Roof no refuge for suspect

A teenager who allegedly tried to enter a walk-in freezer at a Blenheim pub climbed on to a roof to hide from police yesterday morning.

Police used a police dog to find the man perched on the roof in central Blenheim, an hour after he was allegedly seen by a staff member trying to get into the Criterion Hotel's freezer.

Constable Martin McDonald of Blenheim said cordons were set up before the man was found and arrested at 11.40am.

A 19-year-old student was charged with burglary and was remanded in custody to appear in the Blenheim District Court today.

In a separate incident around the same time yesterday, three people were allegedly caught smoking cannabis in a garage by police, who had been called to a Witherlea house by people complaining about noise and swearing.

Mr McDonald said two men, aged 18 and 21, and an 18-year-old woman were charged with possessing and consuming cannabis and released to appear in the Blenheim District Court on June 8.

Meanwhile, on Friday, a 45-year-old Renwick insurance broker was arrested and charged with possessing a firearm without a licence after police searched his house at 6pm and found three rifles, Mr McDonald said.

Also on Friday, a driver escaped without injury after crashing into a parked truck on the corner of Stephenson and Houldsworth Sts in Blenheim at 8.15pm.

On Saturday, two cars collided at the intersection of Nelson and Hutcheson Sts at 8.50pm. Mr McDonald said nobody was injured.

In a third crash, two cars collided on the corner of Maxwell and Eltham Rds at 7.15pm, causing minor damage to both vehicles. Mr McDonald said that again, nobody was injured, and the crash was caused by one driver failing to give way.

The Marlborough Express

Last updated 12:00 31/05/2010

New president, same key issues

A "change of team leader" will not mean a change in focus, according to the new Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) president.

Liz Evans, who was the vice-president and the national organisation's top of the south representative, was sworn in as the new president at the conference in Oamaru yesterday.

Mrs Evans, who lives at the top of the Waihopai Valley, said the focus of the organisation would still be around four key issues: rural health, education, land use and social issues.

She said some of the bigger issues for the 4000 members around the country included the Government's proposal to mine conservation land, freedom camping and the rollout of rural broadband.

Originally from Auckland, Mrs Evans studied in Nelson and then journalism in Wellington, becoming the rural reporter for The Marlborough Express between 1970 and 1974.

She said her relative inexperience with farming and rural life worked to her advantage.

"It meant I came into the farming world with an open mind, which gave me a tremendous respect for farming, farmers and the rural community."

Mrs Evans said that while she was vice-president she had more of a "regional focus", but as the new president would need to take a "broad overview" on rural issues.

She believes the role of men and women on the farm are "exactly the same in work and influence".

Mrs Evans takes over from Margaret Chapman as president. The term lasts three years and is based on nominations made by members.

By SIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express

Last updated 12:00 28/05/2010

Marlborough Express

CHANGING HANDS: Marlborough's Liz Evans has taken over as president of Rural Women New Zealand.

Aiming for a curious future

This week is Youth Week, a time to celebrate our country's young people. Reporter SIMON WONG spoke to some of Marlborough's young people about their futures and what concerns them the most.

Blenheim teen Daisy Boothman-Burrell is pondering a tough decision which many of her contemporaries and even those who are quite a bit older can relate to.

What to do with one's life?

The 17-year-old has to decide about what to do when she leaves Marlborough Girls' College later this year.

Her dream career, would be something that would satisfy her enduring curiosity.

"I'd like to do something where I can keep finding out more about it."

Despite her indecision, there seems to be a recurring theme in career choice in the Boothman-Burrell family.

Daisy's father is a doctor, her mother is a nurse and her sister is studying health science at Otago University.

She said the career choices of her family were not necessarily an indicator of where she might be headed, but she admires what her father does.

"[My dad] doesn't live for his job, it's sort of his life. The joy I've seen him go through as a doctor and just helping people – I think that could be really cool.

"[Growing up] all my other friends had plastic stethoscopes and I had a real one, so you know I'd go play doctors and nurses."

