Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

KELLY CASSIE

Andrew McKerchar, second from right, celebrates his apprentice of the year award with, from left, Plumbing World Papanui manager Jeff Abbott, CPIT Tutor Wayne York and Skills Organisation area account manager Robyn Brown.

A Fairlie apprentice plumber says keeping an open mind helped him win a top apprentice award.

Andrew McKerchar received The Skills Organisation's Apprentice of the Year award at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology's awards night on December 4.

McKerchar said Cassie Plumbing owner Nick Cassie, took him on when he left Mackenzie College two years ago with "no idea" what to do next. He enjoyed plumbing, which he said required "thinking in puzzles" and an open mind. His work had been surprisingly varied, and he looked forward to completing the apprenticeship with the firm through the distance-learning Skills Organisation in two years' time.

Cassie said McKerchar's rapport with clients and "can-do attitude" made him an asset in the company.

"A lot of them [young apprentices] are just happy to stand around looking at their cellphones. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty."

McKerchar's father Neil McKerchar said he was proud of what his son had achieved since finishing at Mackenzie College.

"I always said 'make sure you're top of the class'. I didn't think he'd take it literally."

- The Timaru Herald

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Dad's advice taken literally by apprentice

GTA 5 Hunting Pest Control.
GTA 5 ps4 Hunting in pest control mode don #39;t take it to heart it is only a game please leave a like.

By: Buster Dexter

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GTA 5 Hunting Pest Control. - Video

Published: Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 11:00 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 11:11 p.m.

The reigning Tuscaloosa County Maid of Cotton, Barbara Britt, was named the top Corolla beauty at the University of Alabama. Britt was a Holt High School graduate.

Tuscaloosa city police in force asked the City Commission for a 40-hour work week. Police were then working a basic 44-hour week.

The Holt Lock and Dam was more than 90 percent complete.

Alabama football coach Paul W. Bear Bryant accepted the Nashville Banners annual Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year award for his team the best bunch of kids Ive ever coached.

Deaths this week included Mary Emily Maxwell, office manager of Perrys Pride Inc. for

25 years and a member of an old Tuscaloosa County family. Also, Anna Springer, 83, and her daughter, Mary Springer, died in a house fire in Elrod. Their home was one of the oldest in the Elrod community. Mrs. Springers late husband, Milton Springer, had served as a community leader and a justice of the peace at Elrod for many years.

M.T. Ormond was elected president of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association.

W. Tandy Barrett was elected president of the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce to succeed Jack Warner, president of Gulf States Paper Corp., who had served two terms.

25 years ago this week

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LOOKING BACK: December 15

A new plan approved by the state will allow Highland Hospital the creation of a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility unit, opening the first part of January 2015.

Hospital officials said the unit will include 24 beds for youth residents and allow for the integration of children and adolescents back into the community.

State regulators approved the plans in August 2008, to break ground for the four-story, 72,500-square-foot building in September 2008, according to the Associated Press.

The project increased the number of beds from 58 to 80, and the first floor of the new facility will provide the child and family outpatient services.

The plan for the unit was to create short-term intensive outpatient care for children and adolescents. Using the expertise of the hospitals team, child and adolescent psychiatrists, therapists, professional and para-professional staff, the proposal is to develop services using the Sanctuary Model of care that can be entered from a variety of starting points as a step down between impatient and outpatient/community care, or as a direct entrance point for those children and adolescents for whom this level of care is most appropriate.

The hospital says the need for more than 1,000 youth in the Mountain State is real. The services include acute psychiatric hospitalization, group residential care and psychiatric residential treatment facilities.

This is the largest number of children being served out of region for any region of the state, officials said.

The hospital plans to utilize the new unit for programs that otherwise don't have the opportunity to be used to their fullest extent, including RAD and GAP programs, based on a Sanctuary Model (safety, loss, emotions and future).

Referrals to both programs will be accepted from anywhere; typically, they originate from within the hospital, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources or other behavior health providers.

The program managers will receive referrals, review with the treatment teams and physician, and provide the referring agency with a response to the placement request within 25 hours.

