30 Nov 2009

Foxton board chair unrepentant over photo burning

9:25 pm on 30 November 2009

The chairman of the Foxton Community Board says he will not apologise to a couple whose image he publicly burned 'until hell freezes over'.

Basil Vertongen set fire to a photo of Christina and George Paton at the official opening of a beach seawall in the Horowhenua town earlier in November.

The Patons and 16 others had opposed the wall, which was completed more than a decade after it was first proposed.

Mr Vertongen says 6,000 people signed a petition supporting the completion of the wall and the opposition caused the project's cost to rise from $150,000 to $350,000.

The Patons are seeking legal advice over the matter.

The couple maintain they followed normal processes to lodge their opposition at no cost to other community members. They say Mr Vertongen's actions are 'sick'.