Blown out of all proportion?

This 74-year-old called it 'free speech'. A shopping  centre called the police, reports Edward Rooney.
Cymbals clang and drums thump. The aroma of a dozen barbecued ducks mingles with other exotic smells in Northcote Shopping Centre. Chinese New Year celebrations are in full sway.
North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams finishes singing with a troupe on stage and makes his way down the steps to one side.
As the music quietens for the briefest moment, a shout rings out from the crowd: "Cowardly careerist!"
The woman with the slogan follows her yell with a full-blown raspberry.
This is Shirley Squire and she has just blown her last raspberry in Northcote Shopping Centre.
Days later, Sunnynook community constable Penny Rusbatch presented Miss Squire with a trespass notice, prohibiting the 74-year-old from: "Northcote Shopping Centre and surrounds, bounded by the following addresses: 123-127 Lake Rd, 115 Lake Rd, 1-29 Pearn Cres, 6-10 Kilham Ave, 33-35 Pearn Cres, 1-47 Pearn Pl, 5 Ernie Mays St, Civic Reserve (6-8 Cadness St), 65 Pearn Cres. Includes shops at 47-51 Pearn Cres and 16-52 Pearn Pl and occupied by Mainstreet Northcote Inc and North Shore City Council."
All this effectively bans Miss Squire from approaching the Northcote shops from any direction.
"This is beyond persecution," she says. "It's positively sadistic."
Constable Rusbatch says the notice was issued at Mainstreet Northcote chairman Martin Lawes' request. She declines to discuss the matter further.
Mr Lawes did not return calls from The Aucklander.
Miss Squire wants the trespass notice lifted. "I blew a raspberry, twice," she says. "I waited until he was off the stage because I didn't want to insult the Korean singers."
Miss Squire speaks fast and raises her voice when people try to interrupt. She's intense and uptight.
It's clearly difficult to reason with her. She repeatedly wanders off the topic of trespass notices and onto her previous clashes with council, councillors and staff.
Mayor Williams says Miss Squire's misdemeanours in Northcote Shopping Centre went beyond what is acceptable.
"She was being offensive to many people who were there for the Chinese New Year," he says.
"There were consul-generals from various nations there. She was a real embarrassment."
Mr Williams says he had nothing to do with the police complaint or trespass notice. "That was the Northcote Shopping Centre who took that action and I was only told about it afterwards. I don't know who took the decision to trespass her in the end."
Miss Squire has been something of an issue for the council over recent years, he says.
"She's also been trespassed from the council offices in Takapuna."
The Mayor doesn't seem to believe trespass orders are too extreme for the circumstances. "The council has been trying to work with Shirley for years now. She rang my home and abused my kids and my wife."
Miss Squire meanwhile, refuses to say whether she would temper her behaviour if the trespass orders were removed.
"As a pensioner, I can't afford to fight the council," she says.
But she will keep fighting, I realise, as she gets out her protest sign:
"Democracy is dead. The truth will come out. North Shore City Council will not go out in a blaze of glory. They will go out in a blaze of shame. All those who passed the buck are cowardly careerists without any consciences. Justice has not been seen to be done."
No-go zone
A person who defies a notice under the Trespass Act 1980 may be fined up to $1000 or jailed up to three months. The order is usually enforceable for two years after written notification.
Blast from the past
If Shirley Squire's method of attack sounds familiar, you might be of an age to remember The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town - a serial written by Spike Milligan and Ronnie Barker that ran every week on The Two Ronnies comedy show in 1976. It featured a Jack the Ripper-style madman who stalked the streets of Victorian London, killing or stunning his victims by blowing them a raspberry. The raspberry was attributed to David Jason, later to star with Barker in Open All Hours.