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Highland Hospital sees expansion in psychiatric treatment facility

by Brenna Ehrlich 8 hours ago

When you think of giant novelty checks you probably think of lottery winners or game show contestants smiling like lunatics. You probably dont think of widespread protests and social unrest.

On Monday (Dec. 15), however, a novelty check scrawled on a mattress conveyed just that as Columbia University students continued their fight against the way the school handles allegations of sexual assault.

A refresher: Protests started on Columbias campus this September when Emma Sulkowicz started carrying a mattress around the school as part of a performance art piece titled Carry That Weight a piece that also served as a protest against the fact that her alleged rapist is still on campus after both the school and police failed to bring him to justice.

Sulkowiczs piece sparked a movement, culminating in a National Day of Action, according to Buzzfeed, during which college students around the world carried mattresses for a day in solidarity.

At the days end, 28 Columbia students one for each student that signed a Title IX complaint against the university for how it handles sexual assault left mattresses on the street outside University President Lee Bollingers house.

The result of this protest? A $471 fine for the organizations involved to cover removal of the mattresses. Although feminist group UltraViolet offered to pay the fine, the students instead took the opportunity to make another statement, according to Jezebel, dropping off a mock-check scrawled on a mattress in the presidents office today. After doing so, they read the following letter:

Dear President Bollinger,

On October 29th, hundreds of students gathered in the pouring rain to protest Columbia Universitys treatment of survivors of sexual and dating violence. Student activists and survivors organized the rally with Carry That Weight, an organization committed to ending violence on campuses. We marched with mattresses to your house, chanting Rape culture is contagious, come on Prezbo, be courageous! We left 28 mattresses on your doorstep, representing the 28 students who filed a Title IX complaint against Columbia, and delivered a list of 10 demands. After months of inaction, we hoped you would take this opportunity to finally step up and address our urgent concerns.

Instead, you threw our mattresses in a dumpster and slapped us with a fine for $471. The mattresses are a symbol of the burdens that survivors struggle to carry with them each day on this campus. This response makes your priorities abundantly clear: You value the reputation of this institution over the safety of your students, and would rather throw out survivors pain than acknowledge the harm your administration has caused. President Bollinger, you are making us pay for the trauma that we have endured. This is reprehensible.

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These Mattress-Carrying Students Were Fined For Making A Mess During Their Anti-Rape Protest See How They Paid

Premier joins Sydneysiders at shrine

NSW Premier Mike Baird has laid flowers at the makeshift shrine to the two victims of the Sydney cafe siege.

Firefighters are battling to contain two neighbouring bushfires in South Australia's Barossa Valley.

Firefighters in Victoria's northeast are trying to build a buffer between a bushfire and nearby homes.

Disgraced former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has been stripped of his Order of Australia.

Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson has been remembered by colleagues as a man who always put others first.

Three people, including the gunman, have been killed and four injured after the siege in Sydney's CBD ended.

Australia is facing its worst bushfire day so far this summer with five states expecting extreme fire risks.

The Nine Network has cancelled a preview screening of its mini-series Gallipoli due to the Sydney siege.

A driver has been spared jail for hitting the back of a broken-down car and injuring a man and his father.

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Vic man who killed partner 'damaged goods'

Dec. 16, 2014, 1:07 a.m.

THE man who murdered his partner of 16 years was a pathological liar known as the Talented Mr Ripley, a court has heard.

Stuart Rattle. PICTURE: KATE HEALY/THE COURIER

THE man who murdered his partner of 16 years interior designer Stuart Rattle was a pathological liar known as the Talented Mr Ripley, a court has heard.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, told the Supreme Court on Monday that Michael ONeill strangled Mr Rattle as an act of financial selfpreservation.

Mr Silbert said ONeill was trying to cover up for his incompetence, which had been threatening to bankrupt the interior designers business.

He said ONeill, 48, had told a cock and bull story to police for more than five hours after his arrest before confessing to having killed Mr Rattle on December 4

last year at the couples South Yarra apartment and setting fire to the property four days later to try to cover up the murder.

ONeill admitted having taken a saucepan from the kitchen about 6am and striking Mr Rattle, 53, over the head before wrapping a nylon dog lead around his neck.

