Blueskin Bay FM 88.2

20 July 2010

MP Clinic: Hon Pete Hodgson

PETE HODGSON

MP Dunedin North

Next MP clinics for your community are:
Monday 16 August 2010

1:30pm Waikouaiti Library
2:30pm Waitati Library

MP Office
32 Albany Street, Dunedin
Ph: 03 4741973
Fax: 03 4749913
Email: pete@petehodgson.co.nz

19 July 2010

WAITATI ENERGY PROJECT column

WAITATI ENERGY PROJECT

by Scott Willis

Turbine News

Did anyone hear Chris Laidlaw interviewing Keith Turner (ex-Meridian
CEO) on National Radio on the 18 July? Several very interesting
questions were put to Keith Turner and at least two important issues
came to the fore: Distributed Generation (or DG) and Policy (vacuum).

Turner argued that DG (generating at or near the point of consumption
with photovoltaics, micro wind or hydro, and strong grid
interconnectedness) while clearly the path of the future, just hasn't
happened despite the promise. Essentially (listening between the
words) this is because we don't offer any incentives for DG and we
maintain plenty of disincentives under our current market structure
that seeks to foster competition in what is essential national
infrastructure.

The further we get down the path to our own energy generation in
Blueskin Bay, it's become evident that no-one knows how to do this
(community generation) in New Zealand yet, outside of a few individual
households who have gone to considerable effort to exist
outside the grid and a handful of grid interconnected households – but
that's individuals, not communities. Keith Turner talked of 'economies
of scale' which is another way of saying that our energy sector is
designed for Think Big projects.

One thing we've discovered is that building the physical
infrastructure is not complicated and will likely generate plenty of
electricity at any one of the sites currently under consideration. In
fact, New Zealand is the only country, we were told, where wind
generation is built for its economic merits alone (we have plenty of
wind) – all other countries subsidise wind to help reduce their
reliance on 'dirty energy' (energy from non-renewables such as oil and
coal). We have wind and we have sites, subject to lease agreements and
agreement with our broad community of the desirability of the project.
We could generate electricity. But there's another required
'infrastructure' we need to make the economic case. This is the
virtual infrastructure of the market: as it is set up now, the
electricity market will not easily accommodate generation from a small
community with a wind turbine. If we had a large hydro lake and a
geothermal plant as well, then it would be a piece of cake, but as it
is, we will need help, in either changed policy or market partners.

The question we'll have to address as we talk about generating our own
energy is: do we want electricity and do we want it to be from
renewables? Because if we do, we will have the power to make it
happen. The timeline is still not clear, as we need to find the
appropriate way to build our virtual market infrastructure, raise
capital, establish the co-operative, and secure the appropriate
consents. I'm hoping to find a way to address the market challenge
promptly, firstly because this challenge is almost as great for those
single households who want to sell back to the grid, but also because
we have such a good momentum right now. The rest will then follow.

Things haven't been standing idle, but the Community Turbine
Information Day won't be in August. Keep your eye out for a date in
the Blueskin News or via the WEP E-list.

Economic light

With the GST rise on its way, and rising electricity prices right now,
we can't afford to be complacent about ensuring we use less
electricity and using electricity more efficiently. Unless you're an
exceptional family that goes to bed when the light fails and rises at
first light, you'll be lighting your home. Hopefully you're only
lighting those spaces you're living in and have everyone ensuring they
'turn out the light'. More than good habits though, big efficiencies
can now be made with the choice of lights and bulbs. Technology is
delivering ever more efficient lighting, with incadescent bulbs easily
replaced with compact fluorescent bulbs, saving energy and money, and
also fluorescent tubes, low energy halogen, and LEDs among the more
common for the householder. And if you're concerned about the tiny
amount of mercury in some of the compact fluorescent bulbs, make sure
you're as cautious about the fish you eat as well! Oh, and there's a
competition sponsored by RightLight, an Industry-wide initiative
developed by the Electricity Commission, offering $10, 000 to make
your home more energy efficient. Here's the address:
www.rightlight.govt.nz/ .

For more information on the WEP or to subscribe to the WEP e-list,
email waitatienergy@gmail.com or phone 4822048.

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Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ō ō Ū ū
From blueskin.co.nz and 'Blueskin News' published by Blueskin Media:
voluntary/non-profit community publishers in Blueskin Bay (Seacliff,
Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
All material sent to or published by us is "copyleft" in the public
domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
If you want to credit the source it's "blueskin.co.nz".

Public Notice: Warrington Surf Life Saving Club AGM

Warrington Surf Life Saving Club AGM

Saturday 14 August at the Club Rooms at 6.30 pm.

