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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2025
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kingcountrynews.nz FEBRUARY 6, 2025
Bittersweet find By Jon Rawlinson
Her friends and family are sad yet thankful that Judy Donovan has, at last, found her way home. Despite an extensive search at the time, the experienced outdoors woman lay undiscovered for almost a year. Last week Sophie Juno found Judy’s body in Pureora Forest while looking for another missing person. The Juno family called Judy’s
daughter, Nic, with the news. “I’d really like to thank Sophie. Sophie and her chocolate lab were searching for a young guy who’s missing,” Nic said. “It’s a really big fluke and a sad, bittersweet feeling that Judy was discovered because somebody else is lost. If it wasn’t for that, we may never have found her. “Experienced local hunters have a finely honed skill set and an instinct about their home turf that
Moving the boundaries
The debate over local body politics and boundaries – flared by a statement from the Waikato Chamber of Commerce in The News – took another twist this week. District councils involved in a Waikato Water Done Well team learned via The News that one of their number – Waipā - has been talking to other neighbours. It’s not a case of treachery – councils are being encouraged to consider their options, and Ōtorohanga mayor Max Baxter commented that it would be “poor form if they did not investigate opportunities”. Ōtorohanga, Waitomo, Waipā, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato, Thames-Coromandel and Taupō
agreed to a non-binding head of agreement with the rural councils in November. Waikato district and Hamilton city held behind closed door talks in Te Awamutu this week. The formation of allegiances to jointly handle water issues is seen as a precursor to mergers – and the chamber, through chief executive Don Good, has advocated for Waitomo and Ōtorohanga to talk about setting the ball rolling. His comments attracted a wave of letters to the editor in last week’s edition of The News – and today Waitomo mayor John Robertson, a strong advocate for a King Country council, goes into bat for it again in his monthly column on Page 2.
is unique. Sophie is a great example of that. Those skills are a valuable resource in a search and rescue situation.” Sophie is the daughter of Allen Juno, who owns a farm at Ngaroma and announced last July he was working on forming a group based on the concept of using local knowledge when searches were required. Judy became separated from her group in dense bush in late March last year. The group was doing bait line maintenance in preparation to lay bait for a project supported by the Department of Conservation. The initial search was suspended in early April after about nine days and briefly resumed for two days in May when Land Search and Rescue returned with dogs. “I want to thank Waikato LandSar, local hunters and farmers who have never stopped searching, and everyone else involved,” Nic said. “It was a huge area of bush, and a lot of searching happened. We were still trying to nut it out after the official search ended.” She assumed after three weeks that the search would be for her mum’s body – “but we didn’t give up on finding her.” Judy was found to the east of the original search site. The family was grateful to police and Waikato LandSar for the speedy and sensitive recovery of Judy’s remains, Nic said. She was a fit, healthy 79-year-old, experienced in the outdoors. The Pukekohe Tramping Club member was named an Outdoor
Judy Donovan went missing in late March and extensive searches failed to find her.
Access Champion in 2022 for her work establishing walking trails. “Under pressure in an outdoor situation, when plans go awry, it’s easy to make a split second bad decision,” Nic said. “It’s an incredibly tragic mistake on her
part.” Judy’s family is now planning a memorial service. “We’ll have a memorial/funeral sometime in the autumn and will make an announcement closer to the time about date and location.”
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