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Five Clutha teenagers were referred to police youth aid after they were found smoking banned synthetic cannabinoid Kronic in Balclutha on Tuesday afternoon.

The drivers of two Satherley Transport wide-load trucks carrying heavy machinery which stopped traffic in the main street of Balclutha last Tuesday morning had permission to be there.

Concerns about the exact cost of implementing a new sewerage scheme in Benhar, and how that cost would be spread around the township, were the major issues aired during the final community meeting before the setting of rating boundaries next week.

A low-flying plane sparked a 111 call to emergency services yesterday after someone thought they saw it crash.

A new mentoring programme between Clutha district councillors and youth councillors will be trialled this year.

The Big River Festival is back this year and will take on more of a heritage flavour.

This Sunday, 116 years of the Tuapeka Mouth ferry's operation on the Clutha River will be celebrated with a picnic and a family day at the township.

Entries for the 2012 Catlins Great Escape bike journey have opened.

Residents and retailers are frustrated with the number of heavy vehicles using Balclutha's main street instead of the town's heavy-traffic bypasses, and by what they say is a lack of enforcement of the council's bypass bylaw.