The agenda will include approving a new Constitution (part of Project
Groundswell) and Election of Committee Members.

Mark Familton
Acting President

Seacliff revives old orchard

by Paul Smith

The Truby King Reserve's old orchard is about to get a make over with
the Reserve Committee embarking on a new "open orchard" project.

Just a few straggly apple trees are all that remain of what was
possibly a larger orchard planted when the Seacliff Asylum was
operating. All that is due to change with a planting day due to take
place on Saturday 7 August.

Though owned by the Dunedin City Council, the Reserve is co-managed
with the Seacliff community. The Reserve Committee has raised funds
for the project which has also received a grant from the Waikouaiti
Coast Community Board.

Located on the corner of Coast Road and Russell Road, the orchard is
thought to be the site of the Seacliff Hospital's old vegetable
gardens. The orchard design has been provided by Waitati tree expert,
Jason Ross, from Sutherland Nurseries. A range of heritage varieties
will be planted.

The orchard will be cared for by the Seacliff community, but the
Committee is keen to extend an invitation for anyone interested to
come and help out on planting day. A spade, gloves, buckets and
wheelbarrows are recommended as useful items to bring.

The planting day begins at 11.00am. Volunteers should meet at the
corner of Coast and Russell Roads.

OPINION: Realign the street lamps too

OPINION

Realign the street lamps too

by John Kaiser

I attended the meeting last month on the SH1 realignment. Thanks to
New Zealand Transport Agency for their informative evening on July7th.

One of the reasons stated in the resource consent application for the
upgrade to the curve at Waitati is that SH1 is a rural highway and
users therefore expect a higher open road speed.
The plan also notes correctly that any changes in the area need to
preserve the natural character of the coastal environment.

The realignment project therefore needs to treat the whole environment
as rural and not flood the surrounding area with excess light. This
should also extend to making sure that the overhead and any other
street or intersection lights are not visible from the surrounding
coastal area.

It is important that the lighting design of the proposed curve
realignment meets the following criteria:

1. All installed lights should not spill any light above horizontal.

This is to ensure that a 'Dark Sky' approach is followed that protects
the wonderful view of the stars that we get on a clear night in
Waitati. Further information on this can be obtained from
www.darksky.org. There are road lighting fittings that meet these
requirements. This should mean that there is no direct light from the
project visible from any location on the surrounding hills.

2. All light sources should not be visible from the coastal area and
the local village. In particular the lights should not be visible from
sea level across the bay.

The main reason for this requirement is that residents of Blueskin
Bay, Doctors Point and Warrington out enjoying the evening should not
have to look directly at the bright light sources as a result of this
upgrade. There is no physical reason why the lights should not be
shielded so that the required illumination levels are achieved for the
project, and the
surrounding area left with no additional illumination.

The lighting levels away from the upgrade will drop off very quickly
to a low level. However even a low level of light is intrusive in a
home when you have the lights out and the curtains open at night.
Anyone living near street lighting will attest to this.

Most of the street lighting around Dunedin does not meet the criteria
for a dark sky. It is about time we started to protect the "natural
character of the coastal environment" from light pollution.

A message...

A message

by Bruce Sheppard

On behalf of the Sheppard family I would like to thank the people of
Waitati for the support given over Terry's passing.

Your support and togetherness as a community is as strong and
civilised as you could get.

Marie (my mum) was overwhelmed to see such strength from a community.

Our special thanks goes out to Mandy for organising a send off that
rivalled that of the Queen Mother's.

Thank you for the right royal banquet that followed, the decorations
in the hall and the general support and love that was extended to all.

Also but not least, the Waitati Militia for its military presence and
artillery support.

If the rest of New Zealand was together and warm as Waitati, it would
be civilised.

Waitati Film Society Programme Aug-Dec 2010

WAITATI FILM SOCIETY

Waitati Film Society half-year memberships are now available at $35.
See drama, comedy, history or just plain entertainment in a warm,
pleasant environment with convivial company. Membership allows you
free entry to Film Society screenings as well as discounts at Film
Festivals and some Dunedin cinemas.

For more information, ring Leonie 4822 508 or look at our website:
www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz/waitati.htm

Tuesday Aug 10

LEN LYE: ART THAT MOVES

NZ 2009

A compilation of movies from experimental film-maker, poet, painter,
kinetic sculptor, eccentric and ebullient personality, Len Lye, one of
New Zealand's most widely-known modernist artists. He was driven by a
life-long passion for motion, energy and the possibility of composing
them as a form of art. He moved to London and then New York, where he
became known as an intensely creative filmmaker and kinetic sculptor.
Born in 1901, he died in 1980. 90min.

