Sophie Saweirs, from Whangārei Girls' High School competing at the Race Unity Speech Award finals. Photo/Supplied
Whangārei Girls' High School student Sophie Saweirs made the national finals of a speech competition which provides a nationwide platform for senior high school students to express their ideas on how we can improve race relations. On Saturday the national final of the Race Unity Speech Awards was held at
Te Mahurehure Marae in Auckland, featuring the top six speakers from the 180 students who entered this year's awards. Saweirs made it to the finals after winning the Northland heat of the competition and making it through the national semifinals.The theme for this year's competition was "speaking for justice, working for unity'"and Saweirs spoke about her personal experiences.
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Police were called to an incident in Moerewa in which a number of wild pigs were reportedly wandering on State Highway 1 in the vicinity of the BP service station around 11.40am on Sunday. Police did not locate the pigs, which were said to be ''the size of German shepherds''. It is not clear whether they went bush or ended up as dinner.
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Landowners in Waipū and Paparoa are the latest to be issued with new Northland Regional Council maps showing the potential effect floods – including large 'one in a century' type events – could have on them. The council has released flood maps for 26 catchments over the past few years to raise awareness of where flood hazard areas are and help inform public and district council decision-making. The new flood maps can be viewed in GIS via the regional council's website: www.nrc.govt.nz/naturalhazardsmaps andgeneral information about flood mapping is available at: www.nrc.govt.nz/floodmaps
