make decisions.
—Michael Lewis

RNZ National
Trust your gut? Think again
From Nine To Noon with Kathryn Ryan, 10:09 am on 21 December 2016

[Abridged.] Michael Lewis is one of the most famous non-fiction writers in America. He has written 14 books, edited one and is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair. His books include the global best-selling Flash Boys – an expose of high speed scamming in the stock market; The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine – an account of shady financial transactions and accounting that led to the 2008 global financial meltdown and on which the film The Big Short was based and Moneyball, the story of a maverick outsider who beat the system.

Lewis’s new book is called The Undoing Project in which he profiles the professional and personal relationship between the behavioural psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Kahneman and Tversky’s work shed new light on how humans make decisions when faced with risk and uncertainty. They established that we generally trust our gut instinct, over the evidence, to guide our decision-making.

[simonandschuster.com]

Lewis says he came across Kahneman and Tversky after writing Moneyball. He says the two were very different personalities and that made for the perfect team.

“They sensed in the other something they wished they had. Kahneman is an unbelievable creative mind he really has a mind more like a poet or a novelist filled with these flashing insights about human nature. Tversky wanted to be a poet but he has a scientific, logical mind. He’s a brilliant logician.”

The two decide to come together and study how the human mind works. That work became an examination of human fallibility – the weakness of the human mind. They designed experiments to show how our mind plays tricks on us.

One they stumbled on was a phenomenon they called anchoring that skews human decisions. They also established that we are terrible at assessing risk – we rate risk based on what’s most memorable which tends to be what happened most recently.

[marketwatch.com]

“People long for the world to be a far more certain place than it is, instead of dealing with uncertainties they tell stories that make it seem much more certain and respond to stories that make it seem much more certain than it is. A politician speaking in certain terms as if he’s infallible has weirdly an advantage – even though we shouldn’t believe him. We’re very vulnerable to people who simulate certainty.”

Lewis is unsure whether this inbuilt fallibility can be fixed.

“I hate to sound fatalistic but one of the big takeaways from [Kahneman and Tversky’s] work is just how hard it is to correct for human fallibility – they equate cognitive illusion with optical illusion.”
Read more

█ Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (26′07″)

—

Michael Monroe Lewis (born Oct 15, 1960) was born in New Orleans to corporate lawyer J. Thomas Lewis and community activist Diana Monroe Lewis. He attended the college preparatory Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. He then attended Princeton University where he received a BA degree (cum laude) in Art History in 1982 and was a member of the Ivy Club. He went on to work with New York art dealer Daniel Wildenstein. He enrolled in the London School of Economics, and received his MA degree in Economics in 1985. Lewis was hired by Salomon Brothers and moved to New York for their training program. He worked at its London office as a bond salesman. He resigned to write Liar’s Poker and become a financial journalist. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009. More at Wikipedia.

Vanity Fair – Hive: Politics
█ Donald Trump and the Rules of the New American Board Game
By Michael Lewis Dec 18, 2016 7:00 pm
While volunteering at his daughter’s new high school, Michael Lewis watched kids of all races and backgrounds react to Trump’s election with a peaceful demonstration of their grief and fear. It inspired a game he’s devised for thinking about the future. Link

Vanity Fair – Hive: Politics
█ Obama’s Way
By Michael Lewis Sep 11, 2012 6:12 pm
To understand how air-force navigator Tyler Stark ended up in a thornbush in the Libyan desert in March 2011, one must understand what it’s like to be president of the United States—and this president in particular. Hanging around Barack Obama for six months, in the White House, aboard Air Force One, and on the basketball court, Michael Lewis learns the reality of the Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent Stark into combat. Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Michael Lewis by Tabitha Soren / W.W. Norton Company
blackwhite by whatifdunedin

Wastewater testing for drug use

[utopiasilver.com]

