Waimea Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
Wednesday 11 August 2021
Lodge lands whopper award
Claudia’s journey to White Fern
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Frustration over smashed cars Sara Hollyman Reporter
sara@nelsonweekly.co.nz sara@nelsonweekly.co.nz
An increase in thefts and damage of vehicles is putting people out of pocket and frustrating locals. Leon Ward started his small business Award Movers earlier this year and was left distraught when he went out to his truck on Sun-
day morning to find it had been damaged overnight. “I came out on Sunday morning and there was glass shattered, my mirror was smashed and a couple of dents on the truck.” The truck, which was parked on the side of the road on William St had been a victim of vandals. Leon says he noticed a broken road cone across the street and
found bits of road cone in the debris around his truck so assumes someone took to the truck with the cone. “I felt a little bit pissed off and frustrated when I saw it. It’s money and time that I have to spend to fix it.” He says the damage wouldn’t warrant an insurance claim, it’s “just a pain”. Police detective senior sergeant
Craig Johnston says police have noticed an increase in theft of and from vehicles in the region, but not so much general vehicle vandalism. He says police are typically seeing older vehicles that are easier to break into being stolen. “They don’t have immobilisers and alarms, that kind of thing.” Between 10 February and 28
June, 14 Mazda Demios had been reported stolen in the Nelson area. While Craig says the increase clearly started with Demios, they are not the only vehicle being targeted. He says it’s a mixture of cars being parked on the road or in driveways and areas with more activity
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Animals become part of healing Jenny Nicholson Demand for animal-assisted therapy had Fossil Creek Farm needing to employ more staff after just seven months. The farm in Brightwater opened in January this year, and it is already seeing 40 clients a week. “Instead of sitting in an office talking face-to-face, we wander the farm and interact with the animals as we talk,” says owner and therapist Jude Robb. “We have hit the right combo.” Jude has a degree in social work and a diploma in animal-assisted therapy. But, for Jude, the motivation is knowing how much animals can help people in pain. “As a child, when I was going through difficult situations, animals soothed me.”
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Fossil Creek therapist Jude Robb says animals are part of healing. Photo: Jenny Nicholson.
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