KEY POINTS:
Owen Jones saw this rather revealing sign about 200m from Omaha Beach. The smaller sign says, "No budgie- smugglers past here."
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So alert are the good people of Waitakere City to graffiti - in fact, they claim the highest reduction in graffiti in New Zealand - that two months ago they commissioned local artist John Preston to paint a historical mural on a Glen Eden mall walkway. He spent two days outlining his mosaic design, which will feature a magnificent stylish woman with a huge flowing costume. No sooner had he gone home than the Tag Out Trust turned up and painted out what they thought was a creative and interesting piece of graffiti. There are no red faces, said Mayor Bob Harvey. "We have treated it with good humour, as has John, who has started working on his masterpiece again. That's how we do it out here - it's zero tolerance in the west."
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The 18,000 investors who are still suffering after the collapse of Bridgecorp will take no comfort from the fact that Mr Bridgecorp, Rod Petricevic, enjoyed 19 games of golf in December and January and is fortunate to have memberships at both the Remuera Golf Club and Gulf Harbour Country Club, says Tony Rome. "The investors can follow his golfing achievements on www.golf.co.nz. In fairness to Mr Bridgecorp, Mr Five Star Finance, Nick Kirk, has also enjoyed the odd game of golf at his home club, Mangawhai. Surprisingly, the handicaps of both have improved since they left others stranded. Perhaps a game could be arranged between the two as a fundraising event to help their victims."
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Edward Stanley Harris has been paying the Philadelphia Traffic Court $100 a month on a bill of $1811.50 for tickets issued 17 years ago - which the court has admitted aren't even his. You see, Edward Stanley Harris has a non-identical twin brother named Edwin Shelby Harris who received eight traffic tickets back in 1991 and was ordered to pay $1501. Edwin never paid. In 1992 Edward was notified that his licence would be suspended for nonpayment of tickets. Edward cleared things up with the right authorities, but like a scene from Groundhog Day, every year or so Edward is contacted about his brother's unpaid tickets and suspension is threatened. Finally, in November Edward returned to Traffic Court, with his latest licence-suspension notice, but the judge wouldn't listen to his saga or review the copious paperwork in support of his innocence. Instead, Edward was ordered to pay off the tickets. He filed a petition to appeal against the decision but also started paying the monthly fee since, he said, the judge threatened an arrest if he didn't. Last Thursday, during Edward's appeal hearing, the payment order against him was withdrawn and the clerk kindly suggested he go to Traffic Court to get his money back. (Source: Philadelphia Daily News)
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The Royal Thai Police have released the sketch of a man suspected of stealing 200,000 baht ($8000) from the Ladprao branch of the Government Savings Bank in Bangkok several weeks ago. According to a report, this sketch is based on the recollections of witnesses, who say the suspect wore a motorcycle helmet at the time of the robbery. (Via BoingBoing.net)
