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Motor Race Charges Dropped – Mob Informant Wins Case Against Cops – New Prison – Bomb Hoaxer – McVeigh Execution – Massive Smoking Award – Prowler Hunt In Wainui – Power Crisis? – Mr Blobby Lighthouse
MOTOR RACE CHARGES DROPPED: Charges against four volunteer organisers of a car race in Queenstown were dropped today. Instead Motorsport NZ plead guilty for criminal nuisance in relation to the deaths of two spectators. Alan Dick says Motorsport NZ should have stepped in far earlier. Police today were pleased with the guilty plea. The case began over a week ago. Dick says Motorsport’s decision smacks of poor management. He says it is symptomatic of the incompetent manner the sport is run in NZ.
MOB INFORMANT WINS CASE AGAINST COPS: The High Court has found in favour of a former mongrel mob member who says he was double crossed by police after informing on his mob colleagues. Anthony Hewison was offered relocation in Australia after becoming an informant. Police reneged on an agreement to set him up in Australia under a new identity. Hewison’s lawyer says the case is important as it proves that agreements with informants are legally enforceable.
NEW PRISON: Corrections Minister Matt Robson has announced a new prison location near Te Kauwhata in the Waikato. Local residents are appalled at the decision. Robson says that in the end communities have to accept that prisons have to go somewhere. The North Waikato facility would replace Mt Eden and would create 250 jobs. The prison is also nearby a new waste dump site. A Tainui Hapu is also unhappy with the decision, saying the site is a Tapu battle ground.
BOMB HOAXER: The Tauranga bomb hoaxer who forced the PM to drive back to Auckland yesterday appears to be someone who is upset with defence cuts. A tape of a man who calls himself Todd is played. He claims responsibility for smashing windows of Margaret Wilson’s electorate office in a protest against the dismantling of the Air Force Skyhawk strike win.
MCVEIGH EXECUTION: The execution of Oklahoma Bomber Timothy McVeigh is on again. A judge today ruled that there is no good cause to delay McVeigh’s execution. McVeigh was not at the hearing. The judge said that there was no scheme to deny McVeigh a fair trial. At McVeigh’s home his father listened to
MASSIVE SMOKING AWARD: A jury in Los Angeles has awarded more than $7.3 billion to a 56 year old man who sued Phillip Morris for causing his cancer. The jury accepted he did not know smoking was dangerous till the mid 1990s. Phillip Morris says it will appeal. The damages dwarf the previous record for compensation to a smoker.
PROWLER HUNT: Wainuiomata Police are warning parents in Wainuiomata to be extra vigilant after a series of incidents involving children. The prowler has broken into several houses containing children.
POWER CRISIS?: The Government has announced a low level of concern about low hydro-power lake levels.
MR BLOBBY LIGHTHOUSE: Pencarrow
Light House has been painted pink with yellow spots – Mr
Blobby colours – by secret squirrels.
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
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