Upper Hutt: Gunman who killed six now lives in area

The complete story from the Sunday Times who today released the story that the Rarimu massacre gunman Stephen Anderson 37 is now living in Upper Hutt, in the suburb of Clouston Park. The Rarimu massacre cost the lives of six people. Anderson was found not guilty due to insanity. His earlier limited releases away from care also caused concern in 2008.

The issue is around his public release, Anderson’s continuing treatment and getting him back into the community under strict release conditions which should rehabilitate him according to Mental Health officials concerns both local residents and those effected by his original actions.

Wainuiomata: Cannabis haul of 60 mature plants

Cannabis plants with a street value of half a million dollars were confiscated from a residential property in Wainuiomata recently.

Police Response Manager Inspector Geoff Gwyn says more than 60 mature plants were found in a two-storey home that police allege was painstakingly set up as a cultivation operation.

“The guy had divided the bottom part of the house into seven sections dedicated to various stages of cultivation. There was a sophisticated watering system, ventilation, a charcoal air filteration system to stop the cannabis smell and a large lighting set up.”

A 48-year-old male, Patrick O’Donnell, appeared in court on three charges, including possession of cannabis for supply and cultivation of cannabis.

Mr Gwyn allege O’Donnell had also set up an electrical system so that none of the power consumed to keep the 24-hour cultivation area going was measured on the meter.

“It’s estimated he was using 15 times the power a normal household uses in one day, each day.”

Police say apart from the 60 plants, $25,000 cash was also found on the premises along with five-and-a-half kilos of “head” worth about $55,000 ready to go out on the streets.

The premises were watched over by security guards on night after the arrest warrant was executed and the confiscated marijuana will be disposed of after samples have been taken.

Mr Gwyn says the major drugs bust is a result of strong efforts by the Crime and Crash Team, led by Sergeant Mike Sarten.

O’Donnell was remanded on bail until 6 August, with conditions that include reporting to the Wainuiomata police station and not consuming any alcohol or drugs.

Storm causes damage throughout Hutt Valley

With steady rain falling from 11.00am yesterday, and several major falls throughout the afternoon the storm that hit the region unleashed its worst on certain areas of the Hutt Valley. Early indications via weather radar from Metvuw.com (excellent resource & service) showed the region was going to get some heavy rainfall. By all indications the worst bands of rainfall appear around Mid Valley from Silverstream through to Stokes Valley and further north in Upper Hutt.

The impact was worst felt around 5pm onwards what with the combined rainfall and continuing heavy rain impacting on certain suburbs, Upper Hutt, Silverstream, Stokes Valley and the northern Lower Hutt suburbs were most affected. At 4pm the Hutt river was 1.3 metres high. By 6.30pm it had peaked at 4.3 metres at the monitoring station alongside Hulls Creek.

At the Silverstream underpass a mother and three young children were trapped in rising waters, a fire engine rescued them by driving alongside and ferrying them to safety. The Eastern Hutt Road was roughly under about a metre of water in certain parts resulting from Hulls Creek breaching its banks and rising Hutt river flows. Around Stokes Valley several reports were coming in via our Twitter account of flooding of certain streets and access to Stokes Valley blocked, by people directly affected by the weather.

Across the other side of the valley Sh 58 was closed due to minor slips. The Fire Service was very busy responded to 35 weather-related callouts and further to that the Rimutaka road was closed from 8pm to 9pm due to high winds and again minor slips the result of the weather onslaught.

The biggest emergency of the night was the derailment of the Wairarapa train (5.33 from Wellington) at 6.20pm just north of Upper Hutt at Maymorn. About 300 passengers were stranded in a tunnel after the Trains locomotive ploughed into a wall of mud and debris and derailed as it left a tunnel at Maymorn.

The impact knocked the engine and one carriage about a metre off the tracks. Six other carriages stayed on the tracks but were stranded in the tunnel. No one was injured which given the time of night and number of people involved was extremely lucky. Passengers were stuck inside for more than 2 hours before being moved to the rear 3 carriages, which were pulled to Upper Hutt station by a second locomotive.

They were then bussed to the Wairarapa, but again impacted by the Rimutaka Road being closed. It was quite fortunate that this incident was not a major disaster given the timing and weather influences. This no doubt was a harrowing incident for those involved as no doubt communication of the incident etc took time to emerge and the two hours in the dark and stormy conditions. But they are a hardy bunch those Wairarapa commuters.

Today investigators are visiting the accident site and rail engine recovery is underway. KiwiRail says it wil be several days before the line is open, as the crash site is isolated, and the short timeframe and limited replacement buses cannot meet demand so today there is no Wairarapa service.

It was an extremely wet and wild night, not to unfamiliar to the Hutt Valley but the given the timing of peak impact fortunate that fatalities were not involved, especially with regard to the rail incident.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions last night and updates via Twitter and DM, it was busy. I hope that you were not to impacted by this weather incident. Todays weather unfortunately is a lighter version of yesterdays. Winter in the Hutt, probably a payback for last weekends brillant weather.

PS Check back later as postings become available from Emergency service websites.

Eastbourne: Scheme to curb bicycle thefts

Police in the Lower Hutt suburb of Eastbourne have unveiled a free bike scheme to reduce the number of bicycle thefts in the region.

Eastbourne Community Constable Anthony Harmer says the seaside community has been plagued with thefts, especially during summer. But he says rather than disappearing for good, the bikes have been used by opportunists to get from A to B, then dumped.

Mr Harmer says that has prompted him to introduce a new scheme where bikes are available to pick up and drop off at several points around the bays, free of charge. He says he will have to wait until summer to gauge the true impact, but he has noticed a definite drop in the number of bikes being handed into the police station.

