Concern for missing boy
Police have concerns for an 11-year-old Taranaki boy who has been missing since the end of last week.
Sergeant Terry Johnson said Daniel Radford had not been seen since he left his home in Okato on Friday morning.
Johnson said Radford was supposed to be in the care of a relative but he had not been seen or heard from.
‘‘We don’t know where the boy is, we believe that he is somewhere in Taranaki.’’
Radford could be with people that know him but Johnson urged anyone who knew where he was to immediately contact police to let them know the boy was all right.
He said as time passed concerns for Radford’s safety were increasing.
‘‘We do have concerns for his safety and the bottom line is we do need to talk to him.’’
Radford is described as a male European of medium build with sandy brown hair. He was wearing a blue t-shirt with a dinosaur printed on it, grey and orange shorts and grey sneakers. Anyone with information should call police on 759 55 00.
- Leighton Keith
But yesterday, NZTA highway manager Ross I’Anson said following the Christmas and New Year break, staff had reviewed the issue and had decided to look at ways to remedy it.
‘‘We will see if we can bring forward the scheduled resurfacing work for the section of the road where the paint was spilled,’’ he said in a written statement.
‘‘If this isn’t possible, then we will take other measures, such as water-blasting, to remove the paint.’’
No date for the clean-up work had been set but a decision on this should be known by next week.
It is believed the mess was caused by house paint falling from a truck or car but the details of what actually happened are still unknown.
An online poll about the issue, which attracted 1700 voters, returned a reasonably close result.
Of those who took part, 57 per cent were in favour of the mess being cleaned up while 43 per cent said it was not worth the hassle.