David Bruce

What is believed to be New Zealand's oldest cycle shop is celebrating 100 years of family ownership.

The popular North Otago coast road between Kakanui and Waianakarua will be closed, traffic having to take a detour while a single-lane wooden bridge across Bow Alley Creek is replaced.

Oamaru Rotarians have been labelled ''rednecks'' and ''like a meeting of the clan'' by Waitaki mayoral and council candidate Fliss Butcher and her husband, Ian.

A homicide inquiry involving about 40 police and support staff has been launched in to the death of a 35-year-old Elderslie dairy farm worker after his body was discovered in his house early yesterday morning.

The ''violent death'' of an Elderslie dairy farm worker is now under scrutiny in a homicide inquiry involving nearly 40 police and support staff in two areas of inland North Otago.

Alliance Group's Pukeuri plant has passed an audit by the Ministry for Primary Industries, but it is up to the Chinese when it will get its certificate back to resume exporting meat to China.

A dead humpback whale spotted off the Timaru coast about two weeks ago has now washed up on the boulder beach between the sea and Lake Wainono, near Waimate.

An Oamaru hunter who badly broke his leg would have ''struggled to make it another night'', already having spent two cold nights lying in rugged terrain before being rescued early yesterday.

The death of Dunedin man David Palmer in the Ahuriri Valley in May last year may have been avoided if he had carried a personal locator beacon, Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar said after an inquest into the fatality.

Any heritage buildings in Oamaru's historic areas may qualify for extra time for earthquake strengthening, even if they are not classified in the New Zealand Historic Places Trust's highest category, inquiries by the Otago Daily Times have revealed.

The North Otago RSA is to trade its way out of financial difficulties with an action plan outlined at a meeting of more than 120 members on Saturday.

An Athletic Marist Rugby Club player, team official and supporter have been slapped with bans after abusing a referee and match official during a Citizens Shield semifinal in North Otago.

An error with carton labels which stopped a container of meat getting into China has led to about 240 workers being temporarily out of their jobs at Alliance Group's Pukeuri freezing works.

''I thought he was dead. I got an awful fright,'' was the reaction of a neighbour when she saw a smashed Nissan Safari next to a level rail crossing south of Oamaru after the four-wheel-drive was hit by a train yesterday.

An Otekaieke man who has sole rights over gold mining most of the upper reaches of the Maerewhenua River says he's been harassed, abused and threatened for doing what is legally his right.

''Bloody scary'' was how the skipper of a yacht described an emergency dash to Oamaru Harbour when the boat's owner fell ill on Sunday night, but was thankful for ''so much amazing help'' from Oamaru people.

The family of an Oamaru teenager who died from stab wounds at Easter in 2010 is ''heartbroken'' they will have to go through the trauma of another trial after the youth accused of his murder had his conviction overturned yesterday by the Court of Appeal.

A working party looking at the effect of tsunamis on the North and East Otago coast is assessing the risk after a new report found the danger might be greater than believed.