### NZ Herald Online 12:38 PM Monday Dec 19, 2016
Police to start testing wastewater in NZ for drug use
Police are about to start testing wastewater in Auckland and Christchurch, to get a better idea of drug use in the community. Similar testing in Perth has found 31.6kg of meth was consumed in the city area each week, that’s 1.6 tonnes a year. Now police want to do the same here.
The testing, which will look for methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, alpha PVP, MDMA and Creatinine, will take place in Christchurch and Auckland’s Rosedale treatment plants. Police say the results, which cannot be traced to individuals, will improve their understating of drug use in the population.
Assistant Commissioner Bill Searle … said the results will also inform treatment and enforcement strategies, allow comparison with international data, measure the effectiveness of education and enforcement and provide intelligence data … The testing will be undertaken by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research for one week each month for a year.
Read more

****

NBC News: Shocking mugshots reveal toll of drug abuse
Updated 2/25/2011 6:29:15 PM ET
In-your-face photos aim to scare teens straight by striking their vanity.
The pairs of mug shots, which graphically display the damage drugs can do to the face, were collected by the sheriff’s office in Multnomah County, Ore. Faces that were normal — even attractive — in initial photos, shot when addicts were first arrested, metamorphose over years, and sometimes just months, into gaunt, pitted, even toothless wrecks. Link

****

‘Everyone experiments at college or school and I want From Drugs to Mugs to show kids that everyone in those pictures started on cannabis, they didn’t just dive head first into heroin.’ –Deputy Bret King, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon.

Daily Mail (Australia): The horror of Meth: Before-and-after pictures reveal shocking transformation in faces of users hooked on deadly drug
Published: 02:12 +11:00, 7 Dec 2012 | Updated: 06:53 +11:00, 7 Dec 2012
A new anti-drug advertisement shows the devastating physical transformation addicts experience after years of meth use. The photos, that show a shocking Dorian Gray-like deterioration, were compiled from mug shots of drug users that were arrested repeatedly over the years. The continued drug use caused horrific damage to the drug users’ skin with sores and scarring – that can be caused by uncontrollable scratching during a hallucination when the addict imagines bugs are crawling under their skin. Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Auckland corruption charges proved —ring any bells? #South

“The extensive provision of benefits to staff at all levels of their teams resulted in a culture where corruption flourished and was normalised, with no questions asked. There was very little chance of disgruntled or principled employees speaking out as everyone was being ‘looked after’ or was compromised.” –Brian Dickey, SFO prosecutor

### NZ Herald Fri, 9 Dec 2016 at 10:05 a.m.
Council manager guilty of majority of corruption charges
By Matt Nippert
A roading contractor and a council manager have been found guilty of corruption in a case exposing what the prosecution called a “culture of corruption” among Auckland council staff administering tens of millions of dollars in roading contracts. Justice Sally Fitzgerald delivered her verdict this in the High Court at Auckland this morning in the long-running trial of former Auckland Transport senior manager Murray Noone and roading engineer contractor Stephen Borlase. Noone was found guilty on six charges of receiving $1.2 million in bribes from Borlase. Borlase, in turn, was found guilty on eight charges of offering bribes to Noone and other council staff. Borlase was found not guilty on four charges of dishonestly using a document to allegedly inflate invoices to council. The corrupt relationship ran from 2006 until 2012, from Noone worked at Rodney District Council, continuing when he joined Auckland Transport following the supercity merger.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Santa Parade, Dunedin (4 Dec 2016)

Updated post
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 at 1:26 a.m.

Waiting for Father Christmas to turn up……

Slideshows
Images taken in George St and the Octagon on Sunday afternoon

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Mon, 5 Dec 2016
ODT: So you’d better be good …
In the most pointed reminder yet that parents only have three weeks to fill the space beneath the tree in their lounge, Mr Claus and his crew marched down George St yesterday in Dunedin’s 19th annual Santa Parade. Thousands lined George St, the Octagon and Princes St from Duke St to Moray Pl. Santa was joined by the usual suspects. […] It was believed to be the biggest turnout to the parade in recent years. A total of 80 floats took part. Cont/

