KEY POINTS:
A Waiheke Island reader writes: "A local identity of much notoriety, Joe Waite, Maori, councillor, activist, and lifelong owner of a bright yellow Model T Ford, had his funeral. After a service at the marae, the assembly headed for the RSA for more speeches (and quaffing) before the final trip to the cemetery. Joe's Model T was the hearse, and when the lads parked it in front of the RSA building in Ostend, and were about to offload the coffin, a council officer, who had been examining some roadworks across the road, came running over to yell: 'You can't park here, this is a disabled drivers parking spot'. One of the pallbearers said, not unreasonably, 'How disabled do you have to be? He's f***ing dead!'. Everyone burst out laughing - except the council officer, who slunk away, speechless."
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Following the roadside sign a father put up to warn his daughter not to drink too much, a mother writes about drunk daughters and kind taxi drivers: "My 20-year-old daughter attended a staff Christmas party at Toto in the city. I dropped her off and said twice - "don't drink too much" - for which I was given the dagger glance. At 1.15am I was woken by banging on the front door. I opened the bedroom window to look out, saw a taxi in the middle of the road with lights on and driver standing by the car. I rushed down to find my daughter comatose, dead drunk on the front doormat, unable to move or talk. I am so amazed and grateful that Junior, the lovely cab driver, had picked her up lying in Victoria St, had deciphered that she'd come from Mt Eden, had driven to the area and made her direct him, somehow, to our house. He had carried her up the steep path and left her at the door. He was patiently waiting on the road for me to come and pay him. As he said, if someone else had picked her up, a rape or murder could have been the end result. So a big, big thank you to Junior from Sunshine Taxis for taking the time to be a Good Samaritan."
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Continuing the thread about bouncers not letting in groups of blokes to bars. "I ran into a friend who plays for an Australian NRL team," writes a reader. "I tried to take him and some mates to Spy Bar and the bouncer said to me that there were too many men downstairs (I admit I did have half a league team with me). The bouncer did point out something, though. He said go and get some girls to even up the numbers, then come back. I walked into the nearest establishment and grabbed a couple of ladies and in we went."
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Kerry Smith of Te Atatu South writes: "You might like to pass on to Matt, the part-time door host (bouncer) and to any others of his profession, that preventing entry to a bar simply because the person is male is prohibited under the Human Rights Commission act. Simply because the bar owner or its door staff believe that there are too many male patrons already inside the bar is irrelevant, they cannot discriminate based solely on the sex of the person
wishing to enter. Anyone turned away at the door in such circumstances should report the establishment to the Human Rights Commission."
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