Tuesday Aug 17

LIFE IS A MIRACLE

Serbia 2004

In 1992, before the vicious conflict, engineer Luka worked on the
completion of a railway line between eastern Bosnia and Serbia.
Afterwards, as a stationmaster with a family of an unstable wife and
athletic son, he chooses to ignore the signs of looming war in
Croatia. But inevitably all three individually become engulfed in the
war. 155min.

Tuesday Aug 24

OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES

France 2006

In 1955, OSS 117, a 1950's French comic forerunner of James Bond, is
sent to Egypt by the French Foreign Secret Service to investigate the
death of an agent and "make the Middle East safe". Though suave, OSS
117 is about as competent as his real life contemporaries who blew up
the Rainbow Warrior. 99min.

Tuesday Aug 31

NO MAN'S LAND

Bosnia 2001

During the confusion of battle, two soldiers, one a Bosnian the other
a Serb, find themselves in a trench in No Man's Land. With them is a
third, unconscious Bosnian soldier who has had a mine placed under him
by the Serb. The United Nations Protection Force is of no use as their
mission orders compel them to remain mere bystanders. An English
reporter is hoodwinked into believing the situation has been resolved,
but has it been? 98min.

Tuesday Sept 7

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

USA 1945

Humphrey Bogart plays Harry, a crusty fishing boat captain in the
Caribbean during the German Occupation of France. He just wants a
quiet life with his girlfriend, an American pickpocket (Lauren Bacall)
and piano-playing friend (Hoagy Carmichael). But the leader of the
Free French persuades him to smuggle two resistance agents between
islands. 100min.

Tuesday Sept 14

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

USA/Argentina/Chile/Peru 2003

In 1952, two young Argentinians boarded a battered Norton 500 and set
off on a road trip that inspired a revolution. Both Che Guevara and
Alberto Granado were from privileged upbringings, but their
experiences during their 8-month trip from Buenos Aires to Venezuela,
shaped their outlook on the realities of life. This enactment of the
journey perhaps gives an understanding of what moulds someone into a
charismatic revolutionary. 126min.

Tuesday Sept 21

THE ITALIAN

2005

During his brief years of life, Vanya has been abandoned by his
Russian parents, then given the privileged option of adoption by a
wealthy Italian family for a life of Mediterranean comfort. Yet his
roots call and he feels that he would like to be re-connected with his
birth mother. It's decision time for a six-year-old boy. 99min.

Tuesday Sept 28

DANCER IN THE DARK

Denmark 2000

This musical centres around the life of Selma, a Czech immigrant in
Washington State in 1964. She lives in poverty with her son in a
trailer home. Her work in a factory is tedious so she escapes to the
local cinema to watch Hollywood musicals despite her increasing
blindness. She also frequently escapes into daydreams of songs
incorporating everyday sounds of factory machinery. 140min.

Tuesday Oct 12

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

USA 2007

Fermina abandons her innocent, youthful affair with Florentino for
marriage with the less romantic but practical Juvenal, a doctor
dedicated to the eradication of cholera, who puts his public
importance and reputation above all else. If romantic love is a
disease like cholera, Juvenal has the knowledge and wherewithal to
cure it. But opportunist Florentino has not entirely disappeared from
Fermina's life. 139min.

Tuesday Oct 26

BEYOND THE DARK SIDE

NZ 2004-08

A collection of recent short films that continue the tradition of New
Zealand's Cinema of Unease.

Nature's Way (Jane Shearer, 2006, 11 mins)

The Lethal Innocents (Kirsty Cameron, 2006, 9 mins)

Cargo (Leo Woodhead, 2007, 12 mins)

Undergrowth (Grant Major, 2009, 10 mins)

Ride (Stephen Sinclair, 2004, 15 mins)

Brave Donkey (Gaysorn Thavat 2009, 12 mins)

Tuesday Nov 9

Asta Nielsen: The Abyss & The Ballet Dancer

Denmark 1910-11

Actress Asta Nielsen is arguably the earliest (silent) movie star and
was very famous in Europe, but not USA, from 1910 through into the
early 20's

ABYSS: Camille is an actress and ballerina with a hopelessly
complicated love life. She loves a playwright but it is a painter who
really loves her.

THE BALLET DANCER: Full of the comings and goings of occasional
lovers, meetings and mix-ups. Within such a tangle of loving and
fussing, there is a tragic final ending for one of the characters and
an illuminating and even happy outcome for another. 35min.

