News 4
Ashburton Guardian
Friday, December 27, 2013
www.guardianonline.co.nz
NEWSMAKERS OF 2013 As 2013 comes to an end and 2014 gets under way, the Guardian is taking a look back at the year that’s been and catching up with some of Mid Canterbury’s newsmakers. Today Guardian reporter Michelle Nelson catches up with Christine Lawn.
Free as a bird C
hristine Lawn soared into national headlines this year; when she became the country’s first paraplegic solo skydiver. The Ashburton woman – and self-confessed adrenalin junkie – made history on March 22, in the skies above Pudding Hill, with New Zealand Skydiving School instructors Gary Beyer and Laszlo Csizmadia in close proximity. A promising jockey with 19 wins in the bag, Christine lost
the use of her legs after a fall at a race meet in 2002. She has since written a book, made the New Zealand Paralympics dressage training squad, and raised her son Cody on the journey. The decision to take to the skies was the latest adventure, and after completing just four tandem jumps, Christine went solo. “I couldn’t give a stuff about the record, I just wanted to make sure I landed,” she said
at the time. “You have freedom in the sky – there’s no wheelchair up there.” However, she had her wings clipped when she broke her leg in a landing a few weeks later, an event she takes full responsibility for. The spiral fracture has taken months to heal, complicated by her condition, but Christine is confident she will be up in the ether again some time in the New Year. “I had an operation in Octo-
ber and they put a rod through it,” she said. While she’s fed up with being sidelined with injury, Christine has put the time to good use, with the help of others, working on modifications to protect her legs. “We’ve rigged up a system for me when I go back jumping to hold my legs out of the way more. A rigger down in Queenstown did it for free, he made up a system that will help me pull my legs up.
“And an occupational therapist managed to get a physio friend to find her a couple of ROM (range of motion) braces that hold my legs in a certain position so I can keep going with my AFF (accelerated freefall course) and hover properly on my own.” At the time Christine spoke to the Guardian, she was due to see her specialist, and was hoping for good news. “I definitely plan to jump again,” she said.
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Charges against Greenpeace activists dropped BY PATRICE DOUGAN Charges against 29 Greenpeace activists, including two New Zealanders, who faced prison in Russia have been dropped following a Kremlin amnesty. A Greenpeace spokesman in St Petersburg said the case against the remaining activist, Italian Cristian D’Alessandro, was also expected to be dropped. The ‘Arctic 30’ were arrested three months ago over a protest against oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. They faced seven years in jail under hooliganism charges. The environmental group said it had been asked to attend a meeting at Russia’s investigative committee, where the
criminal case against 29 of them were “dropped en masse”. However, the group of 28 activists and two freelance journalists have one more hurdle to jump before they can leave the country - securing exit visas. “Because they never thought they would come into Russia they didn’t have Russian visas, so they need some paperwork to enable them to leave the country,” a Greenpeace NZ spokesman said. “Our lawyers tell us it should be sorted out within the next few days. We’re not anticipating any problems with that.” The two Kiwis in the group - David Haussmann and Jon Beauchamp - are “very keen to get home”, the spokesman said.
“Overall it’s kind of a mixture of relief and an urgency to get home and spend time with their loved ones.” In a statement, Arctic Sunrise skipper Peter Willcox said: “This is the day we’ve been waiting for since our ship was boarded by armed commandos more than three months ago. “I’m pleased and relieved the charges have been dropped, but we should not have been charged at all.” The Arctic 30 have been living in a St Petersburg hotel since being bailed nearly five weeks ago. They were freed under a new amnesty rule, which also saw two jailed members of punk band Pussy Riot walk free earlier this week. - APNZ