Calls for calm over helicopter

Southern Lakes Helicopter pilot Sir Richard ‘Hannibal’ Hayes and wife Carol have broken their silence over the future of Te Anau’s rescue helicopter service, asking their supporters to ‘‘be patient’’ until the tender outcome is announced.

The National Ambulance Sector Offices (NASO) has proposed that rescue helicopters should be based out of eight coastal cities – but not in Te Anau, Taupo¯ or Rotorua.

It was proposed the service would be covered from a base in Queenstown, and would only use twin-engined helicopters.

Hayes, who has 40 years’ flying experience and was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to search and rescue said he and Carol ‘‘totally appreciate and value the support shown by the wider community towards their public support for retaining a emergency response helicopter service to remain based at Te Anau to cover Fiordland and Southland’’.

‘‘It is acknowledged that community leaders are fully aware of the process under way at present and are fully prepared to support the current rescue service provided should the need arise down the track.’’

However, he said the support needs to be tamed until a time in the not too distant future should the current tender process exclude Southern Lakes Helicopter as a sub-contractor provider.

‘‘Southern Lakes Helicopter asks everyone for the need to be patient until the tender outcome is announced – rest assured Southern Lakes Helicopter are doing their very best to retain the valuable community asset that our company has established now covering several decades. The process currently under way with the NASO tender should not be compromised in the interim.’’

At a meeting on Monday, between Health Minister David Clark and Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick, Taupo mayor David Trewavas and Ruapehu mayor Don Cameron, the northern mayors won back the right for the North Island locations to tender to be part of the future nationally integrated service.

Hayes said Southern Lakes Helicopter, based at Te Anau, is in the exact same position as Rotorua and Taupo in regards the respective existing providers ability to apply for this service under the current tender document.

The New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre said it worked with Southern Lakes Helicopters based in Te Anau 18 times in the 2017 financial year.

Woman charged

A woman has been charged with the murder of an Invercargill man, 10 months after his death. The 26-yearold accused made a brief appearance in the Invercargill District Court yesterday afternoon. She has been charged with the murder of Jack Thomas McAllister (also known as Jade Fearn), who was found injured near Stadium Southland in early June last year. McAllister, 19, died the following day. The woman has been granted interim name suppression and will next appear in the High Court at Invercargill on May 15. She has been remanded on bail. Seven people were initially charged with murder. In September 2017, five of the accused pleaded not guilty - David Wilson, 18, Laura Scheepers,18, Brayden Whiting-Roff, 20, Georgia Rose Dickey, 16, and Christopher James Brown, 19.

Ramparts Rd sealed

Fulton Hogan has completed the Otta sealing of Ramparts Rd in Te Anau to the lookout. The Southland District Council has put up temporary speed limit signs to assist with curing, and to reduce the risk of issues such as corrugations occurring.

Pool upgrade to begin

Work to upgrade the changing rooms at Splash Palace will begin on May 7, the Invercargill City Council has announced. The new development will include two new open space changing rooms that will be able to accommodate large school groups. Additional disabled changing rooms will also be constructed, and the foyer layout will be updated. The work is expected to continue through to February 2019.

Tuatara burrows moved

Burrows in the tuatarium at the closed Southland Museum and Art Gallery have been turned to face the windows on the northern side of the building. The change was made to improve public viewing of the animals from the outside of the building. The museum trust board had previously determined the tuatara would not be removed from the building after it was classified as being earthquake prone.

Landmarks recognised

The Kawarau suspension bridge and historic Arrowtown and chinese settlement were inducted into the Landmarks Whenua Tohunga programme on Tuesday. The programme, a joint initiative of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, DOC, and Heritage New Zealand, was piloted in Northland in 2016. Otago is the first new region to be added to the programme, which will be rolled out across the country over the coming years. AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand co-founder Henry van Asch, Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker and Landmarks Whenua Tohunga social media manager Claudia Babirat bungy-jumped from the Kawarau Bridge to celebrate the occasion.

Correction

Our Anzac Day feature The Torn Flag incorrectly said that five Hunter brothers died in World War 1. In fact one, John, who returned home severely injured, did not succumb to his wounds. He later married and had a daughter. The brothers’ mother was Jane, not Elizabeth, as has sometimes wrongly been recorded in local records. We regret the errors.