Otago Daily Times: 4 Dec 2016 at 4:12 PM [poor colour handling]

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Related Posts and Comments:
3.12.16 Dunedin Santa Parade 4 December (tomorrow) at 3pm
7.12.15 Santa Parade, Dunedin (6 Dec 2015) ● [photo gallery]
1.12.15 Dunedin Santa Parade (6 Dec 2015)
8.12.14 Santa Parade, Dunedin (7 Dec 2014) ● [photo gallery]
24.12.13 Daaave’s $47 million Christmas present to Jinty. We’re paying.
1.12.13 Santa Parade, Dunedin (1 Dec 2013) ● [photo gallery]
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
25.12.11 Christmas time
5.12.10 Santa’s sleigh broke down…

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Post and images by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC acuity: ‘Let’s shift Octagon taxi ranks, Again —near dire drinking holes #whatswrongwiththispicture

[click to enlarge]
Octagon taxi rank [dunedin.govt.nz] – orange overlay by whatifdunedin (drinking holes / hospitality)

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
New trial site for evening taxi rank

This item was published on 22 Aug 2016

A new location for the evening taxi rank in the Octagon will be trialled for three months. From tomorrow, the evening taxi rank will move from outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre to the central lane of the Octagon, where tour bus parking has been provided. The rank will operate from 7pm to 7am, Monday to Sunday. During the day time, the taxi rank will operate from the current location outside the Municipal Chambers and Civic Centre. Dunedin City Council Acting Group Manager Transport Richard Saunders says the covered walkway will provide shelter for people waiting for taxis. There will also be a sign to show where the taxi stand is and the area is monitored by CCTV.

“This proposal has been discussed with taxi companies, local businesses and the Police, and there is a lot of support for the trial. The trial site has several advantages over the current site and we expect it to be popular with the public too.” –Saunders

DCC staff have talked with the mobile traders who use that space during the day and the trial will not affect their use of the area. Mr Saunders says at the end of the trial, staff will discuss the results with taxi companies, the Police and local businesses before deciding whether to make it a permanent move.

Contact Richard Saunders, Acting Group Manager Transport on 03 477 4000.

DCC Link

█ 22.8.16 ODT: Taxi rank trial in Octagon

****

Previously published comment (2.5.16):

C E N T R A L ● C I T Y ● V I O L E N C E

Mon, 2 May 2016
ODT: Stabbing: ‘What is this place coming to?’
The stabbing of a 21-year-old man in central Dunedin early yesterday has left the man who rushed to his aid questioning the state of his city. Detective Sergeant Chris Henderson said the victim was taken to Dunedin Hospital after being stabbed in the neck and back outside the The Bottle-O store on the corner of Princes St and Moray Pl about 3.30am.

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DUNEDIN IS UP THERE (2015 statistics)

### newshub.co.nz Mon, 2 May 2016 at 4:45 p.m.
NZ’s most violent city spots revealed
By Lisa Owen
A Newshub investigation has revealed Auckland neighbourhoods dominate a leaderboard of the most violent city hot spots in the country. Statistics New Zealand has mapped 2015 police crime data, released to Newshub under the Official Information Act, to show the areas with the highest number of assaults, sexual assaults and robberies in public places. The crimes include anything from rape to being beaten up or being robbed of your cellphone at knife-point. Three of the five most violent city areas (precincts where there are more than 3000 residents) are in Auckland’s CBD. […] *By overlaying population data in the zones where crime has occurred, Statistics NZ has been able to work out the national average for incidents of public place violence. *Article uses 2015 statistics of victimisations by assault, sexual assault and robbery in public places.
Read more + VIDEO

█ Dunedin = No. 7 on New Zealand’s top ten most violent city hot spots
The only South Island hotspot, the area running north from the Octagon.
Newshub

█ For more, enter the term *octagon* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Fire Safety at Home : Install long-life photoelectric alarms #bestprotection

NEW ZEALAND FIRE SERVICE
We recommend you install long-life photoelectric type smoke alarms in your home. They may cost a little more but the benefits are significant.
• They provide a about 10 years smoke detection.
• They remove the frustration of fixing the ‘flat battery beep’ at inconvenient times such as at 3 in the morning.
• The cost of replacement batteries for standard alarms means the long-life one effectively pays for itself over its lifetime.
• You don’t have to climb ladders every year to replace batteries.