Lower Hutt – Mills Street houses affected by Stopbank move

“It’s been a bolt from the blue,” said Matthew Flood, a resident of Mills St, Boulcott, for 37 years.

Residents had not been properly consulted on a Greater Wellington regional council plan to move a stopbank east, meaning up to 12 homes would go, he said.

“The bigwigs decided our homes should be bulldozed simply because we’re in the way.”

Flood protection manager Graeme Campbell said the council needed to move the stopbank to boost its flood protection.

The Hutt River was narrow near Mills St and there were fears the existing stopbank would not cope with a severe flood. “We just can’t afford a failure in the defences.”

A big flood in 1898 had prompted the building of stopbanks. The council was now considering two options.

One was to move the stopbank 30 metres to the east, meaning four homes would have to be shifted.

The second was to move it further, placing eight more homes in the firing line.

The council hoped to confirm its plan by the end of this week, Mr Campbell said.

Homes would be bought and moved, rather than bulldozed, he said. If homeowners refused to sell, land could be seized and compensation paid under the Public Works Act.

Mr Flood said he had never seen the stopbank threatened by a flood.

“The natural flow of the river curves away from Mills St, so any scouring is more likely to affect the opposite bank.”

A Mills St resident of 57 years, Tse Wk, said the council’s plans were not essential and a blow to the whole street. “I’ve got no idea why they want to do it.” A simpler option would be to clear the riverbanks of rubbish and debris.

The council has held two meetings with Mills St residents.

Hutt River advisory subcommittee member Peter Glensor said any work was five to 10 years away.

The matter came to a head when a Mills St house went up for sale two months ago and was bought by the council, Mr Glensor said.

“We didn’t think it was reasonable for someone to buy it, then be told of the situation.”

Petone: New Motel Development seeks resource consent

The new motel development is at resource consent stage and will be situated at 44 Cuba Street, just off Jackson Street. It will incorporate an adjacent property and has the backing of the developer Mr Rudings.

Mr Rudings says he learned a lot from building Boulcott Lodge (opens end of July) in Lower Hutt (see below)

and he is confident that he can avoid the problems that delayed it when it comes to the Petone motel.

His application for resource consent is based on a 21 unit property on the corner of Cuba and Heretaunga Streets.

To try and avoid any difficulties with neighbours he says he personally visited 25 neighbours to explain the proposal. Consultation also included two presentations to the Petone Planning Action Group and local residents.

A local urban design consultant was also used to make sure the two-storied building blends in. The design will make the motel look like three buildings, so it does not look out of place amongst residential properties, he says.

The site currently features a dilapidated house and a large building that was once used for car upholstery.

The feedback he has got from neighbours is that they believe the motel will improve the area.

The design includes traffic calming measures in the entrance of Heretaunga Street, which he will pay for.

”That will slow down the boy racers and make the place look much better.”

The proposed design does not conform with the District Plan on three aspects but Mr Rudings says they are all minor and he is confident that he will get consent.

Upper Hutt: Private Wind Turbine possible on Emerald Hill

A 15 metre high wind turbine to be installed on private land (situated next to the trig station) at Emerald Hill owned by Adam Blackwell has past its first hurdle after being accepted by the Upper Hutt City Council.

It will provide power to the owners Main Road North property with its generated net power fully used by the house.

The decision by the council is the first stage in the planning process and sees the council acting as the “requiring authority” only. It will be subject to normal resource consent requirements.

Emerald Hill is a dominant landscape feature for residents of Maoribank, Brown Owl, Emerald Hill, Parkdale, Birchville and for users of State Highway 2.

An earlier report commissioned with regard to recent cellphone tower installation at the Emerald Hill site says

“Although the ridgeline has been comprised by power lines running across its northern face, the presence of a cluster of cellphone towers close to the summit will increase the visual encroachment into the skyline.”

The cellphone towers are regarded as utilities and as such have dispensation within the Councils District plan, this private installation of a wind tower will now facing normal Resource Consent processes which call for public input.

The question is will the public dispute its installation.

Eastbourne: Two more caught in selling alcohol to minors

wo Eastbourne businesses and their employess are facing prosecution after selling alcohol to two 16 year old girls.

Part of a late last month crackdown of around 15 outlets around the Lower Hutt area both the Eastbourne 4 Square and the Lifeboat Tavern were caught. This is a continuing undertaking by Hutt Valley Police to monitor underage liquor purchase . Recently a Naenae liquor store was prosecuted as a result of this crackdown.

Police have filed reports with the Liquor Licensing Authority and will be charging the employees involved with the sale of liquor to minors.

Upper Hutt: IRD Centre evacuation over envelope

Inland Revenue staff in Upper Hutt had to be decontaminated after an envelope containing white powder was opened by a mailroom employee this morning.

The building, in Jepsen Grove, was evacuated about 7.20am, police said. Cordons were put outside the building to stop members of the public entering.

Sergeant Steve Dearns said staff were allowed to return about 9am after the package was removed and taken to ESR for forensic analysis.

Upper Hutt area commander Inspector Michael Hill said preliminary analysis suggested the powder was not a dangerous substance. But Inland Revenue staff who had contact with the package went through a Fire Service “decontamination process” as a precaution.

Police were investigating.

Petone: Keep It Beautiful

Keep Petone Beautiful, with the support of Petone Rotary, offers a gift of green (a native tree or shrub) to all babies born to Petone and Korokoro residents during the past year.

We have application forms, as do Petone Plunket and Playdays toyshop.

If you are in this situation come in and get a form to fill in; if you know someone, let them know. Applications close at the end of this month.

Courtesy of Storybooks which is a specialist children’s bookshop near the centre of Petone’s Jackson Street.