Robbery admitted
A man has pleaded guilty to robbing Cactus Liquor in Whangarei at knifepoint. Dylan John Moyle, 22, of Regent admitted in the Whangarei District Court a charge of aggravated robbery and another of shoplifting. Moyle stole items worth $12.50 from New World in Regent on April 1 and next day robbed Cactus Liquor of an undisclosed amount of cash. He was arrested a day later at a Regent home. He is in custody and will be sentenced on July 31.
Challenges for children
Twelve teams of 10 Kaipara schoolchildren aged from 10-16 years will take part in this year's Dare Day Out to be held at Selwyn Park tomorrow. They will be challenged by six "top team" activities including pushing a police car, a rock wall climb, ski board, earth ball, hip hop and beer goggles challenges. Kauri Coast Dare Committee spokeswoman Trudy Bailey said the challenges tested life skills such as decision making, honesty, co-operation, team building and leadership, but were still fun. The public was welcome to go along. Competitions would kick off at 9.30am.
Nominations called for
It's time again to celebrate the Far North's top volunteer groups. Entries for the TrustPower Far North Community Awards opened on Monday, with all voluntary groups and organisations eligible for nomination. Last year 63 groups entered, but TrustPower community relations co-ordinator Suzi Luff said many more were deserving of recognition. "The Far North has something special going on. It's a resourceful part of the country," she said. Entry forms are available at any Far North District Council service centre, from www.trustpower.co.nz/communityawards, or by phoning Ms Luff on 0800 871 111. Entries close on June 1. Awards will be presented in five categories: Heritage and environment, health and well-being, arts and culture, sport and leisure, educational and child/youth development.
Wahine rally to cause
The Mana Wahine Action Group in Whangarei is pitching in to help meat workers locked out of Affco's Moerewa plant and their families, with members expected to join a protest march today through the town. The six-week dispute between Affco management and the Meat Workers' Union has seen about 1000 employees locked out at the company's North Island plants, including 115 at Moerewa. Mana Wahine spokeswoman Marama Waddell said the group was organising support from all over Northland for the march. She said the kaupapa of the group was to support all women who had been disadvantaged economically in any way. She said women who'd been locked out of the Affco plant or had husbands without a job, were going through a lot of pain.
Animal tag roadshow
The National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme (NAIT) information roadshow will start in Northland at the Kaitaia Rugby Football Club at 9.45am on April 30 then move on later in the day to the Kaikohe RSA at 2.30pm and the Maungatapere Hall at 7.30pm. The roadshow will then move south to visit 41 other rural centres. The roadshow will give farmers the opportunity to find out how to meet their NAIT obligations and provide answers to questions before the scheme is mandatory for cattle from July 1, and for deer from March 1, 2013. The NAIT scheme will link people, property and livestock, through electronic ear tags for cattle and deer and a central database.