‘Dirty battle’ brewing in Grey Power
A smear campaign to bring down a candidate running for Grey Power’s national president has rocked the over-50s advocacy group.
Outgoing president, South Canterbury’s Tom O’Connor, said ‘‘potentially defamatory’’ emails had been sent to members from three fake email accounts in the past few weeks, two of which claimed to be from him.
O’Connor said the ‘‘underhanded’’ emails trying to ‘‘improperly influence the election’’ were sent by former board members and life members.
O’Connor addressed the ‘‘dirty tricks’’ in an email to regional associations late last month.
‘‘It seems we have more dirty tricks and underhanded stunts [than] Donald Trump’s re-election campaign managers and the Australian cricket team combined,’’ he said in the email.
‘‘In the past few weeks we have had three bogus email addresses set up. One to improperly influence the election of the president with deliberate lies and a false identity and two email addresses falsely claiming to be me.’’
The country’s leading Grey Power members are in Blenheim this week to vote for a new national president, and to discuss issues affecting the elderly, at their annual general meeting.
The three candidates running for president are Mac Welch, Lloyd Falck and Jo Millar.
Falck confirmed he had received the emails but did not want to confirm who they were about.
‘‘There’s a dirty battle going on out there which I wasn’t part of,’’ he said.
Welch declined to identify who the emails were about as it was ‘‘sub judice’’.
Millar could not be reached for comment at the meeting.
O’Connor said initial investigations suggested the fake email addresses had come from the Wellington region.
He told members the only emails they would receive from him would be from the Grey Power New Zealand Federation office.
O’Connor said two emails made ‘‘untrue’’ comments about a candidate, under the pseudonym ‘ Leon Ash’.
‘‘They sent out an email that was very very critical of one of the candidates and some of the comments were untrue and some were potentially defamatory but they did it under an assumed name.’’
Police notebook
Incidents reported to police include:
Police dealt with a man who was driving whilst forbidden on Friday. Police stopped a vehicle in Blair St and found that the driver was disqualified from driving.
A Southland man was arrested on warrant in Timaru on Saturday. Police arrested the man at 2am.
A 56-year-old was charged with alleged driving whilst disqualified on Saturday. Police stopped the person from driving at 6:10am and found that they were forbidden from driving.
Police arrested a 25-year-old Christchurch man in Timaru on Saturday who was wanted for a family court warrant.
A 27 year-old man was dealt with by police on Saturday after he was stopped from driving. Police stopped the man and it was found he was driving with a suspended drivers licence.
Police arrested a Waimate man on Saturday for an alleged burglary he committed on March 5.
A 22-year-old man was arrested for an alleged assault of a woman on Monday. Police arrested the man at 7:20pm.
Property market report
Timaru’s median property price is $351,500, according to latest Real Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) figures. That figure compares to $337,500 in March 2017. There were 57 sales recorded in March 2018 with an average 40 days to sell while 72 sales were recorded in March 2017 with an average 39 days to sell. ‘‘The median price is still strong showing people are seeing the local market as strong, although buyers are being more strategic with their decisions,’’ REINZ Ambassador Julian Blanchard said.
State Highway 8 crash
A minor crash on SH8 between Tekapo and Twizel led to delays for a short time. An NZTA spokesperson said due to the crash, near the intersection with Hayman Rd, there was stop/go management in place at 12:45pm. The spokesperson said the road was cleared by 1pm.
Twizel charges increase?
Charges to access the Twizel Swimming Pool and the Twizel Events Centre could increase by eight per cent. The proposed fees for the pool and events centre were outlined in the Twizel Community Board’s meeting agenda. The fees have been reviewed by Mackenzie District Council community facilities group manager Garth Nixon, the agenda says. It is proposed that the fees and charges be increased by eight per cent from the 2017/18 financial year, in keeping with the proposed rates rise, the agenda says. Mackenzie mayor Graham Smith earlier said the proposed rates increase for 2017/18 is eight per cent. ‘‘This comparable increase will maintain the current distribution of cost between users of the facilities and township ratepayers, avoiding funding burden being placed on ratepayers,’’ the agenda says.
Annual general meetings
A number of water supply committees in the Mackenzie District will be holding annual meetings in May. All meetings will be held at the council’s chambers in Fairlie, and agenda’s will be posted to all ratepayers on the water supply schemes. The School Rd Water Supply Ratepayers’ Committee annual meeting will be on May 1, the Ashwick/Opuha Water Supply Ratepayers’ Committee annual meeting will be on May 24 at 4pm while the Allandale Water Supply annual meeting will follow at 5pm.