Kaipara District Council offices were closed yesterday after a threat was made to its staff working out of the Dargaville office, above. Photo / John Stone
Kaipara District Council offices were closed yesterday after a threat was made to its staff working out of the Dargaville office, above. Photo / John Stone
A threat forced the closure of the Kaipara District Council offices yesterday afternoon. Mayor Jason Smith said he was alerted that a threat was made to the council staff but did not have the details.
He said as per the council's human resources safety policy, staff at all KDC officesthroughout the district were sent home for the rest of the day. Smith said a good thing was some staff, including him, still worked from home so they were not affected by the threat. He apologised to members of the public for the inconvenience.
Search to resume A search for a man from Dargaville missing since last week will resume today. Adrian Berkhout, 61, was last seen around 4.30pm on Wednesday and reported missing on Thursday after family members found his vehicle in a gravel pit next to Tangiteroria Bridge, on State Highway 14 midway between Whangārei and Dargaville.
Police officers and Northland Land Search and Rescue volunteers covered 15km of Northern Wairoa River banks south of the bridge and were joined on the water by a Te Kopuru-based surf life saving crew using an inflatable rescue boat on Friday. A drone was also used. A police spokeswoman said another search was conducted over the weekend, and another – involving Northland Police Search and Rescue – was expected to be carried out today. Anyone with information about Berkhout's whereabouts can call 105 quoting file number 200709/9372. If anyone sees him, call 111 immediately.
Hitchhiker robbed Whangārei police are investigating a robbery where a hitchhiker handed over his bag to a driver who allegedly pointed a firearm at him while both were travelling. The incident happened on Kiripaka Rd about 12.30pm on Sunday. Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston said the hitchhiker was riding in a vehicle with an unknown male driver and a female passenger when the man pointed a firearm and demanded he hand over his bag containing personal belongings.
The hitchhiker exited the car, which drove off. He then walked to a nearby gas station and spoke to staff who contacted police. The vehicle was a maroon Ford sedan. Police are making enquiries into the incident, including appealing for CCTV footage. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 105 quoting file 200712/8921 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Power outages Nearly 2000 households in Whangārei and Kaipara were without power for various length of time over the weekend. At 4.15am on Saturday, a car slammed into a power pole at Springs Flat, cutting electricity to 628 houses for up to six hours. Power was fully restored at 10.50am.
The second outage happened in Tikipunga at 4.15am on Sunday and 934 houses were affected. The outage lasted for just under four hours. A Northpower spokesman said 500 customers had power restored within an hour of the outage and all houses were back on by 2.45am. Two hours later, an outage at Mt Wesley near Dargaville cut power to 194 houses for three hours.
