The Maori Fisheries Commission is upping the ante in its fight against the Government's marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands.

The annual Toll Kaitaia Run/Walk which takes place on Sunday, August 14, this year represents the fifth leg of seven in the popular Sport Northland Run/ Walk Series.

The extent to which Peria School is interwoven with its community was well demonstrated at the end of last term when Jan Harwood was farewelled into retirement.

MANY years ago a man died at a party at Awanui.

Before I begin my tirade, I wish to say that I am not speaking in any way for the SPCA. I am just an individual member of this community of Northland.

When 17-year-old Kaitaia College student Nina Griffiths lost two friends to suspected suicide, she felt she had to do something.

More than 400 local people signed a petition opposing a safety barrier on Mangonui's Neva Clarke McKenna Boardwalk, but one of their elected representatives says no one is taking any notice.

Police have hailed a woman who went shopping dressed as a superhero as a real-life hero.

A person has died in a crash in the Far North last night.

My rates bill arrived in the post this morning. My reaction, as I would think that of many others, was of consternation, and then anger.

Three Far North residents are believed to be the driving force behind a hikoi planned for next year to protest against the continued use of 1080 poison in our forests.

Dogs are man's best friend and Takahue farm worker Pete Roy will swear by the saying after his life-saving experience.

Top Energy has turned down what chief executive Russell Shaw described as "big sums" offered by Chinese interests to extract swamp kauri in the geothermal fields around Ngawha.

Twenty one players represented the Taitokerau rohe at the 54th Sunshine Coast District Winter Bowls Carnival held in Queensland earlier in the month.

Driving around the Mid North I see the price of fuel on most of the service stations. Fuel prices are on my mind as I owned the Rawene Service Station for around 30 years.

Public toilets on Kaitaia's Melba Street have been reopened after a $207,000 revamp which included fitting them with coin-operated hot showers and a unisex lavatory open around the clock.

Kii Small, from Kaitaia, got a standing ovation from other young MPs at the Youth Parliament in Wellington last week.

A man has been arrested and charged with murder following a fatal stabbing in Kaitaia - the third knife attack in the town in a week.

I see in Tuesday's Age, July 19, that your cartoonist, Malcolm Evans, is once again on his anti-semitic bike.

The Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters (HIPPY) has been a big part of early childhood education in the Far North

The early birds caught plenty of worms when Healthy Families Far North and Mayor John Carter delivered the healthy workplace message to more than 50 Far North businesses representatives at a business breakfast at the Ramada Reia Taipa Resort last week.

The investigation into a stabbing incident in Kaitaia on Tuesday has continued, with police now identifying a person of interest.

Players abusing referees has brought the cancellation of four rugby league games in the Far North this weekend.

Defying the weather, 16 teams, including some representing the Cooper's Beach, Kaitaia Combined, and Church Road clubs turned out to contest the annual Patron's Bowls tournament alongside the members of the host club at the Far North RSA Bowling Club gree

Re Waimatenui-Mataraua Road Bridge N15 - response to letter from Des Mahoney in The Northland Age, July 14.

THE FAR NORTH seems to have reached the stage where discussing the drug problem is pointless.

Lois Wagener has lived on the Aupouri Peninsula long enough to have noticed how Houhora Harbour is changing - and she is deeply concerned that it is in the process of becoming the marine equivalent of a wasteland.

If the theft of a television set from the Shirley Crawford Haven at Kaitaia Hospital ('Mongrel' thief of Haven TV sets new low, July 7) cast Kaitaia in a bad light, last week the community showed its other side.

Substandard housing at Ahipara and a papakainga development at Takou Bay were inspected when the Labour Party housing spokesman, Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford, came to the Far North yesterday.

The countdown has well and truly begun for the three Far North athletes who form part of what will be the largest contingent ever to represent Northland at the Olympics/ Paralympics events.