Your best protection is to have photoelectric smoke alarms in every bedroom, living area and hallway in your home. Install them in the middle of the ceiling of each room.

But, at a minimum, you should install one standard long-life photoelectric type alarm in the hallway closest to the bedrooms.

█ NZFS : Make Your Home and Family Fire Safe Brochure

█ NZFS : More on smoke alarm installation

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Explanation

SMOKE ALARMS : TYPES
There are 2 main types of smoke alarm available – ionisation and photoelectric:

Ionisation alarms
Ionisation alarms monitor ions or electrically charged particles in the air. Smoke particles enter the sensing chamber changing the electrical balance of the air. The alarm will sound when the change in the electrical balance reaches a certain level.

Photoelectric alarms (recommended)
Photoelectric alarms have a sensing chamber which uses a beam of light and a light sensor. Smoke particles entering the chamber change the amount of light that reaches the sensor. The alarm sounds when the smoke density reaches a preset level.

Our recommendation for your home
We recommend that you install photoelectric smoke alarms as they provide more effective all-round detection and alarm in all types of fire scenarios and are more likely to alert occupants in time to escape safely.

█ If your home currently only has ionisation alarms installed we recommend that you also install some photoelectric alarms.

Smoke alarms for hearing-impaired
Smoke alarms are available for people with hearing loss. These alarms have extra features such as extra loud and/or lower pitch alarm sounds, flashing strobe lights, or vibrating devices.
Find out more about these alarms and where you can buy them

Australasian standards for smoke alarms
The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) is the representative body in the Australasian region for fire, emergency services, and land management agencies.
Read the AFAC position on smoke alarms for residential accommodation

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█ WHERE TO BUY : Consumer Test (PDF)
Silent Death : Smoke is toxic – and breathing it can kill. So you need an alarm that gives you early warning and more time to escape.

Fire damage: 660 Castle St, Dunedin – window escape route [stuff.co.nz]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: fire.org.nz – smoke alarms banner

Otago students at Pitt St: No longer drunk possums in trees

Last night I heard (muted) sirens about, nothing more – not realising what was happening a few houses away up Pitt St. My place is tucked in off the road, nothing seemed out of the usual for a Thursday night, ‘student party night’ —just typical city noise that often includes sirens and choppers. Reading through a consent file for 97 Filleul St collected from DCC that afternoon, I was absorbed, completely missing the street action…. On waking this morning, I opened the first message on my phone, from a journalist asking if I’d heard the party on Pitt St last night? Hmm

18 Pitt Street, Dunedin [Google Street View Nov 2009] tweaked

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:50, April 29 2016
Dunedin student seriously injured after jumping from roof
By Laura Walters and Hamish McNeilly
A Dunedin student in hospital with life-threatening injuries jumped from a roof just minutes after party-goers were told to turn their music down by noise control officers. Dunedin District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Brian Benn said police were called to the house on Pitt St about 11.30pm on Thursday. “A drunken student tried to jump off a roof. That didn’t end too well for him.” Benn said no one at the party saw the 21-year-old land after jumping from the roof, but when partygoers went to find out what happened they found him with “reasonably serious injuries”. Neighbours said the flat had been quiet during 2016 until Thursday night’s party. “It was a terrible racket,” one neighbour said. St John ambulance spokesman Andy Gray said the student’s condition was updated from serious to critical due to his “life threatening injuries”. He was taken to Dunedin Hospital but the large party continued.
Read more

Fri, 29 Apr 2016
ODT: Student ‘critical’ after jump off roof
A student is fighting for his life after jumping off the roof of a two-storey house at a large Dunedin flat party last night. Senior Sergeant Brian Benn, of Dunedin, said the 21-year-old was seriously injured after “an aerial stunt” at the Pitt St party went wrong.

