Graeme Stilwell

In a place where the ground temperature is so high spring water can burn you, frogs lurk in the toilets ready to spring a nasty surprise and your employer hires snake handlers so you can go about your work day safely, you might suspect job applicants need some form of counselling.

Sandra Hunt dreads waking up these mornings.

Timaru Multi-Ethnic Council publicity officer Kate Elsen claims abuse of migrants is an ongoing issue on some Mid Canterbury farms.

Immigration New Zealand fraud officials from Auckland are working with the Ashburton District Safer Communities Council in the wake of findings by the council that some recruitment agencies are skimming a fee from migrant farm workers' pay on an ongoing basis and illegally withholding migrants' passports and qualifications.

In the midst of wide-ranging restrictions governing the lighting of fires in the rural areas of South Canterbury, there is concern landowners are not paying enough attention to rapidly drying conditions.

Timaru District Council appears to be pressing ahead with its Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP), a 10-year plan that prioritises spending on infrastructure and services, despite acknowledging it is not sure how the global economic downturn will affect it.

A slow start to the whitebait season in South Canterbury has been blamed on heavy offshore sea swells and Timaru-based fishing author and columnist Peter Shutt is urging fishermen to take care on the beaches.

A University of Canterbury study made public last week has found whitebait spawning habitats are under increasing pressure, and Doc believes some species are under threat.

"I was the one who couldn't swim, but I would do it again,'' 12-year-old Chontelle Hastie said.

There are two ways to look at the current surging price of oil and fuel - the glass is either half full or it's half empty. The half-full brigade will say prices are dropping. The half-empty team is saying yes, but they are way up on this time last year.

Maori Language Week last week had a spin-off into fashion and decorative art when fashion studies students from Aoraki Polytechnic learned the art of raranga.

Earlier bar and club closing times in a Stafford St once known for its early morning street violence have brought peace and safety back to the central business district of Timaru, patrollers say.

WORD of the country's first Lego Olympics, held in Timaru by Timaru South Rotary earlier this month, has spread quickly with The Courier's coverage of the event reaching as far north as Wellington.

While athletes around the world prepare for the Beijing Olympics, an Olympic competition in miniature is preparing to come to Bluestone School in Timaru next week in a mind-testing competition that is thought be a New Zealand first.