Smoke, shifts, smells and stranded travellers . . .
Smoke, shifts and smells kicked off the big South Canterbury news stories in February with the threat of Covid-19 looming, writes Doug Sail in the second of our series looking back on the year that was.
A fire fanned by wind and hot temperatures killed livestock, damaged several buildings and burned more than 100 hectares near Burkes Pass.
The fire, which started on land near Stanton Station between Kimbell and Burkes Pass alongside State Highway 8, was one of more than 20 vegetation fires across the South Island on a night of high winds.
‘‘The fire spread quickly in low value forestry and tussock,’’ Chris Clarke, Mackenzie District Council emergency operations centre public information manager, said.
At the height of the blaze, Fire and Emergency New Zealand had five helicopters, two 20-tonne diggers, three tankers, three firefighting appliances, and a further four firefighting vehicles at the scene along with about 50 personnel.
RSA moves out
The South Canterbury Returned and Services Association closed its doors in Wai-iti Rd, Timaru, for the last time on January 31.
Members voted to sell the premises in April 2019, deciding on January 31 as the last day of trading.
There were no challenges or disputes over the closure at the final meeting with the executive and working group, South Canterbury RSA president Greg Adams said.
Adams said the writing had been on the wall for some time and the organisation had even borrowed money to stay open. The debt had been repaid and money left over had been secured for any potential amalgamation with another club.
Club members later voted to join with the Timaru Town and Country Club.
Smell’s source elusive
Environment Canterbury struggled to find the source of an ‘‘effluent-like’’ smell wafting through Timaru during the summer.
The regional council received 29 complaints about obnoxious odours in Timaru in January with one resident, Veronica Fellows, saying the smell made her ‘‘retch’’.
In January 2019, ECan received 14 complaints, while in January 2018, it also received 29.
ECan’s southern zone manager Chris Eccleston said it had worked with the Timaru District Council to ‘‘investigate potential sources of the effluent odour’’, but had been unable to identify a source.
Exporters’ workers face 14-day isolation
Workers returning to South Canterbury from China faced two weeks’ isolation as companies implemented measures to safeguard staff against the spread of the developing Covid-19 pandemic.
Oceania Dairy general manager Richard Hickson said 10 staff based in Glenavy travelled to China for New Year celebrations. The new year fell on January 25, lasting about 15 days.
Hickson said staff returning from China could only come back to work after 14 days of self isolation.
Pandemic strands teacher
When Beijing school teacher Kirsty Peffer popped back to her hometown Timaru she had no idea that she would become stranded amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Peffer had been teaching English and developing a drama department at an International Baccalaureate school in Beijing for six months, drawn there on an 18-month contract after struggling to find a permanent fulltime job in New Zealand.
What was supposed to be a short trip to New Zealand became an indeterminable period of couchsurfing because of the Covid-19 outbreak and advice from the New Zealand Government not to travel there.
Peffer finally returned to Beijing in September.
Second Timaru judge
The appointment of a second resident District Court judge in Timaru for the first time was the result of increased demand.
Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu said Dominic Dravitzki’s swearing in on March 2 would mark the first time there were two district court judges assigned to the Timaru area.
‘‘Collectively Timaru, Oamaru, and Ashburton have required two judges for some time, and effectively have had that amount of judge time allocated for the past three to four years,’’ Judge Taumaunu said.
Rendering plant proposed
A proposed $34 million rendering plant for the Washdyke area caused a bit of a stink among nearby residents and businesses over concerns about its potential effect on air quality and unpleasant odours.
New Plymouth-based Southern Proteins Ltd (SPL) sought 35-year consents from Environment Canterbury for the discharge of contaminants into air as part of its proposed new rendering facility and associated site operations.
According to SPL, the plant would employ 17 staff.
The proposed rendering activities involve the receipt and processing of raw animal byproducts, within an enclosed plant at 144 Meadows Rd.
The proposal did not find favour with 20 of the 25 submissions being against while three were neutral and two in favour.
Temuka’s Lotto luck
Excitement levels were high at Temuka’s Village Post after it chalked up a hat-trick of consecutive winning Lotto tickets.
In just seven days in February the store sold three winning tickets, worth a combined total of $1,043,099 in prizes, prompting Lotto to say it ‘‘may just be’’ the luckiest store in New Zealand at the moment.
The run of luck started when a player who bought a ticket from the store won a second division prize of $25,648. Three days later another customer won a first division prize of $1 million and a few days after that a third customer won a second division prize of $17,451.
Ordered to sell
Overseas investors who bought three chunks of land near Twizel were ordered to sell because they didn’t get permission from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO).
Their failure to seek permission was due to inaccurate legal advice, the OIO said.
Vanessa Horne, group manager for the OIO, said the group of overseas investors bought the three properties, which totalled 327 hectares, between 2014 and 2017.
These were 61.46ha at the Junction of State Highway 8 (Tekapo-Twizel Rd) and State Highway 80; and 246.19ha on the Tekapo-Twizel Highway.
End of the road for Holden
While Holden enthusiasts were in mourning over the brand being pulled by General Motors, South Canterbury’s car club dedicated to the make was left wondering what to do about hosting the Holden Nationals in Timaru next year.
News the company will cease sales of Holden in New Zealand and Australia by the end of the year was met with melancholy by Timaru fans.
South Canterbury Holden Club president Toni Gilbert said she was in shock following GM’s announcement which cited economic reasons for ‘‘retiring’’ the brand.
More ambulance staff
Waimate welcomed news it was getting three new fulltime ambulance officers following pleas for action.
Waimate District mayor Craig Rowley said the community was ‘‘ecstatic’’ when St John announced it would be increasing the number of fulltime staff in Waimate to four through the appointment of three new ambulance officers.
Rowley said there had been a combined effort and a considerable amount of time spent calling for extra staff because of ongoing concerns the service was in jeopardy.