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Not for the first time.
Last year, it began with the male students at 53 Royal Tce….

Comment by Elizabeth
2016/04/07 at 2:38 am
An associate caught sight of a particularly juvenile and UNSAFE act that occurred next door [at 53]….
The scene.
Two storeyed house with dormer windows in the City Rise, tenanted by university 3rd or 4th year male students.
Constant noise and behavioural issues…. well-known to Noise Control, Campus Watch and Proctor [Police attention very much the next step – these young idiots have been told].

One of them had earlier broken his leg. Following recovery and some time later…. his so-called ‘friends’ egged him on to jump from a dormer roof (at second floor level) into a shallow paddling pool at ground level. He had to think about it for quite a while…. obviously he was facing serious injury or worse if he got it wrong, given the building height and shallowness of the water. Being a mental statistic he jumped – by luck not good management he did not need an ambulance.

What was that about safety nets – let the morons kill themselves, one less noise complaint.

Recent student idiocy:
● 53 Royal Tce – Dunedin [no injury, not recorded] Late 2015
● 598 Castle St – Dunedin [multiple crowd injuries] 4 Mar 2016 Link
● 124 Dundas St – Dunedin [serious head injury] 12 Mar 2016 Link
● 18 Pitt St – Dunedin 2016 [critical injury] 28 Apr 2016

Related Post and Comments:
7.3.16 Balcony Collapse at Six60 concert, 598 Castle Street, Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: red_cross_joshua_dwire_03.svg 2 | creativebloq.com – falling dude
[whatifdunedin overlay]

Balcony Collapse at Six60 concert, 598 Castle Street, Dunedin

Tweet:

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Paul Henry
Monday 7 Mar 2016 8:02 a.m. (via newshub.co.nz)
Key: More police wouldn’t have prevented balcony collapse Updated

Paul Henry
Monday 7 Mar 2016 12:42 p.m. (via newshub.co.nz)
Police should have been given more notice of Six60 concert – O’Connor

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Six60 outside Castle Street flat that inspired their name. Photo: Instagram/Six60 (via RNZ News)

its SLiK Published on Mar 4, 2016
Balcony collapses near Six60 gig

Otago Daily Times Published on Mar 4, 2016
Balcony collapse on Dunedin’s Castle Street

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### radionz.co.nz Updated at 11:33 am today
RNZ News
No criminal inquiry into balcony collapse
The police have decided against opening a criminal investigation into a balcony collapse at a concert in Dunedin. […] A young woman studying at Otago University has been transferred to Christchurch Hospital, with what have been reported as spinal injuries. A young male student from Otago Polytechnic has undergone surgery at Dunedin Hospital. […] While police did not intend to investigate further from a criminal point of view, they would work with the reviews being carried out by Worksafe New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Action was urgently needed to ensure people’s safety and preserve the reputations of the city and Otago University, [Mayor Cull] said.

Other events during this year’s orientation week, such as couch burning and concern about verbal abuse, including a rape threat and racial slurs, have prompted students themselves to call for action.

[Mayor Cull:] The council had no power to control the event at which the balcony collapsed as it was held on private property, and that might need to change. […]

Balcony ‘met building standards’
Mr Cull said the council’s chief building inspector had examined the balcony yesterday, and said it met the requirements of the building code. “I welcome the [Department of Building and Housing’s] further investigation to make it absolutely clear what caused it.” He said whether the partygoers were jumping up and down on the balcony was not the issue; it was that hundreds of people turned up to an event that would not normally be held in a domestic venue. “It’s just not acceptable to expect those kind of situations to not present more risk than if it’s professionally organised.”
Read more

### radionz.co.nz Updated at 8:00 am today
New footage of balcony collapse concert
By Ian Telfer – Dunedin
High-tech footage of a balcony collapse at a student concert has revealed no-one was jumping on it when it fell.
Read more + Photos