Tuesday Nov 23

SEX AND LUCIA

Spain 2001

Poor Lorenzo has writers' block and waitress/ girlfriend Lucia cannot
break his despair. But his depression, subsequent revelation of a
child from a previous liaison as well as other more recent interwoven
relationships, provide him with subject matter for his latest novel.
128min.

Tuesday Dec 7

RAIN OF THE CHILDREN

NZ 2008

Vincent Ward further explores the subject of his earlier film In
Spring one Plants Alone when, as a young film student in 1978, he
travelled to the Ureweras and documented the lives of an elderly Maori
woman, Puhi, and her schizophrenic son. In this updated account, Ward
revisits to unravel the mystery of who was Puhi. 102min.

Warrington Taekwondo Club (column)

Warrington Taekwondo Club

by Meaghan Kelly

The end of June-start of July was a big month for Warrington
Taekwondo. On 26 June the South Island champs were held at the
Caledonian and attended by clubs from all over the island, including
Warrington. Seven Warrington members competed, Natasha Abbott and
Imogen Corbett in the poomsae (a demonstration of a set series of
moves) competition, while Eric Ko, Meaghan Kelly, and Scott, Bruno and
Lucan Willis all competed in sparring.

Natasha and Imogen competed extremely well in their first tournament.
The experience they gained will be extremely valuable in the future
(for all the future tournaments we want them to attend).

Lucan fought an even-looking fight against a higher ranked opponent
who eventually came out the winner, however once again a great effort.

Bruno also fought a higher-ranked opponent and the result did not go
his way, despite the fact that he fought probably his best fight to
date, showing his tournament experience has paid off and he has
clearly put in a lot of work.

Scott was narrowly defeated in his match, again against a
higher-ranked fighter from Christchurch; a result which could have
gone either way easily. A good fight to watch, but also a good
learning experience.

Eric brought home our only gold, fighting a friend from Green Island
club. This didn't prevent him from winning the fight by a ridiculous
margin of around 30 points. Yay Eric! Eric's fights are particularly
good to watch as the feeling of not being on the receiving end is so
relaxing.

My own fight was a little nerve wracking as everyone who heard who my
opponent was seemed to be implying that they would come to my funeral.
I did conclusively lose, by a similar margin to that Eric won by, (I
think actually more) but managed to hang onto life adequately. I am
privileged to be matched with some very high-ranking fighters due to
the lack of female competitors. Verina Wihongi, my opponent, attended
the Athens Olympics in 2004.

I would also like to thank the other Warrington instructors who attend
and coached; Paul Foley, Tim Bain and Jesse Bain. Thanks also to the
parents who got up in the dark and cold to get your children there and
those supported them.

The other big event recently was the grading at Port Chalmers. Four
members of Warrington were examined and all passed creditably. Imogen
and Lucan were graded from yellow belt green tabs to green belt in a
tougher than expected grading. They put in a lot of effort and had
knew their stuff well-a thoroughly deserved pass.

Scott and Bruno were graded from red belt to red belt black tab, one
grade below black belt. As a result their grading was exceedingly
demanding and extremely long. After a hairy start, mainly due to
(justifiable) nerves, things improved. It was a difficult grading to
watch, especially as both Scott and Bruno had to fight 20 consecutive
fights against black belt opponents when they were already exhausted
from the rest of the grading. After this they then had to break 5
boards.(one at a time luckily). They showed amazing determination and
resilience to never once give up in the face of very daunting odds and
horribly bruised knuckles. They deserve to be very proud of
themselves! We are proud of them.

Congratulations to everyone who graded and thanks to all the
supporters for waiting a very long time, transporting people and as
always, supporting Warrington tkd. Also thanks to the Instuctors for
the time and effort they put in to extra training sessions and their
commitment to the students all the time. To those who are going to
grade in November- train hard-its not far away!

If you are interested, come along and try a training session with us
at Warrington Memorial Hall. Mondays and Wednesdays 6- 7.30pm. All
ages and abilities - fitness, fun, skills, self defence. First month
free.

Blueskin A&P Society Annual Meeting

In accordance with our constitution, notice is given of our Annual
General Meeting:

October 5 2010. 7.30pm at Waitati Fire Station

- Paul Clements

Dangerous dog after dark on Doctors Point Rd

by Lee Paterson

There is a dark-brown boxer-cross-type dog that likes to have a go at
passing cars after dark, between Barton Street and Short street here on Doctors
Point road in Waitati.

I have had to veer away from this dog, to avoid hitting it many times now,
and each time it is a bad surprise.

I would get out and find out what its collar says, but it looks pretty
angry.

Could the owner please control this dog, otherwise it will either get
injured, or cause an accident.