Battles won, from skirts to schools

Manawatu Standard chief reporter Lee Matthews has a closer look at the news breakers and news makers of July 2009.

Bleak news on the job front on July 1, with 46 clothing workers at Pacific Brands being told their jobs would definitely go at the end of the month, and 20 regional child Youth and Family Services jobs to go as well.

Levin called to ban gang patches, after weeks of living with infighting from Nomad gang members, disputing turf and leadership after the death of Dennis "Mossie" Hines in prison on June 7. Wanganui was banning patches, and Levin thought it would be a good idea as well.

Manawatu District Council had a mailbox full of dog registration cheques swiped on July 3. People were urged to check whether the council had received their fees.

The tummy bug norovirus was still making life miserable for many. In the previous three months, 400 people had the bug, and another 150 patients and staff got it while at Palmerston North Hospital.

The Turitea Wind Farm hearing began on July 6, and was then scheduled to finish in September. The complexity and changes encountered during the hearing meant it went over time, and is set to resume next March.

The Bits and Pieces social netball team were told by Netball Manawatu they weren't allowed to wear shorts on court. The team had shunned skirts for six years and refused to put them back on. Netball Manawatu backed down. The great Palmerston North rates heist trial started in the High Court on July 8, dating back to an armed robbery of the city council on the last day of rates payment on May 26, 2006. The Crown alleged inside knowledge was used. Kenneth Craig Woods, 63, and Winston James Shane Young, 47, were accused of the crime. Young was found guilty on July 17; Woods walked free.

Burly blokes and a few staunch women battled for top place in the Young Farmer Contest tractor pull in The Square on July 9. Teams of six had to pull tractors 50 metres. The Contractors team took top honours. It was part of the Young Farmer Contest national grand final, held in Palmerston North that week.

Speedsters roaring along JohnF Kennedy Drive hit the headlines again on July 11. Families with toddlers feared the speed of drivers hooning along the arterial road, and police confirmed it was a boy-racer hotspot and asked people to report speeding drivers.

Aorangi-Mt Cook farmer Tim O'Sullivan won the Young Farmer of the Year grand final, with the winner's cloak handed over by Feilding's David Skiffington, the previous year's winner.

Manawatu firm Higgins secured a share in Auckland's $406 million Victoria Park tunnel roading project, and the work looked set to boost the company's Auckland staff numbers by about 20 per cent. Higgins, started in 1958, has had many projects including the Manfeild racing circuit and the Ohakea air base.

Manawatu police and search and rescue staff were involved in the search that scoured the snow-swept Tararua Range for missing Te Papa chief executive Seddon Bennington. His body, and that of his tramping companion, Marcella Jackson, were found 1km away from the shelter of a hut.

Fifteen-year-old Daniel Jolly was back on his mountain bike undaunted after an accident on June 20, when a fall saw his spleen badly damaged during a ride on the Kahuterawa Loop. The Palmerston North Boys' High School student needed time off from his other winter sport, rugby, and was looking forward to getting fit again.

Trudy Leslie was crowned Miss Manawatu on July 17, wearing a midnight blue ballgown. The 21-year-old nurse beat 15 other contestants for top place.

Government funding cuts saw the axe hover over night classes in the region. Queen Elizabeth College and Feilding High School both faced courses being chopped or fees skyrocketing, and community outcry was immediate and loud.

Budget pressure forced MidCentral Health to announce $10 million spending cuts, including jobs and service standards.

The region's first swine flu death was confirmed. Baby Amelie Peck, who had been born premature and who had several health problems, died on July 18.

MidCentral Health stayed in the news. July 24 saw the report on the new linear accelerator for cancer treatment, and exactly why it hadn't worked as hoped, blowing out waiting times for radiotherapy. The district health board hadn't understood that the machine's supporting software wasn't ready, and the risks that posed to treatment, when it upgraded the machine.

One of Palmerston North's more difficult-to-shift shop buildings was sold on July 28. Briscoes and Rebel Sport said they were moving to the former Warehouse site on Cuba Street sometime in the next 12 months.

A Palmerston North City Council poll found Max was the most popular name for city dogs, with more than 100 pooches poised to answer to it. Labradors were the most popular breed – 1228 registered – followed by fox terriers at 580.

Tararua residents reacted angrily when news broke that eight district schools were to close. The 758 children on the rolls of Ballance, Hillcrest, Kumeroa-Hopelands, Makuri, Mangamaire, Mangatainoka, Papatawa and Woodville schools were expected to be divided up among three schools, one each at Eketahuna and Pahiatua, and a new school to reopen at Woodville. The community successfully fought the closures in August.

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