HARLENE KNOWS NOT HOW TO RULE [23 February 2012]
RNZ: University vice-chancellor seeking to halt wild parties

█ Listen to Ian Telfer on Morning Report

█ Listen to the interview with Dave Cull on Morning Report

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Stuff.co.nz stories:

● 7.3.16 Performer warned people to ‘get off the balcony’…
● 6.3.16 Harrowing injuries after balcony collapse…
● 6.3.16 Dunedin balcony collapse – Government orders investigation
● 5.3.16 Balcony collapse: Concerns raised about stability…
● 5.3.16 Balcony collapses at Six60 gig…

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Comment at What if? Dunedin:

Anonymous 2016/03/06 at 11:05 pm
Dealing with some issues here:

– on the claim that “the concert was impromptu” – it was “announced” via social media on Monday and the University was aware prior (Campus Watch were detailed). Animation Research Ltd had a 360 degree motion camera rig in operation (and captured footage of the collapse). A stage was erected and sound gear installed. This is not impromptu.

– an “impromptu” event would still need to be notified
see here: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/Frefor/pdf/event-safety-guidelines-osh-200104.pdfhttp://www.waitakere.govt.nz/Frefor/pdf/event-safety-guidelines-osh-200104.pdf
“Any planned activity where any structure, open area, roadway or other area will contain more people than normally found in that location at one time.”

– the venue was unsafe. Egress, crush barriers and evacuation were inadequate (a van was parked across the leg-in blocking access) as the band were performing (and ARL were working, and news media were reporting), this meets the definition of a “workplace” and both HSA and Worksafe legislation apply.

The event organizer has strict liability here. Those suggesting that the balcony collapse was the fault of those on it and that they should take “personal responsibility” are unfortunately misguided. It is up to the event organizer and those assessing the management plan to identify and control these risks. This was clearly inadequate in this case.

I would not want to be standing anywhere near the event organizers once the detailed investigation starts.

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Related Post and Comments:
3.11.15 Dunedin: University students into excess alcohol, party drugs, sexual abuse, vandalism #CRIME —Balcony collapse discussed from comment 71132

█ For more, enter the terms *students*, *university*, *harlene* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

CELEBRATE !!! Greater Dunedin has DIED #boombustcycle

It has not quite gone to Hell, alas.

ODT editor Barry Stewart on tonight’s 39 Dunedin News, announed Greater Dunedin has ended.

This doesn’t mean the people from that popped cycle tyre won’t stand individually.

The reign of Incompetent Spending Terror continues.

But it’s a start. More spurning please.

[HUGE PITY] Dave Cull is running for Mayor again.

Who are they ???
● Dave Cull
● Chris Staynes
● Richard Thomson
● Kate Wilson
● Mike Lord
● Jinty MacTavish

Photo (retitled): The Greater Dunedin caucus leaves

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption

Whaleoil link received.
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 at 9:10 a.m.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT . . .
“in NZ is dodgier than a 10-month-old piece of rancid mutton.” –Slater

### whaleoil.co.nz January 28, 2016 at 8:30am
NZ drops in corruption ratings
by Cameron Slater
The Herald has asked the question of whether NZ is corrupt. Really? They don’t know? Are they surprised?
Of course NZ is filled with corrupt officials. Local Government is the worst.
Corruption is foolishly assumed by the Media Party to be extreme acts. Like someone getting paid off to make a decision that avoids due process. They have tried to lay the blame on top line government “scandals” but they are missing the point. Corruption comes in many forms.
Read more

27.1.16 Fairfax: NZ’s anti-corruption record slipping: watchdog
27.1.16 NZH: Stonewalling and strange deals: Has NZ become more corrupt?

Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index
First launched in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index has been widely credited with putting the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda.
█ https://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/

### radionz.co.nz 3 hrs ago
High-profile deals behind corruption slide – report
By Robert Smith
Controversies such as the Saudi farm deal and SkyCity’s Convention Centre mean New Zealand no longer sets the standard for integrity in the public service, as it slips down the world rankings for corruption.

