30 Dec 2009

Wednesday's newspaper headlines

10:16 am on 30 December 2009

Man drowns trying to save grandchildren; Christchurch police promise to crack down on New Year's Eve drunks; huge cruise ship arrives at Stewart Island.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald says a notoriously dangerous stretch of Ninety Mile Beach in Northland has claimed the life of an Auckland man trying to pull his grandchildren from a rip.

An Auckland advertising agency has apologised after sending a letter to hundreds of people, including the Prime Minister, inviting them to try the drug P. The agency, CreativeBank, sent the letter in support of a charity's anti-drug campaign.

Dominion Post

The paper leads on the Ninety Mile Beach death, saying it was one of three tragedies in the water on Tuesday. A woman drowned when her horse fell in a swollen Wairarapa river and a man collapsed in Lake Taupo.

High winds are set to rock much of the country on New Year's Day, the Dominion Post reports.

The Press

Christchurch police promise to crack down on drunks on New Year's Eve, with scores of extra officers and specialist teams patrolling the streets. The 40 extra police would be split into squads patrolling Cathedral Square, which attracted more than 15,000 people last year, and the hot spots of Oxford Tce, Lichfield St and Manchester St.

Otago Daily Times

Stewart Island experienced its own version of gridlock following the arrival of the cruise ship Volendam and its 1450 passengers on Tuesday morning. It normally takes South Sea Hotel manager Holger Lachmann one minute to get to work, but on Tuesday, he told the paper, it took five minutes.