K Gurunathan.
The fundraising event in support of the Ukrainian struggle against the Russian invasion will be held on May 14 at Paekākāriki's St Peter's Hall.
I'm pleased to say former prime minister Jim Bolger has kindly agreed to be the keynote speaker.
The long-time Waikanae resident, who has an insightful grasp of global affairs, will prove to be an enlightening speaker on what's unfolding and its international impacts. I'm thankful also to the number of businesses and individuals donating to the event in time, musical talents, goods and services.
The $30 gate charge will give you food and entertainment and the soul-satisfying knowledge of doing something towards the fight against a brutal invasion. And don't forget to buy a $5 raffle ticket.
Talking of invasions on a very localised minor scale, I have had two complaints recently of boy racers causing a nuisance along Ratanui Rd and along Valley Rd.
Locals want the police and council to act against these morons, the police to arrest and charge them, and the council to invest in judder bars.
I can sympathise with the affected locals. The trouble is these morons-of-the-night move on wheels, making their nuisance and aggravation mobile. Their screeching brakes and burning tyres are a late Friday and Saturday evening scourge on local neighbourhoods.
In April, last year, one Anthony Baker was sentenced to community detention after shooting at eight boy racer cars with a rifle outside his property at Rukuhia near Hamilton.
The neighbourhood had been terrorised by these morons for several weeks. In an August incident an irate local drove a front-end loader out of a contractor's yard and into a moron's car. The boy racers fled.
In July, last year, residents of Cockle Bay in Auckland organised a community meeting against the constant weekend harassment by boy racers. They enlisted the help of the office of Botany electorate MP Christopher Luxon to demand action from the police and local council. They wanted judder bars and speed cameras installed and a reduction of the speed limit to 50km/h.
The police responded, saying they were aware of a minority group giving trouble and promised additional patrols. Police are not only overstretched but chasing these fleeing morons can also lead to fatal accidents.
In January this year, Evan Still reported to the police about an incident at Lower Hutt's Seaview Marina. He had gone down to tell a gathering of about 100 boy racers using the industrial site to f-off. As he was walking away he was punched and ended with a broken jaw and three teeth.
Last month, it was Waikato. Rural residents were being harassed by the arrival of more than 100 boy racers. Farmers complained about rocks and bottles being thrown at their stock, burst tyres scaring calves.
One weekend a milk tanker driver trying to push through a road, blocked by a group of these morons, was set upon. The windscreen was smashed and the piping was damaged and milk drained into the road.
In January this year Christchurch police were called out to a flurry of boy racer street racing incidents across the city. These are just some of the boy racer incidents mentioned in the press.
There are many of them across the country happening every year and over decades and several generations. While there are the regular car enthusiasts, it's the minority of morons who get drunk and create a nuisance of themselves. Including endangering public and private property and lives.
Obviously they have drawn the attention of academics. Consider this 2007 University of Canterbury paper on this subculture titled Driving people crazy: A geography of boy racers in Christchurch, NZ.
In 2003, the government passed the Land Transport (Unauthorised Street & Drag Racing Amendment Act) to give the police greater powers. Action against these moronic elements by the police waxes and wanes. Last month police broke up a 500-strong boy racer congregation in Hamilton.
The joint operation saw the issuing of 200 infringement notices. Earlier this month Nelson woman Andrea Warn became a media celebrity. After six years of putting up with boy racers using her neighbourhood street as a drag strip and some 25 vehicle crashes she took matters into her own hands.
With the help of a council roading engineer they used additional road markings, plantings and moveable planter boxes, speed humps and rocks to create "visual distraction" to slow down the traffic.