New Zealand fell to fourth in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International released yesterday.

It has previously topped the index seven times, including as recently as 2012 and 2013, and fell two spots this year after losing the top ranking to Denmark in the 2014 list. Finland and Sweden have now overtaken it and are perceived to have less corrupt public sectors than New Zealand.
The SkyCity Convention Centre plan, the Saudi sheep deal and the Oravida affair have been cited by Transparency International as the primary reasons for New Zealand’s slide down the rankings.
The findings in the latest report have been backed up by the Public Service Association (PSA), with national secretary Glenn Barclay saying the group was not surprised by the drop thanks to a “growing lack of transparency” in the public sector.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
5.1.16 Hammered from all sides #fixit [dunedinflood Jun2015]
2.10.15 DCC Draft 2GP hearings panel lacks FULL INDEPENDENCE
20.9.15 Corruption serious threat to New Zealand #CAANZ
14.9.15 Screening tonight: Paradigm Ep2 Local Government Corruption in NZ…
4.8.15 Hundreds of DCC Staff receive fraud detection/prevention training #OMG
23.7.13 Publicise: laudafinem.com
13.7.15 Jeff Dickie: Edinburgh tough, Dunedin (DUD)
17.3.15 DCC whistleblowing —what is open government ?
15.1.15 New Zealand: Salmond on abuse of democratic freedoms
19.12.14 DCC: Limited Citifleet investigation about insurance
13.5.14 Stuff: Colin Espiner usefully defines Corruption
7.12.13 Corruption in NZ Sport: Where has John Key PM been hiding ???

█ For more, [sample] enter the terms *corruption*, *delta*, *flood*, *citifleet*, *hotel* or *stadium* in the search box at right. [there are other terms, Dunedin is a clear seat of fuzzy avoidances of accountability]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (top) aliexpress.com – tshirt mickey mouse fudged by whatifdunedin | linkedin.com – corruption

Ian Wishart: Ben Smart & Olivia Hope #murdercase

### NZ Herald Online 5:30 AM Sunday Jan 24, 2016
Wishart: Sounds case solved
Publisher Ian Wishart says a new book will finally solve the infamous Marlborough Sounds murder case. Wishart will next week publish the book, Elementary — The Explosive File on Scott Watson and the Disappearance of Ben and Olivia. The book looks at the disappearance of Ben Smart, 21, and Olivia Hope, 17, in the Marlborough Sounds on New Year’s Day, 1998. Scott Watson was convicted of their murders in May 1999 and remains in prison. He has denied any involvement in their disappearance and death. The remains of Smart and Hope have never been found.
Wishart said he was “pitching” the book as “solving the case”.
Read more

iwishart Published on Jan 22, 2016
Elementary by Ian Wishart

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● Wikipedia: Ian Wishart (journalist)
● Facebook: Investigate Magazine

THE BOOK
Author: Ian Wishart
Title: Elementary: The Explosive File on Scott Watson and the Disappearance of Ben & Olivia – What Haven’t They Told You?
Pre-order a copy from your bookstore because they will have guaranteed stock on day one. Orders can also be placed at Investigate magazine’s webstore.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Holidays BE SAFE

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### ODT Online Thu, 24 Dec 2015
‘It’s just heartbreaking’
Two seriously injured young children crawled to safety as their father lay dead next to their car after a crash on Ashburton Gorge Rd last night. The children had been out with their dad at his Christmas work function and were on their way home when the 35-year-old man lost control of the Toyota Hilux he was driving at a moderate left-hand bend, went onto the gravel and rolled several times about 10.45pm, police said. The man, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the car but his children, who were wearing seatbelts, stayed strapped in their seats in the back.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

YouTube Spotlight Published on Dec 9, 2015
YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind
Celebrating the videos, people, music and moves that made 2015.