When my parents were here visiting, my father seemed to be on a daily mission to get the newspaper. He enjoyed reading about NZ press perspectives on global news as well as discovering hidden gems in the local stories of smaller towns. So I've decided that I would like to share with you stories from the pages of the New Zealand press.
This post's theme: Heroes.
The bus driver story is my favorite. Normally, buses are my enemies: they almost run over us pedestrians and come dangerously close to flattening me and my bike. But today, I could stand behind them because one of their ranks caught car-stealing hoodlums. What's more, the car smashed into a tram (or street car), also the bane of my cycling existence--i've gotten caught twice in their tracks, flying off course into parked cars or oncoming traffic. Again, I thank you cheesy tourist tram, keep up the good work!
ABRUPT STOP: a bus driver helped police when he collared a teenager fleeing a stolen car which had smashed into a tram in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, yesterday. Police and tram staff attended the scene of the collision.
A Christchurch bus driver came to the aid of police yesterday by collaring a 14-year-old fleeing a stolen car which had smashed into a tram in Cathedral Square.
The stolen Ford Laser, allegedly driven by a 19-year-old with two passengers aged 12 and 14, was spotted by police on Colombo Street about 9.40am and took off.
The car raced down the street with a police car in pursuit but the chase came to a crunching end almost before it began. The car was overtaking a bus in Cathedral Square when it collided with an oncoming tram.
The three youths fled on foot but a passing bus driver who witnessed the crash left his vehicle to chase the 14-year-old down towards Warners Hotel.
The driver, who works for Christchurch Bus Services and only wants to be known as Steve, said he did not hesitate to leap from his bus and collar the teenager.
"It took me only a second to decide to run after him. A friend looked after the bus for me. I ran a fair way to get him. He was running at a bit of a pace. I reached out and grabbed him by the collar and shook him a few times. I used to be a bouncer so I know how to grab people."
Steve then walked the teenager back to the scene to await the return of the police officer, who had run after the driver.
Another member of the public caught the fleeing 12-year-old and handed him over to Steve, thinking he was a police officer.
Steve then waited at the scene, with a sullen youth dangling from each arm, for the police officer to return with the driver.
Steve said he was driven to act because he could not abide theft.
"I do not like crime and I do not like people stealing stuff. I have had my car stolen, so I know what it is like," he said.
Sergeant Kim Reid said the culprits were "unbelievably young".
"Police had just observed them and were going to follow them when they took off. It was a very short chase. They could not have picked a more solid object to crash into. They are unbelievable young. It is sad, actually," he said.
The 19-year-old has been charged with unlawful taking and the two young passengers are being dealt with by Child, Youth and Family.
Tram driver Ray Pyne said he was shocked by the collision.
"The car came round the outside of the bus and crashed right into me. It all happened very quickly, I just looked up and saw the car heading towards me," he said. His seven passengers were unharmed.
The incident is the second time bus drivers have helped Christchurch police collar a suspect in a month.
Three bus drivers worked together to box in a car being chased by police on June 28.
The medical anthropologist in me likes the medical miracle story. Armed with scalpels and gauze, surgeons are modern day heroes. Now that they are separated, these little guys can go on to cultivate liberal humanist selves.
Conjoined twins medical team in Awards final
Conjoined twins medical team in NZ Health Innovation Awards final
23 July 2007
The medical team that separated conjoined twins in 2004 has earned a place in the finals of the 2007 New Zealand Health Innovation Awards (HIA).
Waikato Hospital paediatric surgeon Askar Kukkady led the multidisciplinary team of specialists from Waikato Hospital and Auckland hospitals. The successful separation of the girls was an Australasian first.
Twenty-two finalists are competing in the HIA, three of which are also from the Waikato region. The HIA, a joint endeavour of the Ministry of Health and ACC, were started in 2003 and recognises individuals and organisations that have developed new and innovative approaches to delivering better health services.
The incidence of conjoined twins is one in 200,000 live births. The girls born in Waikato were of a particularly rare type called pygopagus twins. Accounting for only 6 percent of conjoined twins, pygopagus siblings are joined at the lower back, spine and pelvis. There have been less than 30 reported cases of the separation of pygopagus twins worldwide with none in Australia or New Zealand.
The operation was planned over five months. An angiogram detailing the twins’ blood vessels was the first recorded angiogram carried out on conjoined pygopagus twins. A model of their fused spine was made based on 3-D images from CT scans. Two weeks before the operation the team practised the operation using a set of custom-made fused dolls. The separation was conducted in two stages, when the twins were three months and five months old, the major operation taking 22 hours with rostered teams working in relays.
Today the twins are leading healthy happy lives. .A number of valuable lessons have been learnt from this major effort. Bringing together a team consisting of over 50 personnel has also helped in managing other complex cases needing the input of several disciplines.
Further information about the HIA is available online at http://www.healthinnovationawards.co.nz
This year’s HIA winners will be announced at the HIA expo and gala dinner held on 10 October at the Wellington Town Hall.
And last, but not least, Harry Potter comes to New Zealand. I have to admit that I only read the first two books, but I do enjoy the movies, the most recent of which I saw this weekend.
City under Potter spell
The Press | Saturday, 21 July 2007STACY SQUIRES/The Press
Harry Potter mania gripped Christchurch last night with some of the city's luminaries participating in a pre-book release dinner party at Hogwarts – aka the Christchurch Club.
MAGICAL MOMENTS: Corallyn Newman rings the bell for silence at the beginning of the Harry Potter dinner at the Christchurch Club last night. The club's dining room stood in for the Hogwarts' dining hall and the crowd was entertained with speeches, quizes, and a dance performance by four little owls from the Sharon Howells School of Ballet.
The much anticipated seventh volume of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released today.
Guest speakers included children's author Margaret Mahy, columnist and law lecturer David Round, and The Press TV reviewer Trevor Agnew, who proposed a toast to the series' author, J. K. Rowling.
The dining room of the Christchurch Club stood in for the Hogwarts dining hall and the crowd was entertained with speeches, quizzes, and a dance performance by four little owls from the Sharon Howells School of Ballet.
The guests were all dressed in Potter gear, with plenty of witches and wizards and even a rat, an owl, and a spider. Witch Sue Collyer said she was a "huge Harry Potter fan".
The five winners of the final Harry Potter book are: Shantelle Godfrey, of Hokitika; Ashley Ross, of Bryndwr, Christchurch; Vaughan Dunlop, of Avondale, Christchurch; D. White, of Rangiora; Helen Blackburn, of Christchurch. The answer to the question was Dudley Dursley.
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5 comments:
Dana, while it's fab to hear from you, posting newspaper articles doesn't satisfy my craving for Dana-isms! You didn't write these articles, and I find them not nearly as exciting as hearing about your daily adventures!
More Dana please! :)
life is slow right now...so i've been reading the news a lot.
med school apps...i'm sure you understand
oooh med school apps! :) How's that going? I remember doing that and hating it and then saying EFF it and applying to grad school instead! :)
You should really read the books :)
The first two are very childish, true, but starting with the 3rd it gets darker and smarter! (plus the movies are not great, except no 3).
And please, tell us more about your life!
no. you tell me a little about YOUR life...
hm, but i guess it is my blog...well, my life is med school application essays upon essays, ...it's not that glamorous. but right now we're in the thick of the Christchurch arts festival as well as an international film festival so i can talk a little about those.
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