A small-town girl at heart, Daisy believes setting goals allows young people to make "proper decisions" regarding their future.

She said teenagers needed to ask themselves whether they wanted to have "loads of fun" now or look to the future "and really grab hold of that career".

Asking themselves whether they were prepared for a night out was also what teens need do, according to Daisy.

Daisy is a peer supporter at her school, and has been part of a group that launched a Plan to Party campaign recently.

The young people involved have made pocket-sized cards with advice such as remembering to eat before going out and taking money for a taxi to get home.

She said a recent double-fatality car crash near Koromiko had a major effect on teenagers in the wider community, as has the case of a 20-year-old woman who is alleged to have fled a police checkpoint in Blenheim shortly before being involved in a car crash which left a 51-year-old woman dead.

However, she was worried the lessons learnt by the wider community could be forgotten all too quickly.

"You find that all the time something like this happens and for a while you think about it and it's really shocking and then it sort of wears off after a while.

"You kind of forget about it until the next crash happens."

As a peer supporter, Daisy said helping grieving friends was at times difficult.

"We're learning from it and we're trying to help the people who are affected by it."

The Marlborough Express

Last updated 11:51 28/05/2010

Being Sadd is Katie's happy place

Seventeen-year-old Katie Grigg is proud to have introduced a programme to her high school aimed at reducing alcohol-related road deaths among youth.

The Community College Marlborough student joined the movement Sadd (Students Against Driving Drunk) this year because of stories she heard from her mother, a former nurse at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

"My mum used to come home and tell me these crazy stories about what happened [during her shifts] and it was really shocking."

Katie also joined because she knew several of her friends drove after drinking.

She said she initially had trouble getting the other 70 Community College students to embrace the Sadd message.

Other students, she said, thought the drink-driving message had been "shoved down their throat".

"It was quite a mission to get people to listen to me, but I had the support of all the teachers."

Now a representative for the cause, Katie attends regional Sadd meetings as well as weekly school council meetings and also organises competitions and promotional material.

Katie said Sadd members sign a contract for life promising not to drink and drive.

Aside from being a staunch advocate for Sadd, Katie has a passion for hairdressing. "People were a bit shocked when I said I'd like to become a hairdresser, but it's something that makes me truly happy. There aren't a lot of jobs I could get that kind of buzz from.

"It relaxes me; it's pretty much my dream job."

Katie, who works at Solutions '93 Hair Salon on High St, Blenheim, believes outer beauty can be a catalyst for exposing inner beauty. "Before I go into work I'm really excited about getting to meet people and talk to them. If somebody looks good on the outside, in turn they'll feel good on the inside."

Katie hopes to eventually travel the world as a hairdresser.

As a member of Sadd, she believes the biggest problem facing youth at the moment is drink driving.

But she said coverage of youth drink driving in the media was given too much emphasis, while all the good things young people did received little attention. This was unfair to the majority of young people who were generally very responsible.

"It does put a bit of a downer on the youth. You wish you could talk to these people and say: `Look, this is what the rest of the world thinks of us now'."

She said bad news took the focus away from the positive things youth did. "People don't take youth as seriously as they should because the youth are the future."

By SIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express

Last updated 12:00 27/05/2010

SCOTT HAMMOND/Marlborough Express

MAKING THE CUT: Katie Grigg hopes her enthusiasm for hairdressing will take her around the world.

"People don't take youth as seriously as they should because the youth are the future."

Career in music beckons for teen

A career in the music industry is a prospect Picton teenager Jordan Skipper is weighing up, six months shy of finishing high school.

The 17-year-old head girl at Queen Charlotte College was raised on music and is a regular contender at the annual Smokefreerockquest.

"I grew up around music, it's always been a big part of my life."

She said her father taught her how to play the guitar at age six and she began writing songs at age 12.

Jordan performed in the Nelson heat of the Smokefreerockquest last weekend and made it through to the regional finals to be held on June 26.

Before her Nelson performance, Jordan had modest expectations for the competition.

