NewsBank (Oamaru Mail)

Waitaki councillors are eager to explore alternative solutions to treating rural water supplies, but some felt they were forced into making a $5million decision by a government agency waving a looming deadline as ‘‘a big stick’’.

The wilderness must be explored.

Hato Hone St John met members of the Oamaru public last Thursday to discuss running a shuttle to out-of-town hospitals, but people were not happy to hear the service could be up to two years away.

TODAY

The Waitaki District Council will formally negotiate returning Oamaru Hospital to the government, but the group running it refuses to let staff numbers or health services be negatively affected by any deal.

It was a time for reflection and a time for celebration.

Dried-up creeks, dying grass and dwindling stock water is the increasing outlook for many Otago, Canterbury and Tasman farmers under a declared drought.

An Oamaru athlete is hoping to write his own legacy at an international tournament that has hosted some of football’s greatest players.

A good example of SUVs being perceived as hot and hatches not is the Toyota Yaris, a funky five-door hatch that hardly gets a sales look-in against its SUV sibling, the Yaris Cross — with its impressive sales and popularity, it should be delighted not cross!

Bowlers rejoice, Duncan Drew has finally retired.

The Waitaki District Council has considered the upcoming improvements to Palmerston’s Puketapu Track to be at risk, but its chairman says he has complete confidence in the project.

RATES INCREASE

Creating support is at the heart of the ‘‘One in Five’’ exhibition at Oasis Clear Space Gallery in Tees St.

Glenavy residents still refuse to drink tap water but the Waimate District Council has once again delayed its planned denitrification plant.

An Oamaru athlete has started a new chapter in her rowing career.

For the first time in his career, Nathan Smith is a national champion.

It is a homecoming of sorts for the new Sport Waitaki co-ordinator.

Two Oamaru men are facing multiple charges following a series of thefts in the town.

The Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group (OPICG) is getting people into their own homes.

As we are rapidly heading through autumn, many of us are preparing our gardens for winter. What better time to think about turning our green thumbs to greener or closed-loop gardening, in particular reducing our garden waste?

Daylight Saving is coming to an end, and for many it is not only a reminder to set the time back, but of funny memories of times when they have forgotten to.

Directors of the industry-good body for sheep and beef farmers face a season without a pay rise under a tough environment of low prices and high costs.

Age is just a number for a young Waitaki basketball coach.

The future is bright for Waitaki cricket.

She is at it again.

The man who died in a single-vehicle crash near Duntroon was a worker at a nearby dairy farm.

‘‘Over the moon’’ is how Progress of Waikouaiti Area (POWA) managers describe their feelings after receiving a recent donation from a head-shaving fundraiser.

The Kakanui estuary was put on red alert for high E.coli and Enterococci levels recently for the third time in four months.

It has been over 300 years since a large earthquake in New Zealand ruptured the Alpine Fault and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has joined forces with the Alpine Fault (AF8+) programme, to help prepare whānau for another earthquake event.

A call to service and advocacy in the community inspired Oamaru woman Carissa Samuelu to train to become a breastfeeding support person in Waitaki.