Mr Rattle begged for his life as he was being strangled.

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Murder accused a pathological liar

Dec. 16, 2014, 10 a.m.

THE former Terang man who murdered his partner of 16 years, well-known interior designer Stuart Rattle, was a pathological liar known as "The Talented Mr Ripley", a court has heard.

Michael O'Neill, left, and Stuart Rattle.

THE former Terang man who murdered his partner of 16 years, well-known interiordesigner Stuart Rattle, was a pathological liar known as "The TalentedMr Ripley", a court has heard.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, told the Supreme Court onMonday that Michael O'Neill strangled Mr Rattle as an "act offinancial self preservation".

Mr Silbert said O'Neill was trying to cover up for his incompetence,which had been threatening to bankrupt the interior designer'sbusiness.

O'Neill, 48, had told "a cock and bull story" to police for morethan five hours after his arrest before confessing to having killed MrRattle on December 4 last year at the couple's South Yarra apartmentand setting fire to the property four days later to try to cover upthe murder.

O'Neill admitted having taken a saucepan from the kitchen at about 6amand striking Mr Rattle, 53, over the head before wrapping a nylon doglead around his neck.

Mr Rattle begged for his life as he was being strangled.

O'Neill has pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of arson.

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Former Terang man a pathological liar, court told in murder trial

If its a beach holiday, a perfect hotel, the most gorgeous beach and weather. And for a ski break, the chalet has to be perfect.

Favourite places to visit?

Anywhere in Asia. I also love Mauritius and adore Europe and get a kick out of Paris, Capri and Florence. Travel inspires me hugely. Ive just spent two weeks in Mumbai and Im going back in March as an ambassador for the Britains GREAT campaign. The people there are extraordinary and its so different to what were used to. Its noisy, fast, colourful and vibrant. But of course it has its problems and the poverty is awful.

Mauritius (Fotolia/AP)

Best ever holiday?

I cant pick one. Theyve all been good, whether it be to Careyes or Tulum in Mexico, or Mauritius.

How do you most like to spend your time away?

When Im on holiday, doing absolutely nothing. Usually Im so busy at work, juggling hundreds of phone calls, meetings and running to catch flights. So essentially a holiday should be a break from all that. I want to unwind and chill out, whether Im up in the mountains somewhere or by the sea.

Your most adventurous trip?

Bhutan. I went around seven years ago and it was an extraordinary, unique place. I hiked up to the Taktsang Monastery (Tigers Nest), which is perched high on a cliff-top and believed to be the birthplace of Buddhism in Bhutan. I did a lot of meditating while I was there.

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Kelly Hoppen's Travelling Life

The decorative lights that brighten your homes and spirits this holiday season can also pose the risk of causing home fires.

It is a lesson one Metairie family learned after their home went up in flames several weeks ago. Although the family of three made it out safely, they found out the hard way that everything can be gone in a split second after an electrical fire that started after plugging in holiday lights.

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Last month Marc Gervais and his family were getting into the holiday spirit and plugged in decorative lights outside their home, but while they slept things heated up.

"About 1:30 in the morning my neighbor comes beating on the door, I run to the back door, which was right back here, and actually saw this bright glow, I opened up the door and the wall was engulfed in flames," Gervais said.

Now the home they built from the ground up is destroyed. Fire investigators determined the fire started outside the home where they had plugged lights into an extension cord connected to an outlet.

"What they figured out was that either the cord was a really bad connection or the outlet could have been bad as well," he explained.

Now as more christmas decorations are going up in neighborhoods around town, they want to help prevent others from having a horrible mishap this holiday season.

"It's Christmas time right now and everybody's doing the same thing and so everybody's out having a good time, you put them down and you don't think anything about it and next thing you know you really should take some precautionary measures, in my opinion, check your extension cords, make sure they're good, make sure they're relatively new, buy new lights," Gervais suggested.

Jefferson Parish Fire Department officials agree and advise throwing away lights that have damaged cords or sockets. They say do not overload electrical outlets or run extension cords under carpets, across doorways, or near heaters, and do not use extension cords that are longer than necessary.

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Decorative lights lead to Metairie house fire, family warning others to be safe