Meeting the slime monster and the 'vile' hit piece
These are not related
The Mish started as a way to bring you longer, in-depth reporting about Dunedin and its people. Through The Mish, you’ll have read about a jailhouse lawyer turned bestselling author, the saga of Cr Lee Vandervis’ parking ticket and the end of my grudge against Six60.
It’s now time for The Mish to grow, to bring you more from New Zealand’s greatest city.
The Wednesday evening edition of The Mish remains free. But by becoming a paid subscriber (it's $5 a month, or $50 a year), you’ll be helping support original, local reporting, and in return you’ll get more from The Mish, including the additional Saturday edition, early access to my OIA findings and the backstory behind some of my biggest yarns. Paying members will also be able to post comments and be part of the community, and will have full access to the archive.
It was probably the weirdest campaign launch I’ve ever witnessed.
Slime the Nitrate Monster is standing to be on the Otago Regional Council.
I understand there were some issues over whether it could be used on the official voting papers, so an agreement was reached.
Instead, on the ballot paper it will be listed as Shulzitski, Jenn (Slime) (Slime The Nitrate Monster)
‘Slime’, if elected, plans to stay in character for council meetings.
Since publishing that piece on conspiracy theorist Pamela Taylor running for the mayoralty and council, I’ve been receiving a steady stream of fanmail.
As I wrote that first sentence, another one arrived. Here it goes.
There is a lot to unpack there. But I don’t see how it was a “vile hit piece”. After all, I left out many of the issues that Taylor supports on social media, including reposting a conspiracy theory defending Adolf Hitler as a, and I quote, “great man”.
This isn’t cancel culture. Hitler was directly responsible for the death of seven out of 10 Jews in Europe.
I’m getting damn sick of hearing that “state sponsored” media line too. I don’t work for RNZ or TVNZ, which are taxpayer-funded.
Sure, Stuff is a recipient of some funds from NZ on Air, including money for its recent documentary Fire and Fury, which has directly led to dozens of stories exposing certain candidates and their beliefs.
If you want to know more about these grants, you can look at them here.
Who gets what, is quite an interesting read. But Stuff’s grants are pretty clear. They have gone to Kea Kids (news tailored for children), Stuff Circuit, and getting more Māori and other minorities into journalism. No Hamish McNeilly slush fund, unfortunately.
I’m not against public money going towards journalism, as long as there is public good and it can be accounted for.
I’m quite interested in a couple of the southern recipients though. I have an OIA back on one of them so stay tuned for that.
Remember Kelly Vie? Or Kelly Smith? What about Cali Smith?
I’ve been trying to get hold of Vie/Smith since our last planned interview (after dozens of emails exchanged involving her Christchurch-based legal firm).
I had some more questions to put to her.
You might remember that on June 22 I was ready to have a sit-down interview with Kelly, who has run several questionable businesses ranging from concrete collectibles, houseplants and dresses for hire, when her lawyer replied.
“Ms Smith has tested positive to COVID-19 and is in isolation. She cannot attend the meeting.
We have therefore prepared written answers to your questions, however, this is difficult to do given the lack of information provided.”
Not ideal.
Requests to have another interview, and put various allegations to Kelly, have not been successful.
And this week another twist.
The law firm replied that they were no longer acting for Kelly.
They would not give a reason. So here is a stock image.
It comes as I interviewed Paul Rogers on Friday.
He used to board above Bransons Bar, off St Andrew St, when Kelly took over as property manager in late 2019/early 2020.
Kelly hadn’t lived at the property very long when she got into an argument with Rogers.
That escalated with Kelly issuing him with a trespass notice.
Rogers, 53, says that when he left he found his savings, $5000, which he kept in a padlocked travel bag had been stolen from a locked area.
He can’t prove what happened to that money, “but I’m resigned to the fact I’ll never get it back”.
Rogers had a simple message for anyone dealing with Kelly.
“Don’t.”
If you know where Kelly is bouncing around (I’m aware she has moved into the bouncy castle business…) let me know.
A teen driver rear-ends another driver waiting at the lights. Very minor, no injuries, says the police report.
But it is serious, particularly for the 19-year-old male driver who caused the crash at St Leonards, just north of Dunedin’s CBD.
He tells officers he’s been at an end-of-year rugby function, and drunk ten bottles of beer. That resulted in him recording a breath alcohol reading of 766 micrograms per litre of breath.
The legal limit for a person under 20 is zero, and not only is his driver licence suspended but he faces a court appearance later this month
He is one of seven drivers nabbed for drink-driving in Dunedin over the weekend, which includes several other teens, Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond said.
The highest reading goes to another 19-year-old male, stopped by police for speeding on Cumberland St, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The man, described by Bond as “very intoxicated”, was speeding to his girlfriend’s house. He recorded a breath alcohol reading of 1120mcgs, and also had his licence suspended and has a court date looming before him.
One city. One weekend. Seven drunk drivers.
It comes as police released to Stuff, under the Official Information Act, drink-driving stats for each police district, which make for sobering reading.
Despite Covid and lockdowns, the number of people nabbed driving drunk has remained relatively static across the Southern District, but involve an increasing number of young people.
As an aside, the highest level recorded in the south was 1621 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
According to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, most adults were likely to be able to drink two standard drinks over two hours and remain under the limit.
One standard drink was equivalent to one 330ml beer, one 100ml glass of wine or one 30ml shot of spirits at four, 13, and 40% of alcohol respectively.
So that 7% craft beer might be worth a rethink.
It seems it is a week of travel changes around the area:
There is this: For people who normally travel to Central Otago, Dunedin or Oamaru via SH85, commonly known as the Pigroot, you will have a detour from the end of August for up to a month.
And then this: Due to the partial closure of George St on the Farmers Block, there is an alternate parade route to the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday.
The parade will start from outside the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry on Great King Street and travel on to Frederick Street and George Street. The parade will then travel on to St Andrew and Filleul Streets and finish at the Town Hall on Moray Place.
But all I see is this.
Have a great week!
Thank you for your impartial piece on Pam Taylor. You simply stated facts and made no judgment. Excellent journalism.
This seems somewhat illegal of Mr former ODT
https://plebeianresistance.substack.com/p/update-on-the-conversation-with-philip
Although of course would need to be tested in court with an impartial judge, not easy to find these days. But definitely newsworthy I'd imagine, Hamish.