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Ashburton
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 27, 1879
Aversion to feed meters By Sam Morton Ashburton residents may not be good at filling up their parking meters, but the majority of them appear to be stumping up for their unpaid fines. Residents have clocked up more than $160,000 in parking fines this year, but unlike some other councils in New Zealand, Baycorp won’t be knocking at your door any time soon. Some councils have opted to hand their unpaid fines over to debt collection agencies in a bid to recover the outstanding totals quicker, but for Ashburton the system will not be changed. Information requested by the Guardian reveals the council parking wardens have issued more than 4500 tickets this year and after an eight week reminder period is ignored – the Ministry of Justice gets involved. Council customer services manager Joe Van Noord said residents generally paid minor fines on time and little trouble was had recovering other infringement fines given out for a variety of reasons – mainly parking on double yellow lines, operating an unregistered motor vehicle or illegal parking. However, the statistics tell a different story with more than $22,000 collected in unpaid fines last month alone by Ministry of Justice - on the council’s behalf. According to Mr Noord, it was not possible to quote a total figure of unpaid infringement fines, because
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the figure was constantly changing as people paid by instalments or refused to pay, while some tickets were waived. “We tend to get the money coming back to us in dribs and drabs, but there’s nothing we can do about that. Once the fine is transferred to the Ministry of Justice, we write it off and then it’s off our books. “We do get the money come back in though each month, so it balances itself out. We do make quite a substantial amount in parking revenue, but it’s not about the money – it’s about making sure we chase unpaid fines,” Mr Noord said. Last month, a total of 1009 infringement notices were handed out, compared to 773 in October and 867 in September. Those tickets resulted in $21,071 being paid to the ADC last month, $14,918 in October and $18,837 in September. An additional $17,059 was collected by the Ministry in September. The number of infringements referred to the Ministry last month was 164, prior to 228 in October and 112 in September. Mr Noord said the fines recovered from the council’s parking revenue fund was used to pay the parking wardens’ salaries, establish new parking meters and pay for community upgrades, such as the Allenton car park. “People pay their fines and grumble, but it’s nice to know the money is getting back to them in some other way and also benefitting the community,” he said.
School is officially out for the summer. Waves of relief and satisfaction flowed throughout Ashburton College yesterday as the final NCEA exams were wrapped up. Although the exam period does not officially finish until today, it was the last act for the college as 13 pupils walked out of the school gate, some for the final time this year, while for others it will be their last time ever. Level 2 drama and Level 3 music marked the last exams for the college, with pupils not having to be back to school until early February. With uniforms shoved to the bottom of the drawer for another year, the next two months will be full of friends, family, sunshine and holidays for the teenagers who have ticked off another year. Ashburton College Year 13 pupil Alasdair Tarry sat his final exam last week, moving on to Wellington’s Victoria University to study architecture next year. He said it was a weird feeling knowing it will be his last act at the school he has grown to love during the past five years. “It was pretty nice to get a break and come home that night with nothing to do, but I had been so used to studying and I didn’t know what to do,” the 18-year-old said. Amanda Fleming, 16, sat level 2 Drama yesterday morning but with her previous exam being two weeks ago, she had to wait in nervous anticipation. “It was a long time and I was a bit nervous because it was always on my mind, but I guess it gave me a bit of time to study too,” she said. Ashburton College principal Grant McMillan said he had heard mainly positive feedback from pupils after they sat their exams, however it had been a wake-up call for others. “I think sadly for some of these pupils when they get the big spiel from the principal at the
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Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 031212-TM-019
Ashburton College Year 13 leaver Alasdair Tarry, 18, has ditched the school uniform for sunshine and a two-month break as he leaves school yesterday.
It was pretty nice to get a break and come home that night with nothing to do, but I had been so used to studying I didn’t know what to do
start of the year, it doesn’t exactly sink in. Now I think they know that time really does go quickly,”
Mr McMillan said. He said most year 12 pupils were returning to the school
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next year, while Canterbury and Otago Universities loomed for many Year 13 pupils.
He said there had been a slight drop in school leavers moving into polytechnics but there was a strong number entering trade industries which was positive for the school and the community. Year nine and 10 pupils will finish on December 13. Novopay saga drags on, P2
Make-A-Wish Foundation grants Hazel her wish By Erin Tasker When Hazel Redmond applied to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make her dream come true, she wished for something that money couldn’t buy. She wanted to meet top New Zealand fashion designer Karen Walker, and a couple of weeks ago, that dream became a reality. She was flown to Auckland, picked up from her hotel by limousine and taken to Walker’s workshop and retail outlet, where she was given money to spend from Make-A-Wish and given a special necklace as a reminder of her trip, Photo supplied
LEFT: Hazel Redmond was stoked to meet Karen Walker after being granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
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from Walker herself. Hazel, who was diagnosed with encephalitis two years ago, said it really was a dream come true. “We went to her workroom in Ponsonby and no one is really allowed there, it’s quite secretive, so I was like a VIP and was shown around by her personal assistant and then went upstairs to see her massive workroom and how things are being made and all the new designs being made,” Hazel said. She then got to meet Walker, who she said was “lovely” and talked to her about all sorts of things, including giving her some life lessons to remember, like not being afraid to ask. “Then we went to her shop in Newmarket and spent time there and Make-a-Wish gave me some money to spend there which was exciting because I wasn’t expecting it,” Hazel said.
She used that money to buy a dress, a skirt and a t-shirt, all of which she’ll forever cherish. It was a dream come true, but as with anyone who is granted a wish by Make-a-Wish, Hazel has been through a lot to get there. Make-A-Wish makes wishes come true for young people who had life-threatening illnesses. For Hazel, that life-threatening illness was encephalitis. The now 17-year-old was struck down by the illness that neither she, nor her family, nor the Make-A-Wish people had heard of, in 2010. A sporty, active teenager, Hazel had a sore throat while away at a netball tournament. It didn’t improve and she ended up in Ashburton Hospital with what the family were told was viral meningitis, but took a turn for the worse and ended up contracting encephalitis – inflammation on the
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brain – and spending three weeks in Christchurch Hospital. Today, she’s still slowly getting back to what life was like before she got sick. Encephalitis is treated like a brain injury. She works with the brain injury department at Burwood Hospital – who the family say they would have been lost without – and had to re-learn things which were second nature to her before she got sick, like her maths times tables. Still now she has to deal with the fatigue, headaches and exhaustion that come with it. Two years down the track she has her good days and her bad days and knows she’s got a long road ahead of her. Hazel’s mum Rachel Redmond encouraged her daughter to apply to Make-a-Wish as a way to celebrate the fact that she was a survivor. Hazel thought about it and
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decided that meeting Walker was a dream, and something that money couldn’t buy, but she didn’t know whether her wish would come true. “It was just so lucky, it felt like a dream though,” Hazel said. Still hampered by tiredness, Hazel only studies two subjects at school – art and photography which she hopes will help her on her way to becoming a fashion photographer. She has finished her Year 12 year at St Margaret’s College in Christchurch, and is excited for her Year 13 year having just been awarded a prefect role. Originally she’d have loved the head girl role, but with everything she’s been through in the past couple of years – including two terms completely off school - that dream went out the window. Becoming a prefect became her goal, and she’s incredibly proud to have achieved that.
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