Fears for local man in war zone

Jenn Haakma joked last week that disaster always seems to follow her son Peter May around.
She didn't realise how right she would be when he flew to Israel.
The Taupo man has spent the last week sleeping in a bomb shelter in Haifa, only 30km from the Lebanese border.
Lebanese Hizbollah militants have been bombing Haifa, a major port and Israel's third largest city since July 12.
Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the attack was retaliation for the Jewish state killing civilians.
Mr May went to Israel to become a cook for the Baha'i Faith church. He arrived in Haifa on July 11 - a day before the first bombing.
When the Taupo woman had initially said she was worried about her son heading to the Middle East, he had reassured her he was miles away from any bombing.
Instead, he has ended up in one of the hardest hit cities in this latest conflict.
Mrs Haakma, who works at the Taupo Weekender, said disaster always seemed to find her son.
She said no matter what job he was doing a "little disaster" always came his way.
"We were joking about warning the Israeli government that he was coming."
Mr May's first email to his mother was all about how beautiful and spiritual Haifa was, Mrs Haakma said. "He told us he wanted to spend a lot of time here. 'This is my place'," he said. But the next time she heard from her 36-year-old son he had been spending his nights in a bomb shelter.
Mrs Haakma said Mr May had called her on Sunday morning to tell her he was okay, but had been sleeping in the bomb shelter.
He said the missiles weren't so bad and came in short bursts.
"He said it was like a massive big firework going off," Mrs Haakma said.
He reassured her the bombing wasn't as bad as the media were making out but everyone was made to stay in the bomb shelters.
She said the church had a massive shelter already set up and her son had told her nearly everyone in the city had their own bunkers.
However, Mrs Haakma hasn't heard from her son since Sunday, and although she is sure phone lines are down, she can't help but be nervous. "The first thing I said when he rang was 'get your butt back here'," she said. "But he plans to be there for six years."
Now she is waiting for her next email or phone call to make sure he is all right.
"I told him to email every night just so we know he is OK," she said.

She said she was spending a lot of time watching the news, especially CNN which had coverage of the conflict all day.
Since July 12 the conflict has continued between Lebanon and Israel with eight Israelis and 36 Lebanese civilians killed.