Thur 17.11.11 - wed 23.11.11
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Sing it out loud
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Wanaka winners page 3
John Aspinall remembered page 4
Singers – particularly tenors and basses – are still welcome to join a local choir which has been rehearsing for a performance of Handel’s Messiah next month. Organiser Marjon Gilbert said the singers have been enjoying the twice-weekly rehearsals and are likely to be joined by at
page 12
Cross-country champion page 16
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www.thewanakasun.co.nz
There will be a workshop for interested singers this Sunday at the Presbyterian Church, and the final performance will take place at 7pm on Sunday December 11 at the Presbyterian Church (on Tenby Street). The gold coin donation will go to the Salvation Army for Christchurch.
PHOTO: wanaka.tv
Dog culture questioned Sue Wards
Kindness rewarded
least 20 more singers, including some from Alexandra and Cromwell, for the performance, which will also feature a flute duet. While rehearsals have been hard work, Marjon said members of the group are keen to plan another performance at Easter. “It’s good for the soul,” Marjon said.
A Wanaka man says out-of-control dogs pose a threat on local walking tracks and he is concerned a dog will have to attack someone before the situation is brought under control. Roy Warren, who moved to Wanaka from Auckland early this year, said his six-year-old daughter was rushed at by a Great Dane two weeks ago while biking along Waterfall Creek near Edgewater. “The dog was bigger than she is,” Roy said. “She was shaken up to say the least.” Roy has been “rushed at” by dogs at least three times in the past few weeks. “It’s an amazing asset but it’s got all these out-ofcontrol dogs on it,” he said of the Millennium Track. Roy had complained about these incidents previously to Lakes Environmental and was asked to provide details such as car registrations
next time. On this occasion, he confronted the dog’s owner, who was with a group of friends. The group offered no apology for the dog’s behaviour, he said, and a “huge argument” ensued. Roy eventually asked the dog’s owner for the dog’s
is ironic that a dog which rushed at his daughter only merits a warning to the owner, while farmers have the right to shoot dogs for rushing at stock. “There’s a strange dog culture here,” he said. Lakes Environmental regulatory
The dog was bigger than she is... She was shaken up to say the least. registration number and reported the incident to the Lakes Environmental dog control officer Darryl Taylor. After an investigation, which involved Darryl speaking to the dog’s owner about the incident, the owner was given a warning. Roy believed the owner should have been given a $200 infringement, and said “I suppose the dog would have had to attack someone” for the owner to have been fined. He said it
and corporate manager Lee Webster said a warning was the appropriate action in this case. “The dog hasn’t been aggressive but has startled the young girl,” he said. The dog’s owner had then called the dog to her and it obeyed her. The law does not require dogs to be kept on a lead at all times, he said. “As a community we are all using these tracks. The dog owner must keep the dog under control.” With more than
3000 dogs in the district and a lot of recreational space, “there’s give and take for all parties”, he said. Lee said out-of-control dogs are not a problem in general, but there has been an increase in complaints about menacing dogs throughout the district. The number of complaints about “menacing dogs” (dogs which have attacked) has risen from two a year to 15 a year in the past two years. As a result, Lakes Environmental has “absolutely clamped down on dog control”, in particular owners who do not take responsibility for their dogs, Lee said, for example through introducing the concept of probationary owners. “If there is an issue, tell us,” Lee said. “I’m not going to use a sledgehammer to crack open a walnut.”