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IOL News
16-05-2025
- General
- IOL News
A tale of two houses
This is what 69 Wills Road looked like 1994. Image: Brian Kearney THE old Durban City Council used to recognise owners - both public and private - who restored and preserved buildings of historic and architectural importance. Each year from 1986 until about 2000 when it petered out, the Council honoured those owners with a brass Conservation Award for bringing an ailing building back to life. Today, ironically, numerous buildings belonging to eThekwini are now ailing through neglect. In 1994, one of the 13 winners was the home of Nesan and Suren Pather at 69 Wills Road, near Warwick Triangle. Described as a 'charming Union period house which has been lovingly preserved,' the Heritage Green and terracotta colour scheme has been chosen by Nesan Pather. A delighted Nesan Pather as photographed in the Daily News, 4 November 1994. Image: Supplied Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The first owner of the house was probably Mr T. Oxley, as assistant linesman with the Durban Corporation, but the Pather family has owned the property since at least the 1940s. As one exited the City and travelled past Warwick Triangle towards Tollgate Bridge, the house could be seen on the left. But then something happened. Today all that remains of 69 Wills Road are the gate posts. Image: Mark Levin In the early 2000s, the house was visibly deteriorating with signs of vandalism until pats of it collapsed after it was stripped. By 2009, nothing remained. Today the site is strewn with litter. From what could be gleaned, old Mrs Pather died as did the daughter. Another daughter left after she married, while Nesan's life took a downturn and he died the decline of Wills Road, the Pather family seems to have vacated the house, providing an opportunity for vagrants and vandals. Playing soccer outside 39 Wills Road in the 1980s. Image: Supplied As the last walls of 69 Wills Road crumbled, a different future was about to begin just down the road at no.39. In that same year of 2009, Rahim Shaik bought the late Victorian house against all advice. 'Why invest in such a degraded area?' he was asked but Shaik believed it could sink any lower. He began the slow process of restoring the neglected house; two years later he and his wife were able to open the Hip Hop Kids Playcentre. 39 Wills Road is today the street's best preserved house. Image: Mark Levin Restoration of the property is ongoing as is often necessary with older properties. The house was believed to be Edwardian, but Shaik produced a copy of the plans for the house from the bottom of a suitcase, revealing that it dated to the 1890s. It was one of the first houses to be built in Wills Road. The Edwardian home at 40 Wills Road is today derelict. Its residents included the Hardouin, Azor, Docrat and Coovadia families. Image: Mark Levin There may have been a degree of sentimentality behind Shaik's purchase of his house. He had grown up in Wills Road, next door in fact to the Pather's home. Vinay Court was built in 1949 on the site of an earlier single residence at 71 Wills Road. having spent his boyhood at Vinay Court, Shaik has witnessed the many changes to the area. The forlorn state of Vinay Court today. Image: Mark Levin What is striking is that from the 1930s, White and Indian families had lived harmoniously in Wills Road until the Group Areas Act forced most Indian families to leave. Some, like the Pathers, managed to hold onto their properties; Shaiks mother refused to move from Vinay Court. The Council bought some of the houses, but today they have either been demolished or, like no. 40 are in an appalling state of decay. Student accommodation being erected on the corner of Wills and Lutman roads. Image: Mark Levin The Group Areas Act destroyed this cohesive community which has never recovered. Shaik believes that the Council still owns 16 properties in the Warwick area, which have compounded the decline. There are signs of revival. A Bentley Road cottage has been converted into student accommodation. Image: Mark Levin In Syringa and Bentley roads (which lead off Wills), there are blocks being built for student accommodation as well as a house converted for that purpose. This will bring greater security, but also rowdy, partying students. As Shaik observes, it is one step forward and one step backwards. The Driving School opposite Vinay Court in Wills Road. Image: Mark Levin Wills Road today is a far cry from its semi-rural quality when the Wills family lived there in the 19th century. Taxis are washed while their owners or drivers wait for the rush hour. Opposite Vinay Court, is a busy driving school. Caught up in legal issues, Vinay Court has now become a 'problem building.' Washing a taxi on the corner of Wills and Hampson roads. Image: Mark Levin Taxis parked along Wills Road. Image: Mark Levin Few Tribune readers would have or are likely to venture into this part of Durban. Yet on two visits only once, while about to leave, did the writer feel vulnerable. As numbers 69 and 39 illustrate, Wills Road has experienced both loss and hope. SUNDAY TRIBUNE
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Outdoors Notebook: The Wildlife Society honors Crookston man with Conservation Award
