Year in review: August

Today we continue our month by month feature looking at the stories that shaped Rotorua during 2010.
August 3: A teenager's party in Rotorua ended with bottles being hurled at police cars, police having to don riot gear and five people arrested for disorderly behaviour.
Residents of Peter Place in Mangakakahi said about 100 teenagers spilled out on to the road after a party in the cul-de-sac was closed down.
Reports of a teenager taking an unattended police car for a joyride with two arrested people still in the back seat were untrue, according to police. "Police received several calls about disorder in Peter Place. We went there with the purpose of restoring order and upon arrival became the target of abuse and bottles were thrown at police in vehicles," Senior Sergeant Brent Crowe said.
August 5: Livestock in the Rotorua district were  being left to starve to death - forcing local SPCA inspectors to take legal action.
Local SPCA manager and animal inspector Nicola Martin said the problem had increased, with 90 complaints in the past month.
The SPCA had three prosecutions pending involving starving livestock and three other complaints regarding large-scale stock - one involving thousands of sheep.
Federated Farmers said incompetent farmers were to blame, rather than problems arising from harsh conditions.
August 9: John Paul College mourned the loss of "a valuable future leader" with the death of road-crash victim Jesse Howe.
The 16-year-old was  injured in a car accident when he and 11 other teenagers were returning from a party in Taupo in the early hours of July 17.
Jesse had been  on life support at Waikato Hospital since the crash, which left 12 injured teenagers strewn across the state highway.
John Paul College principal Patrick Walsh described Jesse as an extremely popular young man.

August 11: Armed police converged on Fenton Park during a dawn raid, which led to the discovery of methamphetamine and a large amount of cash.
Residents of Jameson Ave were woken early on the morning of August 10 by the sound of "explosions" and the sight of armed police.
Rotorua police Senior Sergeant Brent Crowe said a warrant to search a property on Jameson Ave was carried out by police about 6.50am.
A witness, who did not want to be named, said she was woken by the sound of two huge booms and police yelling: "This is an armed search, we have a warrant."
August 16: Residents had to be evacuated, cars were submerged, roads closed and a canal stopbank was breached as the third flood in as many months hit the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
A welfare centre opened in Whakatane after the district council evacuated about 20 residents from Fortunes and Paroa Rds when a breach in the Te Rahu Canal stopbank, west of Whakatane, was discovered.
Surface flooding also occurred in Rotorua and there were slips at Hamurana, the Rotoma Ranges and roads to the Western Bay. Rainfalls of up to 339mm were recorded.
August 23: A Rotorua mother was woken at 3am with news no parent wants to hear - her 16-year-old son had been fatally stabbed. Tongarewa Thomas died at a Clinkard Ave house about 10pm on Friday. He  was found lying in the driveway.
His mother, Janey Iraia, said the five-hour delay before she found out was because her son was known to friends by nicknames such as "Bonga" or "Tonga", making it hard for police to identify him and contact her.
Tongarewa had been drinking alcohol with mates at a close friend's house before he was stabbed.

August 27: Rotorua students let out of school during a teachers' stopwork meeting caused mayhem in the central city, intimidating shoppers and fighting.
There were also reports of shoplifting and police sent extra staff to the central city.
One central city retailer told The Daily Post about 30 youths gathered in an alleyway behind her workplace to watch two female students fight.
The meetings were part of a national movement by the Post Primary Teachers Association after negotiations with the Ministry of Education over a collective agreement broke down.
August 30: Students Robbie Whyte and Zoe Stephenson were in shock after winning the Supreme Award at this year's Rotorua Wearable Creations n' Colour Awards.
The awards event, hosted by Jackie Clarke, was packed with spectators and 47 extravagant designs. The evening included performances from Rotorua band Ward 16, singers Jessica McMillan and Aaron Fausett, local hip-hop crew Unit Y and dance group Amjazz Creative.
Robbie and Zoe, from Western Heights High School, also topped two categories - the Waiariki Institute of Technology Youth Section award and the Colour Concepts Most Colourful Design award.
Year in review: January, February, March, April, May, June, July