Vandals steal pou's penis

Tiki has lost his ure (penis) on the carved pou outside the new Whangarei Central Library.
Three masked rascals severed the vital appendage from the Maori deity at 2.30am on Sunday, when the mutilation was recorded on a library security camera.
Carver Kerry Strongman was moved to tears when he saw the damage yesterday.
"This really degrades the mana and prestige of the whole community. Other carvers and I had the joy of the creation of the pou, but since we handed it over it belongs to everyone in Whangarei."
Mr Strongman, of Te Hana, voiced outrage that a chisel was used in the attack on the carving. Security camera footage also showed the trio involved covering their faces and apparently taking photographs.
"This wasn't spontaneous - it was planned. It seems they knew there was a camera and hid their faces to prevent identification."
The carving of Tiki, a primal human in Maori lore, is on one side of a pou in the library courtyard. A carving of Tangaroa - a deity similar to Tiki in the Pacific Islands - by Cook Islander Faimau Robati is on the other side.
Mr Strongman said that Tiki's ure was modest in size in comparison with Tangaroa's.
"If they were looking for firewood they must have a small fire because there is a bigger log on the other side," he said.
Happily, all is not lost for Tiki. Mr Strongman was planning to take a plaster cast of the carving's damaged groin and use it to create a new transplant ure.
He was keeping the method of attachment secret "because we don't want to encourage more of this mindless vandalism."
* Growling concern
By Grant Beran and Mike Barrington
Speaking of penises, there has been growling at the Town Basin over an exhibition of paintings by Joanna Ball called A Dog's Breakfast.
The exhibition focuses on the comfort which the family dog brought to Ms Ball's mother when she was dying of cancer.
But the dog's penis is depicted (right) in two of the 16 paintings and Mokaba cafe co-owner Peter Grau is calling for their removal from display in a passageway which provides access to his premises and The Bach gallery.
"I personally have no problem with the paintings, but some of our customers who came here after church on the weekend complained that the pictures were offensive," he said.
Ms Ball said she wasn't prepared to take her paintings down because of the complaints.
And a spokeswoman for The Bach co-operative said: "It's all a bit silly. I really don't think there is anything wrong with the paintings."