Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 23 September 2015
Page 24
Specialists
Hope School Bazaar
Page 2
Page 18-19
in their field
Off to national champs
Fallen power lines will be costly The landowner who felled a tree that brought down power lines on State Highway 60 near Mapua last Friday, causing traffic to be diverted and cutting electricity to nearby houses, is likely to receive an extra big power bill this month. Four vehicles became tangled in power lines that were brought down by a tree that was felled near the corner of State Highway 60 and Mapua Drive at around 1.30pm on Friday. Although no one was injured in the incident, Network Tasman chief executive Wayne Mackey says the landowner
responsible for felling the tree is facing a bill for “thousands of dollars” for repairing the lines. “Someone felled a tree and it wasn’t anyone employed by us, so they will have to pay for the damage,” Wayne says. “The power lines were damaged and we’ll want them to pay for that. There was also a bit of damage to household appliances. I don’t know what it will all cost yet but it will be in the thousands of dollars.” Wayne advises that cutting down trees near power lines should only be carried
A car was hit by fallen power lines on the Coastal Highway last Friday. Photo: Nelson Police/Facebook. out by experienced contractors. Cutting or trimming trees within 1.6 metres of high voltage power lines is illegal and can only
be carried out by a contractor approved by Network Tasman. Wayne says Network Tasman conducts an 18-month cycle of inspecting trees and vegetation near power lines and will complete the “first trim” of a tree or remove the tree for free. The landowner has to pay for subsequent trimming of trees conducted by approved contractors. Fortunately, Wayne says the majority of landowners followed Network Tasman’s regulations and Friday’s incident is something that “doesn’t happen very often”.
Sea swim raises cash for charity Fifty-six swimmers braved toe-tingling water temperatures in the Nelson Haven on Sunday to race 600 metres, symbolising the 600 New Zealand men who die from Prostate Cancer each year, to raise almost $2500 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Apart from the chilly water temperature of around 12 degrees Celsius, the annual fundraising swim was held in perfect conditions, with a calm sea and minimal tidal current. Simon Kneebone certainly enjoyed the conditions coming out the water first in a fast 6 minutes 51 seconds. Jody Keefe-Laing was second in 7min 2sec with Jon Linyard third in 7min 8sec. Event organiser Matt Hansen did well to finish fifth in 7min 20sec after swimming with an over-sized bra on the outside of his wetsuit as part of a dare that raised $100 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Kerry Mathieson was the fastest woman, finishing in 7min 28sec, with Jude Vincent the second female in 7min 56sec.
Matt Hansen was wearing an unusual swimming costume in Sunday’s Blue September Sea Swim. Photo: Simon Bloomberg.
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