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Farm Jack A jury which tomorrow starts deliberating if Hawke's Bay farmer Jack Nicholas was gunned-down by an angry solo dad from 80km away, faces a defence proposition it was much closer to home - the farmer's own son. The finger was pointed at the High Court in Napier today by Bruce Squire QC, counsel for Murray Kenneth Foreman, 51, who pleads not guilty to a charge of murder. Foreman, an experienced hunter who lived at Haumoana, on the coast between Napier and Cape Kidnappers, denies being the person who shot 71-year-old Mr Nicholas just before 6.30am on August 27, 2004, at Makahu Farm, about an hour's drive inland into the foothills of the Kaweka Ranges. It came in his closing address, after a three-hour closing by crown prosecutor Russell Collins in a trial before Justice Simon France and a jury of eight women and four men. The prosecution focuses on claims by Donna Kingi who says Foreman arrived home in his car on the morning of the shooting and told her over their garden fence he thought he had shot someone, and that he later left to get rid of a gun. She also says that about a fortnight earlier Foreman took son Che for a trip into the hills, but returned early angered that a farmer had stopped them from crossing the land. Having moved to Australia about a month after the shooting, Ms Kingi's claims were first revealed in an e-mail to Sensible Sentencing Trust national spokesman Garth McVicar in November 2005, and Foreman was not arrested until April 2006. Among 40 people filling a small public gallery today were defence target Oliver Nicholas and widowed mother Agnes, whom Mr Squire suggested was "covering-up" for someone, when she was the third of more than 110 witnesses in the six weeks since the first evidence was given on April 14. Mr Squire, who will complete his address in the morning, spent about 1hr 20min focusing on evidence he asserted meant the killer had to have been someone "close" to Mr Nicholas. Largely avoiding the use of a name, he said the jury might consider that Oliver Nicholas, who lives on the farm with his wife and two children, was about the only option. Mr Squire cited the lack of physical evidence at the scene such as footprints and tyre tracks, Mrs Nicholas's evidence of the silence of Jack Nicholas's working dogs on the morning of the shooting, and her husband's lack of any cry in pain or other sounds as evidence that the shooting had to have been done by someone "close" and familiar with the farmer's daily routine. He asked what the jury might make of the presence of .308 ammunition in Oliver Nicholas's home, which had been explained as probably having come from friends whom he had taken hunting. He asked also what the jury might have made of the victim's son's decisions to go unarmed in search of a killer before help arrived, and to go to tend stock just a few hours after realising his father had been murdered. Mr Collins claimed the accused had lied, starting with telling police at the outset he had been home with his son and the boy's mother, when it was obvious the mother had not been there. Mr Collins said the accused lied more and more as the inquiry progressed. Conversely, the expected defence attack on the credibility of Ms Kingi, and claims she had only stepped forward in hope of a reward, would be in the face of numerous evidential factors of which she could not have been aware.

Bamboo Placemats THE first collective auction at the new saleground off Stanklyn Lane, Stone, near Kidderminster, proved a great success, with auctioneers, Halls, reporting a good entry of lots and support from local buyers. Agricultural implements and tractors, general purpose trailers, vehicles, horticultural and garden machinery, builders' and workshop tools, supplies and sundries went under the hammer. The popular monthly sale has relocated to a field known as The Gallops following development plans for buildings on the former saleground in Stone, which had been used for about 40 years. op selling lots were ￡5,000 for a Ford Transit pickup with tipping body, ￡4,400 for a JCB 520-4 Loadall, ￡1,350 for a Fordson Super Dexta tractor, ￡1,100 for an MF40 Loading Shovel, ￡950 for Ford 2000 Series 2wd tractor and prices betwen ￡800 and ￡1,000 for quad bikes. An entry of about 150 lots of farm machinery and effects included a Griffiths eight-ton twin axle corn trailer at ￡2,000, a Krone Twin Rota Rake at ￡1,500, a Bomford two-wheel, three-ton tipping trailer, ￡700, a JF 900 Trailed Forage Harvester at ￡650 and a Flemming Flat Roll at ￡550. Halls reported strong demand for farm gates, fencing wire and materials and livestock handling equipment. A range of general purpose and builders' trailers sold well, with the top price of ￡1,950 for a tri-axle Ifor Williams flat bed trailer and ￡1,000 for an Ifor Williams 505 horsebox requiring work. A range of twin-axle plant trailers sold for between ￡600 and ￡800. Builders' plant and equipment included a trailed generator at ￡400 and a vibrating roller, ￡330. A number of vehicles were entered, including several four-wheel drives, which all sold in exces of their reserve prices. Halls continues to have a section for bulding materials and timber, with a virtual clearance of all the 500 lots on offer at the sale. Items in the garden machinery section included a large range of ride-on lawn mowers, which sold for between ￡300 and ￡800. Garden sheds, trellis and slabs also met with strong demand. The next collective sale at the new site will be on Friday, May 30, with the closing date for catalogue entries on Monday, May 19.

Yellow Corn MAKE BIG REDUCTIONShould subsidies to wealthy farmers be reduced? How about re-phrasing your question to read, “Should subsidies to wealthy farmers ever have begun in the first place?” The subsidies did little or nothing to help the small farmers, who supposedly, were the reason Congress got it past the Public in the first place. Our benevolent father figures in Washington didn’t appear to care for the small farmers, passing bills that benefited the rich farmers. As the small farmers continued to fail, the rich ones bought up the small farms at bargain prices, then reaped the rewards of the subsidies. Back to the original question, yes, reduce the subsidies, but reduce it to nothing for those farmers making $100,000.00 or more. $ l00K doesn’t go as far as it used to, but it’s a start. Now everyone knows that this is a ridiculous statement. What Politico has guts enough to buck big money? Not a prayer.