Preparing to fight fires Hawea Flat residents who attended a meeting with the Lake Hawea Fire Brigade on Monday (January 26) came away with an arsenal of ideas on how to minimise fire risk. PAGE 2
Rescues keep LandSAR busy A Taiwanese woman living in Cromwell drowned in Lake Dunstan on Friday. The Cromwell police say I-Ching Cheng was swimming at Deadman’s Point when she went missing at about 4pm. PAGE 3 THUR 29.01.15 - WED 04.02.15
WANAKA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
inside: Local man James Blunt umpired the Hawke Cup match between Otago Country and South Canterbury at Molyneux Park in Alexandra last weekend. Story page 16. PHOTO: WANAKA SUN
Slow down for school buses PAGE 2
Snow on the Lindis PAGE 5
Council says plan ahead for Easter Staff Reporter Wanaka Sun
Combes running with Mal PAGE 9
Running for Otago PAGE 16
The council is urging people who are planning Easter events which will require a special liquor licence to lodge their applications as soon as possible. The Queenstown Lakes District Council’s regulatory manager, Lee Webster, said applications for special licences for events at Easter had to be lodged by February 5. “People often leave it late to apply for a special licence, but the law requires all applications to be made at least 20 working days before the event.” The time was needed because if an application was opposed, by the police for example, the applicant for a special licence had to present a case to the District Licensing Committee, which
would decide whether or not to grant the application. If the application was not opposed, the committee chairperson could make a decision. It is illegal to sell alcohol to people
Committee that they were running an event which did not equate to business as usual. Lee Webster said there could be exceptions to the 20 working days timeframe for unforeseen events, such as
People often leave it late to apply for a special licence, but the law requires all applications to be made at least 20 working days before the event. who are not dining on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. In order to obtain a licence to sell alcohol without a meal, businesspeople had to satisfy the District Licensing
funerals, but not for pre-planned events. Eight Wanaka or Luggate businesses applied for a special licence to sell alcohol without food on Good Friday and Easter Sunday last year. All the applications were opposed by
the police and the local medical officer of health and it was the district liquor licensing inspector’s view that seven of the bars had not met the act’s criteria for a special licence to be granted. All except one of the applications were declined by the District Licensing Committee. Lee Webster is also encouraging entertainment venue operators to think ahead to the Rugby World Cup, which is being held in England in September, and start planning any events they want to run in conjunction with the tournament. “The games will be held well outside our normal licensing hours so, if venues are intending to screen the matches and serve alcohol, then it would be a good idea to get the planning and applications underway early.”