Mar. 1—ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Longtime citizen conservationist Loren "Punky" Johnson of Crookston recently was honored with The Wildlife Society's Conservation Award during the Minnesota chapter's annual meeting Feb. 18-20, 2025, in St. Cloud. During a 38-year career with the phone company, Johnson found many ways to quietly touch the lives of hundreds to educate them about conservation awareness and action, according to a news release from The Wildlife Society. "Loren grew up interested in the outdoors and found ways to share this passion with others," said Dan Svedarsky, a retired wildlife professor at the University of Minnesota Crookston, who nominated Johnson for the award. "Through his tireless efforts, many youth were introduced to the outdoors who might not otherwise have had an opportunity." Johnson was an active volunteer with scouting as well as community hunter safety training and providing fishing instruction. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in the Naval Reserve for many years. He has been a longtime volunteer assisting with the annual Options Deer Hunt for Disabled Hunters at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge near Erskine, Minnesota, and also has been active with the Refuge's Friends group. "Through Loren's leadership, the group has funded and carried out programming designed to educate the public on the outdoors and assisted the Refuge with securing volunteers to carry out their mission," said Randy Sorenson, executive director of Options Resource Center for Independent Living in East Grand Forks. Options is a regional nonprofit organization that provides assistance to people with various disabilities. The Conservation Award is a statewide award The Wildlife Society gives to an organization, institution or individual for outstanding commitment to Minnesota's wildlife resources. The North Dakota Prescribed Fire Cooperative, Pheasants Forever and the North Dakota Wildlife Federation are inviting landowners, ranchers, and interested community members to attend a special program focused on how to conduct a prescribed burn. Dates and locations across North Dakota are as follows: * March 8: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. (Mountain Time), Billings County Fire Hall,604 E. River Road S., Medora. * March 19: 6 to 9 p.m., North Dakota Game and Fish Department headquarters, 100 N. Bismarck Expressway, Bismarck. * March 20: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., North Dakota State University Extension office, Park River. * March 27: 6 to 9 p.m., Kindred City Hall, 31 Fifth Ave. N., Kindred. The sessions will cover the basics of prescribed fire and how to plan for a burn. Presentations will cover various topics including writing burn plans, different types of ignitions, the importance of communication, Safety/ Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hazard mitigation, briefings and weather. The sessions also will include scenarios to practice how to plan a burn for a piece of property. The training is open to the public free of charge; snacks will be provided. To register or for more information, call Cara Greger, (320) 808-4897; or Kelli Kuska, (541) 619-5188. ST. PAUL — With the arrival of warm weather, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminds anyone who still has a fish house on the ice to start planning for its removal. The statutory shelter removal deadline for inland waters in the southern two-thirds of the state is 11:59 p.m. on March 3. The deadline for inland lakes in the northern portion of the state is 11:59 p.m. on March 17. The DNR reminds all fish house owners to pick up and properly dispose of any trash as part of hauling their shelter off the ice. If shelters aren't removed by the deadline, owners may be prosecuted, and structures may be confiscated and removed or destroyed by a conservation officer. Shelters may not be left at public accesses, and no trash or other materials — including wooden blocking materials — may be left on the ice. Exceptions to the upcoming removal deadlines are Minnesota-Canada border waters, where fish houses can remain on the ice until March 31; Minnesota-South Dakota and North Dakota border waters, March 5; and Minnesota-Wisconsin border waters, March 1. Houses on Minnesota-Iowa border waters had to be removed by Feb. 20. ST. PAUL — The DNR is seeking public input on 151 lakes in 41 counties across Minnesota that will have their fisheries management plans updated in 2025. "People interested in the health and quality of Minnesota's fisheries are a critical part of the DNR's fisheries lake management planning process," Shannon Fisher, DNR fisheries populations and regulations manager, said in a statement. "These plans establish fisheries management goals and objectives for each lake and define the work fisheries biologists do each year. Observations and input from a lake's stakeholders are essential to the planning effort." The list of lakes scheduled for plan updates in 2025 is on the Minnesota DNR website at . Fisheries management plans for Minnesota's 10 largest lakes — — follow a similar but separate update process. Lakes in the DNR's Northwest Region scheduled for management plan updates in 2025 are as follows: * Becker: Detroit, Island, Little Sugar Bush, Little Toad, Many Point, White Earth. * Beltrami: Balm, Clearwater, Julia, Sandy. * Clearwater: Johnson, Lomond, Pine. * Douglas: Andrew. * Hubbard: Kabekona, Lower Battle, Upper Battle. * Otter Tail: Clitheral, Dead, North Luda, Otter Tail, Pelican, South Luda, South Ten Mile, Star, West Battle. * Todd: Charolette. Cottonwood Campground in North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Frontcountry camping in Voyageurs National Park on Rainy Lake in northern MInnesota have been named among the 60 Campsites With the Best Views Across the United States in a new guide from the Matador Network, a publisher of travel guides. Matador compiled the guide — 10 campgrounds in each of six regions — with help from camping availability and booking app, The Dyrt.
