As the Mad Butcher is to meat and Michael Hill is to jewellery, Mike Pero is the high profile and literal front face of the companies he started.

A Bay of Islands College student is having a year to remember after recently being named the New Zealand U16 AFL Player of the Year and selected to captain the NZ U16 team.

The children of Mission Place Kindergarten are getting a head start in the basics of rugby, netball, football and bat-and-ball styled games.

Three weapons believed to have been gifted by the Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika to missionary James Kemp were last week unveiled in a new display befitting their significance.

World of their own

Do as you're told

If anyone in Kaitaia's retail sector deserves to be regarded as a legend it is probably David Panther.

The Far North District Council is supporting an investigation of its activities by the Serious Fraud Office, announced yesterday by Mayor John Carter.

Police are investigating the aggravated robbery of a bakery in Kaitaia's main street early on Sunday morning.

It's far from a secret society, but much of the work that has been done by the Kaitaia Rotary Club over the past six decades has probably gone unremarked upon by most of the town's citizens.

Tamariki first

Shelley Sullivan is back home in Kaitaia, and back in front of her class at Pamapuria School, but still bubbling with the excitement of her latest foray to Uganda, her first in five years.

A new policing team, charged with nipping crime in the bud, has scored some impressive results.

Police are once again urging motorists to be particularly vigilant over the dark, wet winter months, and calling on farmers to ensure their fences are secure after three crashes in the Far North in 24 hours.

HELL FOR LEATHER

The Mangonui Netball Centre took five age-grade teams to the first representative tournament of the winter season at Northcote earlier this month.

Matariki, which signals the Maori new year, has traditionally been a time to reflect on those who have passed and celebrate life, culture, language and the forthcoming year.

One wolf too many

Police and the Fire Service agreed on Sunday that the fire that destroyed a residential garage in Bonnett Road, Kaitaia bore all the hallmarks of arson.

No one was quite sure what to expect from the inaugural Far North Pacifica Beats competition, staged at Kerikeri's Turner Centre on Friday night.

The 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil kicked off to massive fanfare last Friday (NZ time) and already the event has delivered some exciting results and upsets.

RUGBY LEAGUE

Twenty-six schools were represented at Te Tai Tokerau regional Nga Manu Korero speech competition, hosted by Te Rangi Aniwaniwa Kura last week, and as always the standard was impressive.

Smoke and mirrors

Laurie Austen is not your average conservationist, but he is passionate about saving one of the Far North's most prized delicacies from extinction.

One of the less surprising results of this year's Reader's Digest list of most trusted professions was that doctors ranked highly once again.

A Doubtless Bay man who was already in custody over alleged sex offences against young girls has denied 17 new charges.

Every Queen's Birthday weekend, members of the North Shore Surfcasting Club make the long drive from Auckland to Doubtless Bay to carry on the tradition of fishing against their Doubtless Bay Line and Rod Fishing Club counterparts...

Young local netball enthusiasts have been spoiled for choice during the opening weeks of winter with two junior tournaments taking place on the Kaitaia netball courts over consecutive weeks.

Spare us the claptrap