"I just keep telling myself it's about the experience. [The Smokefreerockquest] is probably one of the biggest opportunities secondary students get to make their mark on the NZ music industry."

This is the fourth time Jordan, an avid singer-songwriter, has entered the competition.

Each time she has entered, she has been placed in the top two bands in the Marlborough region.

The best thing about competitions like rockquest and her previous performances at the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, she said, is gaining practical experience in front of a live audience.

"That's the good thing about it, you can work on your song writing, your delivery, your stage performance and just try and get rid of your nerves in front of hundreds of people."

Jordan, who has been compared to Anika Moa and Brooke Fraser, is modest too about the idea of a career in music, but said a move away from Picton would be necessary if she were to take that step.

"I do hope [I can make it a career], but if not then even something on the side would be good enough for me."

The teen, who would consider herself "old" at 25, would be happy with the occasional paid gig and likes the idea of becoming a music teacher because she thinks of herself as a "people person".

Music, she says, is an opportunity for her to escape from the real world and to share her experiences.

"I find that when I do sing I can forget everything. Just for that little bit it's just me and my guitar. It's good."

By SIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express

Last updated 13:00 26/05/2010

SCOTT HAMMOND/Marlborough Express

MELODY MAKER: Singer-songwriter Jordan Skipper is eyeing up a career in the New Zealand music industry.

Teenager shows web design initiative

Blenheim teen Logan Anderson may be the youngest executive director in New Zealand.

The 15-year-old started his own web design business, Webtek, last September after being roped into creating a website for real estate company Ray White in Australia by his brother, despite having no experience.

"My brother pretty much called and asked if I knew how to do a website and I said `yeah, I'll give it a crack'.

"I sort of just did it for a free trip to Aussie."

The Marlborough Boys' College student said "there was quite a bit of pressure" for him to pull off the website given his inexperience, but it was something he thoroughly enjoyed.

Since completing the website in January last year, business has been booming.

"I struggled [with the workload] for a bit, but I'm sort of easing into it and only taking on a couple of jobs a week now."

Logan has created websites for businesses such as QuickCash Finance and event websites including the Marlborough Marathon, the Forrest Graperide and the Moa Beer Moa Hunt.

Despite what seems to be a destined career path in web design, Logan is still unsure about where his future will take him.

"I've never really thought about it. I know I'll go to university, but I'm not sure what I'll do afterwards. Probably something IT-based, but I'm not sure yet."

Logan plans to leave Blenheim eventually, but said he would like to return to "settle down".

He said leaving was something on the minds of many other Marlborough youth.

"Most people at school want to leave Blenheim, get a degree, do a job for a while and then maybe settle down here."

Something else on the minds of Marlborough youth, he said, was the drinking culture.

Logan said a recent crash in Picton, which claimed the lives of Alick Tapp and Michael Mealings, both 17, and injured four others, had a big impact on many Blenheim teens.

"That really worried a lot of people at school. A lot of my friends knew someone that knew someone in the crash and it really just hit home for them."

The vast majority of youth drinking, according to Logan, takes place under the supervision of parents, something, he says, is "a lot safer" than going to town on their own on a Friday night.

Logan believes media coverage of youth is extremely skewed toward negative aspects.

"We're not just bludgers, we're not drunk drivers and we're not all going out and getting completely smashed on a Friday night."

As for the future of his flourishing business, Logan is taking a wait-and-see approach.

"I'll keep going wherever it takes me, really. I'm really enjoying it. It's a lot better than working shifts at New World and the money is definitely better."

By SIMON WONG - The Marlborough Express

Last updated 12:00 25/05/2010

No plea in crash case

Bail was granted for a man who is alleged to have crashed into a car which was parked up after an accident on Weld Pass and then failed to stop to check for injury just after midnight on May 16.

Beneficiary Clifford Brent Markland, 55, entered no plea at the Blenheim District Court yesterday to a charge of driving dangerously and failing to stop .

Markland will reappear on June 8. A 37-year-old Christchurch man was seriously injured in the crash.

The Marlborough Express

Last updated 12:00 25/05/2010