This week has seen some normality come back to our great town. Lots of traffic and many visitors.

Going hand in hand with this the Wanaka Police have dealt with numerous alcohol and traffic incidents. I can report Henrietta the chicken was returned home after three nights in custody and providing us with one egg.

Three drivers were dealt with for being over the legal alcohol limit, we also had a number of letterboxes fall victim to the might of some brave individual/s on Aubrey Road on Friday night.

During the week we received a report of the burglary of a building site where equipment was stolen. The equipment stolen includes a Stihl Concrete Saw Model TS 500i, a Hilti Jack hammer drill model TE 30-C and one pair of Honeywell earmuffs. Naturally the owners and Wanaka Police are keen for any information in relation to this.

Several people have been spoken to and warned about the use of firearms on Timaru Creek Road, Lake Hawea. This is a public road that crosses through private land. Therefore firearms are not permitted to be used in this area. Depending on the circumstances, Police may prosecute anyone found in breach of either the Arms act, Wild Animal Control Act or the Trespass Act.

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Also any vehicles using this road have to comply with the Land Transport Act, in other words vehicles have to be warranted, registered and obey all road rules. The public are still welcome to use this area to access the lake front and DOC hunting areas as long as they do not cross any private lands unless authorised.

The Queenstown District Council are very concerned with the increasing practise of residents pruning and topping the council owned trees on their streets. The council prune and maintain their trees once every three years. If you have an issue that requires attention outside of this, the correct course of action is to go on to the QLDC website and complete a ‘Request for Service’ notification.

This week a resident is facing a large bill after topping and pruning several trees that now have to be replaced. This practise is also a criminal offence of wilful damage and offenders may face prosecution.

There are still a lot of vehicles driving on our roads in low light and foggy conditions without their headlights on. Please activate your headlights manually instead of relying on the automatic activation as this will not always operate when needed.

Lastly my plea is for drivers to slow down and drive to the conditions, the law of physics is one yet to be refuted. We spend a lot of money on safety features in vehicles and yet the drivers’ actions are still the key to being safe. Look after one another and be safe.

Have a great week.