'Shooting fish in a barrel' | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Police are baffled at the attitude of Wairarapa drivers after eight were charged with drink-driving, in a weekend round-up described by one officer as like ''shooting fish in a barrel''.
Masterton police Senior Sergeant Warwick Burr said the message was clearly not getting through and he was ''concerned at the number of people that continue to drive drunk despite the huge amount of advertising warning against the dangers''.
The drivers were collared between 1.30am on Saturday and 2am on Sunday, mostly in and around Masterton.
''In the words of one police sergeant it was 'like shooting fish in a barrel'. Every time they went out on patrol and were not attending other incidents they found people driving with excess alcohol levels,'' Mr Burr said.
A Carterton woman, 37, clocked the highest reading when she was spotted by a patrol allegedly driving the wrong way down Judds Rd at 2.45am on Saturday. She was breathalysed at 946mcg of alcohol per litre of breath _ nearly 2 times the legal limit.
Two other drivers, both men, joined the woman in doubling the breath-alcohol limit, blowing 850mcg and 860mcg respectively, police said. Masterton police roading officer Sergeant Chris Megaw said although police had focused on drink-driving, the number of drivers charged was three to four times what was normal for a weekend in the district. ''It's a disappointment considering the TAG [Traffic Alcohol Group] booze bus was only here three weeks ago,'' Mr Megaw said.
Wairarapa's woeful weekend drink-driving record comes as debate rages after the Government announced last week it will undertake research to ascertain the number of serious and fatal crashes caused by drivers with a blood-alcohol level between 0.05g and 0.08g.
Wairarapa AA chairman Ian Snellgrove said the organisation strongly supported the Government's announcement that it will introduce a zero alcohol limit for recidivist drink-drivers and alco-locks to prevent them from starting their cars if there is alcohol on their breath. Mr Snellgrove said the spike in drink-driving charges at the weekend was ''sad'' and that offenders ''deserve whatever they get''.
The weekend was also marred by a further 20-odd arrests ranging from public disorder and burglary to violent assaults, including the arrest of a 19-year-old Featherston man accused of assault with intent to injure.
Mr Burr said the man had turned up at a stranger's house about 3.30am on Sunday.
The occupant of the house had told the man to leave.
The man is alleged to have hit the occupant in the face with a beer bottle, an injury that required medical treatment.
Police are also investigating a burglary at Carterton's Video Ezy store early on Sunday morning.
Mr Burr said that, although details were sketchy, thieves had smashed through the front window with a rock about 4.30am and taken an unknown amount of cash.
The Rimutaka Hill Rd was also closed after a spate of three crashes on Sunday.