If any of those who were arrested and flung into a police cell outside The Warehouse in Kaitaia on Saturday didnt want to be there they did a good job of hiding it.
With Dion Hobson on the sound system, showing a distinct lack of respect for the detainees and exhorting the crowd to spring for their bail, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The one exception might have been the constable who chased an escapee around the market, and couldnt catch him.
Some $1400 was raised, by bail donations and a Lions Club sausage sizzle, which will be invested in Blue Light youth initiatives and Be the Change youth group programmes. By yesterday morning the kitty had grown to $1600, and Senior Constable Rowena Jones was delighted.
It was amazing, she said, adding that the first priority would be getting as many as 10 young people to a week-long residential life skills programme at Hobsonville.
The arrestees, who donned their US chain gang-type outfits at the police station and were handcuffed and attached to a ball and chain when they got to The Warehouse, where they were escorted to the cell after a jolly good frisking by Senior Constable Jones (who somehow didnt find fireman Colin Kitchens hacksaw blade or Dr Lance OSullivans cell phone), were released as donations reached the level required for bail.
