Fat Freddy's Drop coming to town
Whangārei's Toll Stadium will be the first stop of the summer for Fat Freddy's Drop. The band will play on January 3, 2019, before heading off for seven other shows around New Zealand. The Whangārei show will have special guests The Black Seeds, DJ Norman Jay MBE and Troy Kingi. Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster, with pre-sale available from Thursday. General sale on July 23. The band's new single Trickle Down will be released on Friday.
Lock it or lose it
Vehicle owners are being reminded to lock all doors even if they are parked on private property. Over recent weeks there have been a number of vehicles broken into across Whangārei and that continued last weekend. While numbers dropped there were still at least six reports of cars being broken into and property stolen. Some of the vehicles had been parked in driveways and were unlocked.
Dog alerts owner
A barking dog alerted a property owner to two alleged burglars on Sunday night. Police said they were called to a house in Whau Valley, Whangārei, about 6.30pm and a short time later found two men, aged 22 and 28, nearby. They were to appear in the Whangārei District Court yesterdaycharged with burglary.
Fire's cause unknown
What started a house fire in Whangārei could not be determined by investigators. The fire in a Tennyson St house, just south of the central city, on July 5 was spotted by a neighbour who noticed smoke coming from the roof of a two-storey home about 2.30pm. A woman went back into the house three times and tried to put out the fire with a garden house. Her neighbour dragged her out. Fire risk management officer Roy Brickel said the fire started in an upstairs bedroom but the source was undetermined.
Down to one line
For the second time in less than a month, a slip on Waipu Gorge Rd has reduced the road to one lane. The slip first occurred during heavy rain towards the end of June and Whangārei District Council said the same site was down to one lane again after rain over the weekend. Contractors will be working at the site this week. The rest of the district came through the wet weekend fairly unscathed. The council said there had been an odd tree or slip that partially blocked a road but all those were cleared by yesterday morning.