Reporter’s diary

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Officer Obie DO YOU remember the small-town cop who hauled in Arlo Guthrie for littering and found himself at the centre of a popular song and movie? The Massachusetts police chief has turned in his badge after 34 years of enforcing laws big and small in Stockbridge, a town in the Berkshire Hills. Someone called a meeting of councillors to discuss a complaint against him, and the chief, now 60, resigned. William Obanhein got tangled up in Arlo’s lyrics for “Alice’s Restaurant” because he had arrested young Guthrie, son of Woody, for casting unwanted matter in 1965. Officer Obie later played himself in the film of “Alice’s Restaurant,” His face was already known to readers of the “Saturday Evening Post” magazine, since Norman Rockwell used it in several magazine covers and paintings. In a painting of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, the late artist did not like the looks of a Secret Service man standing behind Kennedy, and so he replaced it with the features of Officer Obie. Vitamin source WHEN A Lower Hutt businessman imported 18 cases of oranges from Australia, he did not realise that he was doing something illegal. Imports are the sole prerogative of Fruit Distributors, which has a monopoly agreement with the Government. The businessman gave the oranges to the Wellington City Mission, the Salvation Army, and the Home of Compassion. They will reach more than 400 people, most of whom do not normally buy oranges. Last stand RECENT digs at the site of General George Armstrong Custer’s last stand against .. £ .

Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in 1876 have revealed things that will change the way we see that legendary incident. The National Park Service in America opened the battlefield above the Little Bighorn River to archaelogical excavation to help those trying to solve some of the mystery surrounding the deaths of Custer and 225 Cavalry troopers. Bullets and spent bullets were found just below the surface of the ground, and microscopic marks on shells allowed investigators to identify the movements of fighters on both sides. Only nine arrowheads were found on the ridge, but there was evidence that the Indians carried at least 67 repeating rifles. The Cavalry had less efficient single-shot rifles. Because many troopers had been shot by their own bullets, some had speculated that they committed suicide when they saw that things were hopeless. But the excavations seemed to show that wounded men were finished off by Indians using their pistols. The movie image of Indians whooping and riding horses in ever-smaller circles around the trapped men is being questioned. The trail of shells showed that Indians crept steadily uphill, taking outer defensive positions as they got near the final ridge., Kupe’s new stand TWO NORTHLAND knights, Sir Graham Latimer and Sir James Henare, have objected to Porirua’s Cannons Creek being the new standing place for a statue of Kupe which was presented to the New Zealand Railways in 1940 as part of New Zealand’s centennial celebrations. Because of vandalism and the cost of repairs, the Railways Corporation decided to find the Wellington Railway Station sfetue a new spot. Some Maoris are ■ i r-

now saying that ft should at least have been offered first to a museum in the North. They say that a fine marae exists near the Porirua tavern. , O’Doberty project NORTHERN Ireland’s Derry City has a project for unemployed youth that has been collecing information about the O’Doherty clan over the last three years. A worldwide reunion of the clan was held earlier this month in Derry. To mark the occasion, the Derry Youth and Community Workshop has produced a 38-page package about the O’Doherty clan. The package includes a series of maps, showing the Irish counties, the Ulster baronies, the parishes of Counties Derry and Donegal, the castles and towns of the Inishowen Peninsula, Donegal, and the streets of Derry City. There is a description and explanation of records used in genealogical search in Ireland, and maps and history relevant to the Doherty clan. The people to approach for the package can be reached through us. Motorway ban THIS WEEK-END, for the third summer in a row, French coaches carrying more than 15 children were banned from motorways during peak traffic hours, between 3 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday. The ban was placed on buses with children after a bad motorway accident in 1982. Pit stops BRITISH railway stations may also become service stations under a new British Rail project that would put car-servicing and maintenance workshops at up to 300 of its busy commuter stations. Customers would

leave their cars in the morning and collect them, repaired, in the evening, on their way home. The standard of car servicing has been taking a beating in Britain, where 1.5 million people a year complain about garage work. The Director-General of Fair Trading is talking about a strict garage licensing system unless the standard of car servicing improves. Waiting list TO HANDLE those on a waiting list from a course earlier this year, a second 10-week course in young children’s literature will start in Christchurch on August 21, run by the owner of the Children’s Bookshop. The educational programme is a humanities extension course of Massey University, and is limited to 12 people. A group at Leeston will take an afternoon course, and the bookshop would like to see other country groups show an interest in the idea.