Wild weather and singing up a storm
A surprise find of ‘‘ P’’ inside a jar of peanut butter, a surprise rise to fame for Freyberg High School old- boy Benny Tipene and a tornado that caught everyone by surprise at Himatangi – there were plenty of unexpected twists and turns in July.
Floods, tornadoes and landslides
July is a month of wild weather in Manawatu. A small tornado strikes the Himatangi Beach community, cutting power, pulling down fences and destroying small buildings.
A one in four year flood of the Manawatu River submerges riverbanks, closes State Highway 56 at Opiki and forces the opening of the Moutoa floodgates. A landslide caused by the heavy rain leaves a freight railway track near Dannevirke suspended in mid- air, an attraction that brings a number of rubberneckers to the area. It is also the month of the 6.6 earthquake that shook up central New Zealand and gave Manawatu a bumpy ride.
Rising
family violence
Negotiations begin for a second safe house as family violence victims increase in Palmerston North.
The one safe house in Palmerston North had provided 3487 nights of shelter to more than 100 women and children in the year to July, an increase of almost 300 per cent on the same period in 2011- 12.
The application for the safe house by Women’s Refuge is accepted by Housing New Zealand and it opens to immediate use in November.
Putting the ‘ P’ in peanut butter
Woodville man Marty Johnson is shocked to find a white substance wrapped in cling film in his peanut butter after he bought it from a police and customs auction.
The mystery of the bundle buried inside a peanut butter jar is examined by police who reveal in September that there is another kind of P among the nuts.
It is concluded that it is a methamphetamine- based substance, but was probably mixed with something else.
In efforts to track the origins of the jar, police speak to the peanut butter manufacturers, who say it was packaged in China and arrived in New Zealand ready to eat. How the drugs came to be inside it remains a mystery.
New supermarket for
Awapuni
Progressive Enterprises, owner of Countdown supermarkets, confirms it has purchased the former Palmerston North rugby club Kia Toa’s clubrooms on Pioneer Highway.
Kia Toa gained $ 2.5 million from the sale of its property.
Kia Toa closed its clubrooms at 520 Pioneer Highway late last year, saying it had become ‘‘ financially unsuitable’’ to operate the bar, food, TAB and gaming facilities there.
The Liquorland bottle store on the site closed soon after, and Kia Toa moved its base to The Railway Hotel.
The clubrooms were demolished in April but it is not yet known
Miss Manawatu crowned
Air force helicopter crew member Louise Nelson wins Miss Manawatu 2013.
The gleam of the tiaras could be seen in the eyes of the 39 young women who donned sequins and towering stilettos to take to the stage at The Regent on Broadway, in the hope of taking home the crown.
Used to going to work without a scrap of makeup, Miss Nelson says one of the most challenging parts of the competition is ‘‘ being girly’’.
Quiet
contemplation in Albert St
An application by the Palmerston North Amitabha Buddhist Centre to use an Albert St house for worship is opposed by a neighbour who complains about the loss of privacy and increasing commercial use in the area. The centre is asked to produce a noise management plan for how it will mitigate the sound of traditional Buddhist meditation but is eventually given the go ahead.
Redundancies
in Dannevirke
Fifty or more redundancies are expected at Dannevirke Canterbury Spinners. Company spokesman Geoff Senescall says the move is ‘‘ regrettable but a reality of manufacturing’’. Demand for woollen carpets is not what it had been.
Tipene third but on top
Palmerston North singer- songwriter Benny Tipene just misses out on the top prize after the finale of X Factor, finishing third behind Jackie Thomas and Whenua Patuwai.
Throughout the competition Tipene praises the virtues of Palmerston North and he plays a free gig to hundreds inside and outside The Stomach for the final show.
His debut single Walking on Water is released and goes to No 1 on the New Zealand charts.
Ten- year Massey plan unveiled
Massey University unveils its vision of a sprawling $ 250 million super campus. The vision, nine years in the making, is designed to attract brighter minds and researchers to the city by 2025.
Carer of abuse victims shuts
A lack of funding sees Age Concern Manawatu shut its Palmerston North doors and call in a liquidator. Age Concern chairwoman Mary Ann Baskerville says the organisation’s demise can be attributed to the Government’s culling of the social response fund. A first report into the organisation finds it is $ 60,000 in debt.